1 . For the past 17 years, Raquel Radford Baker has been a school bus driver for the Dallas Independent School District. Last month, Baker saved the life of a 7-year-old boy who had a _________ moment on his way to school when he accidentally swallowed (吞咽) a coin and began to choke.

The _________, which was caught on tape, took place on September 29. Preston, a first grader, was sitting in his seat on the bus, when he suddenly sat up, _________ that the coin he had been holding above his open mouth had _________ his throat. He got up and walked to Baker at the front of the bus and tapped her for _________.

Initially, Baker thought Preston was sick, but _________, she heard him say something about a coin and she sprang into _________. She grabbed him from behind and carried him off the bus. When she got to a bench in front of the school, she told a nearby parent to call 911 as she started _________ first aid, which she’d _________ during the company’s training sessions. ____________ that moment, Baker, getting teary, said the only ____________ running through her mind was, “I have to save this boy. I have to save him.”

Thanks to her ____________, the coin was removed from Preston’s throat. Before that, however, Preston had gone ____________ and his face was turning blue. Baker continued first aid. That was when Preston said, “Miss Raquel, I’m okay. I can ____________ ” Baker said that moment brought great ____________. She immediately hugged him tight. Preston promised to never put coins in his mouth again.

2 . At 20 years old, I was a confident and handsome student at the University of California at Berkey.

But that year, I ________ a bump (肿块) in my right nostril (鼻孔), and when it didn’t go away, I made an ________ with a doctor. It turned out to be a tumor (肿瘤). Then I underwent surgery. Fortunately, the procedure was ________, and I returned to classes soon.

But six months later, a new bump appeared. Numerous ________ confirmed it had reproduced a horrible, life—threatening tumor. I was advised to have another operation and ________ that I might lose part of my nose. I was too young to think about death then, but the thought of disfigurement (毁容) made me feel ________.

I awoke from the surgery with a scarred, disfigured face. As I re-entered the real world, I noticed adults ________ and children pointing—and sometimes laughing—at me. The occasional and ________ negative reactions from my friends also hurt me. My self-respect sank increasingly lower, and I constantly asked others, “Do my looks ________ you?”

Five years and 20 reconstructive surgeries later, I ________ a man receiving treatment. After hearing my question, he criticized me. My problem, he ________ me, was not my physical appearance, but my emotional insecurity. His ________ helped me realize my mental scars were far more disfiguring than my physical ones.

I began examining myself from the inside out. Later, I volunteered at a cancer support organization to offer inspiration and hope to those ________ cancer

Now, I am ________ for who I am—a much stronger person than before. To you, I offer this message: Avoid making judgements about people at ________.

3 . When handball was introduced to Sri Lankan schools in 2010, I wanted to bring it to my school in a remote village. This became a(n) _______ task as the sports teacher was unwilling to initiate anything _______ traditional sports like basketball. Despite being an English language teacher before _______ my post as deputy principal (副校长), I was _______ to start this game at any cost.

40 students aged between 13 and 19 _______ to play. I had the support of their parents but I still couldn’t _______ the sports teacher to agree. _______ , I used my position to get the game going.

Heshan Pradeep, an alumnus (校友) and member of the Air Force handball team, volunteered to _______ the team. Although handball is an indoor game, we trained outdoors due to limited _______. Training started early in the morning before class and ________ after school until it was dark. The boys loved the game and were ________ training. After three months of devoted training, we were able to send an under-19s boys’ team to ________ with 50 other schools. Our boys played remarkably well and ________ the semifinals. The following year, nobody could ________ our team from winning the all-island schools handball championship.

The ________ sent the whole village into carnival mode. Heshan and I were much honored to have shown the boys that dreams can be fulfilled.

4 . I wasn’t raised to be a fan of snails (蜗牛). I was always taught that if we see a snail on a plant, we should pick it off and_________on it. This brought us the kind of giggly (咯咯傻笑的) _________that only children experience. We loved it. However, my_________on snails has changed, as I’ve grown older. They bring me a different kind of happiness.

