1 . On December 26, 2004, a 10-minute-long earthquake with a 9.3 magnitude took place in the Indian Ocean. This earthquake, which is the third _______ ever recorded in history, caused powerful tsunamis (海啸) that reached many countries’ _______. About 230,000 people were _______ by the disaster. Hundreds of thousands of others were injured _______ disappeared. One of them is a little _______ named Wati.

The tsunami _______ her hometown of Aceh when she was only 3 years old. Like so many others, the huge waves separated her from her family, and she was _______ to an unknown town. After days of _______, her family eventually gave up and thought she had _______.

However, Wati had been ________ by a stranger who found her on the street after the tsunami. The stranger had tried to find her family, but Wati could not ________ the names of her parents and only knew that she had a grandfather named Ibraham.

________ later, a taxi driver who heard Wati’s story happened to know an old man with that name in a nearby town and decided to take her to him. Although the old man did not ________ her at first, he took Wati to see his ________.

“When I saw my mother, I knew it was her,” said the 15-year-old Wati. “I just knew.”

The parents recognized their daughter ________ because of the birthmark on the body.

2 . It was the first time Moham went to a restaurant in his new neighborhood. He looked up at the menu board, and ________ how he could understand what all of these strange names meant. Moham decided that he would ________ ask the waitress for ice cream in a cup. She smiled brightly, wrote down his ________ and disappeared behind the big glass display case (陈列柜). A moment later, she came back with a tall paper cup. ________ it was a long straw (吸管) and some kind of drink. Moham, quite ________, took the cup and thanked her, thinking about the possibility that he had used wrong words.

“It’s the soda you ordered,” ________ said, “an ice cream drink in a cup”.

He smiled at the waitress, pointed at one of the ________ in the display case, and said, “That one, please," which seemed to ________ better.

Moham took the cake and his unexpected soda to a table and sat down to eat. Why was it that English had been so ________ for him in his classes in Tunisia, but when it came to ________speaking, he couldn’t even get what he wanted to eat?

Just then, a girl, who sat at the next table and had watched the whole ________, smiled at him and said, “Hey, welcome to our beautiful city! Don’t feel ________ about your English-you’ll get better at it ________ you’ve lived here for a while. I’m from Spain, and the first time I tried to order a salad here, I ________ with a plate of pig’s feet. At least you got a soda!”

Hearing this, Moham felt much better. He wasn’t the only one ________ to communicate, and his new city began to feel just a little more like he could call it home.

3 . A forest after a wildfire

Throughout my career, I’ve had many chances to enter various wildfire areas. But I’ve ________ had the opportunity to see the immediate scene after a fire.

So when I ________ into a recently burned forest, my first reaction was the deathly ________ hung in the air. There were no birds, no breeze caught in the leaves of a tree, or animal noises. It felt as if life itself had totally ________ from this place. What was even worse, the burned-out forest meant that a large amount of ________ alongside the road was no longer ________ by the under-growth (灌木丛) . Oil cans, glass, plastic bags—you name it, and you can find it.

Knowing there was a story here that needed ________ , I raised my camera with a heavy heart, no matter how ________ . Photographing burned-out areas is ________ , since there is really only a bunch of burned-out wood. Through my lenses, I sought to connect viewers to the ________ of the disaster.

For a nature photographer passionate about environmental protection, it’s important to ________ the ugly as well as the beautiful. We need to put those two things together, so while ________ hope, we are aware of what has been taken from us, and how ________ that loss can be. Without that balance, we risk becoming used to a world shaped by destruction and not the one of ________ . Nature will regenerate, but now, we must consider what ________ we humans play in that process, too.

4 . Children in the Indonesian city of Bogor are cleaning up a local lake on their own in small boats, called kayaks, out on the water.

They direct the kayaks to _______ floating trash from the water and place it in their boats. _______, on land, all the trash is examined and _______.

About 20 children join in the _______ to fight pollution but it began with one boy. Ten years ago, Giri Marhara began to _______ himself to cleaning up the lake. He was just 16 and had a _______ of keeping his environment clean. It soon became _______ with younger people, gaining support and attention. They _______ a group last year, called the Situ Gede Cleanliness Warrior, named after the lake. They have _______ more than 2,700 kilograms of trash in and around the lake.

The trash problem in Indonesia is ________. It is estimated that 35 percent of waste in the country is ________ and garbage can always be seen. Waste is also ________ for around 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Worse still, the problem has also raised ________ concerns. For example, plastic waste gets broken down into ________ pieces called microplastics, which can damage the immune systems, and carry an increased ________ of cancers.

