1 . A Maryland couple stranded (滞留) without food in the freezing cold on a Virginia highway. They were getting ________ and more discouraged by the minute.

After almost 21 hours of being ________ on 95 South, Casey and her husband John slept there overnight and not ________ access to food or water. At that time, they ________ a Schmidt Baking Co. truck ahead of them in the standstill. “People around us were very much ________. Many of them had small children, some were elderly and hadn’t eaten in almost a whole day. ” In a desperate bid for a ________, they decided to call the Schmidt Bakery and see if it could help ________ some much-needed food for them, as well as their fellow highway captives.

“I didn’t think it would ________ work,” said Casey, who left a message with customer service. But to their ________, 20 minutes later, they actually got a ________ from Chuck Paterakis, the owner of the bakery. He told them to walk over to the truck driver, Ron, who was given the go-ahead to start handing out ________ to 50 motorists. Then, the couple joined the driver in making ________. Soon, others joined the effort, in which some 300 loaves were ________.

“It felt incredible just hearing people say thank you and hearing them so ________ to finally have food in their car. This was one of the ________ moments I have ever witnessed.” recalled Casey.

2 . Templer was a tour guide in Zimbabwe, leading a canoe (皮划艇) safari down the Zambezi River. During the expedition, Templer’s canoe _______ the way, with the other two canoes to follow.

Things were going the way they were supposed to go. Everyone was having a pretty good time. Eventually, they _______ a dozen hippos, which were territorial animals. That’s not _______ on the Zambezi, Africa’s fourth-longest river. They weren’t alarmed at first as they were at a safe _______.

Templer tried to steer (率领) the group safely around them. However, the third canoe was off the planned _______ and was attacked by an aggressive hippo. The guide named Evans on the canoe fell into the water. Templer went to _______ him. He was getting closer to Evans. He was _______— it was kind of a made-for-Hollywood movie — Evans was reaching up. Their _______ almost touched. And then the water between them just _______. Before he knew it, Templer was up to his waist down a hippo’s throat. His legs were trapped but his hands were ________. So he tried to hold onto the hippo’s tusks (长牙) to ________being torn apart. The hippo must have been uncomfortable because it spat him out. So he quickly burst to the ________, and breathed some fresh air. With others’ help, Templer and Evans made it out of the river.

Despite the unpleasant experience, Templer ________to work as a tour guide. He also became an advocate for hippo ________, recognizing that the animals were not inherently aggressive but were ________ defending their territory.

3 . Tiny New neighbors

One day in 2022, 72-year-old Don Powell was pulling________from his outdoor mailbox as usual when he noticed something________: A tiny doll couple were sitting on a love seat inside the mailbox. There was also a sticky note reading “Mary and Shelley decided to live here.”

Don_______ thought somebody must have left the wooden dolls inside his mailbox_______ and would get them back soon. The mailbox looks nice, which________26 inches long, 15inches wide and 10 inches high, with windows on the top and sides to let the_______ in. “It’s no wonder the dolls want to move into it,” Don said humorously.

But a few days later, the small couple did not________. Instead, they acquired a table and a pillow. More than that, over the next several months. additional items mysteriously_______ : a bed, a painting and a wood-burning stove. And at Christmas time, a small decorated________was left with tiny presents.

Now, Mary and Shelley are still living in the________, bringing a little community humor to the neighbors who have followed Don’s________on Orchard Lake Village’s Nextdoor page. “Some people thought I had________the dolls myself, but all I did was provide a mailbox. Somebody else decided to make it a________for Mary and Shelley,” Don wrote on Nextdoor.

Don says he now doesn’t want to know who is________for the mailbox mystery and he’s just hoping it will_______ .

4 . Amanda and Daines Tanner’s dog jumped onto their bed a few months ago and pawed at their bodies while they were trying to sleep. It was around 5:30 A．m. on a Saturday — the day each week the couple ________ sleeping in.

Amanda Tanner had never seen Axel, their 1-year-old border collie, so ________ that early. They guessed he needed to be let outside, so that morning in August 2023, Daines Tanner ________ him downstairs. But when Daines Tanner opened the door to their backyard in Texas, Axel wouldn’t go outside. He________ rushed toward Amanda Tanner’s 17-year-old son’s room downstairs and began ________ at the door. Inside, Gabriel Silva was already awake. Minutes earlier, he was walking in the living room when he lost his ________ and fell. He said he couldn’t move, and everything around him looked ________ than usual. He didn’t know why he was feeling poorly, so he went back to his bedroom and got back in bed. Then he heard Axel at his door and Daines Tanner downstairs. Gabriel ________ Axel into the bedroom, where he began explaining his ________ to Daines Tanner — he was struggling to walk, the right side of his body was ________ and his vision was magnified (放大的). But Daines Tanner could ________ understand him because Gabriel’s speech was slurred (含糊不清的).

