2 . I met Daisy Banks on the way to Maghar. She was walking down the road with her white stick, and I saw her walking toward a muddy _______. If she continued, she might _______ into the water. Not wanting this to happen, I stopped my _______ and called out, “There’s a hole in front of you, Daisy. If it’s all right with you, I’ll _______ you to your place.”  

She happily _______. I took her bag so that she could climb on my motorbike. We talked about her_______and I discovered she was on the way to her school.  

Daisy had called me a couple of times since our chance _______. However, I had been unable to meet her _______ my busy schedules. Finally, we _______ at the Mahdu Mall. We talked about a range of issues, and I came to________ that Daisy possessed knowledge which would challenge that of many ________ fit people.  

Although she has a mother and three brothers, Daisy has been ________ on her own for the past years. She cooks for herself and washes her own clothes while ________ to teach every morning at Maghar Primary School. While doing her ________,she tries to remember people, places, and things in order to manage her daily life. She is a(n) ________ person, telling me that she made the decision to live alone after her brothers said they would take turns to look after her each month. Daisy felt this would hurt her. I really admire her confidence and the way she carries herself in her life.

4 . So this is it — senior high school at last! I’m not outgoing so I’m a little _________ right now. I want to make a good first impression. Will I make any friends? _________ no one talks to me?

I just had my first maths class at senior high school! The class was _________, but the teacher was kind and friendly. He _________ told us a funny story, and everyone laughed so much! I found most of my classmates and teachers friendly and _________.

This afternoon, we had a chemistry class in the science lab. The lab is new and we did the _________ in groups. We really enjoyed it.

What a day! This morning, I was worried that no one would talk to me. But I was wrong. I didn’t feel lonely _______. I miss my friends from junior high school, but I believe I will make new friends here, and there’s a lot to _________ at senior high school. I feel much more _________ about the following three school years. Tomorrow will surely be a __________ day.

6 . Diana Herbert was running late for school on Friday morning so she decided to take a shortcut(近路). Little did 16-year-old Herbert know this would make a big difference in her life. While Herbert was walking _______ to try to get to school on time, an elderly gentleman _______ her, and asked Herbert to tie his shoelaces(鞋带) for him. At first she was a bit _______ but then she saw that the old man was _______ to use his hands properly and had a walking stick. She realized that he could not really help himself so she _______ to do that for him.

After she finished tying the man’s lace, the man thanked Herbert. Then she continued on her way to school, _______ thinking of the situation.

What Herbert did not know is that a woman named Nadine Ribeiro _______ the whole thing. Ribeiro stopped her car and took a photo. She then _______ it on her Facebook and wrote about the situation. _______ , the photograph on the social media spread quickly — more than 3,000 people liked Ribeiro’s photograph while 6,000 more ________ it with their friends.

Herbert, however, did not know what was going on until the principal told her that she became some kind of Internet superstar. Herbert said she couldn’t understand why people were so attracted by the ________. The following Monday, Herbert was ________ by the school for her kindness.

“I was not ________ that much attention, but it felt nice to get ________ for something good,” Herbert said. “I believe in karma(因果)—once we do nice things it will in some way benefit us ________.”

7 . I love wildlife. So when my friend said that we had a chance to _________ brown bears in the High Tatras, I didn’t think twice about it, and we _________ arrangements to go the following week.

The trip was a great _________! We walked for hours and stayed in a _________ mountain hut (小屋) which was usually reserved for park rangers. It actually took us some trouble even to locate it. As soon as we arrived, our guide _________ to us that we would be fully integrated (融入) into their research programme and would be tracking the _________ of bears wearing GPS transmitters. On the first day, we were woken up at sunrise and, after _________ some warm clothes, set off into the forest. Our guide walked very _________ and we had trouble keeping up with him. Suddenly he _________ across a small hill. He must have caught sight of a bear. We followed him as fast as we could, but by the time we reached him, the bear had __________ into the bushes. Later in the week, though, we did manage to observe several bears feeding on berries. We were so excited. Yet, __________ hurrying to take photos, we __________ our breath, stayed about 30 meters away and just watched them. Our guide insisted that we should keep our __________ from the bears so as not to __________ them.

Observing bears in their natural habitat (栖息地) was really __________. I had never experienced anything like that before. If I hadn’t had to go back to school, I would happily have stayed on for several more weeks.

8 . I became a gardener when I was twelve. My early _________ of gardening may not have originated from my love for nature. It was to _________ my parents.

At that time, we had a big yard in which a beautiful maple tree stood. But my mother often looked with _________at this work of natural art. Those golden leaves seemed like tons of rubbish to her, “something else to _________!” Seeing the neighbors busy with gardening, my father ever thought it a waste of time.

At that age, I always did something _________ to whatever my parents did! If gardening were something they found _________ , I would plant a garden!

I planted some lily (百合花) seeds in the yard. But they failed to _________ to sunflower seeds and roses. Wild _________ joy, I found the first rose bloom (开花). One by one, the flowers bloomed their heads off. _________, I was touched by this land of wonder. I kept on planting my garden and continued to enjoy the pleasure gardening. Plants make such good companions: they breathe, they bloom, they __________ to care and love.

Today I become known as Mrs. Greenthumbs, and now I could say it is my affection for nature that makes me a real gardener.

9 . The Hard Truth

One day, Marissa noticed a spider web, shining in the sunlight. A spider was spinning _________ on it. The spider wasn’t trying to be something else, like a butterfly or a bee, Marissa thought. It was happy to be exactly what it was and to do what it was good at.

What came naturally to Marissa was _________. She could paint or draw all day long and never get bored. However, a few weeks ago Marissa signed up for high jump. Because her mother had been a high jump _______ in school, she thought it would make her mother happy. But now she _______ that however hard she worked, she would never be a high jump star like her mother.

One night, halfway through her homework, Marissa fell _________. When she woke up, the clock read 1:00 A. M. Marissa got into a panic. There was still so much _________ to do, but she really needed her rest for track practice. Marissa had always been a good student, but now track was risking her _________.

Then a dark thought crossed Marissa’s mind. If she _________ some of her classes, she would be off the track team. That was one way to solve her problem.

After a week of _________ her homework, letters had been mailed out to parents listing grades, and Marissa knew the letters would show that her grades had __________ a lot. She walked home with slow heavy steps, knowing her __________ plan had worked.

Just as Marissa had __________, her mother was waiting with the __________ in her hand. “What’s happening to your grades? And more importantly, what’s happening to you?” she asked.

With tears in her eyes, Marissa admitted her __________. “I only joined the track team to make you proud of me. I hated it, __________ I didn’t want to disappoint you. I thought if I were failing in my classes, Coach would kick me off the team. What a __________ I’ve made of everything.”

Marissa watched her mother’s face turn from anger to __________. “Marissa, I was always proud of you. You didn’t need to do the high jump to make me happy. Now you have a lot of hard work in front of you because you made a bad __________.”

Marissa thought again about the spider. She realized she had lost sight of her __________ and twisted her web. Now she had to go back and __________ that web.