1 . It was New Year’s Night. An _________ man was standing at a window. He raised his _________ eyes towards the deep blue sky, where the stars were_________ like water lilies on the surface of a clear calm lake. Then he _________ them on the earth, where a few more_________ people than himself now moved towards their certain goal—the _________. He had already passed sixty of the stages leading to it, and he had brought from his journey _________ but errors and regrets. Now his health was poor, his mind vacant and his heart _________.

The days of his _________ appeared like dreams before him, and he recalled the serious moment when his father placed him at the ____________ of the two roads—one leading to a peaceful, sunny place, the other leading to a deep, ____________ cave. He looked towards the sky and cried ____________, “Oh youth, return! Oh, my father, place me once more at the entrance to life, and I will choose the ____________ way!” But both his father and the days of his youth had ____________.

The clock in the church tower ____________ and the sound made him remember his parents’ early ____________ for him. They had taught him and prayed to God for his ____________. But he chose the ____________ way. His darkened eyes were full of tears, and with a despairing ____________, he burst out a cry, “Come back ,my early days!”

And his youth did ____________, for all this was only a dream which he had on New Year’s Night.

2 . It was a Thursday evening when I began experiencing stomach pain. I thought it would be fine the next day; however, that was not the_________.

I woke up with even more pain than I had_________but I just took some medicine and went to my friend Vera’s house, where her mum saw pain in my eyes but I_________to be OK. I even took more medicine after a couple of hours―nothing_________.

I was unwilling to go to the doctor, but after a lot of_________from Vera and her family, I decided to visit the walk-in clinic. Then the doctor said, “You have appendicitis.” I was so___________But I had to go to the hospital.

The doctor asked the necessary questions and_________where the pain was coming from. After many_________, it was confirmed (证实)— it was appendicitis(阑尾炎). He said I had to have an operation and_________it for the next morning. My mind was flooded with so many questions. How long would I be out of__________? How much would it all cost? Would I be__________for the surgery? If not, what if I couldn’t wake up?

Vera’s mom gave me the__________to my never-ending questions. She said, “Why are you so bothered about the wrong things? This is your life! You can worry about anything, but what if it is too________to treat you? What will you worry about then?” I__________had my surgery the next morning and it turned out to be__________.

I was on bed resting for a little over a week. I__________not to take life for granted. In that week, I found myself__________my free time―not having to work, just relax. Sometimes it’s good to take some time off our daily routines. We shouldn’t wait till something__________us to. Take time out of this__________moving world to stop and enjoy the wonders of __________. Enjoy the beautiful people and things around us.

3 . We are surrounded   by stories of sadness, cruelty and violence. Evil arrests our   __ . But there are also many____stories of selfless goodness. They could___ go unnoticed, but such acts can also change lives forever.

My brothers and I __ with a story of something that happened to my father,   who___ seven years ago. It is a story of family tragedy and astonishing, quiet   kindness. My father’s father died when my father was 11. His mother was a widow at 34, and as an only child, he___ much of his grief alone. In   accordance   with   traditional___ , he began to walk very early to church each morning to say prayers in his father’s___ .

At the end of his first week, he___ that the ritual director of the synagogue, Mr. Einstein, walked past his home just as he left to walk to church . Mr. Einstein, ___ advanced in years explained, “Your home is on the way to the church. I thought it might be fun to have some___ . That way, I don’t have to walk alone.”For a year my father and Mr. Einstein walked through the New England __ , the   humidity of summer and the snow of winter. They talked about life and loss and, for a while, my father was not so___ .

After my parents married and my oldest brother was born, my father___ Mr. Einstein, now well into his 90s, and asked if Mr. Einstein could meet his new wife and child. Mr. Einstein___ , but said that in view of his age my father would have to come to him.

My father once wrote about what happened: “The journey was long and___ . His home, by car, was ______   twenty minutes away. I drove in tears as I   ______   what he     had done. He had walked for an hour to my home so that I would not have to be alone each morning. … By the simplest of gestures, the___ of caring, he took a frightened child and he___ him with confidence and with faith back into life.”

4 . Scott loved his basketball team and always played hard for it. Last year, they had won the state finals. This year, they were finding things much ___________. Three _________ were left before the finals and Scott's team needed to _______ them all to go to the finals. They made two but near the _______ of the third game, they were behind by six points. Scott had also hurt his_______ when he fell on the court.

''Are you okay to _______?'' asked his coach. Scott looked at the injury on his knee.

''I'll be _______,'' he said.

