1 . It was the day of the big cross-country run. Students from seven different primary schools in and around the small town were warming up. I looked around and ______spotted David. I walked over and asked him why he wasn’t with the other______. He hesitated and then said he had decided not to______.

What was wrong? He had worked so hard for this event! I quickly searched for the school’s ______ and asked him what had happened. He said that kids from other schools would ______David. After making sure that David could run if he ______ to, I decided to have a talk with David.

David had a brain ______ which prevented him from walking or running like other children, but he always participated to the ______of his ability in whatever they were doing. That was why none of the children thought it ______ that David had decided to join the cross-country team. It just took him ______— that’s all. As a special education teacher at the school, I was familiar with the ______ David faced and was proud of his strong ______.

I came up to David and ______ him. Finally, he was determined to______ the race. Half an hour later, the race ______, but he had only gone a few meters before he tripped and ______on the ground. My heart ______. As I started to shout encouragement, other voices around me took up the ______. “Come on David, you can do it!” David picked himself up and started again. Needless to say, David ______ last. And he raised his arms high as he ______ the finish line to wild cheers and applause.

2 . I was living in Cali, Colombia. One day my younger sister decided to visit me for a holiday and I was supposed to go to meet her at the airport. I somehow lost ________ of the time and realized that I was ________my home much later than I had wanted to. And to make matters _________, when I went outside, the rain was pouring from the sky and I couldn’t get a taxi to save my life. I ________ jumping on board a public bus to Palmira, where the airport was .

The driver said that I would be dropped ________ at a crossroads which was located six kilometers away from the airport. I had no ________ but to travel with the bus. The journey took ages, however. When the bus did eventually ________ the previously mentioned crossroads, the driver pointed in a given ________ and told me that the airport was down that way. By this time, I had descended into tears. My sister would be arriving in twelve minutes, and there was no way I was going to be able to make it ________. Beside myself (失去控制) with worry, I ________ the driver to drive the six kilometers down to the airport to drop me off. He stood up and took a vote from the other passengers. Fortunately, they all ________. Thanks to them, I arrived on time. This was my first encounter with Murphy’s Law (墨菲定律): Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. And the only way to beat this devil is to take ________for the outcome of all your actions. I should have made a Plan B by ________ the possibility that there would be no taxis available. Of course, some major victories were achieved by the very fact that they did not have a Plan B to ________.

However, most of the situations we encounter in our lives are much less dramatic and can often be ________ in more ways than one. It is ________to have a Plan B because you cannot always guarantee that your original plan is going to work out, and in some cases, your contingency (不测之事) plan might just be even ________ than your original one .

Now more than ever, in this rapidly changing world, ________ is often the key to success. If you are prepared to bounce back when everyone else ________, you will be the winner. Think of your contingency plan as a form of ________, one that, if nothing else, can give you the peace of mind you need.

4 . Do you often compare yourself to others? In reality, it’s ________ for us to do so — especially given the nature of how most of us were raised and the ________ cultures in which we live. By comparison, some get ________ while some become negative. But both run only a limited time since someone better or worse will show up soon.

The ________ of comparison is like the game of the coin. The head means we “win” and we think we have more ________ and the tail means we “________” and we think we’re worse. However, no one will win ________. We will possibly meet someone better than us and end up with some ________ or something alike.

How can we ________ our comparison process and make it an experience of growth, connection, and self-acceptance? It’s simply by ________ it directly and going to the source — how we ________ ourselves, namely the relationship between man and self. Here are some things we can do to get away from the comparison mode.

Use comparison as a(n) ________ to accept, appreciate, and love yourself. When comparison shows up, it generally originates from fear or uncertainty in your heart, not the ill intention. ________ criticizing ourselves for what we might do wrong, what if we take this as a cue to take care of and ________ ourselves in a real way?

Admit people who are ________. Another great way to ________ the negative impact of comparing ourselves to others is to reach out to them with some ________. Faced with other people’s success and talents, the more ________ we praise them, the more likely we are to create positive feelings and outcomes in our own lives. There is not a finite amount of success and when we ________ people we compare ourselves to, that reminds us that there is more than enough for us to ________ and experience wonderful things in our own life as well.

6 . When I began to study flower arranging, I was slowly developing a deeper understanding of the_________ between all life.

In our first class, my teacher said that flowers can_________ talk and that they each have their own_________ of being beautiful. They have “prana” life force, so you have to pay full attention to them, rather than_________ your own ideas of beauty on them. So I began to ask the flowers how they wanted to be_________ and what positioning would make them _________ most beautiful. I waited and listened.

Even after the flowers had been_________ in the vase, I would discover sometimes that in the morning they had rearranged themselves during the night. Even if they were secured in the_________，they always seemed to be silently straining(尽力)to find their_________ place. At the same time, they were not__________ independent; they needed loving care. They were dependent on me, or whomever their__________ wasfor the day, to water them. Watching other people spraying water on the arrangements sometimes, I would feel so__________ by the scene. Small drops of water on the flowers touched the source of life and nourished the heart of beauty.

This experience made me feel how__________ it could be, if our minds are set in the right way to water not only plants, but__________,to treat all living creatures in a way that__________ them their right to be beautiful, in their own__________ and time.

What we came to notice was that flowers could also__________. Our teacher urged us to always__________ the flowers when we passed how beautiful they were and to thank them for sharing that__________ with us.

