2 . Small acts of kindness can make a difference in someone’s day. That was just the case for Amie Mickey when she _________ a bumper (保险杠) sticker on her car reading: You Matter.

At first, she wondered if people would _________ it. However, much to her surprise, she began seeing a flood of _________ every time she hit the road. More often than not, people _________ slowly near her car would roll down their windows, raising their _________ and smiling. Sometimes, she even found some notes left on her windshield saying “You _________ too!”. Once she became _________ when a man driving a sports car at a high speed pulled his car alongside suddenly, mouthing, “You matter!” Though it took her some time to recover from the _________, she still felt happy. Last year, someone _________ her and said, “It is a (n)____________ sticker. None of stickers touched me like this.” The sticker really struck a chord (弦) with many strangers who ____________ to catch sight of it.

Stories like Amie’s really ____________ us. Sometimes a kind word or gesture may lift our ____________ and it doesn’t cost a thing except for a little extra thought. Maybe it means offering a friend a hug or praising the children when they ____________ well in school. Small acts of kindness can also make a ____________ impact on the world and help form general goodness.

3 . At the age of nine, I was taking swimming lessons at a pool. The day had arrived when I was to be tested to see if I could ______ to a higher level class.

Fifteen of us were to ______ swimming from one side of the pool to the other and back. I watched as my ______ , one by one, tried and failed. Then it was my turn to swim, I mean, my turn to attempt to pass the test. I was about halfway when I got ______ , so I immediately stopped and ______ the side of the pool, ending my test. Our instructor, a college student, was standing ______ me. “Why did you stop?” he yelled, in a less than ______ voice. “I got water in my nose,” I explained.

That’s when this college student ______ me one of life’s great lessons, ______ he probably never realized that. Bending down, he shouted, “So?”

“So?” The question shocked me. It had just seemed reasonable to me that the answer to pain was to remove the thing causing the ______ . My nine-year-old brain had not understood the fact that a valuable ______ is worth achieving, however difficult to get there. Recognizing that, I was ______ nothing would keep me from completing the test. In fact, I did it rather easily on my next attempt. Seeing me ______ the test, almost all the others did so as well.

Life is a journey, and the road won’t ______ be easy. We have to focus on the final destination, not the ______ along the road.

5 . College sets the stage for students to explore new sides of life. I myself went through this searching process and found something that has changed my _________ at college for the better：I discovered ASL—American Sign Language(美式手语).

The _________ began during my first week at college. I watched as the ASL Club _________ their translation of a song. Both the hand movements and the very _________ of communicating without speaking attracted me. What I saw was completely unlike anything I had experienced in the _________ . This newness just left me _________ more.

After that, feeling the need to _________ further, I decided to drop in on one of ASL Club’s meetings. I only learned how to _________ the alphabet(字母表)that day. Yet instead of being disappointed by my _________ progress, I was excited. I then made it a point to ____________ those meetings and learn all I could.

The following term, I ____________   an ASL class. The professor was deaf and any talking was not   ____________ . I soon realised that the silence was not unpleasant. ____________,if there had been any talking, it would have ____________ us to learn less. Now, I appreciate the silence and the ____________ way of communication it opens.

7 . I log onto a computer at the doctor’s office to say I have arrived and then wait until a voice calls me into the examination room. There, a robotic nurse ______ me onto the scales and then takes my blood pressure. Some time later, in steps the ______, who is also a robot. He notes down my ______ and gives me a prescription (处方). I pay for my visit using a credit card and return home without having met another human being. This is my terrible vision of the future, which hasn’t happened ______ yet.

I should say I really do like many aspects of ______. I am a big fan of air conditioning in summer and heaters in winter. But I am writing this because I don’t want machines to ______.

When I call my dentist’s office and actually get a human being on the line, I am ______. But when I see the introduction of yet more self-service checkout stations at the grocery store, I feel like ______ “When it comes to cashiers (收银员), make mine a(n) ______, please!”

After all, human cashiers sometimes ______ you a store coupon (优惠券) for items you are buying.

Even more than that, real-life cashiers often take an interest in particularly cute children, which can ______ young mothers’ day. A cashier may also show pity on an elderly person ______ to get that last penny out of his purse.

Machines can be ______ and cost-effective and they often got the job done just fine. ______ they lack an element so important to everyday life.

Call it the spirit, the soul or the heart. It is ______ no machine will ever have. It is human being that encourages us to smile at others, which nay be what they need at that moment.

8 . As everyone grows, they realize there will always be someone who is better.I learned this _______ in the second year in high school.The shock this experience brought was so great that I felt my pride was left on the side of the road for dead.That was all it took: one year and one person _______ everything.

Her name is Jenny.She was the girl who always raised her hand and had useful comments about everything.When teachers needed challenging problems answered, they _______ her.And if students needed answers, they went looking for her.I didn’t _______ her, but I admitted her presence annoyed me.In the first year, as a model student, I was the person everyone_______and all the teachers trusted.Then she came out of_______! We also had two classes _______.There I got to see what everybody thought of her.When an exam finished, it became a _______that she got the top grade and it didn’t matter to my classmates whether I was right there, _______I also got an excellent grade.They would cross a desert and __________her! I was left being denied my presence.__________, I felt like not trying anymore.

I stopped trying to put on a show because no one was __________anymore.Later, I volunteered at the graduation ceremony.She was called to make a(n)__________and discussed her difficulties.I realized all her hard work got her there, not her desire to__________.It finally hit me that Jenny __________the attention she got.She showed me how big the world is and how small a world I used to live in.I’ll do my best because I know it will pay off.

9 . For a long time Gabriel didn’t want to be involved in music at all. In his first years of high school, Gabriel would look pityingly at the music students, _________across the campus with their heavy instrument cases, _________at school for practice hours _________anyone else had to be there. He swore to himself to _________music, as he hated getting to school extra early.

However, one day, in the music class that was _________of his school’s standard curriculum, he was playing idly(随意地) on the piano and found it _________to pick out tunes. With a sinking feeling, he realized that he actually _________doing it. He tried to hide his _________pleasure from the music teacher, who had wandered over to listen. He might not have done this particularly well, because the teacher told Gabriel that he had a good _________and suggested that Gabriel go into the music store-room to see if any of the instruments there __________him. There he decided to give the cello(大提琴) a chance. When he began practicing, he took it very __________. But he quickly found that he loved playing this instrument, and was __________to practicing it so that within a couple of months he was playing reasonably well.

This __________, of course, that he arrived at school early in the morning, __________his heavy instrument case across the campus to the pitying looks of the non-musicians he had left   ___________.