1 . My dad is a construction worker. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would _________ great bread, but he is and he does.

I’ve been feeling _________ since I knew I didn’t qualify for the swim team. Now I’ll have to wait a whole year to _________ again; that might as well be a million years.

Dad knew I was feeling down. Last Sunday he said it was time for me to help in the _________. I couldn’t imagine what help I could offer. _________, I followed right behind him. Dad got out the flour and milk and taught me how to make the dough (面团), which took ten minutes and _________ a great amount of energy.

Next came the most difficult but _________ part — doing nothing. We waited for an hour for the dough to _________ swell (膨胀) and double in size. Then we beat the risen dough down to let the air out, divided it into two and waited for another _______ . “Take your time. Don’t rush to put the dough directly into the oven (烤箱), but if you do, the bread will be hard. So learn to be __________,” Dad explained. As the flour dust in the kitchen quietly settled, __________ didn’t seem to matter. The dough was going to __________ at its own pace.

As I __________ what Dad said, I stopped walking around and watching the __________. With a peaceful mind, I started __________ the quiet time with Dad. My father taught me how to bake bread, but I think I learned something more.

2 . Soon after my arrival in Luanda, I realised that I was going to have some free time available. I decided to spend it doing something useful and involving (参与) in the _______ community.

I started my search for volunteering opportunities here and a blog post _______ my eye. It was Ashima’s _______ on how she started her volunteering _______ in Luanda. Ashima has been volunteering at the Foundation for Art and Culture for more than a year. I decided to get in touch with them and soon after I got a very warm and welcoming _______ inviting me to the foundation. The next day as I _______ into the foundation little did I know it would become such a(n) _______ part of my life in Luanda.

I was a bit hesitant at first as I had never worked with children before and my Portuguese (葡萄牙语) then was much _______ than now. But as I slowly started doing some activities with children, there were not any _______. All that you needed was a heart full of love and everyone ________ the language of love.

I found plenty of ________ to do with kids, keeping them busy and having fun. Together we played, sang, learnt new things, ________ new games and reinvented the old. The children coming to the foundation are wonderful, and full of ________ and energy. It is a beautiful place with wonderful projects. Without doubt it is the best ________ I could have found in Luanda, and I am very happy to go there as often as I can. The staff ________ there really make you feel welcome and at home.

3 . When is that magical day going to come when everything is perfect and we can finally be happy? Well, we may sometimes _______ a day like that. But for most of the time there is always something that upsets us. And that is _______. Life is a mixture of happy, neutral, and not-so-happy _______.

The _______ is in what you concentrate on, which determines your mood. I love the saying “Seize the day.” To me it means that we should not just look forward, _______ the happiness to come from the future. Happiness is right here and right now. It is in the little moments, and you’ll _______ have to understand that good things are _______ around you. The other day I did have a try. That day I paid attention to everything I _______ in my day. I liked the sunshine, birdsong, and morning coffee. I liked the purr of a cat, and my _______ jeans. I liked the roads that were in good ________ I liked the leaves of spring. I liked the chat with my coworkers... You can do this with your phone too. Take a picture of everything that you like during the day. At the end of it, ________ your pictures, and maybe write a page about these good things into your diary. If you use a computer, paste the ________ into your electronic diary.

Another thing I did is see the good things even in a bad situation. Here’s how it works: You suffer a terrible thing, but you tell yourself the good aspects of it. You really ________ the day when you are able to concentrate on it. One day it was raining. People were not ________ about it—it was dark, gloomy and wet. But you tell yourself that the climate here is not ________, which explains the attitude.

4 . When I was a child, I began learning to play the piano, which was my favourite musical _____, but I was forced to give up when I started my middle school so that I could concentrate more on my studies.

It’s one of my biggest _____ to stop practising the piano when I recall sadly today. During the following years, I kept telling my piano teacher that I would _____. However, I didn’t keep my promise because I was occupied with my study. _____ I lost touch with my teacher. Some years later, my teacher died. I was very sad because I lost such a good teacher. She was a very warm and gentle person. It hurts me to think she may have been _____ that I never returned. I haven’t taken lessons since then but to be honest, I _____ to. Sitting at the piano, I couldn’t help recalling many memories — times of my practising at home and playing before my teacher and one time my teacher _____ me after I played entire pieces of music wrong in front of her colleagues. I was so _____ that I could hardly say anything. But her _____ helped ease my shame. These memories, ______, good or bad, never caused my courage for playing the piano again.

This thought then led me to think that ______ is like music, and that we all try to play different ______ in the instrument of our life. Sometimes the pitch (音准) ______ when we play it well, but sometimes we are out of tune. However, we all continue to create our own ______ style of music. No matter what style our music is, it is important that we sing the songs of joy, quietness and love. Though I may never make it back to piano lessons, it doesn’t ______ that I’ve stopped making music.

6 . I was said to be the worst student in my class, and my family thought I was hopeless. I had to_______grade six. At that time a new teacher, Miss Sadia, came to our school. 