When we made our arrangements with this kind of__________,we found that the flowers remained beautiful and fresh for many more days than expected.

7 . Do you find yourself pulling away from others, especially if you’ve experienced a deep disappointment? Maybe the most ______ thing most of us can do is to be with people when we don’t feel like being around anybody.

A man who lost his wife to cancer found himself wanting to be ______ . He dropped out of his community and ______ all of the activities he and his wife were used to for year. He ______ socializing at work and returned ______ home to an empty house after work. He turned down ______ from friends and co-workers.

His friends became ______ . One came by to visit and invite him over for supper the next evening. The two old friends sat in comfortable chairs by a ______ . The visitor extended the dinner invitation and ______ him to come, “You may need to ______ others to share your pain.”

The man responded that he felt better ______ staying with other people. “And ______ ,” he said, “it’s just too difficult to get out anymore.”

They sat in ______ for a while, watching the wood burn in the fireplace. Then the visitor did a(n) ______ thing. He took tongs (火钳) by the fireplace, reached into the fire, pulled out a ______ coal and laid down by itself on the earth. “That’s you,” he said.

The man sat in silence, ______ the red-hot ember. Neither man looked ______ as the once hot coal gradually transformed into a black lump. After some moments, the man said, “I get the ______ , my friend. I’ll be over tomorrow evening.”

We cannot ______ in any healthy way by ourselves. The leaf needs the branch. The branch needs the trunk. The trunk needs the roots. And the roots need the rest of the tree. We are ______ . And in that connection life and vitality (活力) are found.

8 . American author Gary Hopkins tells us, “A suitable apology can be a wonderful thing, so long as it is from the heart.” However, an apology is ______ to make.

A few years ago, I was a guest ______ at a conference for professional trainers. I was well ______, knowledgeable about the topic, and I felt confident as I ______ my speech. But afterwards, an experienced female delegate ______ me. We exchanged a few greetings, and then she dropped something unexpected on me. She said, “Do you know how many times you ______, from the moment you ______ to the microphone until the moment you left the stage?” “Sorry, I don’t know,” I replied. “Nine times,” she said. “And all of them were unnecessary.” I was ______. It was the first time someone had ever made me ______ my “sorry habit.” So what was the first word out of my mouth ______? “Sorry!” We both burst out laughing.

Of course, apologies shouldn’t be ______ that way. This incident raised my awareness of how we routinely use apologies. I know ______ to apologize is a big mistake as we’ve made a mistake or wronged someone else. How to do it? First and foremost, we need to understand real apologies or wholeheartedly saying “sorry” is ______. It’s like a big ______ into a relationship account and there’s no alternative for it. Actually, there are ______ apologies, which are tools of dodges (搪塞). They are awful and we should stop them. ______, habitual apologies are an unnecessary automatic response, as I ever made at the conference.

Generally, over apologizing ______ to happen when there’s a lack of ______ in your position, which will make others ______ you or even get unhappy. So we need to use apologies ______ and our attitude must be sincere. Refusing to apologize is a big mistake, and so is over apologizing.

10 . There isn’t a book that I always _________ to at this most wonderful time of year, as jingle-bell _________ has it. Having said that, my husband is much more Christmassy than me and there are two texts he has made a(an) _________ part of the family festival, like the _________ tributes to the dawn of next year led by the calendar.

This Christmas, then, the following unchanging ritual (仪式) will be _________. He shooed us to the sitting room, withdrawing a shiny black long-playing _________ from its ancient, crumbling sleeve and place it on the turntable.

When he did this the first time our children were _________, as up to that point in their young and tech-centric lives they’d never seen such a thing before. They were quite happy to watch it go round and round _________ the point of the ritual was the spinning disk, whatever sound was coming out of the two ancient speakers.

“Richard Burton is the best,” my husband then cut in _________. As the dark Welsh __________ of Burton began to narrate (解说) Dylan Thomas’s radio drama Under Milk Wood, the children would settle in silence, __________ their listening positions in the sitting room by the fire, only slightly anxious about how to convey without complaining out loud their deep concerns about being detained too long from toys, televisions and presents.

My husband will sonorously (洪亮地) __________ his favourite bits so we all benefit from hearing the words in stereo (立体声). Our Master’s Voice and Burton’s declaiming Under Milk Wood together.

“It is a spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black…”

Filled with seasonal feeling and wonder as any bible reading or carol, the best bit for me is watching my children’s faces as the __________ words make pictures in their heads __________ Dylan Thomas’s unimprovable formulations: they see the dogs in the wet-nosed yards and they hear the hushed town breathing.

This is as much a part of Christmas as a Festival of Ten Lessons and Carols from Kings to all my family, and this is __________ :Even though cold and silence and blackness run through the piece like a layer of __________ , it beats with heat and warmth. It is a celebration of humanity. Compare the words of “Silent Night” to this:

“Time passes. Listen. Time passes. Only you can hear the houses sleeping in the streets in the slow deep salt and silent black, bandaged night. ”

Of course, on the face of it, Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales is the more __________ text, and my husband will often play or read that too. The __________ lines of A Child’s Christmas, “I said some words to the close and holy darkness, and then I __________ ,” are perfectly final. Dylan Thomas rounds off his little story of his Welsh childhood as Shakespeare rounds off our little lives — with a sleep.

All is dark, all is bright in both, but the one I ponder __________ my heart is Under Milk Wood.