Daines Tanner drove Gabriel to an emergency room in Houston, where doctors determined that he was having a stroke. Gabriel has since ________ his ability to speak, walk and move his right arm, as the “Today” show first reported.

Sabih Effendi, a doctor who ________ Gabriel, said that he might have never recovered if Axel hadn’t ________ the family that morning. Amanda Tanner is planning to ________ a medal to the front of Axel’s collar (圈，箍) to honor what he did for Gabriel.

5 . Back in the days when I was just a young student, I was always absent from school ______, too shy to step into the public attention. My grades, though not absolutely good, was above the ______. However, an unexpected incident allowed me to______life lessons and gradually accept the challenges thrown at me.

One rainy afternoon, while walking home from school, an accident happened. A speeding car ______me, leaving me with a broken leg. Lying on my hospital bed,pain aching through my body, the reality of my situation ______. This unforeseen incident had set me back academically, and I needed to figure out how to achieve my previous______.

With the help of my parents and teachers, who ______accompanied me through the healing process, I managed to transform my ______ into a stepping stone. I began to acquire the will to push myself beyond my limits. After several months, I returned to school. My teachers had made accommodations for me, which included access to ______classes to catch up on the lessons I missed. Fueled by a newfound ______, I made every effort to engage in all activities and strived to stay active in both the academic and extracurricular fields.

In the end, my actions______fruit. Not only did my academic performance improve, but I also developed an ability to adapt to unexpected situations. I realized the importance of being able to______my fears and overcome them. The incident that I______viewed as a major discouragement was, in fact, a turning point in my life. It was an opportunity to adjust my perspective and learn to admire the strength within myself.

The______did not happen overnight. It was a gradual process, just like adding a new piece to a puzzle every day. But with each piece, I moved one step closer to the bigger ______ .

6 . It was May 17, and in three days I would be thirty. I was_________and feared that my best years were now behind me.

Going to the gym for a workout is my daily_________. Every morning I would see my friend Parker there. He was seventy-nine years old and in_________shape. As I_________him on this particular day, he noticed I wasn’t full of my usual_________and asked if there was anything wrong. I told him I was feeling depressed about turning thirty. I_________how I would look back on my life once I_________Parker’s age, so I asked him, “What was the best time of your life?”

Without_________, Parker replied, “Well, Joe, when I was a child and everything was taken care of for me and I was_________by my parents, that was the best time of my life. When I was going to school and learning the things__________, that was the best time of my life. When I got my first job and got paid for my__________, that was the best time of my life. When I __________my wife and fell in love, that was the best time of my life. And now, Joe, I am seventy-nine years old. I have my__________, I feel good and I am in love with my wife just as I was when we first met. This is the best time of my life.”

I was____________by what Parker told me. Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn’t stop to__________it.

7 . Liu Xiaosheng finally had time to himself when the summer vacation recently ended. The 73-year-old had been teaching children English _________ six days a week for over a month. His “ _________ ” was a rural family courtyard in a village in Zunyi, Guizhou province.

Before retiring, Liu was a professor at a university in Chongqing. In 2012, he brought his family to Guizhou, a region known for its _________ climate, to spend the summer.

One evening, he saw a neighbor’s child learning English. He asked the child to read him a passage. “The pronunciation was _________, ” Liu recalled. As a teacher, he knew how important standard pronunciation was and he began to correct the child _________ . In this way, Liu had his first student. News of free English tutoring from a retired professor soon _________ through the village, and more and more children came to learn.

At first, Liu taught in his living room, and then moved into the corridor for more _________ . But soon, the corridor was packed with students. One villager _________ to leave his room to use as a classroom, and the villagers _________ their money to buy desks, chairs, benches and a blackboard. Later, as the number of students grew, Liu __________ a classroom in the courtyard of a villager’s house. Now he is known as the “courtyard teacher”.

