1 . In the heart of the city, nested between the towering skyscrapers, stood a little library that had withstood the test of _______. Every brick and book in that building held stories not just from the pages, but of the countless souls who had walked its _______.

Anna, a young writer, often visited this oasis (绿洲) of knowledge. She was on the _______ of publishing her first book but was facing the crippling self-doubt that often troubles creators. One evening, as she wandered between the shelves, she happened to see an old, dusty _______. It was a journal from the 1800s, written by a then-unknown writer named Lillian.

As Anna skimmed through the pages, she was _______ by Lillian’s struggles which mirrored her own. Lillian wrote of her rejections, her moments of despair, and the nights she wanted to give up. But she also wrote of her _______ moments, where the words flowed like a river and the stories took a life of their own.

The final entry was dated a day before Lillian’s first book was published. It read, “To the future dreamers who may find this: Remember, every _______ has its dawn. Your struggles are merely the dark before the morning light. Keep writing, keep dreaming, and one day, your stories will light up someone’s _______ just as you have lit up mine.”

Anna felt a connection to Lillian across the centuries. With renewed _______, she left the library, ready to face the challenges ahead. For in her heart, she carried Lillian’s story — a beacon of hope and a testament to the timeless journey of ________.

2 . I was lucky enough to test into the best high school in the city. But then came my _______: Am I good enough? It was a question that _______ me through my first month, even as began to settle in, even as I got used to the early morning wake-ups and moving between buildings for class.

I knew I had to work to ground myself. My earliest strategy involved keeping quiet and trying to _______ my new classmates. Who were these kids anyway? How did they learn in school? All I knew was that they were the smartest kids in the city, obviously. _______ wasn’t I as well? Hadn’t I landed here because I was smart like them? The truth is that I didn’t know. This _______ was like a deadly cell that threatened to divide and divide again, unless I could find some way to stop it.

Fortunately, my first round of grades turned out to be _______, and so did my second. Over the course of my first two years, I began to build the same kind of _______ I’d had at my previous school. With each little achievement, my doubt _______ took leave.

I loved any subject that involved writing and labored through math. I had classmates who were always a step or two ahead of me, whose achievements seemed effortless, but I tried not to let that get to me. I was beginning to understand that if I put in extra hours of studying, I could often _______ the gap. I wasn’t a straight-A student, but I was always __________ and I made progress.

3 . A young man was about to go to the office when he received a phone call from a nurse who told him his father was injured and in hospital. So he ______ to the hospital by taxi. He had gone into the hospital when he found he ______ his cell phone in the taxi. What’s ______, he had forgotten to ask the nurse which ward his father was in. He had to run hurriedly around in the hospital ______ his father. Seeing a nurse, he asked her with ______, “My father is in hospital. He...”

The nurse ______, “Oh, my God. It’s you. Come with me!” She ______ the young man to the bed side of an elderly man. “Your son is here,” she ______ to the elderly patient several times. The old man was too weak to stay awake, only to look ______ at the young man standing beside him.

Throughout the night the young man ______ to the old man, holding the old man’s hand and offering him words of love and strength. The dying old man said nothing. The nurse ______ the young rest for a while but he ______ her advice.

Sunrise ______, the old man peacefully died. The young man placed the lifeless hand on the bed and informed the nurse. After the nurse did what was ______, she just found the young man had left, leaving a letter ______ “Thank you, lady! My father is fine. I knew right away the old man was not my father. But I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn’t here. So, I stayed.”

4 . Joe and Della were a new couple. They were both interested in art--one in painting, the other in music. They lived in a small flat. They loved each other and they were happy.

But one day they found that they had spent all their money. One afternoon Della told Joe that she had found a _________ and was to give her three music lessons a week. For that she could get fifteen dollars a week. But Joe was not _________ because he didn’t want to stay at home, playing with his art while Della was at work. He wanted to earn some money too.

Every day they parted in the morning and _________ in the evening.

A week _________ , Della brought home fifteen dollars, but she looked a little _________. Joe took eighteen dollars out of his pocket. They were both _________ to have so much money at hand.

The next week, Joe _________ home another eighteen dollars but Della came home with her right hand in a bandage (绷带). Joe asked Della what was the _________. Della said, “It was because of an iron-- I mean a plate of soup spilled on my _________.”

“What do you do every day, Della? Do you __________ give music lessons?” Joe asked. “Tell me the __________!”

Della cried. She told Joe that she was working in a laundry (洗衣店), __________ shirts. A girl accidentally __________ an iron on her hand and she got a __________ burn. But Della asked Joe how he had guessed that she wasn’t giving music lessons.

Joe told Della that he worked in the engine-room of the same laundry where she worked. They both let out their __________ and laughed.

5 . On my way home, I saw a poor old man selling soaps. I was moved by his condition—perhaps he was the only one _______ his family? But I soon shook off the _______ —there’s nothing I can really do for him.

Just then, a lady went up and bought every bar of soap he was carrying. The old man’s eyes lit up and he left happily.

The woman, on the other hand, crossed the road and _______ the bag full of soaps on the street with a sign saying “For Free”. Then she boarded the same bus as I did and took the seat next to mine. The curious incident _______ me so I couldn’t help but ask her about the strange act.

“Excuse me, may I ask why you did that near the bus stop?” I said.

“Oh, I walk this road every day and noticed this man many times. I tried to offer him some money but he _______ . He said he wanted to earn it through hard work and not _______ . He’s a very honest man. He was content with whatever he earned for the day. So I bought all his soap bars to help him in a way that _______ his dignity. I left them on the road in order that those who need them can _______ themselves.”

I reached home feeling a lightness and hope that humanity is not _______ after all. A little ________ and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.