3 . Human beings have somehow managed to engineer the night to receive us by filling it with light. This kind of control is no different from the feat ( 壮 举 ) of damming a river. Its benefits come with_________ — called light pollution — whose effects scientists are only now beginning to study. Light pollution is largely the result of bad lighting design. _________ lighting washes out the darkness of night, altering light levels and light rhythms to which many forms of life, including ourselves, have_________. Wherever man-made light spills into the natural world, some aspects of life-migration, reproduction, feeding-is affected.

For most human history, the phrase “light pollution” would have_________. Imagine walking towards London on a moonlit night around 1800, when it was Earth’s most populous city. Nearly a million people lived there, _________ candles, torches and lanterns, as they always had. Only a few houses were lit by gas, and there would be no public gaslights in the streets or squares for another seven years. From a few miles away, you would have been more likely to_________ London than to see its dim collective glow.

We’ve lit up the night as if it were a(n) _________ country. As a matter of fact, among mammals (哺乳动物) alone, the number of species active at night is astonishing. Light is a powerful biological force, and on many species it acts as a magnet attracting them to it. The effect is so powerful that scientists speak of songbirds and seabirds being_________ by searchlights on land or by the light from gas flares on marine oil platforms, circling and circling in the thousands until they drop.

It was once thought that light pollution only affected astronomers, who need to see the night sky in all its glorious clarity. Unlike astronomers, most of us may not need a_________ view of the night sky for our work. __________, like most other creatures, we do need darkness. __________ darkness is pointless. It is as essential to maintaining our biological welfare as__________ itself; the price of modifying our internal clockwork means it doesn’t operate as it should, causing various physical discomforts. So fundamental are the regular rhythms of waking and sleep to our being that__________ them is similar to altering our center of gravity.

In a very real sense, light pollution causes us to__________ our true place in the universe, to forget the scale of our being, which is best__________ against the dimensions of a deep night with the Milky Way — the edge of our galaxy — arching overhead.

4 . When studying at the University of Pittsburgh, I went home to Virginia to see my family one weekend. “Look, I got a best sportsman’s jacket!” I said. Dad _________ took his eyes off the TV. I had wanted Dad to _________ me all my life, but nothing ever seemed _________ enough. I shook off my _________ and went back to Pitt. A month later, Mom called and said that Dad’s diabetes (糖尿病) had gotten worse. “I’m coming home,” I said. “You’re going to need help.”

I _________ a college near home. Every Sunday, I went home and helped Dad. To my sadness, he _________ everything I did. “It’s not you,” Mom explained to me. “What _________ him makes him feel bad about himself. His anger was _________ his frustration (挫败).” I was so surprised to hear that. Now I saw his pain went beyond the _________ pain, and that made me try harder to ________________ him.

One day we were watching a football game. “I’ll bet you $2 million that Dallas wins,” I said: Dad looked at me. “You don’t have $2 million,” he ________________. After that, every time we watched the game, we made ________________ bets. Dad laughed more easily and he was more willing to accept my help. Our relationship was ________________.

That spring, a week before the National Football League draft (选拔), we had a party at our house. After everyone had gone, Dad and I were sitting in the living room. He caught my eye. “It doesn’t ________________ if you make it or not,” he said. “I’m proud of you.” Maybe our relationship would never be perfect, but I would never ________________ that he wanted the best for me.

5 . Chess is a game of make-believe kings and queens, pawns (卒) and rooks (车). So what does that have to do with reality? _______, quite a bit.

Damen Fletcher, who learned how to play chess at the age of 13, grew up in Compton, Los Angeles. After _______ the city to attend college, he came home to find his childhood friends _______. “Some of them had fallen into prison. Gang life and drugs... ‘Why did I have such a different _______?’ I started to _______. And it was chess,” he said. To help kids of all ages in Compton _______ the game of life and find their inner king and queen, he started Train of Thought.

“Every game of chess is 75 to 100 moves, and every single move that your opponent (对手)makes presents a new problem for you to _______,” he said. “And kids are just having fun. They don’t _______ that they’re dealing with problems.”

_______ for 12-year-old Andre, chess is more than just a(n) ________. “I use a lot of stuff that I leaned on the chess board in ________ life, like, think before you ________,” he said. He’s just one of thousands of students from some of Los Angeles’ ________ neighborhoods learning to play chess. “My main thing in class is: be a scholar-being prepared, productive and never giving up,” Andre said.

While the program is ________ in schools in Los Angeles, Fletcher’s dream is to expand it nationwide-and even bring it to schools around the ________.

7 . Ashoka advocates a world where everyone is a change-maker. The ability to adapt to and _________ change is essential for everyone to live well in a changing world. At the _________ of the Everyone a Change-maker movement is a _________ to transform the way children and young people grow up so everyone has the power to create change for the _________ of all.

Rebecca’s family keep cattle, sheep and goats and depend on farming the land for food. At school, Rebecca’s teacher says, “We have had many days _________ rain. Without plants to eat and water to drink, our animals die.” Everyone in the class is _________. They are worried for their families, their animals, and their _________.

At the school library, Rebecca searches for information about rain. She learns a new _________: “Climate Change.” What can just one girl do to help the whole world? “It is a big problem for the earth,” her teacher explains. “But there are some things we can do to help, like planting trees to make _________ stronger.” As Rebecca walks home, it is hot and she can’t stop thinking about the__________ of rain. Then she has an idea!

“Let’s write a letter to the President of Kenya,” Rebecca says. Rebecca takes the letter and shares it with her classmates. They each ask their families to __________their name at the bottom to show their __________.

Rebecca and her classmates share the __________ of protecting the environment and practical steps to take __________. Working hard for a better world, Rebecca says, “If I do succeed in my project, the world will be beautiful. The cattle will be fat, the children __________ well. Everyone can be a change-maker.” Rebecca is now thinking about what to do next for nature and her community.

9 . Our family decided to move to warm South Carolina when my husband Tom retired and put it into action without any delay. The first weeks after ___________in our new house, we waved to neighbors, but aside from quick ___________, we hadn’t really made connections.

We had a community page online. I usually scanned it quickly, but one day a post from a young mother caught my eye. She had something ___________to deal with but couldn’t find a babysitter. As I was ___________then, I typed a message to her and gave her my phone number. She called immediately. “You are a lifesaver!” was the greeting I got when I___________.

She was just two blocks away, so I ___________over to meet her. She opened the door with a 14-month-old in her arms. “This is Macy,” she _________me. She quickly listed some ___________and then rushed out. I spotted a basket filled with toddler (幼童) books. ___________some, I invited Macy to sit with me. What a __________ to find a copy of a classic book I’d read __________. Turning the pages and pointing at the pictures, I recited it from memory and laughed heartily from time to time at Macy’s cute questions. When Macy’s mother was back, I’d had a (n) __________afternoon. Suddenly, an idea struck me: perhaps I could find some children here to care for. Then I brought it up to Tom.

“Have you forgotten that you’re no spring chicken anymore?” he replied. “I want to try,” I told Tom with __________.

That conversation was eight years ago. Since then, I have developed a thriving little business. It’s definitely fun to be with kids, but there’s another __________. I’ve met so many neighbors now. And it __________my heart when I open my front door and hear, “Good morning, Ms Mary!”