__________ once suggested paying tuition fees, but Liu turned down the __________ . Some also tried to give him some __________ to express their gratitude, but he refused. He said that teaching had become a part of his life, and he did it for neither fame nor __________ . Before he wrapped up this year’s session and returned to Chongqing, he __________ the children that he would see them again next year.

8 . It was the worst day ever. The_________date was March 19, 2007, and I’ll never forget it. The day began as usual, I was busy________our breakfast with my husband, Alan, entering his office in our home to receive his boss’s_______. When he went out from his office moments later, Alan told me his ________ had been removed. “I’m out of work now.” I hugged my sweet husband as my heart_________. “We’ll be fine,” he said. “I know,” I responded. But, _______, neither of us was very sure of our own words.

I calmed down and made my way to work. Then I received a call from the doctor’s office. “It’s lymphoma (淋巴癌). You have_______.” he stated. “What?” I must have misheard. That was completely impossible. I was a_______, salad-eating, forty-two-year-old runner. The doctor_______those terrible words. It was true: Cancer was in my body. Alan hugged me_______when I arrived home crying. “Someday in the future, we’re going to write about today,” he whispered in my ear, “and we’ll call it Worst Day Ever.”

Time dragged on. Our______________was high, but we kept our heads up and always looked forward. It finally__________. Within several months, Alan was__________a new job at a restaurant chain, with excellent pay and__________. My doctor completed her tests, and the results were more than___________—— My cancer is manageable. I will most likely survive it.

9 . Hawthorne and his younger sister, Linda, lived with their parents in a poor neighborhood. They had only a little money. As they had not paid the ______ for several months, the landlord was breathing down their necks (盯着他们).

One day, Hawthorne took Linda’s shoes to be ______, but he lost them on the way home. He was afraid that his parents would be ______, so he begged his sister to keep it secret. Linda agreed and the two decided to ______ Hawthorne’s running shoes. Linda’s school hours were in the ______, so she would wear them first. After school, she would rush back and give them to Hawthorne. He could then run to his school, which began in the afternoon.

Hawthorne heard about a long distance race that was held only for the ______ in the city. When he learned that the third prize was a new pair of shoes, he decided to take part. He ran home ______ and promised his sister that he would win her the new shoes.

The day of race arrived. Hawthorne had a ______ start, but halfway through the race he began to get tired. Getting more and more exhausted he thought only of Linda and his ______ to her. Dreaming of the new shoes he would win for his sister gave him strength, and he stayed right ______ the two fastest runners, determined to finish third. Suddenly, as the finish line drew near, another runner collided(碰撞) with Hawthorne from behind and he ______ to the ground.

Hawthorne looked ______ and saw the other boys rushing ahead. Refusing to give up at this point, he jumped to his feet and ran as fast as he could and won the fourth prize. ______ he would let her sister down, Hawthorne couldn’t help crying. Just then he suddenly heard the announcement from the broadcast that he won the ______ prize as the runner who collided with Hawthorne was disqualified for breaking the rule. Holding the shoes during the award ceremony, Hawthorne felt overjoyed and ______ as he eventually won the shoes for his sister.

10 . My sister spun and jumped as she skated lightly across the ice. She performed a demanding move and then skated in my direction, her eyes twinkling with________. “Come on, don’t be afraid. Just follow me!” She gently held me by the hand to the rink (滑冰场) and skillfully helped me put on my________.

Figure skating had________me with its grace and skill since I was quite young. Encouraged by my sister, who had been learning figure skating for many years, I made up my mind to________there despite my fear. To my great upset, it was much________than I had previously thought. Clutching the handrail, my legs________as fear slowly climbed upon me. Not only did the ground look more slippery, my skates were also more difficult to________. Though I had practiced many times with the help of my sister, I still couldn’t________my balance. Worst of all, as I staggered toward the center of the rink, I fell to the ground in a(n)________way. Disappointed and frustrated, I felt my face________with shame. “No, I can’t,” I murmured. “You can do it, ” my sister said as she turned to me with a firm smile and eyes full of belief. “Let’s try again.” I tried again, and this time, I________my thoughts on every part of myself, trying to move inch by inch with all my might.

Though I fell many times and________again, I kept my perseverance. As the saying goes, “Practice makes perfect”. Eventually, I was able to move________by myself. I felt a ripple of ________spread through me. I made it! Apart from learning how to skate, I also learned how to ________difficulties, which I will cherish for the rest of my life.