2 . In one of my classes today we discussed the question of how our lives would be without a mobile phone. I actually felt quite sad to hear how some kids cannot _______ without their phones these days. _______, I think nowadays we are _______ by our technology to keep up. So let’s see some of the points that _______ in the discussion and see if our generation really is addicted to electronic connections rather than true communication. 

It is true that everything works at a fast pace these days. For example, you can contact someone who lives on the other side of the world within _______. This is great if you think about how connected we can stay to the _______ who are far away from us. However, on the contrary, can we be too connected to the people who are _______ to us? An argument arose about the _______ that it is easier to message someone from your sofa than to meet them _______ and talk. Social skills are important to have and if you are not going to put effort into real-life __________, then you are not going to progress in this ability. 

Another point was that phones are very handy for __________ something that you are wondering about. For example, if you don’t know a word in another language, you can quickly and simply use an on-line translator to help you out. This can be very __________ in many situations, but it can also make a person dependent on the __________ to help with anything. 

All in all, this question is very interesting to __________ for oneself as we become day by day more dependent on technology. We should realize how much we really need to be connected by our phones while considering the __________ and damages it can cause us.

3 . We’ve been having a heat wave on the East Coast this summer. So the absolute thing you wouldn’t want to do is _________ in a hot car! That’s what I _________ when I saw a woman doing just that. Well, she wasn’t asleep at the time, but I guessed that was her plight (困境) when I noticed that the _________ of the car was piled high with her _________ from the passenger seat to the back seats. I’d been noticing this car _________ in the same space on this parking lot for a few weeks.

I finally _________ to the car and asked if I could get her some _________ from the store nearby. She _________ but at least I got a close enough look to see that she was not in any immediate _________ in spite of how it looked. This made me more curious. The woman said her name was Justine. As we talked, darkness began to __________, so I told her I had to __________. Thinking I’d return another day, I started for home.

A week later, I was back shopping at a store near the __________ and there was Justine in that car on a hot day! I went over to the car hoping to hear her __________. But how many people would have simply __________ without stopping? I was there to __________, not to judge or criticize.

4 . Passion, like life, is about the journey, not the destination. Kimberly and I have been planning a trip to Europe for a year. This was a _________ of ours. We took our friends Frantoise and Stein Eriksen with us.

The most exciting part of the journey started with a train ride that had some curveballs (不顺利). When we were trying to get on a _________ from Zurich to Croatia, we had gotten the departure time wrong and had to _________ around the station to make it in time. We had a tough time finding a taxi to make it to the ship. We finally found a taxi and arrived an hour late. _________, they waited for us.

Once we got onto the ship we _________ it was not like a large hotel with great service. It was a tight quarter. The bathroom was very _________. The shower was a spout (喷头) connected to the bathroom sink. You turned it on and sprayed (喷洒) yourself, along with the rest of the room.

The week-long ship ride was full of _________. There were people from different nationalities speaking different languages. We stopped on islands of all sizes. We bicycled 30-40 kilometers. Then there were high winds — so high that the buses couldn’t run because they might blow over. So we took an expensive taxi, and headed back to make our flight home.

While we loved the more predictable parts of the trip, our real passion was in the _________ — the missed rides, the _________ ship, the mixture of cultures, and even the __________.

Sometimes people are so __________ that it scares them to do something different. __________ when they do get out of their comfort zone, the different experiences they once thought were __________ are what stand out. Mixing things up, trying new things, seeing something through another person’s eyes, being __________ to adventures — this is how you create __________.

5 . I met my art teacher Ms. J in the seventh grade and she changed me.

In her first class, she encouraged us to ________ what art meant. During the discussion about facial structure and paintings, she________ the “golden ratio (黄金比例)”, a beauty standard and explained how Da Vinci applied it to his works to ensure they were visually (视觉上) attractive.

I couldn’t help but think that if my ________ had been measured against the “golden ratio”, my score would have been low.

I was born with a facial disfigurement (缺陷) and my face looked ________. After several appointments with ________, my face was changed many times with little improvement. I ________ seeing myself in the mirror.

People’s strange words and curious expressions kept telling me that I was different. Worse still my photo appeared in a magazine with big letters “Face similar to works of Picasso” right below. I felt ________.

I told Ms. J about my ________ and how my face was compared to Picasso’s painting. “Art isn’t about what you see but about what you ________.” She comforted me and told me that our ________ appearances were our signatures that we left in the world, which set us ________ and made us beautiful. And then she showed me a picture of an old man with long white hair. “You see, Da Vinci doesn’t look too pretty, but his works ________ beauty on us,” she added.

I was touched by her words, and I wondered why I had never thought this way. “Being compared to Picasso may seem like a shame, but it’s a(n) ________. You are unique and you are a masterpiece.”

Today, when I look into the mirror, I will remember the words of my teacher, “Beauty is subjective” and I get to know my appearance is my ________.

It takes me years to ________ that beauty is more than a cold calculation(计算).

6 . I was a stay-at-home dad, which gave me plenty of time to cook. Ever since I was a kid, cooking had been one of my _________. My dad had given me some great advice. “If you’re gonna cook,” he began, “you might as well make sure it’s tasty.” So with that _________, I’d set about making each dish as _________ as I could. I figured that if something looked and _________ good then, chances were, it would taste great too.

One day, I was on the Internet when I noticed my best friend, Dave had _________ a video of him cooking. He was _________ with The Fathering Project, a non-profit organization that helped men be the best dads they could. “We’re always looking for content,” he said, “Can you _________ your videos with us?” I was more than happy to _________ other fathers to get into the kitchen. So I started to _________ videos of my cooking. I also gave viewers plenty of __________. “The kitchen can be a place to __________ with others,” I told them. My son and daughter helped me with washing and cutting, but most importantly, we all shared a __________ with each other, My videos grew so __________ that dads around the country were setting out for my suggestions. It’s been an enormous __________ to transform my enthusiasm into something that’s helping others. I hope my videos will keep giving dads a taste of the __________ cooking brings to our lives.

10 . I had the pleasure and honor of serving as Newport Beach ocean lifeguard (救生员) for five years. One day, I was working at Tower 15. Two blocks to my right was another _______ named Mike, who was working at Tower 17. He called me over the phone and said, “I have noticed a couple of kids. I am going to give them a _______. Keep an eye on them.”

I said. “Sure. ” And he _______.   

Anytime you got out of your tower, you were _______ to let somebody else know, so as to avoid accidents. And sure enough, as soon as he hung up the phone, a rip current (离岸流) snapped up under these two kids, and they were getting sucked (吸) down into the _______. Mike saw it and he ran at full speed to the ocean.   

I called for backup (支援) and said, “Two children _______ in water. Call for backup. 17 was out. I’m going.”

By then, the mother of the two kids had _______ what was happening. She screamed (大喊). I started rushing toward the ocean, but _______ I was even halfway there, Mike had reached the kids — a boy and a girl. Mike told me later that he _______ to the boy first, and when he turned to the girl, he had to dive into the water and catch her by the hair to __________ her out.   

When I reached the mother, Mike was __________ in waist-deep water. The kids were so __________ that they couldn’t walk, so Mike got one kid under each of his arms and brought them onto the beach.   

I __________ the mother and said, “Hey, it’s going to be OK. They’re safe now.” I saw that the __________ look started to disappear from her face.   

What a frightening experience! What a __________ Mike is!