1 . One day before the last Christmas, my wife, Charlotte, was busy decorating our Christmas tree. I reached for my _______to capture the tree. After only a couple of minutes, Started complaining, “I can’t make the_______ right. I wish Sophie were here telling me what to do. I miss her.”

Several months before, my daughter, Sophie, bad gone to New York. She was not there to give me_______. Charlotte was working in silence while I clicked and_________. The photos didn’t have___________, so I’d had enough, dropping my camera onto the sofa. Each Christmas light seemed to refuse to_________. Somehow, I found the tree didn’t look_________without much colour.

“I think I did things differently this year.” Charlotte looked at me and added, “I think the tree looks great.” But I didn’t. I wanted a_________tree. More importantly, I wanted Sophie to be_________with us.

The morning after that day, I got up a little earlier. I plugged in the________, and turned towards the tree and stood in silence. In the semidarkness, the Christmas tree was ________like a diamond.

At that time, I realized I was________. My wife had decorated the tree________. It was magical and came__________in the morning light. The tree drew my eyes, reminding me to be grateful to those around me and look for the beauty ________in life.

2 . On June 24, 1853, near Solferino, fighting broke out in a battle that produced heavy casualties (伤亡). Thousands of ________ soldiers lined the streets. That night, Henry Dunant arrived in Solferino. He walked up the road to the main church, the Chiesa Maggiore, and was greeted by the ________ of pain from wounded soldiers.

________ by the horrors, Dunant began attending the soldiers. Not having received ________ training before, he was taught to clean wounds and apply bandages (绷带). There were French ________ as well as Austrian ones. Some of the latter, suspicious (疑心的) of the ________ they received, tore bandages from their wounds. Dunant, however, resolutely ________ a moral principle of treating all the wounded ________, no matter what their nationality.

Dunant eventually returned to Paris. The entire time his ________ kept returning to Solferino. He reached an emotional and inspirational point where he started ________ a book A Memory of Solferino, which vividly described the battle of Solferino and his ________ to provide medical care. He also called for the founding of a(n) ________ to provide humanitarian aid during the war.

In 1863, having read Dunant’s book, Gustave Moynier, the president of the Public Welfare Association of Geneva, contacted Dunant about working towards the ________. They created a five-person committee that organized a four-day ________ held in Geneva on October 29, where they agreed on ten decisions and three wishes, ________ the birth of the Red Cross.

3 . As a science teacher, I am always looking for innovative ways to engage my students and make learning fun. One of my most memorable experiences involved an egg, a bottle, and a group of curious 4th ________.

We were learning about air pressure, and I had planned a simple ________ to demonstrate the concept. I brought a hard-boiled egg, a glass bottle with a narrow neck, and a small piece of paper. The ________ was to get the egg inside the bottle without breaking it.

I ________ my students around the table and asked them how they thought it could be done. The children shared their ideas, and we discussed the ________ reasons behind each suggestion. It was fascinating to see their ________ at work, trying to solve the problem.

Then, I lit the piece of paper on fire and dropped it into the bottle. As the ________ consumed the oxygen inside, the air pressure decreased. I ________placed the egg on top of the bottle, and to the amazement of my students, the egg was sucked ________.

The room was filled with gasps and ________ chatter, as the children marveled (惊叹) at the demonstration. This simple experiment ________ their curiosity and reinforced the concept of air pressure in a(n) ________ and memorable way.

Looking back, I feel grateful for moments like these, where the ________ of learning comes alive in the classroom. It’s a reminder of why I chose to become a(n) ________ —to provide students with experiences that arouse their passion for ________.

4 . Derek Paravicini is lucky to be alive. Born three and a half months early, he weighed only 0.6 kilograms and almost _______ three times while he was in hospital. _______, Derek’s early birth left him with some disabilities — he is blind; he can’t tell left from right; he can _______ count to ten.

