1 . Be a Good One

“Whatever you are,” said Abraham Lincoln, “be a good one.” He _______ it with his own life. And in the present age, his words need an improvement.

Composer Frederick Loewe was not always _______. He learned the piano from the great masters of Europe and achieved huge success as a(n) _______ and composer in his early years. But when he immigrated to the United States, he _______ as a piano genius. For a while he tried other types of _______ including looking for gold and boxing. _______ he never gave up his dream and continued to play the _______ and write music.

During those _______ years, he could not always afford to make payments on his piano. One day, bent over the keyboard he heard nothing but the music that he played with such rare inspiration. When he finished and looked upon, he was _______ to find that he had the audience of three men who were seated on the ________ .

They said nothing and made no movement toward the piano. Instead, they stood from the floor and dug into their pockets, collected together enough money for the payment, placed it on the piano and walked out, empty-handed. Moved by the ________ of his music, these men recognized excellence and ________ to it.

Whatever you are, be a ________ one. If what you do is worth doing, if you believe that who you are is of value, then you can’t afford to be ________ with mediocrity. When you choose the path of excellence through this life, you will bring it to your best and ________ the best it can offer in return. And you will know what it is to be satisfied.

4 . Gardening changed how I see myself as a disabled woman. When I started gardening in 2018, I didn't know anything about plants, let alone how to grow things we can _______. I thought gardening required a lot of _______ tasks. As I have a genetic condition that causes my bones to _______ easily, I didn't believe I could complete them. The thought of taking care of plants in a wheelchair every day made me feel _______. But just like how I gradually learnt everything else as a disabled person, I had to _______ how to garden my way.

That first season, I visited my _______ as much as I could. Noticing my interest in gardening, my neighbors in the community _______ offered me advice and support. Under their careful _______ , I managed to pull up the weeds and watered my plants on my own. Finally, I was so _______ to eat the tomatoes I grew and even shared some more ________ with neighbors.

Gardening has ________ how I see other parts of my life. As a disabled woman, I fear being seen as a ________ and struggle to ask for the things I need. Gardening helped me normalize the ________ that I have needs. My plant needs more ________, but I don't think it is a heavy load. I don't ________ it for getting insects and not being able to fight against them. Gardening also helped me ________ my social circle and I grow ________ to people in our community.

Over the years, gardening has made me feel more ________ in every aspect of my life. I'm ________ what I want to grow, and I have gained a lot of ________ from that.

5 . There’s that old saying: How you do one thing is how you do everything. Therefore, as you become more kind and considerate, it _______ in everything that you do, even when you are playing _______.

I recently went to a music show with some other musicians in town (many of whom I was meeting for the first time). When I used to play with other musicians, I spent more time in my head _______ my drumming. _______, I paid no attention to what was going on. This time though, I found that I was more attentive and was able to _______ the other musicians more through my playing.

Because of this, our music was _______ than ever before, and I could feel the audience was _______ the music more, too, because the music was no longer about me, it was about all of us connecting through the _______ language of music.

Afterwards, the musicians I played with told me they felt like our hearts were _______ while playing. They felt ________ that we were able to achieve a new level of playing together thanks to the adopted ________ . When playing, there was no self or one-upping. There was just us sharing ourselves with our ________ hearts.

I believe that the best ________ in the world have this in common: which is to see their own egos (自我), and to connect with their audience and fellow musicians. I've ________ all of this thanks to my practice of being a more considerate and ________ person.

7 . My wife and I moved into our home two years ago. We had a yard with a lot of _______. We often plant some flowers between the rocks, just to add some _______ to the area.

Last summer, I found a tiny little plant in the yard that I could not immediately identify. I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise said she didn’t either.

We decided to let it _______ growing until we could find out what it was.

Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the _______ plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. I decided to _______ the weeds (杂草) around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to pull the weeds, I noticed something _______. The sunflower had not _______ where I saw it begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the _______.

At that moment, I _______ that if a tiny little sunflower didn’t let a big rock stop its way of developing, we also have the ability of doing the same thing. If we _______ ourselves like that little sunflower, we can reach where we _______ to go and get what we need for growth.

We need to believe in ourselves knowing we have the _______ to achieve our goals. Like the sunflower, it knew it had the power to get over the rocks because it had _______ in itself that it would succeed. Stand tall like the sunflower and be _______ of who and what we are, and then the environment will begin to _______ us. We will find a way to go under or around any “rocks” in order to reach our goals.

8 . About 15 years ago, I packed my suitcase and traveled to a town a few hours away. I would have an important ______ the next day, so I arrived ______. When I woke up the next morning in the hotel and started to get ______, something came to my notice —I had ______ to pack a white shirt.

This discovery made me get into ______. There was only about an hour left. Without thinking, I ______ went down to the lobby (大厅) immediately and flew to the attendant at the front desk. I explained my ______ situation and asked if he could suggest a nearby store where I could get a new shirt. I received a response before I finished speaking. “Sir, I have got a ______,”The attendant replied. How excited I was when I heard that! But instead of ______ me to a nearby shop, the man did something ______. Without saying a word, he ______ his own white shirt and handed it to me.

I finally arrived on time. Things ______ in the end—I got my dream job. I expressed my ______ when giving back the shirt.

That nice ______ has stuck with me over the years and that man’s behavior has ______ me ever since. And so now, when I see someone who needs anything, I’m willing to share.

10 . Skateboarder Robert Glover’s skills are seriously impressive, but his style isn’t what you’d expect. Born with sacral agenesis(骶骨发育不全), _______ the growth of his legs, Mr. Glover uses his _______ body strength to move his skateboard. Instead of relying on legs, he uses his _______ and body to control the board.

The Namibian born skateboarder, sailor, boxer and entrepreneur speaks regularly about the _______ of not viewing obstacles as limits and is _______ about sharing this message far and wide via social media. “I don’t think obstacles are here to _______ us,” Mr. Glover said. “In my opinion, obstacles have been some of the biggest growing _______ both mentally and physically in my life.”

He regular shares images of his _______ skill to Instagram. In a video, Mr. Glover shared the _______ of how he first realised skntehoarding was a ________ for him and what motivates him to continue improving his skills. “I might not skate ________ but I can skate better than you.” he said in the video.

“Since I was young, I’ve ________ the idea of being in a wheelchair. Someone ________ me their board and I just used it as ________ . One day someone was like, ‘Hey, let’s check out the skate park’. I saw the ________ . I just fell in love with it. Adaptive skating is ________ skaters who use any way, shape or form to ride on a board.”

“It’s pretty sick because everyone has a ________ way of doing things. I’ve been injured, it’s an unpleasant feeling and it’s motivation not to ________ again. Skating is and always will be an outlet. The feeling of landing something is just so ________ . Life is open-ended. Just go out here and ________ things your way. ‘