1 . On March 18, 2018, I was alone at home in San José, Costa Rica, drinking a cup of tea, ________ that my life was about to change. I received an e-mail ________ with the subject “scholarship selection result”.

My heartbeat quickened as I read through it, and I was mad with joy: I had been chosen to receive a(n) ________ scholarship for a master’s degree in conducting at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Finally, I would be able to gain a deeper understanding of the ancient tales of dragons and the old legends of China, which had always ________ me.

Five months later, I arrived in Shanghai, ________ an entirely new world. At the airport, two of my Costa Rican friends were waiting for me and accompanied me to the ________ at Lingling Road.

I remember clearly when I approached dorm building No 3, I was ________ by the sweet melody of a dizi(Chinese flute), which was totally different from all that I used to hear in my ________.

In Costa Rica, I learned the conducting technique well. ________, it was my professor, Cao Tongyi at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, who ________ me in promoting my skills. His teachings ________ not only careful attention to detail but also the art of letting the music flow as gracefully as T’ai Chi.

In my opinion, that’s the ________ of life in China. You can see it on every ________ when you notice how the traffic flows or on the way people walk to the subway, and even on how the delivery system works throughout China. ________, music can surpass the boundary of notation (符号) and paper, ________ from the musician to the audience, enriching the world one note at a time.

2 . In October, I said to my students, “Why not do some _________ to make some money? Then we’ll buy food for someone in need.”

Then early in that week, they came with their hard-earned money at their homes, _________ to go shopping. We soon picked what we needed. As we headed toward the checkout, someone shouted, “Flowers!” The group rushed to the flowers. However, considering practicality, I said, “You can’t send flowers.” “But please, Mrs. Sherlock,” someone begged, “we want flowers.” Defeated (被打败了), I _________ them to buy some carnations (康乃馨).

An organization had given us the information of a _________ grandmother living alone for many years. After a long drive, we _________ arrived at a small, shabby (破旧的) house. An old lady came out to _________ us. Each box was _________ quickly. But when the woman noticed the carnations, she seemed _________. “She’s wishing it were a bag of rice,” I thought.

“Do you like living here?” Michael asked. Hearing this, the woman _________, “Of course. I’m quite fond of living here.” She told the children about the birds flying to the bread she __________. “Maybe that’s why I could get the food from you,” she said. “Because I __________ my food with the birds.”

We returned to the __________ and saw her wave goodbye. Then she walked past the food, straight to the carnations. She put her face in the carnations, with a smile on her lips. The children were quiet. They had seen the __________ they had to make another’s life __________. And I had seen something too — sometimes a person needs lovely __________ on a cold winter.

3 . Camel Conversation

A mother and a baby camel were lying around under a tree.

Then the baby camel asked, “Mom, _______ do camels have humps (驼峰)?”

The mother camel considered this and said, “We are desert animals and we have the humps to _______ water so we can survive with very _______ water.”

The baby camel _______ for a moment and then said, “Okay, why are our _______ long and our feet rounded?”

The mama _______, “They are meant for walking in the _______.”

The baby paused, and then asked, “Why are our eyelashes (睫毛) _______? Sometimes they get in my way.”

The mama responded, “Those long thick eyelashes _______ your eyes from the desert sand ________ the strong wind blows in the desert.”

The baby camel thought and thought. Then he said, “I see. So the hump is to store water when we are in the desert, the legs are for ________ through the desert and these eyelashes protect my eyes from the desert sand. Then why are we in the ________?”

We were given all ________ skills and abilities. These special gifts are to bring about the satisfaction we all ________. That satisfaction comes in helping others.

Don’t sit around in a zoo. Use your gifts and talents to help ________. You’ll be glad of what you did.

8 . I used to be fit. But _____ a mounting list of injuries, the most active workout I do these days is _____ in front of the TV. But when I _____ a big European study on the benefits of chair yoga in the newspaper, I made up my mind to try it. Chair yoga _____ poses like twists and bends that are changed to be done while sitting on a chair.

I choose a chair yoga video on YouTube. The 10-minute _____ is a combination of slow movements every day. In each _____ my body remembers all that yoga I used to do 15 years ago. That isn’t to _____ it’s not challenging. And _____ I probably couldn’t get through a regular yoga class anymore, this way I still get to experience some of the sense of focus and _____ of being in that yoga   “flow”. Because it doesn’t need too much _____ I can even do it in that _____ dead time in the evenings when I’m too worn out to work but I can’t settle into a TV show because my kid isn’t in bed yet.

Chair yoga probably isn’t going to turn me into a _____ gym girl, but I notice that my neck and shoulders— _____ sore from staring at a computer too much—become less tight, and it’s also useful for helping my _____. It’s almost like mentally changing the channel—even for such a short period of time. It _____ my brain-from a state of great anger to one of just breathing. I’ll take it.

9 . This fall marks an especially memorable time for one family celebrating three generations walking onto Carthage College together. Samantha Malczewski, 19, the sophomore nursing student recalled. “It was really __________. I didn’t expect it.” However, Carter aged 18, said she had a(n) __________that their mom Amy Malczewski and grandmother Christy Schwan were interested in going back to school.     

Calling herself “Carthage’s biggest fan”, Amy Malczewski has a deep __________to Carthage College. “And Carthage has this amazing __________for the master’s degree in business and design, which is really __________ all the things that I love,” said she.

Meanwhile, when Christy heard of her daughter’s __________, she quickly realized they could __________on the journey together. The 71-year-old __________three years ago after working in employee benefits consulting. Amy said, “I think you ought to __________it too.” And I’m like, “OH, I think you’re right, we should do this __________,” Christy recounted. “It’s helped fill a(n) __________space for me.”

As the four settle into classes and busy __________, the two sisters said they’re __________to accompany them to class, have this little study group, or get dinner together in the cafeteria.

In a statement, Carthage College __________the family and their educational goals. “Spanning three generations, this family reminds us of the power of __________learning,” the school said, “Age isn’t a factor-we can all continue to learn.”

10 . What’s the difference between having a dream and making the dream come true? Hard work and perseverance. Wanda Smith always wanted to be a ______, but sometimes meeting life’s demanding realities can mean a dream ______.

Smith, a mother of three, had to care for her mom, ______ her family responsibilities, she took jobs as a bus monitor and gatekeeper for Brenham Independent School District in Texas. The time was ______ for her. But rather than let her dream die, at the age of 37, with the ______ of her husband, she added night classes to her ______. Nine years on, she ______ graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Sam Houston State University.

Smith’s story came full circle when she was ______ as a first-grade teacher back at Brenham Elementary School. “When I stand in the front of my classroom, I know I am ______ my dream finally,” Smith said during a show celebrating Teachers’ Day.

During the pandemic, as some of her students ______ to take up distance learning, Smith stepped up to help them. She risked her life to deliver schoolwork to students to ensure that the learning could be ______ as smoothly as possible, which really ______ her students and their parents.

Smith’s life is an example as well as a(n) ______ for us. With great ______ and effort, she graduated from cleaning classrooms to ______ classrooms.