1 . Last year I ruined my summer vacation by bringing along a modern convenience: the iPad.

Instead of looking at nature, I _______ my e-mail. Instead of reading great novels, I stuck to reading _______newspapers each morning. And that was the problem: I was acting as if I were still in the office. My body was on vacation but my _______ wasn’t.

So this year I made up my mind to try something _______: getting away from the Internet. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, _______ I’m not good at self-control. But I was _______. I started by handing the iPad to my wife. Then, a stroke of luck: The mobile phone _______ at our cabin was worse than in the past. I was _______, forced to carry out my plan. Largely cut off from e-mail and my favourite newspaper websites, I had little way to _______ the world. I had no ________ but to do what I had planned to do all along: read books.

With determination and the strong support of my wife, I succeeded in my vacation struggle against the Internet. I finally ________ that it was me, of course, not the iPad, that was the ________.

I knew I had ________ when we passed a Starbucks and my wife asked if I wanted to stop to use the Wi-Fi. “Don’t need it,” I said. ________, as we return to work, a test begins: Can I survive when I’m back at work? I don’t plan to ________ my iPad completely. But I hope to resist the temptation (抵抗诱惑) to use it every five minutes.

2 . My life as an exchange student finally began! It was only a short 20-minute drive from the airport to Queensland University of Technology (QUT), but I _________ it a lot. My driver was very _________and told me a lot about Australian culture along the way.

Before _________ home, I had a fair idea of what my _________ would be like. When O-Week at QUT finally happened, I felt that my life here really lived up to my first _________.

The week-long event not only _________ me to engage indifferent clubs and societies, it also gave me a chance to _________ QUT’s campus.

I loved the _________ of O-Week. It was really lively, and I got the _________ to meet so many people. Interacting with different cultures first-hand was really a(n) __________. I felt this was exactly how I __________ life in Australia would be like. I was really __________ to finally experience this!

After ________ my new home, I found that living in Brisbane was quite different. I had the __________ to do a lot more and had no limits on __________ I could do them. For example, have you ever wanted pancakes at 6 am? Say no more -- one of my favorite restaurants was only a 2-minute walk away from my __________. Besides, I found it quite __________ to meet and work with the locals, and learn about their __________ attitude to life and work.

I loved Australia so much that I felt very __________   when my experience came to a(n) __________. I made so many friends there and I hope to see them all again on my next world tour!

3 . I checked my equipment one final time. It was my first ______to climb the highest volcano in the world, Ojos del Salado, in South America.

I’d ______ to climb with a local guide. I left camp just after midnight. “You go first and I’ll be behind you,” he said. As the hours passed and the terrain (地形) became more dangerous, I wondered if I’d made a huge ______ . Looking into the_______ behind me, I listened out for the sound of my guide’s steps but I was all_______ . Finding my way by ______, I knew the icy conditions were merciless. Breathing heavily, I realised I’d run out of ______ soon.

Back home, 11,000 km away in Melbourne, my dad was following my ______with my GPS tracker. ______ , now alone on the side of a volcano, all I could do was to ______ my energy as I climbed higher and higher.

Reaching the top was the ultimate goal, but really it was only half the ______ . As my breathing became more laboured, ______ set in. Had I gone too far this time? I knew all too well how frightening it was to be ______ , for I’d suffered from chronic asthma (慢性哮喘) as a child.

Pushing on, I ______ made it to the top, where I ______ the breathtaking views. But I only spent a few minutes taking photos before I went down the mountain. I was ______ to see my guide on the way down and it turned out that he had______ a climber in danger and had to ______ our exploration to save him.

Through blood, ______ and frozen tears, the last 10 years had taken me all over the globe. And with every high and painful low, I learnt more about myself. I’d pushed my ______ , both in body and mind.

4 . It is important to have positive feelings in our daily life.

“Compared _______ some unhappy people, those who are always pleased and relaxed are less likely to suffer from colds,” _______ a new study. The researchers from New York University said, “being happy helps the body _______ diseases.”

“It seems that positive feelings may reduce the _______ of illness,” said the chief researcher Sheldon Cohen.

In an earlier study Cohen found that people who were _______ caught colds less often. And they seldom told their doctors that they felt _______.

In this study, Cohen’s team _______ 193 adults every day for two weeks. In this period, the people told researchers about their happy or sad _______ that day. Two weeks later, all of them were made to catch colds by doctors, and they had to stay _______ in a room for six days.

The results ________ that each in the study was equal to fall ill. ________, people who were lively and relaxed said they felt happy during the research. Their illnesses were less serious and lasted for a ________ time.

Cohen believes that ________ people have positive feelings, their body may produce a kind of chemical that helps to ________ illnesses. So if you ________ your health, please look on the bright side and make yourself happy all the time.

5 . Growing up in the 1960s, I was taught from an early age to send a handwritten thank­you note expressing ______ for kindness. My mother used to buy me a box of paper and ______ me in the art and value of saying “thank you”. She _____ to be right.

A study showed that it took less than 5 minutes to write the thank­you notes. Just 5 minutes to make another person feel overjoyed! ______, in our “instant” world, the idea of getting an actual pen and writing an actual note seems to never come to mind. We tend to do what is ______ to us — a quick text or an email.

It is easy to use the excuse of being busy, but even very busy and ______ businessmen find time to ______ thank­you notes. For example, when Douglas Conant became CEO of Campbells, the company had ______ half of its market value and morale (士气) was at an all­time low. He ______ fixing that by doing some simple things that probably not _____ in any MBA class. For one thing, Conant wrote to every ______. He gained their confidence and naturally, turned the company around.