But as waste continues, youth-led ________ can still make a difference, even if it is just for small areas or communities. Indonesia has a littering ________. Lasting change will require ________ the behavior that is causing trash to be thrown away ________ there in the environment. “I think that the only way to ________ that culture is by developing a cleanup culture,” Marhara said.

5 . What would you do if you won the lottery (彩票-抽奖)? For one North Carolina man, the answer is simple: he would help others by supporting ________. Sana is a 39-year-old dance ________ in North Carolina whose motherland is Mali, a war-torn country in West Africa. Hoping to ________ the kids from his native country, he ________ a scratch-off ticket (刮刮乐) . Fortunately, luck was ________, and he won $100,000. Now, he’s planning to put it towards a great ________.

Sana is interested in giving back to his community, particularly to the future generations who will hopefully keep ________ alive. Sana holds the belief that traditions are vital to the fabric of a community as they ________ who people are and where they come from. “I love to dance and I want to ________ the children in Mali,” he admits.

West African folk dance has historically been a(n) ________ tradition in African societies. However, the rapid pace of globalization has caused a loss of interest among ________ generations. “This is of great ________ as the disappearance of traditional dance ________ the loss of community identity and historical significance,” he explains.

In an effort to keep it alive, Sana has been ________ traditional Malian dance workshops in the U. S. When he gets the chance to travel to his hometown, he gives lessons to homeless children. ________, these group classes take place out in the open, ________ on dirt floors. That’s the reason why his ________ has long been to support education and ________ more spaces for it in his native country.

Ultimately, the dance instructor is just ________ to see his dream come true little by little and the money will surely go a long way in ________ Malian traditions.

6 . Packing up my luggage, I felt a wave of fear. Maybe tomorrow’s flight would be ________ and I didn’t have to go after all — I ________ hoped. It was May 2022, and I’d ________ my job in London to begin a year-long journey around the world.

I loved to travel and had been ________ to visit many countries with friends and family. This time, I’d be travelling alone, which was pretty ________ for a woman with a disability, though I have learnt to ________ life in a wheelchair since I was 7.

Accessibility isn’t much of a(n) ________ in some countries, but my first ________ on my solo trip was Bali. Although I’d ensured my hotel wouldn’t be a problem, I couldn’t ________ any risks.

“If it doesn’t ________, you can always come home.” my parents ________ me. But I wasn’t going to give up without a ________.

In Bali, the hotel where I stayed was ________ by a kind woman who made sure I had ________ to the shower and anything else I needed. With her help, I made it to a mountain ________ and saw most of the island’s sights. As ________, the view from the top was thrilling.

After that, I made the trip up as I went, staying in a country until I got ________ and moved on to the next. Wherever I went, such as Africa and Asia, I was greatly impressed by the ________ of strangers helping me.

________, I’d visited a total of 66 countries on my own by February 2023. Now, I’m fully ________ that a disability doesn’t have to stop a person from getting out there and seeing the world.

7 . At 20 years old, I was a confident and handsome student at the University of California at Berkey.

But that year, I ________ a bump (肿块) in my right nostril (鼻孔), and when it didn’t go away, I made an ________ with a doctor. It turned out to be a tumor (肿瘤). Then I underwent surgery. Fortunately, the procedure was ________, and I returned to classes soon.

But six months later, a new bump appeared. Numerous ________ confirmed it had reproduced a horrible, life—threatening tumor. I was advised to have another operation and ________ that I might lose part of my nose. I was too young to think about death then, but the thought of disfigurement (毁容) made me feel ________.

I awoke from the surgery with a scarred, disfigured face. As I re-entered the real world, I noticed adults ________ and children pointing—and sometimes laughing—at me. The occasional and ________ negative reactions from my friends also hurt me. My self-respect sank increasingly lower, and I constantly asked others, “Do my looks ________ you?”

Five years and 20 reconstructive surgeries later, I ________ a man receiving treatment. After hearing my question, he criticized me. My problem, he ________ me, was not my physical appearance, but my emotional insecurity. His ________ helped me realize my mental scars were far more disfiguring than my physical ones.

I began examining myself from the inside out. Later, I volunteered at a cancer support organization to offer inspiration and hope to those ________ cancer

Now, I am ________ for who I am—a much stronger person than before. To you, I offer this message: Avoid making judgements about people at ________.

8 . Lisa was a teacher of my two sons. In 2000, she ______ to teach my elder son, Bob, who had difficulty in writing and reading. It took Lisa much patience to ______ Bob. With her special education, Bob ______ in his class and was finally admitted to a Chinese university with excellent grades. I ______ believed it was Lisa’s special teaching style that made Bob finally ______ out. Years later, my complete ______ was confirmed again.

