1 . How long have you been going to the same hairdresser or barber? It’s a question that gets us thinking about the unique friendship we _______ with our stylists over the years.

You have confidence in each other. You have a laugh together and regularly _______ each other’s news. Plus they try to make you look and feel your best. That’s a(n) _______ not only for a great friendship, but also for the perfect relationship with your hairdresser. When you find a good barber, it’s something to _______.

Many people have _______ experiences with their hairdressers. I’ve had my hair cut by Claire Miller for more than 15 years. She’s taken me through all kinds of _______, and she’s helped me find a totally new look now during the post-chemotherapy (化疗后) period with dyed blonde hair! _______ hairstyles, there have been communications about the joys and trials of motherhood, the _______ of health problems and changes in our careers and lives — the stuff of 15 years that we have _______ in the three salons Claire has worked in.

While she cut my hair recently, we chatted about that special __________ that forms between hairdressers and their clients. “You hear so many stories from them, and sometimes you feel like a counselor __________ a hairdresser. You assess their needs, and you know how to react to them,”says Claire.

For Claire, the customer interaction is something she loves about the job and that she has __________ developed throughout her working life. “It’s about being human and __________ about people. A lot of my clients are my friends and like family now. It’s my __________ to cut their hair, making them look and feel good, but I also want them to feel __________ by the experience,” laughs Claire.

2 . In the sport of track and field, athletes compete not only with one another but against themselves to achieve a new personal best. Aiming to ______ his own record, Cerveny pushed himself hard. However, his legs cramped(抽筋)and ______   him with only 200 meters to go. Determined to ______, Cerveny rose from the ground and continued on, only to fall again after another 50 meters.

______, his coach asked Cerveny if he wanted to stop. He didn't. With great ______ Cerveny pulled himself up and with a(n)   ______ pace, moved forward for one final push. ______, it wasn't enough. 100 meters from the finish line, his legs simply ______ .

Before his coach could ______ him, another runner- Brandon-was at his side to help. His first attempt to get Cerveny up failed, but he   ______ to quit too. With a second pull, Cerveny was ______. At a measured jog, the two completed the final 100 meters of the course, with Cerveny holding Brandon for ______ Brandon even made sure Cerveny crossed the finish line first,securing his______a faster time

In today’s ______ world in which the emphasis in athletics is so often put on breaking records, it was ______ to see that for an athlete like Brandon, the value of true sportsmanship still had legs.

3 . At 28 years old, I lost my job as a full-time magazine editor. I’d always dreamed of becoming a self-employed writer, but I _______ doing it at 35 or even 40 years old, _______   I had a more solid(坚实的) financial footing.

Despite the fear I felt at _______ this dream before I was ready, it was my best, most practical _______ at the time. With my husband’s encouragement, I took a leap of faith, _______ my fear and jumped.

I’ve been working for myself full-time for two years. Not only am I happier thanks to a(n) _______ schedule and the freedom to take on the projects I want, but I’m earning much more than I did as a _______ editor.

When it comes to big dreams, many of us plan out every last detail so that we feel     _______for success. But often, this over-planning prevents us from ever taking action. No matter how much planning we do, we’ll never feel 100% ready.

When Jennifer Qiao got _______ , she struggled to find a modern version of a cheongsam, a traditional Chinese wedding dress, and an idea was________. Neither she nor Vivian Chan, her co-founder, had experience in entrepreneurship(创业). They didn’t even know if there was a ________ for their products in the U.S. But they decided to just start small and test out their idea ________. They never truly felt ready to start a(n) ________ , let alone make custom wedding dresses. However, through hard work, trial and error, they’ve   ________their team to a successful company.

Never let over-planning get in the________ of you taking action.

4 . Even when you have confidence in yourself, your goals will sometimes seem out of reach. When that happens, get hold of the people who _________ you and your goals and don’t let go!

When I was younger, I _________ because life felt so hard. I had _________to become a teacher or a business administrator. I knew I needed a college degree, but I had _________ believing in myself. Then a teacher in my high school _________ me. He told me three things: First, if you don’t believe in yourself, it will be _________ to get anyone else to believe in you. Second, never let other people’s _________ to see your brilliance prevent you from being brilliant. And third, despite life’s _________, stick to creating the future you want.

Early in my _________, I was teaching a workshop when a person in the audience yelled out to me. He told me I had __________ made a job choice and had a bright future. This __________ feedback (反馈)came at just the right time, because while the audience didn’t know it, I was __________ self-doubt.

Even now, I __________ myself that I have a bright future. That’s what I tell myself when I __________ success and failure. You have a bright future ahead. Think about this every single day. Remember your talents, skills, and interests. Explore the jobs that interest you, and have courage—and most __________, believe in yourself.

5 . Before retiring, my father was a successful corporate executive. Growing up, I got used to learning that he had received________, from vice president to executive vice president to senior executive vice president, and so on. I was always impressed by my father’s________and viewed him as a wonderful role model.

Therefore, I couldn't have been more________when my father got annoyed with me after I showed him one of my new business cards,________“Tina L. Seelig, President. ”I had started my own business and________my own business cards, My father looked at the cards and said, “You can't just call yourself president.” In his experience, I had to wait for someone else to promote me to a leadership role and the thought of my________myself with that title________ him.

I have________his mentality（心态） time and time again. Twenty years ago when I told a friend I was going to write a book, she asked, “What makes you think you can write a book?” She couldn’t________taking on such a project without the________of someone in a position of greater authority. I, on the other hand, felt confident I could do it. The task was certainly________,but why not try? I put together a detailed proposal, wrote some sample chapters, shopped it around, and________a contract.

Over time, I've became increasingly________that people are divided into two categories. Some look inside themselves for________and others wait to be pushed forward by outside forces. From my experience, there’s a lot to be said for________opportunities instead of waiting for someone to hand them to you.