In his ten years as CEO, Conant wrote over 30,000 notes to employees. It’s _____ not to ask how he did it. ______, he had many other things to do _____ writing thank­you note. Conant made time for it because he knew the impact each one would have. An expression of ______ in this crazy world still makes a difference.

6 . For many people, the perfect career would be one in which they do what they love to make a living, but in______, not many have either the luck or the luxury to do so, given ______ concerns and other considerations. Freelance (自由职业的) digital cartoonist Lian Zongbo is fully ______ of the risks, but decided to pursue his dream, anyway.

After graduating in 2010, he started as a junior animator in Guangzhou. Struggling for 6 years with childish work, he was looking to do something he was really ______. A huge basketball fan growing up, and good at a ______ of drawing methods, Lian had the idea of ______ his interests and career. In early 2016, he began drawing illustrations based on the NBA and shared them on social media. ______, he didn’t get any feedback.

______ he felt discouraged, Lian refused to admit failure. In January 2017, he received a(n) ______ on his Instagram account that invited him to ______ his works at art shows in the US. Lian happily accepted the offer, seeing it as a(n) ______ to morale (士气). His basketball themed artworks quickly won him a growing number of enthusiasts, including former NBA superstar Dwyane Wade.

His childhood hobby has now turned into a(n) ______ career that has given Lian a more comfortable life. When asked if he has any advice for others who also want to change jobs to ______ their passions, Lian said, “I wouldn’t tell people to abandon their ______   jobs if they are not ready. Rather, I’d tell them to make full use of their spare time to explore their passions. Stick to it and one day your effort will ______.”

7 . Recently my wife and I were faced with a difficult situation while traveling by car in the mountains with our hired driver. It was going to be a long ride and we were ________. Just as we began to doze (打盹), the engine made a strange, loud noise and then stopped working.

The sun was just setting and the air was getting ________. We tried communicating with the driver but with little success. He told us he was going to get help and then left.

In a(n) ________ location with no houses in sight, we started to hear the cries of wild animals. We also didn’t have much food it was getting colder and darker. I began to ________ confidence. Should we leave the car and seek shelter? Would our driver ever ________? Was he a trustworthy man? We were very ________.

A couple of hours passed. ________, the headlights from another car could be seen in the ________. An unfamiliar man got out of the car. He looked ________ at first until his mouth opened with a big friendly smile. He asked us to get into the car with him. He had such a kind face, so we knew we could ________ him. We climbed into the car.

Before we left, he put a note on the windshield (挡风玻璃) of our car with his phone number on it. Then he drove us to a nearby village, and we ________  his family. They offered us tea and local foods, and everyone asked us questions and were thrilled to have ________ guests.

Later that evening, the phone rang. It was our ________. He had kept his word and ________ the car. We prepared to leave and thanked our new friends.

I will never forget the ________ and hospitality (好客) we received on that day because we relied on a stranger for help.

8 . We moved there on my third birthday. My first ________ is our neighbor Arlene handing me strawberries from her garden through a hole in the chain-link fence. She and her husband, Bill, lived next door.

One day, my parents asked Bill and Arlene whether they’d watch me ________ they were out on a date. This ________ well for everyone, so it became a somewhat monthly occurrence. Arlene and Bill didn’t have kids. They had a ________ room in their house, which became “my” room. I had a cabinet and boxes of toys and books in that room, Arlene and I would do crafts together. Bill taught me how to ________ the lawn tractor and eventually a car (stick and automatic).

When I was about five, I had an idea. My parents were watching TV when I spit it out: “What if I adopt Bill and Arlene as my ________?” My parents said I could go over and ask them. I ________ on Bill and Arlene’s door, sat down in their living room, and said, “Will you guys be my grandparents?” They started crying and ________ accepted. Soon after, they printed out an adoption ________, and it hung on their living room wall from then on.

I remember being surprised that they took my ________ so seriously —not because I wasn’t serious but because I was just a kid. They could have ________ it off. Thinking of that moment still brings tears to my eyes. There is something truly magnificent about a child offering up her love and ________ being so excited to accept it. Every child in this world ________ enthusiastically responded love.

Arlene passed away in 2013, two days before our adoption anniversary. Bill gave her eulogy (悼词). At the end, he said, “Arlene ________ her husband, Bill. And the greatest joy of her life, her granddaughter, Katie.”

After the funeral, Bill gave me the ring he’d gifted to Arlene on their 25th wedding anniversary. It’s a simple gold band that I wear on my ring finger as a ________ of the kind of love I wish to put into this world.

10 . A Story on an Island

A ship was lost at sea and the only survivor was washed up on a small, inhabited(无人居住的) island. He prayed _________ for God to rescue him and for hours he just _________ at the horizon(地平线), waiting for a heaven-sent _________ but it never came.

Then he decided to do something. _________ tired and upset, he _________ some branches and dry grass. Hours of hard work paid off and a little shelter was built. The “Robinson Crusoe” began his life on the island. Believe it or not, a couple of days going by, he _________ and it seemed not that hard.

But then one day, after _________ for food, he arrived home to find his little shelter in flames and the _________ rolling up to the sky.

The _________ had happened: everything was lost.

“God, how could you do this to me!” he cried with __________ and anger.

Early the next day, __________, he was awakened by the __________ of a ship that was coming near to the island. It had come to rescue him!

“__________ did you know that I was here?” he asked one of his rescuers.

“We saw your smoke __________,” they replied.

It is easy to get __________, when things are going bad. But we shouldn’t lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even when we are in pains and sufferings.

Remember, next time your little shelter is burning to the ground, it just may be a smoke signal that calls for the grace of God. For all the negative(消极的) things we have to say to ourselves, God has a/an positive answer for it.