1 . Photographers from China were among the top prize winners at the 14th Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, organized by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, in London.

Chinese photographers featured significantly and won _________ in three categories and one of the individual awards, with the most remarkable _________ being the young photographer award, jointly won by Yang Hanwen and Zhou Zezhen, both aged 14, for their _________: Andromeda Galaxy: The Neighbor.

The official awards news release described their picture as “a _________ photograph of one of the Milky Way’s closest and largest neighbors” that showed the lively _________ of a nearby galaxy, stars piercing (穿透) through the _________ and emphasized the wonder of the magnificent sight.

The image was _________ by Laszlo Francsics, one of this year’s judges. “It is an excellent sight _________   by young Chinese teenagers, who also demonstrate their extraordinary talent in _________ a deep-sky photo,” says Francsics.

Hanwen, one of the two Chinese winners, says, “I think this photo shows how __________ our nearest neighbor is.” “One of the main functions (功能) of the competition is to __________ more people to fall in love with astronomy by showing the beauty of the __________,” says Zezhen, the other teenager who won the award.

“The __________ for the competition is incredibly high,” says Ed Bloomer, an astronomer. “It was really satisfying to see how many competitors __________ themselves to capture unusual, rarely imaged or __________ events: There are some things you won’t have seen before, and even some things that won’t be seen again.”

2 . Biar Kon, a 17-year-old student, whose parents were working in neighboring Sudan, moved to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, to attend school. Once he _______, he needed to get some documents from the Sudanese embassy(大使馆). But when he went to look for the embassy, he couldn’t find it. He asked a few people for _______, and no one knew where it was. Then an older woman tapped him on the back.

The woman told Kon that she had seen him asking questions of multiple people as they _______, and she wondered if he needed money for food, or a place to stay. Then Kon realized that the woman thought he was _______.

They cleared up the _______, and the woman was able to offer her help. The woman’s _______ left a deep impression on Kon. And it inspired him to _______ five years later, when he moved to Boston, Massachusetts. One day, outside a coffee shop, he _______ a man who was begging for change. Kon _______ that moment five years earlier, when the woman in Nairobi had ________ him for a homeless person. So he went up to the man to see what he could do. “He told me why he was on the street—because he made a（n） ________ mistake when he was in high school, and he couldn’t get a ________ now,” Kon recalled. Kon bought the man some breakfast, and gave him a little bit of money.

Today, it’s an encounter he ________. For him, it is a ________ that you never know what people are going through unless you talk to them ________ — the way the woman in Nairobi made an effort to talk to him.

3 . This is a story about a heart-warming rescue. A lucky cat was ______ by a team of brave firefighters in Cornwall, thanks to a clever and friendly dog.

Mowgli, a lovely cat, had been ______ for six long days, leaving his owner, Michele Rose, filled with ______ and nearly admitting the fact that she would never see her pet again. However, ______ appeared again when she noticed her dog, Daisy, “going ______ ” , running crazily in and out of the nearby woods around her home in Harrow.

Daisy guided her master along a footpath ______ the old mine. She came to a sudden stop next to a ______ well at a depth of 100 feet.

“Daisy is a hero; she’s an amazing dog,” Rose said. “Without Daisy’s behaviors, Mowgli might still be ______ down there. She was exactly leading me to that ______ ; it was truly amazing.”

Following the exciting ______ , the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals(RSPCA)and Cornwall Fire and Rescue ______ a call for help. The team found Mowgli about 100 feet down and he was pulled to safety. The cat was ______ not injured.

Rose said Daisy shares a ______ tie with both of her cats, Mowgli and Baloo. “Daisy was already a year old when the little cats ______ , and they have been together ever since,” she said. “She is like their ______ , looking out for them, and they also love her.”

4 . The morning commute (通勤) is never fun. But if you pass through Stevenage on your way to work, your morning might be a little ________ thanks to the cat Nala.

Dragging yourself out of bed in the morning and off to work is hard, ________ on dark winter mornings. However, you might ________ to come out of the house with a spring in your step if your commute started at Stevenage station, where you’d be ________ by a cat called Nala.

Usually found sitting on a ticket gate, four-year-old Nala lives close to the station with her owner Natasha Ambler, and often ________ the station at rush hour to enjoy attention from commuters. Ambler ________ a Facebook page called The Adventures of Nala where hundreds of people have voluntarily ________ photos of the adventurous cat.

Recent photos posted by commuters include Nala ________ in line for her canned food at a supermarket, napping on newspaper stands and ________ with commuters at the station barriers to get their attention.

Nala wears a GPS tracking device so that her ________ can be kept track of, and is usually found at the railway station or the ________ leisure park. As well as the usual collar with her name and owners’________ information, Nala wears a tag to let people know that she’s not ________.

According to the BBC, Ambler reported that she’s not ________ about Nala in the slightest: “She’s obviously ________ and she’s very happy doing what she does — I just hope one day she doesn’t actually try to get on a train.”

5 . I first started sending articles out in the 1980s. Because I was immature at that time, I sent them to all the major magazines and newspapers and _______ waited for their replies. I didn’t know that I was starting a collection of _______ letters thick enough to support a table with half a leg cut off. And since publishers _______ sending out printed letters years ago, my ever-increasing total carries _______ weight on my hard drive (硬盘).

