1 . How do we make good things out of bad? How do we look at ourselves? Can there be a _______ side even in our pain?

There was an elderly woman who needed to walk down to the river every morning to _______ water for drinking, cooking and cleaning. She _______ two buckets, filled them up on the riverbank and walked back with them to her rural _______.

One of the buckets was newer, perfectly sealed (密封) and _______ its water completely. The second bucket was older and contained a few thin cracks that would _______ water as the elderly woman walked. By the time she arrived home, _______ about one third of the water in the second bucket was left.

One day, on the walk down to the river, the cracked bucket that had always felt like it wasn’t as good as the other bucket said to the elderly woman, ‘‘I want you to know that water has been _______ out every morning for the past several years. I’m so sorry for being cracked and making your life more _______. I understand if you need to ________ me with a better bucket.” The elderly woman ________, ‘‘do you really think I haven’t known about your cracks this whole time? Look at all the beautiful flowers that grow on the ________ from my cottage to the river. I ________ their seeds, but every morning it was you who ________ them.”

We all have a few cracks, but choose to see how it’s exactly those ________ that make us good enough.

2 . Last month, I slept through a flight from London to Beijing. Upon waking up, I was shocked to discover that I could no longer _________ my right arm and fingers. My arm just simply did not follow my brain’s _________, as if it no longer _________ my body.

The doctor at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital _________ me to have suffered neural (神经的) injury. Aside from _________ that I see a physiotherapist (理疗师), he only told me, “Rest for two months first and come back for _________ check-up.”

In that moment of _______, a long-time family friend, who is an acupuncturist (针灸师) in Sichuan, _______ to help. I started my acupuncture _______ the next day. I was skeptical at first, but my ____________ was soon beaten by the results. After a few days, I could move my __________. Two weeks later, I could have meals using chopsticks. After a month, my arm and fingers were almost back to their ____________ functions.

In that clinic, I heard many other patients’ ________. One 11-year-old boy, who was born with ________ autism (自闭症), was treated at the age of three, and now he communicates quite __________. One lady, who suddenly became deaf two months ago, has just __________ her hearing.

I’m surprised at how these ________ needles can cure so many illnesses, many of which even big hospitals with expensive medical devices __________ with. Is it magic? No! But it is the right __________ of the Chinese tradition that brings __________ and happiness to friends here and farther.

3 . I’m not what you call a “good traveler”. Without curiosity to _________, I was unwilling to push my boundaries. But it just shows one is never too old to _________ himself/herself.

South Africa was the _________ surprise. I’d never _________ to go on a safari (观兽旅行). People said it was exciting, but I didn’t think so. However, once I was actually there, I _________ it.

I_________ at a beautiful hotel housed in train carriages on the Selati Bridge over the Sabie River, a hotspot for _________ the “Big Five” — the lion, leopard, rhino (犀牛), elephant and African buffalo.

The train cars are suites (套房) with floor-to-ceiling _________, so every day I’d look out of them to see elephants heading up the river. More _________, I started to develop a great passion for the landscape and the animals, which I’d never__________. I visited a rhino conservation park, where its workers were __________ rhinos badly injured by hunters. I bottle-fed these beautiful babies and hand-fed a black rhino. Being there, the concept of how much __________ these animals faced every day hit me hard.

But the most memorable aspect was the __________ I met. Meeting their families and dropping myself into their culture was __________. It did more good for me. I’ve always been __________ — never readily join in conversation with unfamiliar people. But the experience of __________ so many new people from so many attractive places has been a __________ thing, allowing me to brush off some cobwebs(陈腐)forming for many years.

Seeing the world has helped me __________ my ideas about the world, turning me into a more positive person. That’s what __________ can do. I am __________ not a crazy traveler exactly, but at least I’m making progress.

5 . It was 1:20 a.m. I had just gone to bed, a bit _________ after celebrating my 31st birthday. Before dinner, I’d placed _________ outside my garden door and prepared the cell phone just _________. After all, it had been _________ that week, resulting in flood warnings.

I was awakened by the _________ of rushing water. When I swung my legs off the bed, I was shocked to feel cold water already up to my knees and _________ fast.

Shaking in darkness, I _________ my phone and turned on its flashlight. Then by the light I could _________ water was from the garden door. It must have breached (在……上打开缺口) the sandbags. The river, usually such a quiet, slow moving river in my region, had _________ burst its banks. And now I had to __________!

I took __________ action. Any effects of the alcohol before sleep were gone; __________ sobers (使清醒) me up. After I went outside, I learned the river had flooded the neighbourhood. Therefore, if I had woken up just a few minutes later, I would have drowned.

In the end, I think the experience made me __________ and determined to live each day to its fullest. I came very close to drowning that day. But rather than dwell on (沉湎于) what happened, I prefer to __________ what my mother told me afterwards, “Don’t remember the day when you lost everything. Remember the day you __________. That day marked the beginning of a new chapter in your life.”

7 . Those in the food industry understand the difficulty that comes from working with people. No matter how much you try, some customers are never _______. If you make one mistake, some people are likely to lose _______. This situation took place at a McDonald’s in suburban Atlanta.

A customer approached the drive-through window _______. He threw a drink back at the pregnant fast food worker who _______ it to him. Most would find that unthinkable. However, he himself felt _______ because the drink was not what he _______.

Bryanna was the _______ in this incident. It was so _______ to her that she couldn’t even _______ what was happening. She was ________ and covered in ice and soda.

The ________ next in line who witnessed what happened was Feroza Syed. She ________ the incident via Facebook after things took place. “I’ve never seen anyone ________ that way, especially to do that to a pregnant worker, which was just ________.”

When Feroza approached the drive-through window, she ________ the fast food worker a cash tip to comfort her. She had yet another ________-set up an online registry for Bryanna’s baby. Feroza ________ maybe she could raise $300 or $400 for Bryanna to buy something nice. But by 24 hours later people had ________ $1,700. Feroza is just obviously going crazy with ________.

Through this, Feroza and Bryanna have become friends. It’s just ________ to see such love and happiness.

8 . The “Double Seven Festival” is a traditional Chinese festival. It has a longer history than the ______ of Valentine’s Day in the West.

The origin of this festival is related to a cowboy and a weaving girl, whose love story has become a part of the Chinese culture. ______ there are many different versions of the story, the most popular one begins with a poor cowboy. Living with his elder and ______ brother, who treated him badly, the cowboy looked after an old cow every day. Though life was tough and boring, he put up with it in silence, without complaining.

Unluckily, even such a hard life didn’t last long. His brother got rid of him and all he got was the old cow. Although they couldn’t talk to each other, they ______ on each other for company. One day, miracle happened. The old cow started talking and told him that there would be seven fairies coming down to the Earth to ______ in a pond. All he should do was to ______ the dress of one of the fairies. Then that fairy would be his wife. ______ but excited, the cowboy followed the cow’s advice.

Every day the cowboy went to work ______ the fairy wove cloth at home. However, their ______ life came to an end when the Heavenly Goddess learned about it. She took the weaving girl away and drew a line in the sky that turned into the Milky Way, which ______ the cowboy meeting her wife. Due to the strong reaction from the young ______, the Goddess finally allowed them to see each other only once a year. The day was on the seventh day of the seventh month. That is ______ the Double Seven Festival came into being.

Although the love story doesn’t end up with a happy ending, it is to be told from one ______ to another. It reminds people to cherish every moment ______ with their loved ones and not to regret until we ______ them.