1 . In Washington DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2000 people went through the _________, most of them on their way to _________.

About four minutes later, the violinist received his first _________. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. At six minutes, a young man leaned _________ the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. At ten minutes, a three-year old boy stopped, but his mother pulled him along_________. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the _________ pushed hard and the child continued to walk,_________ his head the whole time.

At forty-five minutes, the musician played continuously. Only six people stopped and listened for a short while. About twenty gave money but continued to walk at their normal _________. The man collected a total of $32.

After one hour, he finished playing and silence _________. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no __________ at all.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most __________ pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a __________ in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

In a common-place environment, at an __________ hour, do we perceive beauty?

If so, do we stop to __________ it? If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made... How many other things are we missing as we __________ through life?

3 . College sets the stage for students to explore new sides of life. I myself went through this searching process and found something that has changed my _________ at college for the better：I discovered ASL—American Sign Language(美式手语).

The _________ began during my first week at college. I watched as the ASL Club _________ their translation of a song. Both the hand movements and the very _________ of communicating without speaking attracted me. What I saw was completely unlike anything I had experienced in the _________ . This newness just left me _________ more.

After that, feeling the need to _________ further, I decided to drop in on one of ASL Club’s meetings. I only learned how to _________ the alphabet(字母表)that day. Yet instead of being disappointed by my _________ progress, I was excited. I then made it a point to ____________ those meetings and learn all I could.

The following term, I ____________   an ASL class. The professor was deaf and any talking was not   ____________ . I soon realised that the silence was not unpleasant. ____________,if there had been any talking, it would have ____________ us to learn less. Now, I appreciate the silence and the ____________ way of communication it opens.

6 . A man was employed to paint a boat. He brought paint and _________ and began to paint the boat as the owner wanted. While painting, he _________ there was a hole in the body of the boat and decided to repair it. When he finished painting, he received his _________ and left.

The next day, the owner of the boat visited the painter and_________ him with a cheque (支票), much higher than what he was paid for the painting work. The painter was _________.

“You’ve already paid me for painting the boat, sir!” he said.

“This is not for the paint job. It’s for repairing the _________ in the boat.”

“Ah! But it was such a small service.” the man said. “Certainly it’s not worth paying me such a high amount for something so _________!”

“My dear friend，” the owner said, “You don’t understand. Let me tell you _________ happened. When I asked you to paint the boat, I _________ to mention the hole. When the boat dried, my kids took it and __________ a fishing trip. They did not know that there was a hole there. I was not at home at the time. So when I __________ and noticed they had taken the boat, I was hopeless. Imagine my __________ and joy when I saw them returning safely from fishing.”

“Then, I examined the boat and found that you had repaired the hole! You now see what you did? You __________ the life of my children!”

Each of us has a moral duty to offer help, wipe tears, listen carefully and repair all the “hole” we __________ in our life journey, because a small act will make a big __________ in the future.

7 . I was deeply moved by the kindness of an elderly flower seller at Sydney’s Central Station one evening. I was feeling as cold as the chill winds ______the steps of the workers who buried hands deep into coat pockets. In many ways, 2020 had proven a ______year. My teenage daughter had left home for university, my job of 23 years was no more, and a creative project I’d given my all to for years had also been ______ called off. I also found out a person who I’d thought was a friend was ______it.

A year earlier, I’d dreamt about an earthquake. In the dream, a red light flashed inside a building and then the earth began to ______. Walls collapsed and pieces of brick rained down on me as I ran into the open, feeling ______for the people I hadn’t loved enough. ______I was buried completely by the falling world, I stretched out my hands and ______, “Abuelo, ayudame,” in my native Spanish. “Grandfather, help me!”

Now, with the very real aftershocks of a number of ______endings, I walked into a little flower shop to buy a gift for a friend. The gentleman at the checkout looked at me and ______for a moment, returning with a fragrant flower. “For you. You need to smile today,” he said in a rich and beautiful accent, ______me the flower with eyes full of care. It took all my strength not to ______tears. Then he ______me in a grandfatherly hug that made me want to tell him everything. ______, I just thanked him and headed for the train. How did he know? I wondered. For the first time in weeks, I felt ______.

9 . Bobby the mountain climber was famous for his attempts to climb the big snowy mountain. He had tried it at least thirty times, but had always failed halfway.

For the sake of _________ Bobby to try again, Old Peeper, the town optician, who bore witness to his _________, presented him with a pair of special sunglasses. “If it starts clouding over or if your feet start hurting, put on these glasses. They’ll help you.” Bobby accepted the gift without giving it much _________, but when his feet started _________ again he remembered his words and put on the glasses. Then misfortune came as usual in the form of cloud cover, _________ seemingly not so thick this time. So Bobby kept climbing, leaving the clouds behind, forgetting his _________, and finally arriving at the summit. It was certainly worth it. His feeling of triumph was _________ and almost as magnificent as that wonderful view. The mountain below was surrounded by a dense sea of clouds. Bobby didn’t remember the clouds being as _________ as that, so he looked more closely at the sunglasses, and _________ everything.

Peeper had carved a light image on the lenses (镜片), in the form of the snow-covered summit. It was made in such a way that you could only __________ it if you looked upwards. Peeper had understood that whenever Bobby lost sight of his __________, he would similarly lose sight of his dream, and his __________ to continue would weaken.

Bobby realized that the only obstacle to reaching the summit had been his own __________. When he could no longer see the top of the mountain, the problems __________. He thanked Peeper for using that little__________ to help him see that his aims were not impossible, and that they were still there, where they had always been.