1 . The greatest sports moments often have a wonderful flow state behind the victories or performances. Being in flow refers to the moments where distraction reduces, and concentration ________ .

It was a _______ summer camp ping pong tournament where I was not only down I set, but 7 points behind my opponent (对手), who had only 3 points left to ________ the set, and the tournament. For a comeback, I had to win at least 10 points, without making ________ !

Facing the desperate situation, I could ________ it a day and let my opponent win. Perhaps my opponent had already focused on the ________, but failure wasn’t an option! Thus, I ________ it out, hoping for the best. I told myself, “Let’s just try and win the next point, nothing else.” ________ deep, I stared at the ball with a clear mindset and keen ________. I took it, hit it back and scored!

5 points to go, 4 points to go... My opponent started getting visibly ________ and made mistakes. Point by point I was getting closer to being even.7-8. I was one point away from doing the ________. My mouth was shut and my eyes stayed ________ the entire set. He made another error. 8-8. The comeback was complete. The crowd went ________! Winning the next 3 points, I managed to win that set. In the last set, my opponent turned restless again. ________ the flow, I ended up winning the final set, and the tournament.

Despite a small game, it inspired me a lot. Not being able to control how our opponent plays, we can _______ how to react. Don’t be there, where you are not. Instead, be here and now! Stay in flow! Be concentrated!

2 . Seven years ago, my wife bought me a terrific birthday present. For $70, she   _________ me two garden plots of land 20 feet by 20 feet from the Skokie Park District, which come with free _________ to fresh water from faucets, no _________. The football field of garden is a true place of beauty, costing the Park District very little to _________, with the water pipes being the only _________ capital investment.

My _________ is that gardening is good exercise accessible to people far into late middle age and beyond, deeply beneficial and _________ by couples and groups of friends. My garden neighbors and I, once _________, share ideas and encouragement. My daughter loves to help me _________ the wild weed, and the whole family loves the good fresh food, some of which I give to friends and neighbors.

I __________ about $300 to $400 a year but harvest literally 10 times the __________ of fresh produce—and I’m far from the best gardener!

We need to __________ one another while respecting each other as individuals, as carriers of subcultures, as positive people. Human difference is easier to accept with __________ when we know each other and are building something together.

And who doesn’t need to have __________ and get some exercise and eat great food? Community gardening is a wholly __________ activity.

3 . 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.

4 . I was annoyed that my mom had even scheduled the appointment with a doctor for me. As doctors so often do, when he arrived he went straight into the basic small talk about my _______ history.

But then he _______ a question that took me off guard. “So Robin, what are you going to do after high school?” He wrote something at his notes, with not even a glance in my _______. “I don’t know,” I mumbled(嘟哝). I was seventeen. I had no _______ what I was going to do after high school. My high school guidance counselor told me that I wasn’t “college material” and I believed her. Education wasn’t exactly _______ in my family.

“You don’t know? Well, why don’t you go to college to become a _______ like me?” He smiled as he glanced at his watch. I thought he was _______ for even suggesting it. No one in my family had even graduated from college, let alone become a doctor. “I’m not smart enough to be a doctor.”

He looked me straight in the eyes when he _______ said, “Let me tell you something; you don’t have to be smart to be a doctor. You just have to be persistent(坚持不懈的).” Then the doctor hurriedly gathered his things and _______ to his next appointment.

I ________ to think about it when I was at school. What would I do after high-school? Even though I wasn’t college material, that doctor made a(n) ________ on me. I applied to a college and soon found myself walking in the ________ as a new student. I often questioned what I was doing there. Maybe I wasn’t smart enough for college, but I could be persistent.

I was ________ to find that with each individual achievement came newfound ________ in myself. I graduated with a master’s degree in September 2014, two decades after that ________ with my doctor.

5 . Suri was a sweet boy and he was fond of elephants. However, he never had a(n)_________to see real elephants. All those he saw were only on televisions._________, when he was 25 years old, he got a chance to join a club of wildlife lovers. He asked whether they would take him to_________the elephants. And they said yes.

As they_________a beautiful village, one from the team said that the village had more than 100 elephants and Suri could enjoy the whole day. He was_________to see the elephants and screamed (尖叫) happily.

After spending two to three_________just seeing the elephants, Suri was surprised. He found those elephants were tied (系，绑) by_________ropes. He knew the strength of elephants, but_________can they be tied by such thin ropes? The trainer replied, “We used to tie them with a strong rope when they were babies. A few elephants would try to break the rope,_________we could not set them free. So as they grew, they developed a wrong belief (信念) that the small and thin ropes were too strong to break, so they continued to get tied by their belief.”

In__________lives, we sometimes may be held back by the mistakes we have experienced in the past just like the elephants, but we should have the courage to try to break them and live a free life.

6 . A mother with cancer has been moved by the kindness of a stranger as she fights with the terrible disease. Jerina Edwards and her family were _______ at a Chinese restaurant when a customer offered to _______their bill.

In a touching note written on the bill for the meal, the _______ explained the inspiration behind his Christmas kindness. The kind­hearted stranger who offered help _______ how his own life had been affected by cancer five years before. “I lost my _______ to cancer five years ago,” he _______ on the bill. “I know how _______ it can be going through this. My children lost their mother. Your meal is on me.”

Ms Edwards _______ the kind stranger alongside a photo of the bill posted on the Love What Matters Facebook page. The widely­shared _______ has since been viewed more than 35,000 times. “We went out to eat last night at a little Chinese place after church. Right as we were getting ready to ________ our ticket, the waitress brought us this instead，” she said. “Someone in the restaurant had paid our bill and left us this ________. More than anything, having cancer has shown me that there are a lot of ________ people in this world and that I am ________ for my own family.”

