1 . I was working in my upstairs study when the doorbell rang. I _______ ran downstairs. It must be a(n) _______, I thought. I didn’t even remember ordering anything, but I was still delighted by the possibility. It’s almost more _______ when you don’t remember; it’s like receiving a gift you never _______.

I quickly opened the door, afraid they might leave, only to be _______ by a Jew who came to collect tzedakah (the Jewish tradition of charity). I was _______ not just that the expected material item hadn’t arrived, but at the _______ of the petitioner (请求者). I even thought, if only I hadn’t been in such a _______; if only I hadn’t opened the door.

I made my contribution — politely but with little _______. The recipient, on the other hand, showered me with blessings. I felt ________. Why was he, the one in ________, able to keep such a(n) ________ attitude? And why was I, the more fortunate one, so depressed and bitter? It was time for a little self-examination.

Firstly, I wasn’t even ________ whether I had ordered anything. Secondly, even if I had, did I really think that material item, whatever it might have been, ________ the level of excitement I was feeling? I knew it was just a thing, something that would eventually be ________ or given away, that wouldn’t give me meaning or blessings. Thirdly, if I had so ________ myself from others’ needs that I was unable to understand their pain, that I saw them as disturbing rather than as an opportunity to ________, to uplift others?

Now I know I made a ________. I realize how unfriendly I was. But at least I still have a little ________. And I want to be better. So let the doorbell ring. I’ll ________ a heartfelt smile. I’ll greet all petitioners with love and generosity.

2 . On a cool autumn day in Minnesota, hundreds of runners gathered at the starting line for a challenging cross-country race. Among them was an athlete named Amelia Anderson who became known for her determination and _________through the events. When the race started, Amelia ran at a fast pace, pushing herself to the _________. However, fate had something else _________for her that day.

As the race progressed, Amelia, more than two-thirds of the way through her _________, noticed a fellow runner, Isabella Harris, suddenly collapsing to the ground in pain. Without a moment’s hesitation, Amelia _________Isabella and extended a helping hand, offering to assist her in completing the race.

As reported by a local newspaper, Amelia took Isabella’s arm, trying to support her in _________forward. Recognizing the severity of Isabella’s condition, Amelia _________, allowing Isabella to climb onto her back. With _________determination, Amelia not only carried her across the finish line but also an _________300 feet to where Isabella could receive much-needed __________attention.

Once there, Isabella was quickly __________ and subsequently transported to a hospital, where she learned she had serious injuries in one of her knees. It became __________that without Amelia’s timely intervention, Isabella would have __________extreme pain to reach the aid checkpoint on her own.

After this extraordinary act of kindness towards Isabella, Amelia remained modest. She was more __________ about why her act was considered a big __________. “She was just crying. I couldn’t __________ her.” Amelia humbly explained to a reporter, emphasizing that, in her eyes, she was merely doing what she believed to be the right thing.

In a world where competition is common, Andersod’s kind act __________as a powerful reminder that the greatest victories are not always about __________the finish line first, but rather about helping and connecting with others. This was beautifully exemplified (是……的典型) when Amelia and Isabella, __________ strangers, became close friends through their tough experience. Although neither won the race, the __________of human kindness won the day.

3 . Over 20 years ago, Hankerson was trying to call her sister who lived in Maryland. She had____to share her sad stories in life with her sister. But____dialing the area code 410, she____401. The mistake ended up____her to Mike from Rhode Island.

“ When she realized that she had called a wrong number, she made a sincere____. She   was well-mannered and very sweet. Then she____quickly,”recalled Mike.

After that, Hankerson called again a few more times over the next few weeks.Through their____, Mike learned that Hankerson, who lives in Delray, Florida, had been attempting to____her sister.

Hankerson said Mike came at a____time in her life when she and her husband got divorced (离婚). However, she said Mike always____her spirits. And she was so____because she could feel the great kindness and encouragement from a(n) ____stranger. Over the next few years, the two____a good relationship by phone, chatting about their____— Hankerson is the mother of two, and Mike, a father of three.

On the day before Thanksgiving, the pair finally____when Mike was on a trip to Florida with his wife and children.“Oh, it was a truly____day. It was really the happiest Thanksgiving for me,” Hankerson said. “It was full of____and sunshine. That really made my day.”

After their meeting, Mike____the photo of him and Hankerson on Facebook.   He also wrote, “ The____between people in this world is just a wrong number phone call away. It is really____.”