6 . After my graduation from college, I was always worried about my income. I was hopeful when I got a part-time job at a library, and happier when I got a _______ part-time job. But was I going to be able to _______two jobs at the same time? I _______, looking out the window.

My eyes came to rest on a tree outside. A squirrel (松鼠) was making his way down the trunk. It was _______ because he was carrying a piece of bread. How’s he going to _______ that? Obviously he couldn’t climb up and down easily like other squirrels. He moved down, carefully holding onto the tree. “Be _______,” I thought, cheering him on in my mind. When he finally _______ the ground, he pulled the bread behind him. It was _______ yet, but he kept trying! Obviously, this squirrel and I had a lot in common. I had my own bread to _______ and my own trees to climb. I moved from one ________ to another to follow the squirrel’s ________ , slowly but surely, he made it to the road and ________ to check for cars. Finally, the squirrel crossed the road ________ with his meal. When he entered the bushes, I cheered, though I couldn’t ________ what would wait for him and watch his next move. Then I went upstairs to get ready for the ________ before me. “You can do it,” I told myself.

7 . Sean Sherman, aged 49, has dedicated his career as a _________ to celebrating Native American cuisine. For his efforts, he received the 2023 Julia Child Award, which _________ those who make a difference in how people cook and eat. He is the first Native American to be _________ with the award which comes with a $50,000 grant.

Sherman, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe, was born and raised in South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. When he was a teenager, his family _________ the reservation to Spearfish, South Dakota. He began working in local restaurants and fell in love with cooking.

_________ working as a cook early in his career, Sherman noticed that the food of _________ people was not featured on menus and that native American restaurants were not _________. He dedicated himself to studying his culinary _________, including learning to use clay grills, grow corn, and source local ingredients. He used what he learned to _________ The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous kitchen and to start a(n) __________ organization to teach others about indigenous food for free.

In 2021, Sherman opened Owamni, a restaurant in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that __________ modern indigenous dishes, such as venison tartare, smoked whitefish, and mushroom stew. The restaurant quickly became __________ and was named Best New Restaurant in the US in 2022 by the James Beard Foundation.

In his __________ statement on receiving the Julia Child Award, Sherman said he is a longtime __________ of Julia Child (1912-2004), a beloved chef for whom the award is __________. “I saw the impact food can have on the world through Julia,” he said. “I’m excited to continue her legacy through my work.”

8 . In September 2016, six people came out from a small solar-powered building on the side of a volcano in Hawaii. They were _________ of a simulated (模拟的) mission to Mars, and they had been living in the building for nearly one year, _________ from the rest of the world.

This mission to Mars was part of an ongoing _________ to see how people would deal with the challenges of living on another planet. Based on the _________ of the experiment so far, here are four abilities you would need to _________ on Mars.

The first is Resourcefulness (足智多谋). When the water system broke, the group had two _________. They could figure out how to fix it or they could _________ months for supplies to be delivered from “Earth”—by which point they would be dead. So they _________ it themselves.

The second is Imagination. The group members have said boredom was a major _________. On Mars, you wouldn’t have Netflix or Xbox, so you’d have to __________ other forms of entertainment (娱乐活动).

The third is Tolerance (宽容). The building is only a quarter of the size of a basketball court. If you’re __________ annoyed by people, life on Mars might not be for you. Whether eating, working, exercising, or relaxing, you would hardly be __________.

The last is Independence. During a mission, there is no real-time __________ between the group and anyone on “Earth.” They have email, __________ messages are on a 20-minute delay (延迟), simulating how long it would take messages to __________ between Earth and Mars. So you would be removed from the lives of your loved ones back on Earth.

9 . Nowadays, cellphones play a big part in our life. Besides being a means of communication, cellphones also provide ______ ---they allow listening to music, playing games, etc. So you probably often ______this Go into any restaurant and you’ll notice cellphones on the table are just as ______a sight as forks. Honestly, I always find the sight ________Imagine how you feel when your partner is interested in his cellphone ______ your talks.

A recent study was designed to ____ the influence of cellphones on the ______ of phone users themselves. Two groups of volunteers were asked to have a meal with friends. The first group were told to ______ their cellphones during the meal ______ the second were not. The results showed a decrease in pleasure among the second group, who______ used their cellphones because they were close at hand. Besides, those who _____ with someone face to face meanwhile using cellphones reported a greater sense of unhappiness, compared to those without a cellphone in hand.

Researcher Dunn says, “Using a phone at the table is contagious(传染的）.” His words are_______

Yesterday when I was at a restaurant, I noticed a woman never once looked at her cellphone when waiting for food; so I fought the______ to look at mine; I wanted to______ her amazing standard.

Actually, what ______is what’s right in front of us. That’s where the real connections take place.

10 . When I was a little boy, my parents and brothers would often play cards in the afternoons. It was a (n) ________ way to pass the time and after watching countless games, I started to ________. I was only five but I learned________ and was soon winning as often as I lost. When I started school, I found out the hours of playing cards had made me good with ________. I was getting full marks on my math tests until high school when I ________ they had a thing called Algebra   (代数) . I was ________to see letters mixed in with the numbers and I struggled to ________ it. Then one day I opened a Calculus (微积分) book. One look was all to know that I would not major in math.

Instead I found ________ studying literature, history, psychology, and philosophy, which all put me on a path that I am ________on today: it is a journey of learning all I can about life and________ . One thing I did learn was that love has its own unique math that isn’t logical yet makes________. In the Calculus of Love the more love you________, the more love you have. Sharing sorrows means subtracting (减去) them. Sharing________means multiplying them.

Love like life is often more than we can ________. But our soul can. May you choose it, share it, and learn it. Only then will your life add up ________.