Luckily, my younger son, Mike, also studied in Lisa’s class. Lisa made a bigger ______ on him. “Every student is unique, so ______ teaching is the key,” she said. “Every man has his price.” Because she was aware of her students’ ______, she designed multiple schemes to guide the children.

Mike’s grades had fallen behind other students. It was a challenge for Lisa to teach him whose grades were at the   ______ of the class. Lisa learned Mike had a(n) ______ personality. He liked meeting friends, loved chatting with them and enjoyed their ______. It was because he often stayed with others that he didn’t have enough time to focus on his ______. Lisa not only taught Mike to ______ life and learning but also ______ time — most for study and some for fun. She even invited Mike’s best friend to learn together with him and ______ them after school. Eventually, they significantly raised their scores. However, Lisa reminded me that it wasn’t the scores but the ______ that mattered. She couldn’t be more proud of my son’s stepping ______.

In terms of child education, Lisa is a(n) ______ example to all. Although Mike has graduated, I can’t be more ______. I really want to say to her again, “Thanks.”

9 . Our son, Tobey, has always had a generous spirit, as well as a very independent nature. Like many small boys, he liked to show his _______ for someone by doing a kind or helpful thing.

“I’m going to make Vanessa’s birthday cake,” he announced _______ at age nine. I knew that he loves his sister and he was eager to do something very grown-up to honor Vanessa’s special day but I was a little _______ about how he would accomplish this _______ task. Fortunately, the cake his sister most _______ was available and the instructions certainly didn’t sound too _______.

On the eve of Vanessa’s birthday, he _______ his homework and carried out the list of _______ carefully. He broke eggs into a bowl for the first time and measured out the other ingredients as though he were _______ priceless objects. Encouraged by his ________, I went to answer a phone call and was ________ to see him working his hands in the bowl. I wanted to shout but thankfully, the astonishment kept these words stuck in my ________. When he saw my expression, he immediately ________ me that he’d washed his hands ________ in the washbasin in front of the cupboard. After finishing all the ________, he put the cake into the baking pan carefully. Soon the smell of baking cake filled the house. Finally, the cake ________ beautifully. Vanessa was ________ by Tobey’s loving gesture and she gave him a big hug.

Now Tobey has become an accomplished cook who still likes to show the love by ________ others good food. People who are ________ in helping others may have much more ________ to develop powerful skills and get happiness more easily.

10 . At 7:01 A.M., my twin daughters, Natasha and Ariel, were scheduled to begin third grade at Chengdu Experimental Primary School.

For my wife, Leslie, and me, getting our daughters into Chengdu Experimental had been a long and mysterious _________. In the spring of 2018, we had travelled from our home in Colorado to Chengdu in order to visit schools. We’d come away with a good _________ of Chengdu Experimental, which is considered to be perhaps the best public primary school in the city. But officials were uncertain about _________ Ariel and Natasha. The school had no recent _________ of educating foreigners, and if the twins were to attend, they would be the only Westerners in a student body of about two thousand.

At 4:30 P.M., I waited alone in front of the gate. When Class Six _________ out of the schoolyard, Teacher Zhang walked at the front of a neat line of children, and Ariel and Natasha were at the end. The twins held it together until they reached me.

‘‘I feel so stupid!” Ariel said. She burst into tears, pressing against my side. “We didn’t understand anything!” Her sister was also _________: “I don’t want to go back!” A few parents looked _________ in my direction, and Teacher Zhang hurried over. She was middle-aged, with large, alert eyes and a gentle _________. “I think that it was difficult for them,” she said. I thanked her for her _________, and I said that we would continue to work on Mandarin at home. I waited for Ariel and Natasha to __________ before we walked to the subway station.

In order to become proper Chinese third graders, Natasha and Ariel needed to memorize a total of sixteen hundred __________. They started with ten a day. Leslie organized our system of home study, and every afternoon, when the twins returned from school, she __________ them a new stack of flash cards. For each set of ten, we quizzed them twice: first on __________, then on writing. The flash cards outlined the correct stroke (笔画) order, and the twins wrote the characters over and over in dozens of cheap brown exercise books that lay scattered like autumn leaves around the apartment.

Luckily enough, it was amazing how quickly my twins were becoming members of the school’s system. At the end of the first week, a school rally __________ Chengdu International Poetry Week. I saw that Natasha and Ariel had been __________ in the front row, waving their arms and smiling.