1 . High school senior Jonathan Walker is unquestionably celebrating an amazing milestone in his life. The Florida teen has been ______ into 27 universities and received up to $4 million in scholarships.

“It was just a surprise to see that they wanted me to ______ their institution, and that they were offering me ______ . It was just a ton of excitement,” Walker said during an interview with ABC News’ Linsey Davis.

Colleges and universities that included Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and MIT all ______ to enroll (登记) the 18-year-old Florida student.

______, the teen was very surprised when he was admitted to all of the universities. He told CBS Miami in an interview, “That’s such a ______ thing to occur, but it did happen.

However, ______ he has been accepted to all of his choices, the teen is working on ______ the list down. “I’ll be able to make a pretty confident _______.”

Actually, Walker is also active in the science club, the international Baccalaureate program, and the school football team. The amazingly ______ 18-year-old has also been working with a partner on a wrist device that ______ people who are blind and deaf to communicate better with people.

“My parents ______ me a chemistry set (化学用具) a couple of years ago. And then from there I really ______ that I could use engineering to help people. And so I just became super interested in ______ devices that could help disadvantaged communities and people ______ a challenging period,” Walker said.

2 . Like many young people, Jessica wants to travel the globe. Unlike most of them, this 25-year-old is doing it _______ . She and her husband have spent the last two years traveling the world, stopping everywhere from Paris to Singapore. It might sound like one long, expensive _______ , but the couple has an unusual way to make their travel _______ .

They’re part of a new form of the _______ economy: an online group of house sitters. Throughout their no-cost stays in _______ homes, they feed pets and water plants in the homeowner’s _______ .

It’s not all sightseeing. The two travelers carefully _______ their trips, scheduling their days around the pets that are sometimes difficult to _______ . But house sitting also offers a level of _______ they can’t find in a hotel. “It’s like ________ at a friend’s house,” Jessica says.

The couple has a high ________ rate in getting accepted as house sitters and they always go beyond the homeowner’s ________ . For Jessica, that means ________ plenty of pictures of happy pets, keeping the house ________ and leaving a nice small gift before heading to the next house. “You want to make the homeowner feel that they made the right ________ ,” she says.

3 . Chris Person lost his wallet outside a Publix store. The wallet contained his license, credit cards, plenty of cash, and some gift cards. He _________ his pockets and the parking lot carefully but came up empty. He had completely become _________.

The next day, two _________ who Chris Person had never met before drove to his home in Palmetto Bay. To his excitement, he was told that 15-year-old Lucas had _________ the wallet in the parking lot by chance. Then he decided to go with his father to Chris’s to _________ it in person.

Chris became impressed with the _________ the father had obviously passed on to his child, _________ because every note of the more than $1,000 in cash was still in the wallet. “They both refused my _________ without any hesitation when I insisted they _________ the money that was inside, and they said they just wanted to do the __________ thing—and they did,” Chris told CNN. “The father intended to teach his boy the meaning of a selfless and __________ act by accompanying him for thousands of mile here. And I believe the boy will always make right decisions whenever he faces the same situation in the future.”

During their conversation, Chris learned that the warm-hearted boy liked rock and roll. Therefore, he was determined to do something meaningful to __________ the boy for his kindness. The following weekend, Chris and his wife got a new surround sound system. Chris had been __________ that Lucas was very fond of __________, so he called Lucas up and asked if he wanted it. The boy was both __________ and satisfied by the gift.

4 . “You’re going to buy me a bicycle?” I asked in_________. “Have you forgotten how old I am?” “No, I haven’t, and what_________does it make? Everybody of our age who travels in a motorhome has bicycles,” my husband said. I could not believe my ears.

When I was six, a girl was hit by a car while riding a bike and_________instantly. My parents told me bicycling would kill me. So, I never_________to ride.

But after I had children, I satisfied their_________to own bicycles and taught them to ride at an early age. Of course, I never_________that I would buy one for myself.

_________, I didn’t want to mess up my first travel before it started and I knew I needed to face my_________, so I decided to go along with this. One is never too_________to learn a new skill, I told myself.

After buying a bike, we were on our way to my first__________. With sweaty hands and a flying heart, I__________held the handlebars(车把) and balanced on those two wheels. There were a few sudden stops and__________starts over the course of the next thirty minutes, but I did it. I learned how to ride a bike.

Since that day, I have__________throughout Texas, California and Virginia. Bicycling has truly__________my retirement years, given me more self-confidence and, more__________, taught me that a simple, courageous act knows no age.

5 . William was one of my students. He adored plants but struggled with his reading. After the mid-term test, William’s ______ showed no sign of improvement. Until the last few weeks of the year, when we ______ the life cycle of plants, William excelled. I'd never seen him so ______ in the classroom.

As a class project, each child planted a sunflower seed in one of the containers and ______ its growth. I did this every year, with varying ______. Planting the seeds was exciting for many of the students, the ______ part much less so. It took too long to see results from daily watering, and most kids lost ______ and interest. As a result, they forgot to ______ their sunflowers-to-be.

But not William. Every afternoon, William made sure all the containers were ______ and nurtured (培育). By the last week of school, the ______ were about four inches tall, which really ______ me. In years past, few seeds successfully produced new shoots. And those that did had never gotten so tall. But these were ______. These were William’s sunflowers.