Although her diagnosis (诊断) was not terminal (致命的), Ms Edwards said cancer had ________ her family and herself so much. “It has been hard,” she said. “I have fought; I have been sick; tears have been shed; I have missed out on things; I have lost my hair, but I will live. My parents will ________ have their daughter; my husband will have his wife; my children will still have their mother.” She ended her emotional post with a personal message to the stranger at the restaurant. “Whoever you are—thank you.”

7 . I was in first grade in Mrs. Bauer’s class at a time when elementary schools held student gift swaps. I was to _______ toys with Paul, a boy I knew little about.

I bought a Matchbox car for Paul. After all, all boys _________ such toys. However, the gift Paul _________ for me was a small plastic Santa Claus on green snow skis. It surely cost much less.

As Paul and other boys raced their new Matchbox cars delightedly in the classroom, I tried to hold back hot tears. Though I felt _________, I started racing my skiing Santa alongside the Matchbox cars. Truthfully, I wasn’t trying to erase any _________ Paul might have felt for giving such a cheap gift. I _________ didn’t want to feel left out.

When school was over, Mrs. Bauer asked me to remain behind for a moment. I sat _________ at my desk, having no idea what I’d done wrong. When we were alone, she said to me with great _________, “I’m proud of you for not showing your _________. That would have hurt Paul’s feelings. You gave him a very nice __________ that made him cheerful, and you should be __________ about that.” Mrs. Bauer’s message, which I didn’t fully __________ at that time, was that it is better to give than to receive.

Afterwards, I became __________ with Paul. I found his socks always had holes in them. He shared a tiny bedroom with two sisters, and his dad had died. That skiing Santa might have been all Paul could __________ to give. I suddenly realized it was far more __________ than any other gift.

8 . Working in animal rescue is often heartbreaking for volunteers, but there are moments of joy that would never be possible without their tireless efforts.

Joey Wagner enjoys volunteering. Back in 2013, Joey received a(n)_________about a severely abused dog. He hung up and _________ for the place all at once. When he saw the little dog, he _________ realized the dog was hours away from death.

Joey and another rescuer _________ the dog, which they named Mojo，to the animal shelter. Many people requested to adopt Mojo. However, its _________ was so bad that it was not considered. In spite of the fact that it’d been_________, Mojo was loving towards humans and showed an enormous capacity to _________. Mojo gradually recovered under the care of other volunteers of the animal shelter.

When it was finally able to find its forever home, Joey was the first in line to fill out the _________paperwork. And it was natural that the shelter _________ Joey’s application. Still, when Joey appeared to bring Mojo home, no one could have predicted the little dog’s reaction to seeing its__________ again!

The moment Mojo saw Joey，its little tail began to wag(摇)crazily to its __________ dad.

“It definitely __________ you. It was unexpected to other volunteers as the __________ dog climbed into his arms for more hugs and kisses.

Mojo is now a healthy member of Joey and Leta’s pack and the Wagners have continued to use its story as a(n)__________ to drive donations and awareness for animal rescue. Mojo knew that Joey helped it at its lowest. Their bond can never be __________.

9 . Perhaps the only test score that I remember is the 55 I got when I was in high school.

The test was the final for a course. I remember waiting _________ as my teacher Mr. Right passed out our papers one by one. It was a rather _________ test. I heard my classmates groaning(叹息), and I could tell by the groans that the scores weren’t looking _________.

Mr. Right put my paper on my desk. There in big red numbers, circled to draw _________, was my score, 55!

I lowered my head, and _________ the score up quickly. A 55 is not something that you wanted your classmates to see.

“The scores were not very good, none of you _________,” Mr. Right said. “The highest score in the class was a 55.”

A 55. That’s me!

_________ my sad look didn’t look so bad. I had the highest score. I felt a lot better.

I walked home alone that day with the low but high score. My father knew that I had a big _________ that day and asked me as soon as I got home, “_________ did you do in your test?”

“I got 55,” I said.

A __________ now stood on my father’s face. I knew I had to __________ immediately. “But Dad, I had the highest score in the class,” I __________ stated(陈述). I thought that explanation would make a difference.

“You __________!” my father replied.

“But it’s the highest!” I __________.

“I don’t __________ what scores others had, you failed. What __________ is what you do!” my father firmly(坚定地) said.

For years, my father was __________ that way. It didn’t matter what others did, it only mattered what I did and that I did it __________.

We often don’t understand the __________ of good parents until we ourselves stand in the parents’ shoes. My father’s __________ have carried me throughout life.

10 . I was a new kid in town. I was not an _______ person. Shy and quiet, I read a lot and did not make friends _______ . My head was full of fears and _______ . But there I was, _______ for a new school full of strangers I didn't know, but they all knew one another already.

I was _______ and good at school, for which _______ liked me but other kids did not. I felt I was a _______ . I thought nobody would like me but I tried not to be _______

Then one day, a _______ , strong boy in the English class walked right over to me. He ________ that he was on the school basketball team and asked me to help them with their English. From that moment on, life at school ________ for me. I taught the basketball players about commas and subject-verb agreement while they taught me how to play basketball. And they also taught me that being smart could be a real ________, which I could use to help others.

Nobody gave me any ________ about being smart anymore. And though I was only five feet tall, I walked the halls feeling as tall as those towering basketball players who helped me to________ a new state, new city and new school. They gave me ________ and courage to be myself—and to be a short girl who really knew how to play basketball!