1 . “How did you publish so much as an immigrant (移民) ?” _________ I wasn’t a native English speaker, people asked this question countless times as I interviewed for jobs last year. I knew that telling my struggles was unlikely to _________ me a job, so I would laugh and say, “I enjoy writing!” But the _________ is that writing did not come easily.

From early on I wanted to pursue an _________ career. But my first applications for Ph. D programs were _________. After learning I would be a stronger _________ if I had some publications, I decided to pursue a project in my undergraduate professor’s lab, hoping for publishable findings. When I had results to write up, I _________ to write a well-structured research paper. I was _________ that my professor’s revisions were less significant than they had been on my paper, highlighting my growth.

Still, the paper was rejected (拒绝) from three journals and I was getting rejected by more Ph. D programs. But I didn’t give up. _________,I tried to focus on what I was learning: Revisions and rejections are a normal part of the scientific process, and what __________ was how I adapted and grew from them.

Learning how my professor __________ writing helped me find my voice. I went on to publish several first-author papers and grew more __________. I finally dared to apply to Ph. D programs again, and was excited to get in. I’m sure many __________ on my CV helped me win the place.

As my Ph. D program neared its end, my publication record made me stand out and improved my confidence during job __________. Writing helped me grow from an uncertain immigrant feeling like a (n) __________ in academia (学术界) to a confident researcher whose background is a source of pride and strength.

2 . I received one act of kindness from a stranger after my husband died. It happened when I went to have a photo _________ for the funeral (葬礼). Enveloped by grief, I was unable to talk with anyone. Printing the photo should have been an easy task, but it felt _________ as I walked into the building.

I had often used the print service and was _________ in and out within ten minutes. But, on this day, nothing went _________. My USB wouldn’t load properly and I couldn’t locate the photo. Overcome with _________, I broke into tears.

Then a woman _________ me and asked if she could help. I cried that I couldn’t get the machine to _________. She sat down and with a few quick taps (敲击) on the keyboard, _________ the photo. She moved as if to leave. _________, she sat back. She asked if this was what I would like printed. Still sobbing, I said it needed to be cropped (裁剪). She put it all into the system and waited. I thanked her as she __________ the USB to me. She nodded and sat silently until I was __________ enough to walk out.

By sitting __________, she permitted me to cry without judgment. She didn’t ask what was wrong or offer well-meaning but unhelpful __________. She allowed me to deal with my __________ in a cared-for space. Through that brief exchange of time, I felt some of the hopelessness __________.

3 . To the firefighters who deal with danger each day, every life is worthy to be saved.

Wildfires are just one of the many situations firefighters _________ toward when everyone else is going in the opposite direction. Every year, it seems wildfires _________ parts of California, Washington and Oregon. In September, 2023, Daniel Trevizo, a Los Angeles Fire Department head, and his team worked hard around-the-clock to _________ the fires in the south of California.

One day, they were watering down embers (余火) near Lake Oroville when he _________ a surprising thing. When the fires were put out, his team quickly did everything they could to _________ the fire scene. _________, Daniel heard an animal crying nearby. So he started looking around for the _________ of the sounds. Then they found a small cat under the burnt bushes. The frightened and lonely cat came right up to Daniel.

Daniel _________ the soot (煤烟)-covered cat, later named Ember, and kept it _________ in his jacket pocket until it got much-needed __________ in an animal hospital. The veterinarian (兽医) said Ember had only some minor __________. With medication and Daniel’s care, Ember __________ a few days later. Ultimately, Daniel managed to find Ember’s owners, who got __________ from it while they escaped from the fires.

There’s no doubt Ember’s life was saved by __________ Daniel and his team! They risked their lives to save those around them, and we couldn’t be more __________!

4 . AI can transform education for the better

As students return to classrooms for the new year, it is striking to reflect on how little education has changed in recent decades. The sector remains a digital laggard (落后者). American schools and universities spend 2% and 5% of their budgets, _________, on technology, compared with 8% for the average American company.

When the pandemic forced schools and universities to shut down, the moment for a digital _________ seemed close when the market value of online tutoring providers like Chegg and Byju’s both increased. However, once covid was brought under control, classes continued much as before.

If the pandemic couldn’t overcome the education sector’s _________ to digital interruption, can artificial intelligence? ChatGPT-like generative AI, which can converse cleverly on varieties of subjects, certainly _________. So much so that educationalists began to _________ that students would use it to cheat on essays and homework. Increasingly, however, it is generating excitement as a means to provide _________ tutoring to various students and speed up boring tasks such as marking.

