1 . My wife and I moved into our home two years ago. We had a yard with a lot of _______. We often plant some flowers between the rocks, just to add some _______ to the area.

Last summer, I found a tiny little plant in the yard that I could not immediately identify. I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise said she didn’t either.

We decided to let it _______ growing until we could find out what it was.

Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the _______ plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. I decided to _______ the weeds (杂草) around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to pull the weeds, I noticed something _______. The sunflower had not _______ where I saw it begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the _______.

At that moment, I _______ that if a tiny little sunflower didn’t let a big rock stop its way of developing, we also have the ability of doing the same thing. If we _______ ourselves like that little sunflower, we can reach where we _______ to go and get what we need for growth.

We need to believe in ourselves knowing we have the _______ to achieve our goals. Like the sunflower, it knew it had the power to get over the rocks because it had _______ in itself that it would succeed. Stand tall like the sunflower and be _______ of who and what we are, and then the environment will begin to _______ us. We will find a way to go under or around any “rocks” in order to reach our goals.

2 . I used to be the shyest person in the world. I hid behind my older sister, whenever I had to speak to a (n) ________ person-including the McDonald’s cashier, or even a distant relative.

________ asked to speak in class, I could hardly ________, much less speak. Even among the few friends I had, my high, timid (羞怯的) voice earned me jokes-about being a girl.

Then in the seventh grade, my sister suggested I ________ voice lessons. After a little bit of ________, I did-as long as it stayed a secret. I began a series of vocal (发声的) exercising. After exercising a lot, I finally gained ________ in my voice.

A few months later, I was asked to sing for some retired people. I thought I would do better than before ________ the voice lessons. I opened my mouth and nothing. I couldn’t remember the words of the song! My face turned hot. The ________ pianist whispered a prompt (提示), and I remembered just enough to keep singing.

Then the thought ________ me: I’ve embarrassed (尴尬) myself enough in front of this ________. There’s really nothing else to lose. So in my second song, I just________ and felt the energy of the song lift me. And I did much better.

After that, I started singing to myself as ________ as I could in my own room. That’s something I would never have done before.

On a recent school trip, I was asked to sing again. It was ________ how much people liked my singing. One classmate ________ said that I should be in the school’s talent show.

I am not a shy person any more.________ has made me more outgoing. Today, I’m almost a loudmouth. I can meet people without being afraid. I can also stand in front of the whole class and give a big speech. I am proud of myself.

4 . As a vocational (职业的) school teacher in England, some of my classes are filled with students of different nationalities. So their English is often rather _________ regardless of whether they are freshmen or have lived here for a few years. But some of them manage to _________ their three-year apprenticeship (学徒期) to continue to get _________ to get further education.

In the past, I took them aside and gave them _________ tips. Over the last few weeks, I have taken three young men aside and given them tips on how to _________ English such as joining English clubs, finding ways to _________ their vocabulary and recommending language _________. After class, I even took a couple of them to a notice board which showed valuable learning information on a _________ and they were grateful for this little gesture (举动) that only took a _________ of my time.

I have only __________ a little time for giving a hand to them, but I feel it is important to __________ the youngsters in what I consider a valuable way. Once they __________ their exams, they will have their own working life here.

A little gesture may help people build bridges and be __________. It makes me happy to __________ my knowledge as a language teacher and spread those __________ in my life.

5 . A Race Against Death

It was a cold January in 1925 in North Alaska. The town was cut off from the rest of the world due to heavy snow.

On the 20th of that month, Dr. Welch ________ a sick boy, Billy, and knew he had diphtheria, a deadly infectious disease mainly affecting children. The children of Nome would be ________ if it struck the town. Dr. Welch needed medicine as soon as possible to stop other kids from getting sick. ________, the closest supply was over 1,000 miles away, in Anchorage.

How could the medicine get to Nome? The town’s ________ was already full of ice, so it couldn’t come by ship. Cars and horses couldn’t travel on the ________ roads. Jet airplanes and big trucks didn’t exist yet.

By January 26, Billy and three other children had died. Twenty more were ________. Nome’s town officials came up with a(n) ________. They would have the medicine sent by ________ from Anchorage to Nenana. From there, dogeled (狗拉雪橇) drivers — known as “mushers” — would ________ it to Nome in a relay (接力).

The race began on January 27. The first musher, Shannon, picked up the medicine from the train at Nenana and rode all night. ________ he handed the medicine to the next musher, Shannon’s face was black from the extreme cold.

On January 31, a musher named Seppala had to ________ a frozen body of water called Norton Sound. It was the most ________ part of the journey. Norton Sound was covered with ice, which could sometimes ________ without warning. If that happened, Seppala might fall into the icy water below. He would ________, and so would the sick children of Nome. But Seppala made it across.

