1 . In 2001, I participated in an expedition to explore the Titanic. Our team used two small deep-sea robots, one blue and one green. My _______ was to ensure the robots’ batteries worked well.

Unfortunately, the green robot _______ a problem on the third day of this ambitious adventure. It got _______ inside the Titanic. Even worse, one of its batteries was damaged. That was _______, as the battery could explode. It could harm the robot and the ship. We had to find a way to get it out.

In the middle of the vast ocean, though, there are no stores to buy _______ . So, we had an idea. We took a coat hanger and put it inside the blue robot. The _______ was to use the hanger’s hook to pull out the green robot.

Accompanied by two fellow crew members, I prepared to go down in a three-man submarine (潜水艇). A machine lifted us and placed us in the _______. Then we started to _______ — 12,500 feet to the ocean floor.

At about 9,000 feet, a crewmate _______ touched some wires. Suddenly, all the submarine’s lights went out. We were in complete ________. It was terrifying, but the skilled pilot swiftly fixed it , and we ________ our journey.

Finally, upon reaching the site, we were ________ by a solemn (庄严的) scene where we started to see suitcases and shoes, serving as ________ reminders of the tragic events. For approximately 12 hours, we managed to ________ the trapped robot with the coat hanger. There was no way we were going to leave it behind — that little robot was part of our ________.

2 . On February 17th, the Clermont County Animal Shelter, Ohio, shared a story. A woman met with her missing dog Will again.

While ________ the shelter’s Facebook post forwarded by friends in her community, Hannah saw a dog named Rome that was to be available at the shelter’s weekend ________ event and that dog looked quite ________.

Hannah explained in her Facebook post that Will, a six-year-old went missing from her home in 2019. Although her family looked everywhere, they couldn’t ________ their missing baby.

A shelter volunteer said, “Just yesterday we ________ a message accompanied by photos with a detailed description of Will’s ________ in the hope that the dog brought to our shelter and renamed Rome was ________ Will!” But Rome was scheduled to be at the Take Me Home event today! Learning this, the volunteer, in a bit of ________ quickly sent a message back that Rome would be at the event! “We would love this family to be ________ and we just had to ________ whether this was Will after all these years!” It turned out a big yes. The volunteer continued, “The ________ story serves as a reminder of the incredible impact that the Internet can have in bringing communities together, especially in times of ________. Thank you all for ________ Will’s post.”

It was nothing short of a ________ and we are sure Hannah and her family are ________ to have their dog back!

3 . One day, hundreds of people were stuck in traffic on the highway in below-freezing temperatures due to a snowstorm. With the conditions making it _________ for rescue workers to help, many were trapped overnight with no access to _________.

But one stuck driver found a _________ spot in the despair. As she was sitting in her car fearing the _________, Casey Holihan and her husband, John Noe, _________ a bread truck just ahead of them in the jam. Willing to try just about anything, they called the customer service number listed on the back of the truck and left a _________ begging for the driver to open the back and _________ bread to the hungry passengers around them. It was a last-ditch effort, and the couple wasn’t very _________ about getting a response. But to their _________ they soon received a phone call from the company’s owner, Chuck Paterakis, with the news that he was __________ the truck’s driver to open up and pass out loaves of bread from his cargo. Overjoyed by the news, Holihan and Noe __________ the truck’s driver to bring much-needed things to the cars around them.

The simple loaves of bread were surely a ray of __________ in an impossibly disturbing situation. Holihan herself calls it “one of the __________ moments” she’s ever witnessed. This company could have made a(n) __________ from the bread but instead chose to help the people around them. That is just so incredible that someone chose __________ over profit, especially in a situation where people were so desperate.

4 . “Allie, did you write this signature (签名)?” my third-grade teacher asked me. I looked down at the paper on his desk. My mom’s handwriting was terrible.

“No, I didn’t,” I said. “My mom is ________.”

I have a complicated (复杂的) relationship with my mom because of her blindness. Sometimes I become annoyed about the need to ________ her with daily tasks. Helping her too often adds to my daily burden. Therefore, just as a parent teaches their child to be ________, I always try to guide my mom towards self-reliance (自立).