Yet Derek is a _______ talent. The 41-year-old remembers every one of the thousands of pieces of music he has ever heard and can play them without _______ on the piano — even if he only heard the song once. years ago. Because he is blind, he cannot _______ music. All of the music he plays is in his _______. His brain has been described as a perfectly programmed musical _______. When he hears a chord with ten notes in it, he can even _______ all ten, while most professional musicians can only recognise about five.

Derek was two years old before his family discovered his ________. When he was given an old keyboard, he ________ his family by reproducing the songs he had heard outside. His family then arranged for him to go to a school for the ________ where he met a university professor who helped him to ________ his musical talent.

By the age of nine, Derek had ________ at a large concert hall in London with a famous orchestra, Since then, he has appeared on TV shows and travelled the world ________ performances. He has recorded his own CDs and there is even a book about his life.

5 . Many years ago, there was an island called the Land of the Sun. People of all shapes, sizes and appearances _______ there. Everybody knew everybody and they were like one big happy family.

But slowly, the children grew bigger and had _______ children who grew bigger and had more children. Things reached a _______ where there were so many people on the island that not everybody knew everybody.

People started doing their own things, _______ in their own languages and writing their own scripts.

So the elders of the island came together and decided to open a school where the children could be _______ about the history, geography, rules, and languages of the people of the “Land of the Sun”.

However, when it _______ to deciding on the teacher, the group of elders was _______ divided between two of the candidates (候选人)—Ms Know-it-all and Ms Find-it-out. _______ they couldn’t decide on which candidate to go with, and being a friendly group of people, the elders _______ to have two schools, each being ____________ by the two candidates.

Ms Know-it-all and Ms Find-it-out ran their schools very ____________ from each other. Ms Know-it-all believed that children should be only taught. Unless they were asked a question, they wouldn’t ____________ to it. Her belief was simple. She was there to ask ____________ and the children were there to answer them.

On the other hand, Ms Find-it-out believed that she did not have all the answers. So everybody was allowed to ask questions and everybody tried to find the answers, individually or ____________. Slowly, the islanders became aware of this difference and started taking sides. They ____________ the island into two different zones and built up a wall so that one set of people did not affect the others.

6 . Dr. Smith of New York works at a center for children who can’t learn well. One day a father brought his son to him for________ at his office.

The father told Dr. Smith about his son. “My son has ________ in learning and can’t even play baseball. He isn’t doing well because he doesn’t try. I have done everything for him. I have even shouted at him. But nothing ________. ”

After Dr. Smith tested the boy, he ________ his father. He asked the father to sit in front of a ________ and then gave him a pencil and a piece of paper. There was a ________ on the paper. He asked the father to look only in the mirror and ________ the lines of the star with the pencil. The father made the same ________ anyone makes. Every time he ________ the pencil, it went the wrong way. The father’s face became red.

At this ________ the doctor shouted at him, “Hurry up! Why are you ________ so long? You can’t do such an ________ thing! You don’t know left from right!” These ________ made the father very angry.

“Now you can ________, can’t you?” The doctor said to him. “Your son has felt just like that all the time. You scolded (训斥) him too often, so he didn't try any more. He was afraid of making mistakes. ”

________ the father understood everything. He put his face down. Now he felt so sorry.

7 . Teaching is one of those jobs where people expect you to constantly be “on”. It’s a job that you can never _________ at work: there’s always planning, marking, or thinking about your _________ 一like when it’s 9：00 pm and you’re _________ if the feedback you gave on a class _________ was a little too constructive (有建设性的), and make a mental note to check in with them the next day.

Sometimes, I felt that teaching becomes my _________ life.

In the beginning of my first year teaching in China, I did not have a life outside of work. I was constantly thinking about the next day’s _________ my students are going to take part in, or planning for the _________ lesson. For the entire two months of the first term, I was a living _________: I would wake up, go to work, stay late after school to mark or plan, come home to _________ and then get back to planning until bedtime. I did not ____________ take one day off for the first 5 months.

I knew that I should not let work ____________ my life, but despite how much effort I was putting in, I would sometimes still feel unprepared. The thought of not putting in that effort made me ____________ about going into the classroom the next day.