A huge snowstorm hit on February 1. A musher named Kaasen had to brave this storm. At one point, huge piles of snow blocked his ________. He had to leave the trail (雪橇痕迹) to get around them. Conditions were so bad that it was impossible for him to ________ the trail again. The only hope was Balto, Kaasen’s lead dog, Balto put his nose to the ground, ________ to find the smell of other dogs that had traveled on the trail. If Balto failed, it would mean disaster for Nome. The minutes passed by. Suddenly, Balto began to ________. He had found the trail.

At 5:30 am on February 2, Kaasen and his dog ________ in Nome. Within minutes, Dr. Welch had the medicine. He quickly gave it to the sick children. All of them recovered.

Nome had been ________.

6 . We always celebrated my Dad’s November birthday on Thanksgiving Day, even after he entered a nursing home. As years went on, these events took on a(n) ______ meaning — a traditional birthday party for Dad, and a personal deep sense of ______ for all that he had done for me in my life.

When we knew that it might be Dad’s ______ birthday, the whole family decided to come together for a huge birthday celebration at the nursing home. It was a crowded party ______ all of us sitting around him.

Dad was a wonderful ______, and here was the biggest audience he’d ever had.

During a quiet moment, I announced that it was now Dad’s turn to ______ stories from us. I wanted everyone to tell Dad ______ we loved about him. One after another, we told stories from our hearts, while Dad listened with wet, ______ blue eyes. However, we ______ all kinds of lost details of the memories — stories about when we were little, stories about when Dad was young and stories that are shared as family ______ . Even the littlest grandchildren couldn’t ______ to tell their grandfather why they loved him. For a man who had been kind to so many people in his life, here was our ______ to honor him.

A few months later, at Dad’s memorial service, we fully realized what we had given Dad that night. Those were the stories people normally tell at a ______. They are told, then, full of tears with the hope that the departed will somehow hear the outpouring of love. ______ we had given those loving ______ to Dad when he was ______, told through laughter, accompanied by hugs and joy. I’m sure the stories and memories ______ over in his mind during his last months and days.

Words do ______, and they are enough. We need to say them, to speak them ______ to the ones we love, for everyone else to hear. That’s the way to ______ love and our chance to honor a person in life.

7 . A five-year-old boy saved his mum’s life! A woman has spoken of her _________ at discovering the boy outside her house _________ his baby sister in his arms and saying his mum had died.

Jessica Penoyer opened the door to _________ Salvatore, who had picked up his two-month-old sister and _________ his way out of their home after his mum had a seizure (发病) in the shower.

Salvatore had _________ a chair to the garage door so he could climb up and push open the switch and _________ said he fell off it once before his second attempt was successful.

When the door _________, he wrapped his baby sister in a blanket and went to the neighbour’s house to seek _________ .

In a 911 call _________, Penoyer can be heard telling emergency services: “My neighbour’s son just came to my house and said that his mum was __________ in the shower. He’s standing there and he’s clutching (抱) something and I thought it was a __________.”

Penoyer __________ thought five-year-old Salvatore was telling her his dog had died but he __________ her, saying, “No, my mum died in the shower. Can you __________ us?”

Emergency services rushed to the house following her __________ and found Salvatore’s mother, Kaitlyn, had suffered a seizure and fallen while showering—but she was still __________ .

Kaitlyn said, “Honestly, he __________ my life, because I was under the __________ and if he wouldn’t have got help, I don’t know, I would have drowned. My son has been worried and asks me, probably, a billion times if I’m going to have another seizure and die. Every day is a __________ for us.”

Brave Salvatore has since been recognised as an “honorary firefighter” after his __________ saved his mum’s life.

9 . We may have heard that it’s never too late to pursue your dreams. Now, a man _________ that to be true by achieving his lifelong _________ after 84 years. Earlier this year, 101-year-old Merrill Pittman Cooper _________ his high school diploma during a surprise graduation _________. His family worked with local school officials to _________ the celebration.

Cooper attended Storer College from 1934 to 1938, but life condition _________ him from finishing school and earning his _________. Without his father around, his mother worked as a live-in housekeeper in order to _________ his school tuition and board, but that wasn’t _________. After realizing his mother couldn’t __________ to make the final tuition payment for his senior year, the teen __________ her to move them to Philadelphia to be closer to her family.

In Philadelphia, Cooper worked to help his mother pay the bills and he was __________ as a city trolley (有轨电车) car operator in 1945. That job led him to a long and __________ career in transportation where he __________ became president of the local union in Pennsylvania and later vice president of the International Transport Workers Union in New York City. But despite such a successful __________, he always regretted not graduating and getting his high school diploma.

But now, after 84 years, Cooper was __________ able to see his lifelong dream come true. His family got the idea to __________ him with the honorary high school diploma. Cooper could hardly __________ his tears when he discovered their plan.

The whole thing was a dream come true for Cooper, who now __________ his diploma proudly from its perch (栖息处) on his bedroom dresser. “I can’t think of a __________ day,” says the inspiring 101-year-old man. “I’m really happy to have it.”