This is what it means to be a ______. At that moment, I knew I didn’t have to ______ William. I’d seen that special seed planted inside him. Others would too. And, one day, he’d start to ______, mature and shine —just like his sunflowers.

6 . Christmas is a time for giving and receiving. However, is it ________ for close family and friends? Do we even spare a ________ for those in need? Our children receive so much throughout the year.

As parents we want our daughters to be ________ for what they have and to think of those who don’t. That’s why my husband and I want them to ________ the spirit of giving back from a very young age.

Through their school, the girls have a charity which they ________ . Every Tuesday they take two loaves of bread to the school food bank. Twice a year they donate ________ clothes, toys and books to shelters. They also volunteer on weekends. As my husband is a regular blood donor, the girls ________ to donate as well. Unfortunately they are too ________ as the start age is 16.

Children mirror the ________ of their parents and if you often reach out to others by giving generously, they will ________ . Christmas is the perfect time to teach them to give back to those less ________ .

Teaching the gift of giving back not only promotes personal growth, it also ________ them a sense of belonging and pride. It will create ________ that they are making a difference in someone else’s life no matter how small the ________ . It teaches them love, kindness, patience and so on. These ________ will help them carry it forward in their adult life.

7 . For one Wisconsin father of three, being 45 years old hasn’t stopped him from performing 3, 000 push-ups while competing in a marathon. _________, Nate Carroll set a new world record for _________ 1.5 million plus push-ups over the course of a single year.

When Nate Carroll _________ his mission on June 14, 2020, he had two _________. First, he hoped to teach his children a lesson about the power of perseverance (坚持) by _________ an example to them. But in addition to being a _________ role model for his children, Carroll also devoted his time to _________ money for a charity.

With a full-time job, finding the time in his _________ to clock thousands of push-ups per day was one of Carroll’s biggest challenges.

“To _________ time to do 4,000 push-ups is impossible.” he told the Wisconsin State Journal. “There is a fact you need to __________. You have to weave that into your day.”

And he did push-ups whenever a (n) __________ presented itself.

In order to set a new Guinness World Record, Carroll has been __________ documenting his accomplishments both in a logbook and with video throughout his year-long __________.

“Set a goal, and try your best to __________ it,” he told Fox News. “Make it who you are, not something you do. That way, when life throws obstacles in your way and offers you __________ excuses to stop or says it’s too difficult, you find a way to persevere in spite of difficulties.”

8 . Six years ago when I was told that my father suffered from dementia(痴呆), everything changed overnight. Until then, I was loved and lived with little _______. My father became a child who needed round-the-clock _______ for everyday activities. _______, we learnt that the best way to deal with him was with patience and_______.

Our family started_______more time and activities together——Sundays were set aside for a drive, a park visit and dinner at a restaurant. Each _______ gave us the chance to connect as a family.They were special to my father and gave him great_______. It was also a time of _______—— I found myself tested in different ways and found perseverance(坚毅) that I didn’t_______ I had.

By December last year, my father’s condition became more________. Unable to deal with his illness, we were ________ to send him to a centre for dementia care.

We brought my father home in February when he got ________. The next month, the government advised us to stay home because of COVID-19. I was worried that he would miss his walks and would get________ if he had to stay home all day long, but when we explained the________to him, he understood. Perhaps it was because he knew his family would ________ with him.

9 . What was I going to do? School was going to be over soon, and one quiet little girl in my class still had not _________ an octopus (章鱼). I made them from bright-colored yarn (纱) and gave them to my _________ as awards for doing something excellent.

I had introduced the octopus award early in the school year. The first winner was a little boy. I was _________ a paper in one hand and an octopus in the other.

I said, "You did very well in this math test. To reward your much _________ , I've decided to give you the very first octopus award." He had the _________ of his classmates as the first winner of this award.

By the end of the year, only the quiet little girl had _________ to win an octopus. One Friday afternoon, I gave a _________ assignment. “Draw any picture of your choice. Write a few words to tell me about it.” I collected their papers and took them home to _________ .When I saw the little girl's drawing，I got _________ She had __________ a blue sky and green grass by a pond. On a path nearby were three people side by side. One was __________ crutches（拐杖），one was in a wheelchair，and one had no clear __________ fault.

Above her drawing she wrote: “The sky is __________ . The grass is green. And all the people are different.” I couldn't wait to get to the __________ and give the girl an octopus for her wonderful drawing. When I called her forward, I saw the __________ expression on her face.

10 . I remember my high school English teacher telling me not to apply to Cornell University. My teacher said they wouldn’t accept me and even if they did I wouldn’t be able to _________ it through the years. I almost _________ but a few days later I came across Ivan Foldfarb, a former teacher, who told me _________, “You apply. You can do it” His words made all the _________. I put in my application and was _________.

Too often we think it’s our _________ to help make someone aware of “reality”. We think we must point out how _________ the job market is as well as how bad the economy is. This world never lacks “ _________ ” and pessimists. It calls for more optimists and encouragers who say, “I believe in you. Have the _________, and you will have the power to make it happen. We may __________ lots of barriers, but we’ll get the project finished. Even if you fail, it’ll lead to something more __________” I know that every one of us loves working for and with people who __________ the best in us. We love being around people who bring us __________ and uplift us. __________ we’ll always remember the negative people, we will always treasure those who encourage us.

So share encouragement. It __________ and we all need it.