1 . My brother and I are exactly one year apart. We look like twins, but we are completely _________ . By the time we got to middle school it was clear that my older brother _________ meditation (冥想),while I was a born _________ who preferred the theatrical, even when off stage. I took his relative silence to be offensive. We simply didn't _________.

I didn't _________ having a tense relationship with my brother because I was involved at school. _________, I threw myself into the world of musicals. I practised singing in the bedroom every day to remain at my best and be _________ for roles; my brother would meditate on a window seat. He might feel high school was already hard enough _________ my noisy singing. So space to practise became a（n）_________ between us because we shared a room.

At the start of the semester, I practised “Circle of Life" for a musical. This was the first time I __________ to learn a song, because my voice cracked (破音)as I switched to a head voice. I was annoyed in that period and __________ practising, declaring I had reached the ceiling of my singing career. For the first time in years my brother __________ quiet when I got home.

After two days of this, my brother asked me to __________ him in meditation. Feeling my anger at my inability to manage this song __________,I accepted. My brother said, "When your mind floats away, you simply come back. Don't blame yourself" I got the message, and it soon became my new __________. I kept trying at the song, no longer getting __________ at myself. And just in time for the trial performance, I was able to __________ power in my singing despite the switch to a head voice. It was important for me to learn that you don't have to always get everything __________ the first time and that good things come with continual __________.I now understand why my brother favours the __________.

2 . Recently，I took a trip home by train．I got a seat opposite a middle-aged man with sharp eyes，who kept_________a young woman in a window seat with a little boy on her lap．The woman's eye fell on the man's face，and she immediately looked down and_________her scarf．

As the night wore on，people began to close their eyes，but the seats were so uncomfortable that only a very heavy sleeper could manage to get any_________．The woman looked over at the man．He was still staring at her．She looked back at him with fire in her eyes．I was beginning to get_________，too．

The train moved on．The little boy was _________ awake on his mother's lap，but the woman dropped off to sleep．A moment later，he began to_________the half-open window—one leg went over it．The man jumped up and _________the child just before he fell out．

The_________ woke up the woman．She seemed to be in_________，and then reality dawned （显现）．“Your child has been looking for an opportunity to climb out of the window，”the man said as he gave the child back to her. ．“So I have been watching the whole time．”The woman was __________，and so was I．

4 . Most young people are always on their phones, which may upset many people. ___________, a group called Girl Scouts are receiving _________ for setting up their first walk-in clinic for elderly people, who have difficulty understanding how to ___________ the secrets of their smart phones.

Each teen spent at least an hour of one-on-one time with their oldsters. Based on their _________ knowledge, each Girl Scout was assigned to ___________ different aspects of Android and Apple phones.

Some of the oldsters actually wanted to take part in e-commerce (电子商务), and needed help to _________ a payment account on their smart phones while others simply had _________ when learning how to send messages to their family members. "I was teaching this older woman how to _________, and the first thing she did was to send a message to her daughter,” one of the Scouts said. “How ___________ it was! It just made me feel really, really happy.”

In addition to arranging group lessons for all of the seniors to ____________ together at the end of the clinic, the youngsters even printed out brochures and guides for the seniors to take home in case ____________ seniors would encounter problems with their smart phones in the future.

The eighth graders earned their “Silver Award,, for their job. After experiencing the ____________ of their project, the girls hope to organize more ____________ in the near future. “Those girls were just great,” said Nancy, a great-grandmother who once ____________ the clinic. “They were ready for us and had a very mature attitude about answering our questions, and they ______________ the praise.

6 . There have been countless books and television series on living with teenagers, yet parents don’t seem to have _________ how to get their children to pick up their clothes from the bedroom floor, or even clean their room occasionally. It might be difficult to accept, but a new approach to dealing with rude or difficult teenagers is for parents to look at their own _________.

“The key to getting teenagers to respect you is to respect them first,” says Penny Palmano, who has written a best-selling book on teenagers. “You can’t _________ to treat them the same way that you have been treating them for the previous 12 years: they have opinions that count. Imagine if you’d spent two hours getting ready to go out for the evening and someone said, ‘You’ve not going out looking like that, are you?’ You’d be very _________. You’d never say that to an adult, because it shows a total _________ of respect.”