4 . My knees started shaking, yet my body froze. It felt as though my soul left my body and I had no _______ of it. I looked through the list posted on the wall _______. My heart sank as I saw all my friends’ names on that list but was _______ to find mine.

Tears filled my eyes. Just then, a group of students _______ to see the final team list. Every one of them jumped with _______ after seeing that they made the basketball team. Trying to _______ about the situation, I walked home. However, I walked _______ and it felt as if I had a100-pound weight tied to my backpack. My mind was also _______.

Noticing my _______ facial expression, my father asked me what was wrong. “I didn’t make the basketball team,” I replied. “What are you going to do about it? Are you just going to sit there?” he asked.

I just shook my head and ________ myself in my room. Being alone in my room, I thought hard about what my dad said, and it started ________ to me. Nobody was going to give me a(n) ________ on that team. I would have to ________ it. Then I decided to take action. Conveniently, there was a ________ near my school, and I biked there after school every day and trained hard for two hours. I wasn’t sure if I could finally make it, but I ________ it.

After almost a year of ________, I tried out for my seventh-grade team. ________ the result, I knew I’d worked hard and learned about mental ________. The next day, I found out I made the team. As the saying goes, “The greater the ________, the sweeter the reward.” I couldn’t ________ with it more.

5 . I’ll never forget May 12. 2008. We were having classes at Beichuan Middle School, Sichuan Province, when a huge ______ hit the area.

At about 2:28 pm, our ______ , Mr. Wang, was teaching us singing on the fourth floor of the Teaching Building. ______ we felt the building shaking violently. It was an earthquake! Our building starting to ______ . It was too late to rush out to the ______ . We were told to hide under the desks. ______ later, the whole building fell down. We were ______ and couldn’t move a little at all. No one could really imagine at that split second, how much pain we had ______ or how desperate( 绝望) we felt as we waited to be ______ . I heard Mr Wang calling our names again and again…

Hours later, some people came to rescue and ______ of us were saved luckily.

Later, I ______ this huge earthquake scaled 8.0 magnitude. It hit several provinces including Sichuan, Gansu and Shanxi. So far it has ______ more than 80,000 and injured 360,000. My hometown—Beichuan was ______ the worst-hit areas. Our school, which was ______ filled with vigor (活力) and laughter, was a dead valley.

World after such a(n)______ could appear nothing but empty and pointless. So many people’s lives were taken away, so much ______ was done and the whole city was ______ . Beichuan has become a history.

Now, some of my classmates and I were ______ to study in a middle school in Jiangsu Province. I still ______ dreaming and still strive for a better future: to make our homes beautiful yet ______ .

May victims rest in peace. May survivors live to be stronger.

6 . I had spent a full day on my work again. And now I only had twenty minutes before my three _________ girls would come with various: storybooks and homework demands that would keep me on my toes until their _________.

I was a(n) _________ in a small publishing house, writing several columns and several others. I spent my days at the _________, my nights at my home computer, and somewhere in between, parented my children and ran our busy household. I felt like I was _________ so much time and energy on my work that it was hard to _________ the passion for my children.

There is a quote which reads: “Our children deserve the best of us, not the rest of us.” The _________ of my day, and then of the past weeks, months and years, gave me clear memories: I _________ at work with the enthusiasm of a new day. _________, when I came home, I was always __________ and spent. I realized how much I had been putting in my work and how little I had __________ for my children. This quote describes everything that was __________ with my priorities, with my work-life balance, in a few simple __________.

The following day, I gathered up every bit of courage and __________ my boss for a chat. We spoke for a while, working out a way to __________ my job and move some of the burden out of my __________. So, I could come home __________ and have some emotional reserves given to the most __________ people in my life. The shift was __________. The more family time we had together, the more delighted they became. If you want to feel wealthy, __________ the things you have and that money can’t buy.

7 . Maria had been staying in Turkey for several weeks. She ________ to teach English to poor people living there.

One day, she got on a bus. Since it was too early in the morning, the bus was quite ________. She decided it might be a good idea to ________ some Turkish words she had just learned during the ride. She wanted to use Turkish to ________ the locals. After a while, the bus stopped. And two ________ got on. One of them noticed the seat beside Maria and ________.

He pointed to the seat and asked a question in Turkish. Maria ________ that he was asking if he could sit there. She ________. He smiled and said “thank you” in Turkish, one of the few things Maria could understand. They sat in ________ for a minute. Then the man asked Maria if she thought the clock on the bus was a few minutes off. Seeing the strange look on her face, he ________ that he needed to get to work on time.

