1 . Sometimes you may find that you are not happy in your life, although everything is going well. Most of the time you have to _______ this kind of unhappy life, since it is really hard to make changes and move on to a new business, which often involves taking _______.

My father, however, was a quite different example. When I was about 9 or 10, he told me that I should be whatever I wanted when I grew up, so long as I _______ it. He said that if I were not feeling _______, I should try to change my life to make it more delightful, and I would find real _______ as a result. From him I learned a great lesson on the _______ of doing one’s favorite.

My father got into the insurance industry when he was very young, and he was very _______. He became one of the company’s top salesmen, even though he was only 25 years old. Soon he became one of the first independent insurance salesmen in our state. _______, he decided to leave his successful _______ and move on to other fields. You might ________ why he did so. The answer was simple: he liked to do something challenging, something that ________ his strength and ability, especially in a way that is interesting. My father just wanted to have a try, and so he did. After leaving the insurance company, he worked in social media and then in digital technology, which really ________ him. Of course he wasn’t successful in everything he tried, but he told me for ________ that he did something he liked, and that he had the ________ of doing what he enjoyed.

________ one’s comfortable life is not easy. I’ve learned this from my father, and I can say no matter whether the ________ is good or bad, it is ________ doing one’s favorite. When we do something we love, it gives us extra ________ to meet our goals, which are associated with psychological well-being and health. As long as we have no ________ and give it a try, we are forced to push against ourselves. After all, we all want to be where we are ________ ourselves.

2 . A 12-year-old boy was called a hero after he saved a kid trapped in a car outside a supermarket. Ben Theriot was _________ with his mom Nikki Fields in Tusla, Oklahoma, when they heard the _________ cry of a little boy trapped in the back seat of a _________.

The day was very hot, with temperatures reaching 116 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Inside the car, the _________ must have been terrible. Quickly, Fields and Theriot decided that the boy had to be _________.

“It was so hot. I just got on the phone with the _________, and with 911,” said Fields. “I _________, ‘We’ve got to get this boy _________ immediately.’”

Following his mother’s orders, Theriot went into her car and found a small hammer. “I started _________ the side window, but it didn’t break,” he recalled. “I started attacking it a lot more, and then it __________,” Theriot added.

“He just jumped right into action and didn’t even __________,” Fields recalled. “I am proud of my son. I’m glad he knew what to __________.”

Soon the police arrived on the scene and got the boy out of the car. “Time __________ in that situation. Within __________, that boy could have passed out or even got __________,” said Officer Jeanne Pierce.

3 . My daughter overbought food over the last two months. Her food pantry (储藏室) was full. She asked me to   ______ two full boxes of ______ food to the local charity. I was happy to do so and ______ it over. I even bought some more food to give along with hers and impressed by the enthusiasm, the joy, and the love with which the food was received. The lack of donations plus the high price of food had ______ the charity and the shelves needed every donation to fill. We were ______ over and over. I said It was just a piece of cake. Then my mind went back to another time when we were the ones in ______ .

At that time, our ______ was very tight. My job ______   paid the rent. My next pay was a week away and we didn't have enough ______ to last till the next week. We went to a food store. I was worried and nervous. I had never expected to seek ______ like that before, and I just hope there would be enough food so our children wouldn't go ______ . I was playing with our little kids outside when I saw my ______ picked up a box full of food. My heart is filled with ______ when she finally walked out with that box, saying, “The food is all free of charge. ” As we drove home, I silently thanked and ______ for all the people who had given.

The world we live on is one huge circle of love. Take your place in the circle. Never be ashamed to receive a gift of love. Never ______ to give a gift of love.

4 . In March 2022, I was recovering from an operation for breast cancer and going through a terrible time. I spent my days at home ________ everything to myself. Then one of my colleagues suggested ________, “Why don’t you pick a couple of days and go to Ireland and escape?” I ________ the tip.

The trip was fun, but when I got on the ________ to go home, I wasn’t feeling well. My plan was to sleep for the ________ journey, but the guy next to me looked ________, eager for a conversation because he had kind eyes.