One day after class, she_______that I was staying alone during the lunch break. She came to me and began to talk to me. It was just a_______conversation. After that day, she gave me particular_______and it made me feel special. I started to work hard because she gave me the feeling that someone believed me, and my_______started to improve in her subject. 

Months later, she moved into a house near my home. We would walk home together after school. Her constant (不断的 ) support helped me,_______in my studies, as I knew she would_______my grades both in her subject and other subjects. I finally _______second in my class. 

Then, after grade six, she started to drift away(渐渐疏远)_______still kept a constant check on me. By the time I was in grade seven, we hardly spoke, but by then I had become the best in my class. When I left my school, I was ________with her, as she never answered the ________when I called her. 

Then I graduated and went to a good university. One fine day, our paths(路)________again. I met her at a wedding. I could not________asking her, “Why did you stop talking to me?” 

“You are a clever boy. I wanted you to be a tree standing on your own roots, not depending on (依靠)others. Now here you are and I feel________of you. You are your inspiration and do not need to________a shoulder,” she said. I could not say anything, but I smiled. I’ll always thank her.

7 . Leslie Morissette’s son, Graham, was 6 years old when he was diagnosed with leukemia (白血病). Throughout Graham’s _______ in the hospital, Graham connected with everyone he met, from _______ patients to younger children. “He would lend other sick children his toys or act silly to make them laugh. ” Morissette said. “Graham’s special spirit is what kept me going. He gave me the energy and the _______ to fight with him.” In 1997, when he was 8 years old, Graham passed away.

_______ by how Graham lived his life caring about others, Morissette _______ the nonprofit Grahamtastic Connection in his honor. The organization provides free technology—including computers, iPads, and robots—to children _______ cancer and other serious illnesses.

One of the major goal of Morissette’s work is to _______ kids to their classrooms, which really helps them continue their education despite hospitalizations and days _______ from school.

The robots “transport” children right into the classroom in real time. They can _______ the robots right from their hospital bed or home. If a child is unable to attend school, they can ________ log on to their tablet or laptop and call in to the robot. They can ________ up and down the school paths. They can go to lunch with their ________. The real magic happens between classes, when they’re walking down the hallway with their friends, by robot, ________ their weekend and their favorite foods and other things.

Morissette said, “I believe that Graham’s ________ lives on in the work that I do. And I’m ________ and privileged to be able to do it in his honor.”

8 . I come from a _________ family that many would consider dysfunctional (失衡) at the very least: marriage, divorce, etc. After we grew up, my three siblings and I could go years without speaking. And that is where this story_________ .

My sister Jeanne and I were born only 14 months_________, but by the time we were teenagers, we had lost touch. By age 19, I had moved away from our home in Wisconsin to live on my father’s horse farm in Virginia. We lived separate and our connection somehow ended.

Fast-forward about five years, I was 24 and on_________ with my fiance (未婚夫) to New York City, a place I had never been to.

During a day of sightseeing, we were crossing a very busy street_________with people. I had laughed at something my fiance said, and I suddenly heard my name yelled from somewhere around me: “Cheryl!” I_________ in my steps in the middle of the road. Tears_________ in my eyes. I knew without a_________that it was my sister Jeanne. I yelled back before even turning to look, “Jeanne?’’ It was her.

I later asked how she’d known it was me — she _________ saw me! She said it was my__________. I wouldn’t say my laugh is all that unusual, but I guess to a family member it’s infectious. It __________your heart and resonates (共鸣) in your mind.

Since that time, my sister and I have never been __________. We both moved back to Wisconsin. We talk daily. Many years have passed, and we are now in our 50s. But our meeting__________wasn’t just a sign. I see it as more of a__________, a reminder not to lose touch with loved ones. It is too easy to remain lost. After our sister-to-sister __________, I don’t plan to let that happen again.

9 . An elderly woman is crediting (归功于) her neighbor’s 4-year-old dog with saving her life during last week’s dangerously cold temperatures.

Tim Curfman was _______ his garbage with his dog Midnight when he felt its _______ was unusual. It had its ears held up looking at him. It didn’t _______ do that. Curfman got the feeling that something’s _______. So he observed how his dog was acting and _______ it to a spot on the other side of his house. There, he saw his 87-year-old neighbor, Noreen, _______ in the snow. She was trying to fill her bird feeder when she fell. Curfman _______ she was out there at least half an hour. She could not get up because she didn’t have enough _______ to push herself up, and there was nothing around the corner to get a _______ of, either. The temperature was one degree below zero, but Curfman and Midnight were able to __________ her quickly.

Noreen, who didn’t have serious injuries, was lucky to __________ frostbite (冻伤) even though her clothes were wet. Curfman called his wife and they together helped his neighbor up from the snow and into her __________, where his wife helped the elderly woman get into __________ clothes.

Noreen was __________ to Midnight for saving her life. “A dog like this __________ to be proud of because it’s not every dog that pays attention to things like this,” Noreen said in an interview.