As the months went on, that gradually ____________ I wouldn’t stay so late after school and I would ____________ more at home. I would take days off for my mental health. Sometimes, I wonder if all that is a( n) ____________ of getting better with experience, or if it’s just laziness . . . I say it’s mostly experience.

8 . For my daughter's 19th birthday, we bought her tickets to go and see Linkin Park, as they were playing in our city. We didn't really have the ________ but we knew how much this band meant to her.

The night before she was like a ________ at Christmas. Every so often she got up and came to ________ with us, because she couldn't ________ . On the night of the concert it was good to see her so ________ and excited, as she and her boyfriend set off.

Needless to say when they ________ after midnight, with T-shirts and lots of pictures of the band, ________ her telling about how fantastic they had been, we knew the money had been well ________ . This will be a memory she would never forget, and nor would we.

________ full of excitement from the night before, the following day they ________ to go shopping on the other side of the city. My husband and I laughed, loving the fact that she had not ________   that quality as she grew up.

Later that day they returned, with faces full of happiness and warmth. They presented my husband and me with a ________ each. On each present were the words "Because you are the ________ mum/dad in the world. "When we expressed our thanks and told her she didn't have to, we asked her why she had bought us gifts. Her answer was simply "Just because I love you."

This wasn't something ________ from our daughter; she had always given us gifts when she wanted to express her ________ , and each gift was always a welcome surprise. It could have been anything, it wouldn't have mattered, and it was the act itself and the feelings behind it.

9 . I always wanted to play the piano, but never thought I’d be able to learn. Desperate for something to ________ my mind off the non-stop COVID-19 news, I decided to teach myself, armed with nothing but a newcomer’s ________ and my son’s basic keyboard. After two months, my slightly noticeable ________ inspired me to buy a digital piano. Playing the piano ________ my meditation (冥想疗法). More than a year later, I still lean something ________ each day.

I am so______ with my growth and hope it can inspire others to learn new things at any ________ . In April 2021, in my late fifties, I created a YouTube channel. “Jane’s Hobbies”, to ________ my piano progress and other hobbies. I also learn chess, and play with my husband or son almost every night.

And now, my most ________ challenge is: English. It’s my second ________ and I’m still learning it every day. Reading magazines written in English is one of my favorite ways to practice English, ________ skills, knowledge, tips, and ways to share love along the process. This has been my most ________ year yet.

Every cloud has a silver lining. ________ new things is my pandemic silver lining. If you wish you’d had a fast-forward ________ to push in March 2020, you’re not alone. Remember you can also find a ________ side.

10 . The Motz family of Katy, Texas, says their lives changed after a visit to the dentist’s office.

Mason Motz, 6, was at Dr. Amy Luedemann-Lazar’s office to get ________ pulled when the pediatric dentist noticed a different issue. Mason had suffered from speech delays his whole life. He was born with Sotos Syndrome(综合症), a genetic disorder that affects growth and ________. The family thought his speech delays were due to the disorder, but it turns out that he was tongue-tied. The condition caused ________ range of motion with his mouth.

Since birth, Mason had suffered from breathing and sleeping issues, which ________ behavioral problems. When he ________, there were choking challenges. He also spent years in speech therapy.

Within hours of undergoing a minutes-long laser procedure to ________ the tongue-tie, Mason started talking in full sentences. These days, life is ________ different for the little boy. “He’s got a vocabulary now. He’s able to put together letters and words,” said Mason’s dad, Dalan Molz. The ________ is giving all the credit to Dr. Luedemann-Lazar, who specializes in treating special needs ________ and tongue-tied children.

In a home video ________ on his mother’s cell phone, you can see and ________ Mason reciting the events of his day and ________ science class. Mason’s parents say he is now thriving. “Words can hardly express our ________,” Motz said gratefully. Meredith and Dalan Motz say they’re eager to share their story with other families in a ________ situation. They encourage parents to ________ a second opinion, sometimes, a third or fourth opinion.