3 . It wasn’t easy to practice gratitude (感激) every day. After I ______ Cushing’s disease (库兴综合征) and had an operation a few years ago, my ______ was that everything would be OK. However, I was wrong. I had ongoing aches and pains, and ______ myself to a new life was difficult for me. ______, I began to notice that I’d become a hateful person.

One day, I heard a discussion about gratitude by Dr Tony Evans. It ______ me and forced me to take a long, hard, honest look at myself. I have a(n) ______ spouse (配偶) and parents. I’d heard the stories of other people’s ______ with Cushing’s disease. Their spouses had left them and they didn’t have family to ______. I didn’t face any of these problems, yet I didn’t realize that.

I made a decision to start practicing gratitude daily. Once I decided that, my ______ improved, and I began to approach situations differently. ______ viewing situations negatively, I started to see them as opportunities.

This led me to practice the concept of ______ and reaping (收获), which I learned from my parents. They didn’t just talk the talk, but rather they ______ his concept to us. However, it wasn't until I had my own experiences that I understood what it meant.

Let me explain. When I was ______ in my own pity, my ______ in life was ruined, because everything I was sowing was negative. Since I started practicing gratitude, so many different doors of opportunity have opened up for me.

My advice is starting practicing gratitude until it becomes a part of your daily routine. Take note of the ______ it will make in your life.

4 . Most of us associate learning with younger people — kids in school and college or recent graduates early in their careers. But at Udemy, an open university, offering online courses, Artist Anneke Camstra is engaged in the pursuit (追求) of lifelong learning and _______ her potential for teaching. She loves the _______ of gaining new knowledge and also loves _______ it with others.

She reaches countless people with her online courses and exposes them to what they can _______ on their own using animation software, such as Go Animate and PowToon. Her target for teaching on Udemy is “to get the _______ to the people.” She hopes people can go such a long way to make things that look _______ but still have their own voice.

Most of Anneke’s students start out thinking they’re not creative and can’t draw. Anneke understands how _______ can get in the way of so many things people dream of _______. With her five-day challenge courses, she helps them _______ the fear. Anneke loves the effect she has on her students. What makes her more ________ of them is that they have gone from their first animation to ________ their own works.

She encourages people of all ages, ________ older people, to develop their ________ for life. Grandparents, for example, can learn to use Go Animate and make animations together with their grandkids.

As an older woman, ________ and having fun learning again, Anneke wants others later in their ________ to catch up with her on this journey.

6 . There was an old dog in the middle of the road who seemed lost. You could tell he had loving owners because he looked _______ and he had no street sense. The basset hound (巴塞特) was _______ a busy street, and everyone was stopped. A man was able to lead the dog out of the road with a _______ he had packed for his lunch. The dog had no collar. I said I would take him to the police station.

When I did, the police told me they did not _______ animals. They said I would have to take him to the _______ 20 miles away. I told them I was working and _______ . I asked whether they could _______ the dog until I got off work. If the dog owner hadn’t _______ by then, I would take him home. They agreed. I got home at six and called the police station. I was _______ to learn that the owners had ________ their dog. The police said the people wanted my name and address to send me a thank-you note. I gave my ________ , but never expected to hear from them.

Later that day, I was making ________ and heard a knock on the door. It was the flower man holding a large, beautiful arrangement. The card read, “I may be ________ , fat, and hard of hearing, but you were a wonderful woman to save my life. My small owners are ________ that I wasn’t killed. With much love, Barney the Basset Hound.” I got flowers from a dog! They were a perfect ________ for the centre of my dinner table.

8 . After my graduation from college, I was always worried about my financial (财务的) situation. Things changed when I got a job at a library and also accepted a part-time job. I became _________ about future. But how was I going to _________ two jobs at the same time? I thought, looking out of the window.

A squirrel (松鼠) was making his way down a tree. It was _________ for him to climb up and down easily like other squirrels with a piece of bread in his mouth. How was he going to manage that? I held my breath and cheered him on in my _________. He moved down with _________, holding onto the tree. When he finally _________ the ground, he pulled the bread behind him. His journey was not _________ yet, so he kept trying! It was _________ that this squirrel and I had a lot in common. I had my own bread to _________ and my own trees to climb. I moved from one __________ to another to follow the __________ of the squirrel’s action. Slowly but surely, he __________ it to the roadside and stopped to check on the traffic. Finally, the squirrel crossed the road __________ with his meal. When he entered the bushes (灌木丛), I cheered even though I couldn’t watch his next __________. Then I went upstairs to get ready for the __________ before me. “You can do it,” I told myself.

9 . Nixon, 59 years old, was born and grew up in St. Petersburg. Each morning, he sits on a bench, watches the sunrise, and connects with _________ from all walks of life.

Eight years ago, he decided to begin each day from a bench (a kind of chair) with an impressive view of the St. Petersburg waterfront (圣彼得堡海滨), because it made him feel calm and _________ before starting his day.

About a year later, a woman stopped to say hello, and she said something that _________ Nixon’s view on his daily visit. She said, “Every morning when I see you sitting here, I know everything is going to be OK.” That’s when Nixon _________ he needed to pay attention to the people walking past.

Instead of staring straight ahead at the waterfront, Nixon started _________ at people and talking to them. And pretty soon, some early risers began _________ him on the bench, sometimes sharing their pressure and asking him for advice about personal problems.

No matter what problem a person wants to _________, Nixon lends an ear. One day, a couple came by to talk about their problems. The husband was always working. It was destroying their _________. Nixon told him, “You have to know what’s really important.” The man admitted he’d put everything he had into his _________ for many years instead of focusing on his family. “He started to cry and agreed that he needed to __________,” Nixon says. “We hugged each other and became friends after that.”

Nixon was always happy to listen, and he listens without __________ and without any kind of return expected. “You have to listen with an open heart, because you never know who’s going to walk up,” Nixon says. He is a loving and loyal __________ to many. For those who walked past the bench, they were always __________ with a smile and asked how they were doing. No topic is off limits, but some people don’t want to talk. They simply want to sit next to someone and share the __________. Once a woman stopped and just sat with Nixon for an hour; then she said thanks and walked away. She just wanted a moment of peace and to know she wasn’t __________.

And at that moment, she truly wasn’t.

10 . In the summer of 2015, Brian Peterson often heard a ________ man yelling on the street corner near his apartment. Peterson, a car designer, would pass the guy on his way to work, but they never ________.

One day, Peterson was reading the book Love Does in his living room, when his ________was disturbed by the homeless man.________ by the book’s sympathetic message, Peterson decided to go outside and introduce himself.

In that first conversation, Peterson learned that the man was Matt Faris, who had moved to California to________ a career in music, but he soon fell on hard times and________living on the street.

Peterson recalled later, “I saw beauty on the face of a man who ________hadn’t shaved (刮脸) in a year. But his story, the life inside of him, inspired me.”________ Peterson, a graduate of art, hadn't painted in eight years, he asked if he could paint Faris’s portrait. Faris said yes.

Peterson’s________with Faris led him to form Faces of Santa Ana, a nonprofit organization________ on befriending and painting portraits of members of the community who are unhoused.

Peterson________ the painting - signed by both ________and artist - for a few thousand dollars, dividing the profit and putting half into what he calls a “love account” for his model. He then helps people use the money to get back on their_________

Faris used the funds from his portrait to ________an album (专辑), fulfilling his musical dreams. Another subject, Kimberly, asked, “Can I use the money to pay my daughter's rent?” When the check was delivered, “they both________in my arms,” Peterson recalls.