Even though our roles often feel reversed (颠倒的), my mom and I have a quite traditional mother-daughter ________. I admit I have secretly tried to use my mom’s ________ to my advantage in the past, like pretending to eat a salad I didn’t like. But I haven’t gotten away with everything. My mom is not able to see, but she can sure ________ well! I’ve been caught ________ my pears into the trash can due to the loud noise it made.

My mom has never allowed her blindness to ________ her from being a good mother. When I was in a car crash last year, the first thing I did was to ________ my mom. Putting down the phone, she was ________ on her way. The ________ happened only a few minutes ’walk away from my house, but reaching me required her to walk across a busy street on her own. Watching my mom find my car, stepping ________ through the grass to get to me, gave me a feeling of relief. I have taken on the responsibilities of an adult from such a young age that I have forgotten I still need my mom’s protection and ________ .

Throughout my childhood of living with a blind parent, I have rarely thought about how my family is different from others ’. Although my mom will never really know what I ________ , she will always know who I am and how I’m feeling by the tones (语气) of my ________. Her being blind doesn’t make her any less of a parent — or her signature any less valid (有效的).

5 . My four-year-old son, Will, suffered from autism spectrum disorder (自闭症). And he went through many hours in _________ , helping him to overcome many challenges he faced.

One summer afternoon, with a bucket (桶), Will and I were walking along the _________ to search for shells. After a while, I _________ the bucket and discovered nearly all the shells were broken in it. “Will, these shells are broken and _________. You need to find shells like this.” I said gently as I held up a _________ shaped shell. Will gave me a(n) _________ look, as if he failed to understand me. He continued to   _________ imperfect shells he liked and drop them into the bucket.

“Will, why do you keep on _________ our bucket with broken shells?” This time I asked in a serious voice. He looked up at me and said, “Mom, though these shells are broken, they are still beautiful.” Then he _________ his little hand into the bucket and pulled out different shells, commenting on their __________.

“Mom, this one looks like a smile when you hold it this way. ” He showed a broken shell and explained. “It __________ me of a clown. That one is round like the sun, and these are stuck together like butterflies.” He took great pride in his __________.

My eyes were full of tears as I __________ my son was teaching me a valuable lesson. Silently, I __________ the few perfect shells I had collected and returned them to the beach. We are all broken in some way, but we can find __________ in our imperfection.

6 . A Maryland couple stranded (滞留) without food in the freezing cold on a Virginia highway. They were getting ________ and more discouraged by the minute.

After almost 21 hours of being ________ on 95 South, Casey and her husband John slept there overnight and not ________ access to food or water. At that time, they ________ a Schmidt Baking Co. truck ahead of them in the standstill. “People around us were very much ________. Many of them had small children, some were elderly and hadn’t eaten in almost a whole day. ” In a desperate bid for a ________, they decided to call the Schmidt Bakery and see if it could help ________ some much-needed food for them, as well as their fellow highway captives.

“I didn’t think it would ________ work,” said Casey, who left a message with customer service. But to their ________, 20 minutes later, they actually got a ________ from Chuck Paterakis, the owner of the bakery. He told them to walk over to the truck driver, Ron, who was given the go-ahead to start handing out ________ to 50 motorists. Then, the couple joined the driver in making ________. Soon, others joined the effort, in which some 300 loaves were ________.

“It felt incredible just hearing people say thank you and hearing them so ________ to finally have food in their car. This was one of the ________ moments I have ever witnessed.” recalled Casey.

7 . Successfully receiving a US visa (签证) is full of ups and downs. In early 2023, I received an offer to join in the Sports Industry Management Summer Program at Georgetown University in the US. Never having been to the US before, I was thrilled about the upcoming _________.

However, my excitement turned into shock when I _________ a scheduled interview appointment at the US embassy (大使馆) in New Delhi in early May. The waiting list was so long that it _________ all the way to September, well _________ the start of the summer program in July.

Still, that wasn't the only _________ we faced with the US embassy. A friend planning to visit France mentioned that the visa application process now took two months longer than before. It seemed that an increasing number of people were applying to travel abroad. I waited until mid-July before _________ giving up on the summer program for 2023.