Maria was still ________ and tried hard to tell him that she didn’t understand his Turkish. She then expressed it in English ________ he spoke English. The man was ________ to hear her speak in Turkish and English. He knew only a little English, so he wanted to take this opportunity to ________ it. Then they continued talking with each other ________ in two languages.

Good language learners have plenty of ________. They are confident when chatting away. Maybe they are uncertain about their pronunciation, but that ________ doesn’t stop them because they know that practicing, even if done ________, is the only way to get better. Sure, they might get ________ because a native (母语的) speaker doesn’t understand them, but they just ________ that and work to improve themselves.

8 . Do you often compare yourself to others? In reality, it’s ________ for us to do so — especially given the nature of how most of us were raised and the ________ cultures in which we live. By comparison, some get ________ while some become negative. But both run only a limited time since someone better or worse will show up soon.

The ________ of comparison is like the game of the coin. The head means we “win” and we think we have more ________ and the tail means we “________” and we think we’re worse. However, no one will win ________. We will possibly meet someone better than us and end up with some ________ or something alike.

How can we ________ our comparison process and make it an experience of growth, connection, and self-acceptance? It’s simply by ________ it directly and going to the source — how we ________ ourselves, namely the relationship between man and self. Here are some things we can do to get away from the comparison mode.

Use comparison as a(n) ________ to accept, appreciate, and love yourself. When comparison shows up, it generally originates from fear or uncertainty in your heart, not the ill intention. ________ criticizing ourselves for what we might do wrong, what if we take this as a cue to take care of and ________ ourselves in a real way?

Admit people who are ________. Another great way to ________ the negative impact of comparing ourselves to others is to reach out to them with some ________. Faced with other people’s success and talents, the more ________ we praise them, the more likely we are to create positive feelings and outcomes in our own lives. There is not a finite amount of success and when we ________ people we compare ourselves to, that reminds us that there is more than enough for us to ________ and experience wonderful things in our own life as well.

9 . Not long ago, I was the guide on a wildlife-photography trip to Svalbard near the North Pole. After two days of _______, we arrived there and _______ several seals resting on the ice. I _______ my camera and a motion sensor near the edge of a hole to get a(n) _______ of a seal.

The next morning, I was woken up because a polar bear was _______ closer. At first the bear walked toward our boat. Then it made a(n) _______ turn and headed directly for my camera. The motion sensor reacted to the bear’s _______, making the camera start taking pictures. The bear circled the _______, gently sniffing it. Unexpectedly the camera _______ into the hole and disappeared beneath the deep ice.

That was the ________ moment in my photography career. I was so ________ with myself. A year later I obtained ________ to bring a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to find the camera. There was a lot more ice than the ________ trip. As I knew well, polar bears could be nearby. We decided to ________ it. The ice was so thin, and soon we ________ technical difficulties and had to pull the ROV out of the water twice. ________ on the third try the ROV found the camera. We shouted and ________ around on the ice.

I was overjoyed to see all my ________. I saw the polar bear breathing and sniffing the camera. ________ that camera is the most satisfying ________ of my career with the lovely animal and its habitat presented.

10 . A week before Christmas, my grandmother passed away. My boss _______ gave me several days off to go home for the funeral (葬礼) in Nova Scotia. I planned to leave on the 20th so that I could get home ______ to help my mother with both the funeral preparations and the preparations for a very ______ and busy Christmas.

Here, my string (一串) of bad luck began: my plan was ______ by a big storm, and I had to ______ a ferry (渡船) ticket for the 22nd, the last day that the ferry would run. I left as the roads were still ______, and I was two-thirds of the way through the long drive when my car ______. I pulled over and found, although I had a ______ tire (轮胎), I didn’t actually know how to ______ it. And it was snowing; I was so anxious that I almost ______. Just then a car stopped nearby. A lady came out and asked whether I was asking for ______. I told her I had to go home ______ for my grandmother’s funeral, but I had a flat tire and I would ______ my ferry. After hearing what I said, the lady took out her ______ and quickly helped me put on my tire at no charge! I was filled with ______. Thanks to her ______, I was able to catch the very last ferry, _______me hours of driving.

The woman is a stranger, ______ she tried her best to help me get home — even enough for me to give a hand to my mom and say goodbye to the dead. I’ll never ______ the kind stranger, who made a hard Christmas a lot easier, for both me and my family. I ______ the world is beautiful because there are lots of kind people in it.