2 . ADHD, short for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, is a disease. Alex hated these four letters. It felt like a huge ________ stuck straight on his forehead, like the only thing that ________ him. Yet wonders come in moments.

The family didn't ________ they would return from a holiday to the UK with a puppy (小狗). In a Greece restaurant on the beach, Alex took a sausage, held it under the table and made a gentle ________ noise with his tongue, hoping to ________ the puppy’s attention. It turned its head around and immediately ________ the tasty sausage in his hand. ________ and nervously, the puppy ________ him. Once under the table, it gently ________ and grabbed the sausage.As soon as it was ________ in its mouth, it seemed to disappear down the puppy's throat in two seconds flat! The puppy then licked (舔) Alex 's fingers. Alex enjoyed the moment.

“We’ll look after her,won’t we, Mum, Dad?” Alex asked. Mom knew this little dog had made its way into Alex’s ________. But how on earth could they take it back to England? And with so many ________ back in England full of wonderful dogs needing homes, were they even ________ in taking a dog from abroad? Anyway, she decided to give it a try.

After many ________, Mum said in a low voice, “Well, Alex, we gave it our best.” Alex’s eyes welled up,expecting the ________ news. “But it paid off!”, she smiled. “Puppy is coming home!” Alex screamed, jumping up and down. “I told you, my boy, ”said Mum, “wonders can happen, even for a little dog. So it is with you.”

3 . When 1 was 8, my family moved into our brand-new home. My parents had _________ it to our own particular needs and interests, including built-in bookshelves to house their hundreds of books and a large, bright sunroom to _________ all the plants my garden-loving father planned to grow. Unfortunately, a few months later, a heart attack _________ his life.

My mother, who never had green fingers, Gilled our sunroom with low-light plants like ferns (蕨类植物), which consistently _________ . Instead of giving up, she experimented over years and eventually got better through _________ and error.

She never _________ said she wanted to become a better _________ as a way to keep my dad’s memory alive, but I knew the sight of the plants could call to mind their happy time. It was a _________ to her that at least part of the room always had plants growing in it.

Then, last year, Mom experienced a series of falls that _________ her in hospital. As I was thoroughly __________ with tending her while raising kids and working, I felt exhausted to the point of __________ . Magically, I always got recharged when __________ her plants, especially her enormous ferns — now at home in a more appropriate __________ spot.

Mom may not be with us much longer, for her health has __________ significantly. It’s my __________ to develop a green thumb — nursing her plants is a future source of comfort that we could be always together.

4 . After months of unsuccessfully trying to secure a summer job at a newspaper to show my independence, I found myself struggling to prove my capabilities. Despite my persistence, all my attempts were ________. This led me to explore different avenues (途径), and I discovered accidentally a unique position that would eventually shape my career: a ’flag girl’ ________ traffic for a construction company. The turning point came when I decided to take a more active and initiative-taking approach. ________ sending another written application, I drove directly to the construction site. My timing was fortunate; the foreman (工头) was ________ an additional ‘flag girl’ just as I arrived. Seizing the opportunity, I was offered the job ________.

On my first day, I arrived at the construction site on Monday. The foreman gave me a reflective vest (反光衣) to wear and a Stop / Slow bat to hold. My role was to ________ traffic flow by coordinating with an experienced flag girl ________ at the opposite end of the site. The job required careful ________: I needed to flip (使快速翻转) my sign to ‘Stop’ whenever she ________ ‘Slow’, allowing vehicles to pass in turn. It seemed ________, but it was not. By 8:30 am on my first day, I was already exhausted from ________. As the day progressed, the sun’s intensity increased, leading to ________ on my arms. By the end of the day, my bones were aching. Despite these challenges, I decided not to ________ the job, driven by a desire to prove my determination and dedication.

After sticking it out all summer, I actively ________ employment, sending applications to various newspapers and ________ my experience as a ‘flag girl’ on my resume. This unique position caught the interest of a small town newspaper, leading to a (n) ________ and eventually to my hiring as a junior reporter. I spent my entire career at this publication. My employer later shared that he gave me the opportunity because he was ________ to see how a ‘flag girl’ who had studied journalism would perform in the role. He was looking for someone who showed initiative and a willingness to ________ their comfort zone to achieve their goals. My story and experience demonstrated these qualities, ________ I was the ideal candidate for the reporter role he needed to fill. This opportunity ________ the beginning of my long and fulfilling professional journey in journalism.