The first time I thought of snails as more than a_________was when I saw something that_________ me in my garden. A small snail, _________a hard shell, moved slowly toward one_________bud and explored it. The exploration lasted for quite a while and, _________enough, the bud turned into a full bloom. Watching the snail carefully touching the flower_________me of the lyric: “Snails see the beauty in every inch.” I realized that the snail is probably a best representation of__________and taking life slowly.

Then, I__________the snail in my palm. It was scared by the sudden move and immediately__________back into its shell. I thought it would__________inside for several minutes, but shortly after gutting used to the takeaway, the snail poked its head out again. It was not just hiding but__________.

Giving ourselves time to nourish (滋养) inside and out, and waiting for the right__________to reenter the exciting life, is extremely restorative and worthwhile.

5 . The number of times I’ve been asked how I became a food and travel writer is too many to count. Frankly, I’m not exactly sure how to ______. Eating is a necessary part of life, and I appreciate good ______, whether it’s chicken and rice served from a hawker stand or a perfect dish in a Michelin-starred restaurant.

I’m not a ______ writer of food, since I ______ review restaurants in the traditional sense. Instead, I’m more interested in food’s ______ and what it reveals about cultures. For instance, how did Mexican cacao get to Europe, and how did the Czech kolache find its way to Central Texas? Knowing the ______ behind such things is a ______ in history that goes far beyond a pretty dish presented on a plate.

There’s not a more ______ way to get a taste of a place than by taking food-themed tours. Many tours include market visits, which are the best way to experience life as a(n) ______. Markets are the hearts of communities and reveal not only the way a culture eats, but also how they ______ and interact.

Traditions and culture are deeply ______ food and through cooking lessons. The number of cooking classes that I’ve ______ around the world can’t be counted. Now, I’m no Alain Ducasse in the kitchen, and rarely do I ______ at home. However, including these types of classes into my journey is something that I ______. And even though the acquired cooking skills don’t translate back to my home kitchen, the cultural ______ still resonates (产生共鸣).

6 . I remember vividly the moment the doctor told me my daughter Annabelle was severely disabled. A thousand ________ raced through my mind. Will she walk? Will she talk? Will she be able to read?

“I couldn’t possibly ________,” said the doctor “But you should prepare yourself for the fact that she might never walk or talk.”

As well as ________ health, I wondered if she would have friends.

Now I know some of the answers. Although she has problems with the spine (脊柱), she can walk huge distances. She can’t hold a ________, but she can make her wants and needs known. And she has no friends.

Annabelle doesn’t get invited to birthday parties. To me, it’s this lack of inclusion (被接纳) that really ________me. Therefore, I was ________ when I saw a post on social media from a little girl with Down’s syndrome (唐氏综合症) at her friend’s birthday party. She was ________ having the greatest time of her life. There were photos of her wearing a wide smile, ________ for the camera, her friend’s arms around her.

“This is amazing!” I wrote, “I am so glad she gets________ in everything. My little girl was born with a spine problem. She hasn’t been invited to a single party in the last four years. ________ my heart.”

Later that day, a woman called Caroline, who I’d never met, sent me a message. Her son Luca was having a fifth birthday party and he wanted to ________ Annabelle.

As Annabelle set off for the party, she felt ________ and became hesitant. But once inside, she was relaxed and felt included in every element by two ________ — a five-year-old boy and his mum. It was highly ________.

My daughter now has memories that will last her a lifetime ________ that, she has her first ever friend.

7 . It was a hot, sticky Saturday afternoon. Hundreds of us set together, side by side, in rows of wooden folding chairs on the main _________ lawn. We wore blue nylon robes (礼袍). We listened _________ to long speeches and some students almost stood up. When the _________ was over, we threw our caps in the air, and we were _________ graduated from college. For many of us, the curtain had just come down on _________.

Afterward, I found Morrie Schwartz, my _________ professor, and introduced him to my parents. He was a small man who took small steps, _________ a strong wind could, at any time, blow him up into the clouds. In his graduation day robe, he looked like a Christmas elf (精灵).

