1 . You can tell a lot about a man by how he treats his dogs.

For many years, I enjoyed living with my dogs, Tilly and Chance. Their _______ was nearly enough to keep my loneliness at bay. Nearly. Last year, I started dating, but with _______. When I first dated Steve, I _______ he had a dog, Molly, and a cat, Flora. While I was _______ that he was an animal lover, I _______ that three dogs were perhaps too many, and my dogs might attack _______, the cat.

The next week we _______ our dogs together. It was a hot day. When we paused to catch our _______, Steve got down on one knee. Was he proposing (求婚)? I liked him too, but so _______? He poured water from a bottle into his hand and offered it to my dogs. ____________, I began to fall for him.

We ____________ to date, though neither of us brought up the future. And then in late November, Tilly had an operation on her ____________. I took the dogs out four times a day, and I worried that Tilly ____________ climbing the stairs could reopen the wound. Then Steve ____________ his house. All worked ____________. The three dogs formed a pack that, with coaching, ____________ Flora’s space; Steve and I formed a good team ____________ for Tilly. We made good housemates.

A year later, much to my ____________, this man produced a little box with a ring and proposed to me. He did not kneel (跪) down, nor did I ____________ him to. That’s only for giving ____________ to the dogs that brought us together.

3 . Since our twins began learning to walk, my wife and I have kept telling them that our sliding glass door is just a window. The _______ is obvious. If we _______ it is a door, they’ll want to go outside _______. It will drive us crazy. The kids apparently know the _______. But our insisting it’s _______ a window has kept them from _______ millions of requests to open the door.

I hate lying to the kids. One day they’ll _______ and discover that everything they’ve always known about windows is a _______.

I wonder if _______ should always tell the truth no matter the ____________. I have a very strong     ____________ that the lie we’re telling is doing ____________ damage to our children. Windows and doors have ____________ metaphorical(比喻) meanings. I’m telling them they can’t open what they absolutely know is a door. What if later in ____________ they come to a metaphorical door, like an opportunity(机会) of some sort, and ____________ opening the door and taking the opportunity, they just ____________ it and wonder, ＂What if it isn’t a door?＂ That is, ＂What if it isn’t a ____________ opportunity?＂

Maybe it’s an unreasonable fear. But the ____________ is that I shouldn’t lie to my kids. I should just ____________ repeatedly having to say, ＂No. We can’t go outside now.＂ Then when they come to other doors in life, whether they are real or metopherical, they won’t ____________ to open them and walk through.

4 . For most people, having things stolen feels like an offence. Robbie Pruitt admitted that he got ________ when he discovered the theft of his mountain bike last September. But soon enough, his ________ took a turn. After letting go of his anger and frustration, he found himself on a road to sympathy ________.

For Pruitt, a keen bicyclist, the first thing to do was ________ his stolen bike. But when he went bike shopping, he found few available, which got him thinking: What if the ________ of bikes was Covid-19 related, and what if the person who'd taken his bike really needed ________ to get to work?

With that thought in mind, Pruitt ________ a plan and posted it on the community website. He ________ to fix bikes free of charge for anyone who needed it. He also asked for unwanted bikes, which he would repair-again ________. And then he would donate them to folks who could truly use them but didn't have the ________ to buy one.

The day the post went live, Pruitt received thirty ________ bicycles. Then came more than 500 ________ for detailed information. By the end of 2020, Pruitt had repaired more than 140 for donation or to be ________ to their owners.

Pruitt tries to give his donations to families that are ________ struggling. ________ simply satisfying a material need, he has provided an opportunity for kids in his neighborhood to learn how to fix their own bikes.

In addition to ________ skills, Pruitt's lessons teach teamwork, encourage self-worth, and promote feelings of community. ________, the kids have gained a sense of accomplishment.

"It's a really great ________ for kids,“ said a neighbor in an interview with the local newspaper. "Pruitt is certainly providing a ________, but it's not just the bikes. It's the relationships in the community. It's the ________ that he can make on people."

6 . Last year I decided to do some volunteer work. I began to________on the Internet and discovered Volunteer USA. Three months later I________myself on a plane to Phoenix, Arizona. I was________at the thought of living with loads of new people for three months. However, within fifteen minutes of________, my worries had gone. Everyone was so________and like-minded that it was very________to feel at home.