5 . I was always interested in biology. However, it wasn’t until I saw a _________ about cave diving in senior high school, in which I watched divers pass by urchins (海胆), that I realized I wanted to _________ cave animals. The video didn’t mention the   _________ in those underwater houses, but I _________ they must be there. More than just naming them, I wanted to learn about their _________, which meant I needed to study them in their _________ habitat.

Cave diving requires special _________. In this photo taken during a sampling trip in March in Belize, you can see that I was carrying lights and navigation tools, and bringing extra air tanks. I was using a net and test tubes to collect tiny and nearly _________ animals floating in the water. Since then, I’ve come to _________ that caves are full of life: shrimps, sea stars and urchins, all __________ the low-light environments.

Although underwater caves might seem far removed from surface environments, research has shown that these worlds are __________ in many ways. If pollutants get underground, they can __________ affect many ecosystems.

The cave ecosystem is suffering from climate change. If we didn’t take action to __________ these amazing caves, they could be gone before we have the __________ to fully understand them. And everything that makes them unique would __________, too.

6 . Nature was Chen Rui’s “childhood home”. The 37-year-old researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Zoology (中国科学院动物研究所) was not able to talk until he was 4 years old because of the way his brain processes sensory information.

This _______ him “strange” in some people’s minds. So, he didn’t have friends who were around his age. This led him to turn his _______ to nonhuman things around him. He became fascinated (着迷) by the world of _______ .

“The _______ time of my childhood was in the farm fields,” says Chen. “I squatted (蹲下) there, _______ the activities of insects, including ants building their homes, grasshoppers nibbling grass and dragonflies flying low. I had so many questions about their activities and was full of _______ about this world.”

These experiences _______ a seed in his heart. Decades later, he’s a scholar who has _______ life-science investigations in nearly 100 countries and regions on five continents. He has found around 100 new _______ , living and extinct, many of which are named ________ him.

“I was a child who was ‘cured’ by ________ ,” he says. “I wanted to grow up to ________ the power of nature with more young people and to popularize understanding of animals, including insects. I wanted to start classes to bring children to learn in the open air and ________ the gifts nature endows (赋予).” These aspirations (愿望) led him to recently ________ the popular-science book, Du Chong Ji (Reading About Insects).

It’s a continuation of a mission he began to act upon ________ a freshman in 2006, when he started a(n) ________ for people interested in insects at Nanjing Agricultural University. He often ________ for members to visit the Zijin Mountain in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, to ________ insects. His organization ________ had nearly 600 members.

After graduating in 2010, Chen was ________ to the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences to complete his doctorate in zoology. In 2016, he was recruited (录用) by the Institute of Zoology of the CAS.

8 . Nowadays, shopping online enjoys great popularity, but my _______ to clothes shopping developed via supermarkets.

With four children, I spent a lot of time in supermarkets. When they started selling fashion, I found myself _______ out fancy items for myself. My wardrobe quickly _________ up. Whenever I felt bored or _________, I bought myself something new to wear. One day, when I _______ the total money I'd spent over the previous month, I got a real _________. So I decided to change.

One New Year, I made a(n) _______: I would stop buying clothes for a full year. My family laughed in _______ because they knew how I loved to shop, but this made me more _______ to do that.

The start of the year was especially ________, as all the sales were on, and I really love the ________. It almost made me ________ to see all the lovely dresses and coats, knowing I couldn't buy any of them. But I got through January, ________ away in February and sorted out my wardrobe in March. That was when I found ________ items of clothing. Some of them still had the tags (标签) on! Then I was re-wearing things that had barely seen the ________ of day since I'd bought them. I even wore the same dress to two parties ________, where I had much fun with my friends and no one ________ my dress. I suddenly ________ that I didn't need lots of new clothes.

I survived my year without ________ clothes, and now think ________ before I buy anything new.