He told my parents how I took every class he taught, “You have a special boy here.” _________, I looked at my feet. Before we left, I _________ my professor a present, a brown __________ with his initials (首字母) on the front. I bought this the day before at the shopping mall. I didn’t want to forget him. Maybe I didn’t want him to forget __________.

“Mlitch, you are one of the good ones,” he said, __________ the briefcase. Then he __________ me. I felt his thin arms around my back. I was taller, and when he held me, I felt awkward, older, as if he were the __________.

He asked if I would __________, and without hesitation I replied “Of course.”

8 . Christian Bowers, now 24, has Down Syndrome (唐氏综合征) and it’s been hard for him to find good friends. His mom, Donna Herter, said his lack of friends was making him feel ________.

Herter didn’t know who to turn to. So, she posted it on Facebook. “I just basically said that I was looking for a young ________,” she said. “I told them that I’d pay them $80 for two hours to just ________ and play video games with him. All he ________ wants is just a guy friend to do guy stuff with.”

Herter said Christian attends events for people with special ________, but he “desires a friendship with somebody who is ________”.

Herter sent the post at I am and when she woke up, it had about 5,000 comments. She saw parents ________ suggestions, others volunteering to help. “My hands were ________. I was sweating,” she said.

After ________ a few local guys in Wentzville, Minnesota, Donna ________ it down to seven who now visit Christian once a week.

James Hasting was one of the men she ________. Hasting said he works with people with disabilities and it’s something he has a(n) ________ for. He said he had visited Christian three times so far and they had a wonderful time together.

“Though on the ________ we may look different, deep down we have ________ and getting along should be easy,” Hasting said. He hopes to ________ others to form friendships-because you never know how much it means to someone.

9 . A little library was built in our neighborhood to encourage people to “take a book, leave a book”. While taking a walk, Ayla, my eight-year-old daughter, was _________ and asked many questions about it.

Long after we got home, I found her in her bedroom, seated on the floor, surrounded by her _________, all of them. She _________ expressed that she was trying to find a（n）_________ book for the tiny library. Not much later, I saw Ayla standing at the front door, holding a book in one hand and a little _________ in the other, which she _________ in the bathroom when she brushed her teeth. She needed it to look into the _________.

I was _________ to know what book Ayla had picked. When we reached the library, she carefully set down the chair and _________ up. She opened the glass door slowly, with too much __________. Then she paused（暂停）, looked down at the book in her hand, and slid it inside. It was her __________ book. The “take it” part took Ayla a long time to look through the children’s books one by one and carefully examined them, like a jeweler（宝石匠）__________ the perfect stone. At last, she found what she __________.

Once we got home, I asked Ayla why she put that book in the little library. She __________ if every kid left their favorite book, there would be plenty of favorite books to __________.

10 . It was a sunny afternoon. My husband Dave and I had just arrived home from hospital. I parked the car in front of the house. Dave was so tired that he leaned against the door and waited for me to open it for him. When I opened it, he _________ out of the car onto the ground. He was too _________ to raise himself. I tried to lift him, but my _________ ended fruitlessly. I looked around in all directions for someone to help us but nobody was _________.

I turned to run into the house to make a _________. Just then, a man dressed in white walked toward us. I couldn’t _________ how he appeared suddenly as I’d seen no one seconds before. He looked at Dave on the ground and asked if we needed _________. I nodded, adding that my husband was very heavy and _________ to move.

“Let me _________,” he said. He put one hand under Dave’s arm. As if Dave __________ no more than a feather, the man lifted him. He put Dave’s arm over his shoulder and put his own arm around Dave’s waist to keep him __________.

As I __________ the way into the house, the two men walked up our front stairs and into our home together. The man lowered Dave onto a little sofa. He smiled as Dave tried to thank him and said he was __________ to help. As he turned to go, I thanked him __________. He just smiled, said goodbye, and walked away.

I’ve never seen that man again, but I’ll always __________ him as our angel of light.