Palmano, who has a daughter aged 19, has even allowed the girl to hold several teenage parties at her home. “I’ve found that if you have brought your kids up to do the right thing, and then _________ them to do it, usually they’ll behave well,” she says. “I make them sandwiches and leave them alone. But I make it clear that they have to clear up any mess. I’ve never had a(n) _________; in fact, the kitchen was sometimes cleaner than I’d left it.”

She agrees that teenagers can be annoying: enjoying a world that is free of responsibility, yet _________ for independence. She doesn’t think, however, that they are _________ to annoy you. Until recently, scientists assumed that the brain finished growing at about the age of 13 and that teenage problems were a result of rising hormones and a desire for independence. But it turns out that the region of the brain that controls judgement and emotions is not fully __________ until the early twenties.

“This would explain why many teenagers can’t make good decisions, control their emotions, priorities or concentrate on several different things at the same time. __________, they may find it difficult to make the right decision between watching television, ringing a friend, or finishing their homework. It means that they do not __________ do the wrong thing just to annoy their parents,” says Palmano.

The key to __________ for all, Palmano believes, is calm negotiation and compromise (妥协). If you want your teenagers to be home by 11 pm, explain why, but listen to their arguments as well. If it’s Saturday, you might __________ agreeing to midnight (rather than 1 am, which is what they had in mind). If they are up to 20 minutes late, don’t react angrily. __________, ask if they’ve had a problem with public transport and let it pass; they’ve almost managed what you asked.

8 . Alvin, 66, was deep in the woods in Grand Cane last December when something like litter on the ground caught his eye. It was a _______ balloon with a note attached.

“Dear Santa,” the note _______. “My name is Luna. Four years old. This year I have been _______. I would like candy, Spider-Man ball, My Little Pony. With love, Luna.”

Alvin’s heart hammered in his chest. It reminded him of his childhood wish. He smiled and set out to _______ Luna’s wish. He posted a photo of the balloon and the Christmas wish list on his Facebook page, asking for help _______ the sender.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez, the mother of four-year old Luna, had no idea that such a(n) _______ was underway. It had been a hard year for her family as COVID-19 spread. On a _______ tough day last December, she _______ the idea of having Luna send a letter to Santa by releasing a balloon. They enjoyed a _______ Christmas together, and then the calendar turned to a new year.

One day, Gonzalez received a call saying that someone had found Luna’s balloon. Her jaw ________. She logged on to Facebook and saw Alvin’s ________. She called Alvin and finally agreed to let Alvin fulfill her daughter’s wish list.

“Santa dropped your balloon ________,” Gonzalez told Luna, “but one of his elves (精灵) found it.” Not long after that, Luna received three boxes’ worth of ________with a note signed “Alvin the Elf.”

Now, having received so much ________, Gonzalez and her girl intend to pay it forward this year. After all, when Alvin could have just ________ that balloon in the trash, he went more than the extra mile.

10 . Wu Ming, a young German born after 1995, is a big fan of Chinese culture. As he thought some diseases can’t be treated _______ with Western medicine, he decided to _______traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In 2015, Wu came to Henan province, where a strong TCM culture can be _______. After a year of learning, he _______ the language barrier and started to learn Chinese medicine. Wu always _______ some Chinese herbal medicine by himself to know their flavours and effects, just like Shen Nong, a character in Chinese legend. In Wu’s opinion, TCM is one of the best-preserved _______ of Chinese culture.

Studying TCM also _______ Wu’s mind and lifestyle. He used to be _______ to electronic devices, playing video games every night. Instead of being trapped in the fast-paced but unhealthy daily _______, he now lives a(n) ________ and peaceful life, practicing good habits like drinking tea and reading.

Wu ________ what he has learned to help his family. He always provides his family members with some advice about staying fit after ________ their skin or tongues online. Over time, his family gradually began to understand his ________ for TCM.

Wu thinks there’s no big difference between China and Western countries. “________ comes from being out of touch”, said Wu. He plans to run a traditional Chinese clinic in Germany, which could serve as a(n) ________ between the two countries and publicize TCM and its culture.