“I had an operation,” I said ________. “I had breast cancer.” He paused for a moment and said, “What’s wrong with that? Breast cancer is just a small ________ of your life, like going to college or getting married.”

I could feel my eyes ________ up with tears.

“Don’t think too much of your problem,” he said. “Instead, think about how many people you could help.”

I had tears coming down my face, and said, “I can’t ________ I’m crying in front of you. I don’t ________ know you.”

“Look, you have a ________ in life,” he said. “You can either ________ your things deep in your pockets and take them to your grave (坟墓), or you can help someone.”

I’ve not been a very outgoing person, and except the few people who needed to know, I’d kept my illness ________. I didn’t want to be ________ as a defective (有缺陷的) person.

But this man, whose name was Ken Duane, showed me that my illness gave me ________, because it gave me the ability to ________ someone else’s load. I decided at that moment that I was going to try to help others by sharing my story ________, in the hope of inspiring those who were in the same or similar situation. Later that year, I talked about my illness and my ________ with Ken on air.

I am forever ________ that I never took a nap on the flight over the Atlantic.

5 . A farmer owned an old mule(骡子) One day the mule _________ into the farmer’s well(井)unluckily   The farmer heard the mule _________ He tried every possible way to save the mule, but _________ .

After carefully thinking about the situation, the farmer _________ that neither the mule nor the well was worth greater efforts _________ , he called his neighbors together, told them what had happened, and asked them to help carry dirt to cover the old mule in the _________ and put him out of his _________ .

At first, the old mule was mad! But as the farmer and the neighbors _________ shoveling(铲土) and the dirt hit his back, an idea _________ to him.   Every time a shovelful of ____________ landed on his back, he would shake it off and step up!

This he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up!” He repeated to ____________ himself.   No matter how painful the blows, or how ____________ the situation seemed, the old mule overcame his fear and just kept right on shaking it off and stepping up!

It wasn’t long before the old mule, tired out, stepped ____________ over the wall of that well! What seemed to have destroyed him actually ____________ him all because of the way in which he dealt with his adversity(逆境)

That’s life! We should face our problems and respond to them ____________ , and refuse to give in to fear, bitterness, or self-pity.

6 . The mission of Faces of Santa Ana is to lovingly engage the homeless through art. In July 2015, Brian Peterson and his wife had just moved to Santa Ana, California with a burning desire in their hearts to love their neighbors. Outside the couple’s fourth-floor apartment, a(n)____ man was often yelling on the street corner, sometimes keeping them ______ at night. Peterson, 28, would pass the guy on his way to work as a car designer, but they never _____ .

One day, Peterson was relaxing in his living room, reading the book Love Does, about the power of love in action, when his ____ disturbed by the homeless man. _____ by the book’s compassionate (有同情心的) message, Peterson made a(n)_____ decision: He was going outside to introduce himself.

In that first _____, Peterson learned that the man’s name was Matt Faris. He’d moved to Southern California to pursue a career _____, but he soon fell on hard times and _____ living on the street for more than a decade.

“It was a strange thing to me,” Peterson recalled later. “I saw ______ on the face of a man who hadn’t shaved in probably a year. And the ______ inside of him inspired me. ”______ Peterson, a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art, hadn’t picked up a paintbrush in about eight years, he found himself asking if he could ______ Faris’s portrait. And Faris said yes.

Peterson’s _____ with Faris led him to form Faces of Santa Ana, a nonprofit organization focused on _____ and painting portraits of members of the community who are unhoused. Peterson sells the 30-by-40-inch canvas(画布) — signed by both subject and artist—for a few thousand dollars, and put half into what he calls a “love account” for his _____.

Many of Peterson’s new friends use the donations to secure immediate ____ — medical care, hotel rooms, food. Faris used the funds from his portrait to record an album, realizing his ____ dreams.

Peterson has painted 41 of these portraits himself. He’s discovered that the buyers tend to connect to the story of the person in the painting, finding ______ and often friendship with someone they might have otherwise overlooked. “People often tell me, ‘I was the one that would cross the street. But I see homeless people ____ now,” Peterson says. “I didn’t know that would happen. ”