I was sent to the Coronado National Forest for my first 8-day________. We had to________everything we needed and walk three miles to where we worked. It may not seem like a________way but in 35℃ heat and with a heavy pack, my legs were on fire.

My job was to________a stairway out of rock. This________climbing up and down the side of a mountain inhabited (栖息) by mountain lions, although I should say they were only heard,never________.

Three days later, a beautiful stairway came into being. The________of knowing that my________will be on that mountainside for years to come is massive.

But on the last night we were________in a thunderstorm. I woke up at midnight to find a swimming pool in my tent. The temperature was close to________. I had to spend the rest of the night trembling in the only________part of my tent.

________, I suffered a lot. But I know whatever I have to face in my life I was there and I________. I think I am much________for having taken part in the project.

8 . The small town of Rjukan in Norway is situated between several mountains and does not get direct sunlight from late September to mid-March- _______ six months out of the year.

“Of course, we _______ it when the sun is shining,” says Karin Ro, who works for the town’s tourism office. “We see the sky is _______, but down in the valley it’s darker — it’s like on a _______ day.”

But that _______ when a system of high-tech _______ was introduced to reflect sunlight from neighboring peaks(山峰) into the valley below. Wednesday, residents(居民) of Rjukan _______ their very first ray of winter sunshine: A row of reflective boards on a nearby mountainside were put to _______. The mirrors are controlled by a computer that _______ them to turn along with the sun throughout the ________ and to close during windy weather. They reflect a concentrated beam(束) of light onto the town’s central ________, creating an area of sunlight roughly 600 square meters. When the light ________, Rjukan residents gathered together.

“People have been ________ there and standing there and taking ________ of each other,” Ro says. “The town square was totally ________. I think almost all the people in the town were there.” The 3,500 residents cannot all ________ the sunshine at the same time. ________, the new light feels like more than enough for the town’s ________ residents.

“It’s not very ________,” she says, “but it is enough when we are ________.”

9 . Two weeks earlier, my son, Ben, had got in touch, he’d moved to England with his mum when he was three and it had been 13 years since I’d _________ seen him. So imagine my _________ when he emailed me saying he wanted to come to visit me.

I was _________! I arrived early at Byron Bay where we were supposed to _________. The bay was _________ in sunshine, and there was a group of kayakers around 150m off the shore. Getting a little _________. I realized one kayak（皮划艇）was in _________. “Something’s not _________!” I took off my T-shirt and _________ into the water. I saw there were two instructors on board and a man lying across the middle. He was __________ violently. Linking arms with one of the instructors. I helped __________ the young man out of the water. He was unconscious and as I looked at his face, something __________ to me. Those brown eyes were very __________. “What’s his name?” I asked the instructor. “Ben,” he replied, and immediately I __________. That stranger was my son!

The instructors called for an ambulance. __________, after a brief stay in hospital, Ben was well enough to be allowed to __________ and later the family met up for dinner. We chatted about everything and then Ben __________ to me. “I just want to say thank you,” he said, “You __________ my life!”

I still can’t believe what a __________ it was. I’m just so glad I was there __________ to help my son.

10 . No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own _________

I learned this lesson from a(n) _________ many years ago. I took the head _________ job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football program.

It was a tradition for the school’s old team to play against the _________ team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they didn’t even practice to ___________ the game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to win, but to my disappointment we were defeated. I couldn’t _________ I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I came to _________ that my team might not be the number one team in Georgia, but they were ___________ me. I had to change my _________ about their ability and potential.

I started doing anything I could to help them build a little ____________. Most important, I began to treat them like ____________. That summer, when the other teams enjoyed their ____________, we met every day and ______________ passing and kicking the football.

Six months after suffering our ______________ on the spring practice field, we won our first game and our second, and continued to ____________. Finally, we faced the number one team in the state. I felt that it would be a ____________ for us even if we lost the game. But that wasn’t what happened. My boys beat the best team in Georgia, giving me one of the greatest ____________ of my life！

From the experience I learnt a lot about how the attitude of the leader can ____________ the members of a team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and ______________ them. I helped them to see themselves ____________, and they built themselves into winners.

Winners are made, but born.