At last, I secured an appointment for Sept 18, 2023. After all these difficulties, I thought I could finally get my US visa. During the interview, the visa officer, a pleasant woman, began asking me a few questions. Then there was _________ as she typed on her keyboard for five minutes. I though that the exciting moment was coming. _________, after smiling at my mom and _________ a green form to her, she said, "Sorry, but due to your job, we require __________ documents."

As a journalist, my mother was required by the green form to email a list of her published stories. Fortunately, she specializes in __________ and art, with hundreds of articles on cultural exchanges and interpersonal communications between India and the US. I don't know whether or not her touching stories __________ the visa officer. After all, the embassy gave us 10-year visas after about a week.

With the visa, I am applying for the summer program for 2024 now. If you're planning to travel abroad, I __________ starting the visa process early, __________ many others likely have the same plans. Your parents' jobs can also affect your visa application, so make sure you do some __________ and are ready to provide extra documents.

8 . The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everyone's daily life. While our experiences were ________, there's one thing many of us had in common: quarantine (隔离期) hair.

Salons (美发厅) were closed for months, but our ________ didn't stop growing. So my 12-year-old daughter, who needed a haircut even before the quarantine, ________ to do something good with her hair. She planned to donate (捐赠) it.

We had ________ donating her hair before, so she ________ that it needed to be a certain length. “Maybe someday,” she said.

And I wasn't surprised when she said she was ________ with her hair having grown ________ enough to both meet the donation requirement and leave her with a shoulder-length haircut during the quarantine.

When the salon finally ________ again, my daughter sat ________ in the chair and talked to the hairdresser. She mentioned how great it was that she could ________ someone else just by cutting her hair. Listening to their conversation, I wondered when my daughter had become so mature (成熟的).

Any ________ I had that she would regret her decision disappeared as I watched the hairdresser hand her the first ponytail (马尾辫). She was ________ and looked at it in excitement.

She wanted a ________, and she got it. I went into that salon with my little girl. I ________ with a young lady and a bag filled with the hair.

Days later, as we stood in line at the post office to mail her hair, I looked at my daughter and felt ________ of the kind and thoughtful young lady she'd become.

9 . Growing up, Grandma’s house was a place of warmth and affection. The house wasn’t _______, but that never mattered. It was the love we felt inside that _______ the most. I’ll never forget the softness of my grandma’s hands, _______ in the flavor of cherry blossoms. It’s a flavor that, to this day, takes me back to my childhood. Now, as I look down at my own _______ weathered with time and echoing (重复) her familiar _______, I feel an unspoken connection, a silent _______ of love that continues today.

As a child, I was attracted by the _______ my grandma told — stories of wars, one-room schoolhouses, and life before television. There are so many of those stories I can still remember _______, as all of those stories _______ so much personality and humor. Today, I share my own stories, and while I feel I don’t tell them as ________ as Grandma did, I pray they bring the same ________ and wonder to my grandkids as my grandma’s did.

When I hold my grandchildren, their hands tiny and ________ in mine, I feel a rush of emotion. My hands, ________ my grandma’s, now pass on the same love and comfort they once gave me. In these moments, I recognize that their love ________ beyond the boundaries of time, ________ through my touch, my care, and my love for the next generation.

10 . A family of six is happy to be back home in Quebec after spending a year traveling the globe. Edith Lemay and Sebastien Pelletier organized this ________ to give their kids as many visual memories as possible — memories they can ________ long after losing their eyesight.

The Canadian couple ________ their first born daughter Mia, now 11, had vision problems when she was just three years old. After years of ________with specialists, the parents were told Mia suffered from retinitis pigmentosa (视网膜色素变性), a ________ condition that causes vision loss over time. ________, two of their sons were soon diagnosed (诊断)with the same incurable disorder. One specialist recommended Lemay help her kids create unforgettable ________ memories. That was when the couple had the ________ to show their kids the world.

The family set out in March 2022, ________ Africa from Namibia to Tanzania and touring some Asian countries. Aside from ________ beautiful sights, the parents also patiently taught their kids how to ________ to new situations, wishing them to be strong despite the ________ that may come later in their lives.

When things don't go as ________, many people tell themselves they are born unlucky enough to ________ taking responsibility to make changes in life. Yet this couple and their children have been facing life ahead ________. With such a positive state of mind, you can overcome anything.