Learners, for their part, are _________ the technology. Two-fifths of undergraduates reported using an AI chatbot to help them with their studies. Indeed, the technology’s popularity has raised awkward questions for companies like Chegg, which was losing customers _________ ChatGPT. Yet there are good reasons to believe that education specialists like Chegg who employ AI will eventually _________ generalists such as OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.

For one, AI chatbots often talk nonsense, an unhelpful trait in an educational context. “Students want content from __________ providers,” argues Kate Edwards, chief pedagogist at Pearson, a textbook publisher. The company has not allowed ChatGPT and other AIs to __________ its material, but has instead used the content to train its own models, which it is embedding into its set of learning apps.

__________, as Chegg’s Mr Rosensweig argues, teaching is not merely about giving students an answer, but about presenting it in a way that helps them learn. Understanding pedagogy (教学法) thus gives education specialists an __________. Pearson has designed its AI tools to __________ students by breaking complex topics down, testing their understanding and providing quick feedback, says Ms Edwards. Byju’s is incorporating “forgetting curves” for students into the design of its AI tutoring tools, refreshing their memories at personalized __________.

Bringing AI to education will not be easy, but once answers on how to make use of this technology become clearer, such a development will certainly deserve top marks.

5 . Bill Sumiel had been suffering from kidney disease for years and had been on dialysis (透析) for all those years. He was on the transplant (移植) list, but no matches had yet _________. So he continued with his treatments.

It was a Friday in Oct. 2020, and Sumiel had booked an Uber ride home from the treatment center. Timothy Letts was driving to visit a friend when he received the _________ for Sumiel’s ride home. The trip was out of Letts’s way. Still, he _________ the order, figuring if the _________ was coming from a medical facility, he probably needed a ride.

After Sumiel got into the car, the pair got to chatting. Sumiel revealed that he was _________ a kidney donor. Letts joked that he’d be a _________ donor candidate, given that he didn’t drink or smoke. Sumiel agreed, _________ he didn’t think much of it. As the car neared Sumiel’s house, Letts said, “I’d like to see if I could be a match to give you a kidney.”

“I was shocked,” Sumiel recalls. He was shaking so hard and could _________ write his name when they exchanged contact information. After the initial excitement, Sumiel started feeling a bit less _________ — he wondered if it had just been a(n) __________ moment. Would he hear from him? And what was the __________ they’d be a match?

But Letts was __________ to his word. Letts had contacted the kidney transplant program quickly. After a long screening process, the results showed: Letts was a(n) __________ donor. In Dec. 2021, 14 months after they ended up in the same __________ by chance, Sumiel and Letts had their surgeries. It was a(n) __________. Today Sumiel is doing well, and he and Letts still keep in touch.

6 . My daughter went in to a big public school from a small homely pre-school last year. I acted happy for her but inside I was _________. My daughter did not _________ anyone at her new school and I wondered how she would get on with making friends.

The first few weeks were _________ for her. She would often come home and tell me that she _________ walked around by herself during recess (课间休息) and most of the kids didn’t _________ to play with her.

I wanted to _________ this problem. I’d been the one helping her through so many moments, _________ this one was more difficult. I couldn’t be there holding her hand and _________ her to other little kids. _________, after a few weeks, she slowly started to make friends.

This year my daughter went to school as a confident Year Two. She was __________ no matter how her class changed, she would be OK. What __________ me was her experience in Year One would influence her in a positive way.

“I __________ some Year One kids today,” she told me recently. “It was their first day and some of them looked __________ so I thought I should go play with them. I __________ what it was like walking around not knowing any one.” “And maybe,” she continued.“ If I do this for them, they will do this for the __________ Year One kids next year and no one will feel they are not __________.”

My heart was full of __________. I realized it was probably a __________ thing that I wasn’t there to hold my daughter’s hand anymore.

Starting a new school is a time of great __________ — not only for children but for us parents too. One __________ for parents is learning to let go, little by little.

7 . Gillian Sandstrom was a computer programmer. Then she decided to study psychology at Toronto University. But she felt like she didn’t _________ there. “I was 10 years older than my _________,” Sandstrom recalls. “I wasn’t sure I should be there and felt _________.”

Then entered the hot dog lady.