Scott knew the _________ of his decision. He could hurt his knee even more. Or he could ___________ not to play.   He knew that not playing might cause his team to________. As he rested before the final quarter, he decided to play through the pain. He________ that he was going to win this game for the team he________.

As the quarter began, he caught the ball after the other __________ made a mistake. He bounced the ball down the court and threw the ball into the basket. Scott ________ towards his coach. They were only four points behind now. Scott kept playing __________ during the final quarter. He __________ scored a three-point shot from the center of the court. With just two________ left, Scott's team was still one point behind. Scott was passed the ball by his teammate. He ____________ the pain in his knee and ran forward. He ____________ towards the end of the court. His feet left the ground. He sent his shot into the basket and earned his side two points. The final whistle (哨音) blew seconds after. Scott's________ decision had helped his team reach the finals.

5 . When I was eight, I wanted a toy and needed $10 to buy it. But, as usual, I was broken. I decided to ask my 11-year-old sister, Kathleen, for a loan. I went to her room, _______ her for the cash. Laughing, she agreed to lend me the money, but _______, “I will charge you 10 percent compound interest every _______ until you pay me back.”

“Compound interest-what’s that?” I asked.

“Well, interest is what you call the _______ money borrowers have to pay back on a loan,” she explained. “Compound interest means that the interest payments get bigger and bigger the _______ it takes you to pay back the loan. To repay the loan, you will need to give me $11 after one month. If you wait two months to pay me back, your _______ will grow from $10 to $11. So I’ll be charging you interest on $11. Then I will add that interest to the $11 you already owe me, for a _______ of $12.10. That’s what you’ll owe after two months. “

“Sure. I get it,” I said. Though truthfully, I was getting _______.

Kathleen lent me the money, and I bought the toy. My birthday came a month later, and my mom gave me $10. _______, that was just the amount I needed to buy another toy I wanted ________. I ________ paying my sister for a month. After another month, I forgot about the loan.

Several months later, on Christmas morning, my sister and I each found a $20 bill in our stockings. I was just putting it into my pocket ________ Kathleen tapped me on the shoulder.

“Sorry, kiddo. That’s mine. I’m ________ your debt.”

“Huh?” Then I ________ the loan. “Hey! How can it be that much? I only borrowed $10.”

“True,” she said, “but interest has been compounding for eight months. Now you owe me $21.43.” She paused, and then, smiling triumphantly, said, “You can pay me the $1.43.”

I ________ to believe that a $10 loan could more than double so quickly. Much to my ________, my sister got her pencil and tablet and showed me exactly how it all ________.

My head ________ as I tried to keep track of Kathleen’s calculations, but this time, I got the basic ________of compound interest. I learned from this ________experience that borrowing money could be “double trouble” in no time.

6 . I've learned a lesson that accepting kindness is important，too. I'm a social worker and have been_______more time recently with those unlucky people that some might say are less_______. I had a wonderful interaction(互动) this past week，when I had the _______of being the receiver of kindness. I was speaking to a gentleman who has bad luck and is in_______. We were just talking for a while and getting to_______each other.

Towards the end of our evening he said he wanted to_______me a hamburger at the nearby fast food restaurant. In time before，I would have_______that he let me buy him a meal，since he had a greater_______than I. But my kindness experience has taught me the _______ of being a good receiver，too. So I told him if he ________wanted to do that, I would be________to share a meal with him.

It was great! He was so happy to be able to________ something like that and he was________the entire time. I felt ________ to take away the wonderful feeling of someone's giving. We ________some great conversation and I could see it ________so much to him.

As we parted ways，instead of me feeling bad that he probably spent his last few________on our meal，I smiled and felt with a wonderful________of connection and gratitude. It's not only fun to be a receiver of kindness, ________this also gives someone else the chance to be the_________That is important, too.

7 . One morning our new neighbor saw my grandfather planting two rare tree saplings(树苗）in our garden. And he also planted the same kind of tree saplings in his garden. My grandfather gave________enough amount of water to his plants and didn't always give them full ______while our neighbor gave a lot of water to his plants and ______them too well. My grandfather's plants were simple but looked good, _______our neighbor's plants were much fuller and greener.

Normally, in summer, we have strong thunderstorms called "Kalboishakhi" which can bring great damage to life and _______. After a "Kalboishakhi", my grandparents and I came out to________the damage to our garden and saw the neighbor was in his garden, too, but look ______as his plants were uprooted. Our plants weren't damaged and were standing ______ on the ground, our neighbor was______ to see this, and he came up to my grandfather and said with______, I actually looked after my plants better than you did for yours. ______, my trees came off from the roots, but yours didn't. How is this_______?"