There’s a famous Samuel Beckett saying that goes like this, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail _______.” Beckett, a well-known Irish writer, struggled against _______ in publishing just like me.

My rejection folder weighs two pounds, but that’s considerably less than the _______ of the hundreds of magazines, newspapers and books that accepted and _______ pieces of mine. The rejection folder is just a _______ that I have to do the work and keep doing it. It’s a chance to ________ what those who reject my works have to say, to be more objective about their negative ________ and to see if there is believable value to take from the ________. It’s simply a(n) ________ to make the work better — or leave it be.

That pile of rejections is a step ________ can stand on to be a bit higher on their way to “yes”. What matters is that you can’t ________ if you don’t keep sending your articles out. Fail better.

6 . Sean Sherman, aged 49, has dedicated his career as a _________ to celebrating Native American cuisine. For his efforts, he received the 2023 Julia Child Award, which _________ those who make a difference in how people cook and eat. He is the first Native American to be _________ with the award which comes with a $50,000 grant.

Sherman, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe, was born and raised in South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. When he was a teenager, his family _________ the reservation to Spearfish, South Dakota. He began working in local restaurants and fell in love with cooking.

_________ working as a cook early in his career, Sherman noticed that the food of _________ people was not featured on menus and that native American restaurants were not _________. He dedicated himself to studying his culinary _________, including learning to use clay grills, grow corn, and source local ingredients. He used what he learned to _________ The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous kitchen and to start a(n) __________ organization to teach others about indigenous food for free.

In 2021, Sherman opened Owamni, a restaurant in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that __________ modern indigenous dishes, such as venison tartare, smoked whitefish, and mushroom stew. The restaurant quickly became __________ and was named Best New Restaurant in the US in 2022 by the James Beard Foundation.

In his __________ statement on receiving the Julia Child Award, Sherman said he is a longtime __________ of Julia Child (1912-2004), a beloved chef for whom the award is __________. “I saw the impact food can have on the world through Julia,” he said. “I’m excited to continue her legacy through my work.”

7 . 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.

8 . Even when you have confidence in yourself, your goals will sometimes seem out of reach. When that happens, get hold of the people who _________ you and your goals and don’t let go!

When I was younger, I _________ because life felt so hard. I had _________to become a teacher or a business administrator. I knew I needed a college degree, but I had _________ believing in myself. Then a teacher in my high school _________ me. He told me three things: First, if you don’t believe in yourself, it will be _________ to get anyone else to believe in you. Second, never let other people’s _________ to see your brilliance prevent you from being brilliant. And third, despite life’s _________, stick to creating the future you want.

Early in my _________, I was teaching a workshop when a person in the audience yelled out to me. He told me I had __________ made a job choice and had a bright future. This __________ feedback (反馈)came at just the right time, because while the audience didn’t know it, I was __________ self-doubt.

Even now, I __________ myself that I have a bright future. That’s what I tell myself when I __________ success and failure. You have a bright future ahead. Think about this every single day. Remember your talents, skills, and interests. Explore the jobs that interest you, and have courage—and most __________, believe in yourself.

9 . Dmitry was an artist. He lost his sketchbook (速写本) while ________ to meet a friend. Containing a decade of his work and being a visual account of the 40 year old artist’s life, the sketchbook was ________ to him.

Dmitry felt a deep sense of loss when he found his sketchbook missing. ________ the sketchbook must have fallen out of his bicycle’s back basket, he ________ set out to find it but had no luck.

Then he decided to ________ social media. He shared a post to a community group on Facebook, detailing his ________. A few other community-oriented Facebook groups reshared the post.

________, as Dmitry was looking for it, a man named Chris found the sketchbook.   As he looked through the pages, he realized the ________ of the artwork. Because he could find no name or address on it, Chris ________ hanging the sketchbook on the tree near where he found it, but feared rain might ruin it. So he took the sketchbook home, hoping to find a way to ________ the owner. Then he saw Dmitry’s Facebook ________. Chris immediately contacted Dmitry.

“And then I lectured him like his elder,” Chris ________. “I told him, ‘Put your name and number in it!’”

Dmitry tried to present Chris with a finder’s ________ but Chris refused, saying he was simply ________ to complete an act of kindness.

“I am left with a deep sense of ________,” said Dmitry.

10 . Matt and Leah Prior have quit their jobs and set off on a round-the-world overland journey with their two children: Jack, 3, and Charlotte, 1. ________ has always been part of the Prior family’s DNA.

The couple once ran into the Zapp family, who had traveled globally for 22 years, which ________ the seed that one day they could do something ________.

The Priors had been prepared for their journey. Leah worked as a teacher and Matt held many roles. Then something unexpected happened,________ them to press pause. They had to ________ everything. “We were reassessing our plans and ________ a new start. This was a family ________, not just what we might want to do ________,” says Matt.

While weighing their options, they still ________ to do an overland journey like the Zapps. “It’s probably not the most sensible decision from the perspective of career or finance, but it felt right,” they say. When deciding how to ________ their time on the road, they regarded protecting nature as their north star, naturally leading them to ________. They planned to raise conservation awareness through ________ on their social medial accounts, believing that stories can get people to ________ from within.

By including their kids in the journey, the Priors hope to ________ them to as much diversity and natural beauty as possible. “The life skills they will pick up as well as overcoming challenges will be ________.

Now the journey is on. The Priors will travel through 100 countries over the next five years.