1 . When I was 10 years old, my aunt and uncle lived far away from my parents.

Suffering from a severe disease _______ my uncle to walk with a stick. Back in the 1950s, he was _______ unable to work, so my aunt worked full-time to support the family. _______, she was responsible for her elderly mother who lived with them, too. As an innocent kid, I didn’t know that their _______ situation was not stable.

One day, my father and I went to see them, and my aunt asked me to get a _______, so she could pour me some milk. When I _______ the cupboard for a glass, I found that one of the drinking glasses on the shelf held a $10 bill. I felt so _______. At the time, $10 was a respectable _______ of money. Later, I asked my father why they kept money in a glass. It wasn’t until then that I _______ it was my father who’d __________ the money there. My father wanted to help his brother secretly, but didn’t want to make him __________ by handing him cash, which his brother surely would have __________. Dad knew the money would be discovered after our __________, thus avoiding any rejection and face-to-face __________ to keep the cash.

I learned a lot from my father about __________, pride, and how people help one another out while leaving their dignity unhurt.

2 . Alexa Bjornson was starting to get worried. Her 7-year-old son, Landon, was set to head off on a flight, but that wasn’t all. Landon was flying all_______ to see his father but had been diagnosed with high-functioning autism (自闭症)．

This means that traveling can be pretty _______ for the youngster. Plus, Alexa wouldn’t be by her son’s side to help him through it all.

The mom knew she needed to make sure that Landon was as _______ as possible. She decided the best way to keep him safe was to tell the other person on the plane. How? Alexa wrote a(n) _______ for Landon to hand to someone. The mom_______ Landon’s diagnosis (诊断) and said that he could be_______ and ask the same questions. Alexa also attached $10 to the note to ask if the passenger could _______ Landon to feel relaxed.

Not only did Landon find a _________ on the plane, but a passenger named Ben sent photo proof that he had looked after Landon throughout the _______. That wasn’t all. Ben also admitted that the $10 was unnecessary, and he had ________ to an autism charity in Landon’s name to help someone else that could need the__________.

Alexa started her day ________ about how her autistic son would cope with the flight. Little did she know that Landon would not only meet a________ friend, but she would learn that some people want to make sure the world is a ________ place, too. Mom of the autistic son learns the ________ of strangers. Fortunately, one good deed soon turned into a chain reaction.

3 . Oscar is a homeless young man in Portland. I _______ him years ago online by chance. I wrote to him last spring to see how I could help him. He has an autoimmune disease (自身免疫性疾病) and lost his_______ during COVID-19 and then his home.

It was months before he finally _______. He hoped to have a fan to keep _______ in the hot summer. We sent him one quickly. Later he said he _______ on concrete (水泥) and needed a ground mattress (床垫). The next month we got him that. He later _______ how wet it is in Portland so I found him a pair of waterproof (防水的) pants. He said that summer was like Christmas as he _______ so many things.

I _______ I could do more. My heart breaks for him. I told him how my son Ben was _______ and how he used to use the name Oscar in a game. “I’m sorry for that. But I’m not your ________,” he said. “I know. But I hope wherever he is, if he is homeless too, a ________ person is helping him.”

The other day I got a ________ from Oscar on the phone: “I have found a job and I just wanted to thank you for your generosity.”

________, most people we had helped for years found homes. One of those, John, leads a fulfilled (充实的) life. And I even plan to ________ a story about his excellent performance. I hope Oscar will find a ________ too. We’ll do whatever we can to help him until he does.

4 . Linda Munson, 56, has worked a desk job from home since the initial COVID shutdown. At the height of the pandemic, when going to the gym wasn’t an option, millions of people began exploring ________ workouts from home. Munson’s never been much of a ________ person. “I am very socially awkward. I probably would sign up for a ________ and then not go,” she says.

In 2021, she was ________ with diabetes (糖尿病) and her doctor told her she needed to ________ more on her health. She started walking and ________ out junk food. One day, her son brought home a VR headset called an Oculus Quest.

While messing around with it, Munson ________ the popular fitness app Supernatural, and she was hooked. Supernatural lets you box, swing your arms at ________, meditate (冥想) or stretch with a ________ in front of you and in your ear while you’re moving to popular music.

Currently, Supernatural membership ________ hundreds of workouts and costs $179 per year, after a two-week free ________. The Oculus Quest headset needed to ________ it is $299. It’s worth it, Munson says. “When you finish one workout, you’re tired, but you think, “I can do one more.” Moving to the beat is ________, she says, and “so much fun.” Also, “there’s nobody ________ you. I’m home and I can be weird,” she says.

Munson has lost nearly 50 pounds in a year, has not had to take diabetes ________, and can now play with her seven active grandchildren.

5 . A woman is volunteering in ashelter. It all started because she missed her own _________ .

Sandy was at a loss when her beloved Angus died last year — terribly lonely, yet not quite______for a new dog in her life. ________, she decided to volunteer at the local animal shelter and spend some quality time with furry friends who, like her, were ________ their old buddies (伙伴).

Remembering that her dog had loved being read to, she brought along a ________   there.

It's now been 18 months sinceSandy first began ________ her chair beside the dog house. Shelter workers say it really calms down the dogs, but Sandy says it does more ________ to her than it does to the dogs.

Sandy was ________ that photos of her reading to dogs were spreading on the Internet until the media started calling. Kathleen, a fellow shelter volunteer was so touched by the sight of her     ____ to an old dog that she took a photo and posted it on the Internet. She was so ______ with the dogs — I watched her read to several — and they just loved being ________ by her, "Kathleen said.

Inspired by Sandy's style of _________, the shelter has announced that a reading marathon is being ________ for next September. The plan is to get kids in the neighborhood ______ in reading to the animals, with the added benefit of reading practice for the two-leggers, along with plenty of friendly _______ for the four-leggers.