My grandfather smiled and said, "You gave your plants more attention and water, so they didn’t have the ______to work themselves for anything. I gave them just the ample amount of and manure (肥料），letting their_______ search for more;thus they went deeper and made their position   stronger, That is why my plants________ With an expression of deep_______ our neighbour nodded_______It made me realize then that though my grandfather was ______with me on many occasions even during our vacations with his do's and don'ts, I became aware that anything ______got or can go off   that much more easily and we will not ______the hard work it takes earn those things. "

8 . The season was changing and deep winter was creeping in. The weather was very cold. Outside, a heavy snow was ____ continuously, like an old woman plucking her geese _____, and the snow must have been nearly fifteen centimeters _____. It had been falling _____ we got up in the morning. The snowy fields, which some people ______as a dumb, lifeless aspect, assumed a _____, pleasing sight in the view of the children. They couldn’t help ____go out and play with many other kids of their age in spite of the _______ that they might feel stiff and catch a chill(感冒). And it really _____the joy of all of us bigger children, who were taking every ______to play and enjoy ourselves ____the full playing with snow or making snowmen, or _____rolling and running on the snow-covered ground.

_______ the house, a fire was burning, making it a pleasant and comfortable place for _____ who wanted to stay in. In the _____ of my mum was my one-year-old brother, who was _____a traditionally made Chinese cotton cap . The colorfully embroidered cap, which had a tiny bell on each side, could produce silvery pleasant   _____when shaken. The boy was laughing joyfully while he was ____ his head again and again, making repeated silvery sounds. It was the custom for a small child to wear such a cap, with the parents’ hope of the child’s growing to be   _____ and strong. It was from my little brother’s smiling face that I have now ______to know that ignorance is bliss(幸福). And such innocence(天真) could only occur in a small child!

9 . One afternoon, my son Robby came home and lay down. He slept for a long time, but ______ very sick. I was ______ and called my friend Bill. He told me to take Robby to the nearby clinic (诊所) and also told me the way to get there. We started out immediately.

The doctor there ______ Robby, and then said, “I’m afraid you’ll have to drive him to the ______. He needs a(n) ______ right away.” “But we have just moved here ______ I have no idea where the hospital exactly is!” I said. She just replied simply, “You can do it. There’s no ______ to waste.” Robby was feeling ______. I had to start off again though not exactly knowing where I was going.

I ______ in the direction (方向) which I thought was right , but soon getting ______. It was late at night and there was ______ on the street. We stopped at a red light. Then an old car pulled up next to us. The people _______ it looked rough (粗野). I felt nervous at first, but I had to ______ them. I rolled down the window. “We’re lost. Could you please help us find the hospital?” I said almost ______. “No problem, just follow us,” they replied.

I had no ______ but to follow them. After a ______ time and many turns, we ______ arrived at the hospital. I ______ Robby into the emergency room (急诊室). Several doctors examined Robby and ______ that he needed an operation at once.

To this day, I still remember those ______ people who helped us to find our way.

10 . Driving laws in Ontario allowed teenagers to get their licenses (执照) at the age of sixteen! As my sixteenth birthday drew near, I got increasingly __ .

My father, who __ driving, was the clear choice to be my driving instructor. The first __ took place in the driveway. I was afraid to touch the gear shift (换挡杆), which was sticking out of the floorboard. However, my father___ explained everything from the gear shift to the turn signals.

For the next lesson, my father asked me to __ the car, and then he guided me into reverse (倒车). As I pressed the gas (油门), I felt the car starting to move backward. I was___ the car!

Two weeks of lessons passed, and I was beginning to get __ . My father had me drive around the same block again and again. When I couldn't __ it any more, I asked to move to a street that had more action. “Tomorrow. I think you are __ ,”my father replied, his eyes shining with pride.

I was __ on a busy street the next night. I shifted from first gear to second gear with no____. Then came third gear. When I reached the __ I wanted, I put the car into fourth. I was flying in the car! My father's __ brought me back to reality. He said calmly, “Darling, there's a red light ahead.”My mind went blank (空白的). I did not __ what to do. I flew through the crossroads, which by chance was empty.

That night my father was ___. I cried silently. How____we hadn't hit anyone or any car. I waited for my father to ___me, but he did not. I realized the seriousness of my driving through a red light. That lesson has __ with me for thirty years. Until now I have not ___that day. I remember how __ a loving father who taught his daughter to drive is.