On her _________ walk from one university building to another, Sandstrom would pass a hot dog shop. She never _________ a hot dog, but each day she walked past, she would _________ and wave at the lady who would smile and wave back. This _________ exchange with a stranger made her feel much happier and looked forward to the short interaction.

“She made me feel happy,” Sandstrom says. “I felt better after seeing her and _________ if she wasn’t there.”

Years later, that type of short but happy exchange inspired Sandstrom to _________ a study to examine the __________ of social connections with anyone outside our close circle of family, friends and colleagues.

“A lot of people can tell a(n) __________ story: Someone that they didn’t know at all or didn’t know well really made a difference by listening, smiling or saying a couple of words,” says Sandstrom.

Her work is part of a growing number of research that looks at the value of social __________. While much of the research has __________ the closest relationships in people’s lives, Sandstrom is now learning that even the most __________ contacts with strangers can be __________ beneficial to our mental health.

8 . Driving lessons are quite normal for teenagers across the country. But for Jessica Parks, a young woman from North Branch, Mich, they mean another great ______ she's eager to overcome.

Jessica was born without arms, but was not ______ wearing prosthetics (假肢). So she has learned to do ______ things with her feet—from eating noodles to putting in contact lenses (隐形眼镜). She is no stranger to difficulties but the ______ remained: How well would she drive?

After ______ her seatbelt across her with her foot and buckling in, she ______ the directions of instructor Larry Klug and makes all of her last-minute adjustments with her ______ , as they prepare to leave the parking lot. Klug talks her through a pre-drive checklist, “Put your blinker (转向灯) on; check your centre mirror; ______ your left mirror.”

Jessica is driving a mid-size car that wasn't modified (改装) at all for her purposes. After seeing her ability to drive Klug decided that she didn't need any ______ devices. It should come as no ______ to anyone that after spending hours driving with Jessica, Klug ______ her a natural, saying she's going to be a great driver.

One of Jessica's main ______   now is to get her driver's license. Jessica says she thinks about the ______ challenges she's faced and overcome, and about why she's here. She said, “I guess I was put here as a(n) ______ to others—just to show people that whatever they set their mind to, they can get it done, and it doesn't ______ what other people say or think. If you want to do something, you can do it.”

9 . Charles Potter lost his ability to walk in 2006 and had to use a wheelchair after being hit by a drunk driver. He said that after the _________, he woke up, unable to move anything below his head. _________, his injuries weren’t worse.

Once Potter started to _________, he had to relearn basic things like eating. His recovery was so _________, but he didn’t give up. “I always _________ a positive attitude. I believe I can look after myself soon,” he said.

Years later, Potter and Rhonda got married. They _________ their daughter, Charlize one year later. “She just knows I’m in a wheelchair and _________ to doing certain things,” he said.

Charlize has always been into dance. At school, she took such a _________. One particular class had daddy-daughter dances, and she invited her dad to _________. Potter agreed. The two __________ learning the routines (舞步) and came up with creative workarounds (变通办法). They got the moves together only within a few weeks and __________ them during a recital (演奏会). Several videos of their dances were __________ online and they became Internet stars soon.

So many people were __________ to see a father in a wheelchair dancing. The proud father is happy to spread a message of __________ and he hopes it makes others realize that no matter what their __________ they can live meaningful lives.

10 . A missing woman Emma was found after three days stuck in the mud and her parents are calling it a miracle (奇迹).

The 31-year-old was reported ________ on June 26 by her parents, who said she left her cell-phone behind when she left home on Sunday night. When she didn’t return, they ________ the alarm. “So many times this type of story ends ________ and I didn’t have much hope at all,” the missing woman’s father said.

Local authorities were called to Borderland State Park in Easton, Massachusetts. Emma was ________ found when people hiking reported ________ coming from a swamp (沼泽地). Easton police officers entered the swamp and ________ to pull Emma from the swamp — she was then carried to ________.

Emma’s mom, Barbara Zinaman, said, “She ________ for help. She said ‘I need help.’ I’m still ________ after a week that she could even do that because she didn’t have ________ and she was also pretty dehydrated(脱水的).” “It was awful to be ________ in the swamp for as long as she was,” Zinaman continued. “It’s miraculous that they ________ her.”

Emma’s mother went on to ________: “I want to thank everybody that has texted, called, emailed, showed love and ________. The search and rescue teams and the county.”

Police say Emma will recover. While she is still ________, her injuries are not life-threatening.