1 . Ella Casano was diagnosed with a disease called ITP when she was seven. For most kids with ITP, the disease will ______ go away. But it was not the ______ for Ella. Now 13, she still has to have IV infusions (输液) every eight weeks, which ______ her a lot.

Thinking of her ______ treatment process, she ______ to design a product that could make medical experiences less frightening. She cut up a stuffed toy and used a hot glue gun to ______ her first Medi Teddy, a ______ shaped like a teddy bear. The back of the cover is made of mesh (网) so that doctors and nurses can ______ the medicine that the child is receiving.” The purpose of the design is to ______ a bag of IV fluid so that the child who is receiving it can not see it. Instead, the child will see a ______ bear face.” Ella said.

Ella was ______ that Medi Teddy should be non-profit, so she could help other kids who have ______ similar experiences. So she launched a GoFundMe to ______ money and successfully collected more than $20,000, aiming to make more Medi Teddies for the kids!

“The ______ of the little patients has been wonderful. We think we are ready to produce a better ______ product that can help hundreds of kids.” Meg said.

2 . A few years ago, I visited my daughter Sandra and my granddaughters, Jocelyn and Hailey.

One evening I noticed Hailey was a bit unhappy. I asked her what the _______was and she told me that she had to go to bed so _______and she wanted to stay up with me. I asked her if she felt a little _______and she said, “yes” with a pout (噘嘴).

I asked her, “Do you know what Grandpa does when he is feeling sad? I go to my _______ place.”

“Where is your happy place, Grandpa?” Jocelyn _______aloud.

“My happy place is on the inside of your hugs (拥抱),” I replied. “It’s the best place in the world. Don’t ever _______the power of a hug.”

Extra big hugs were _______that night from two of my girls.

The next morning, Sandra was under a bit of pressure to complete an assignment (任务). She lost her _______.

Jocelyn said, “Mom, are you having a _______day?” Sandra replied, “I guess I am, dear. I’m sorry.”

Jocelyn said, “Would you like to go to Grandpa’s happy place?” With that ________her mother in her arms. “Grandpa says this is his ________place.”

After some ________eyes and a heartfelt “I’m sorry,” Sandra returned to ________with a big smile on her face.

I cherish (珍爱) my time with ________and it is good knowing that what is said with ________has an influence on them.

3 . A 70-year-old Chinese woman has been called “Super Grannie” after it was reported that she is _________ about running and has completed over 100 marathons (马拉松) so far.

Most people _________ to take it easy after they retire (退休), but Wang Guilan, from Liaoning, is _________ not one of them. She only started running at the age of 50, as a _________ to keep in shape, but soon realized it was her passion (酷爱). She ran her first marathon in 2004 and hasn’t _________ since. From 2005 to 2017, she completed the Beijing Marathon thirteen times, and this year she set a new record, becoming the _________ person to ever complete the 168-kilometer Liaoning marathon.

“This lady is as old as my grandmother, how can she run so fast? That’s _________,” a runner in his twenties said after seeing Wang compete _________ the Liaoning marathon in April. Last year, she ran for the 110 km version of the marathon with her _________. It was reported that she waited for her friend to catch up for about 5-6 hours __________ they could cross the finishing line together, but this year she took part in the marathon by __________, and chose the longest distance.

So __________ can a 70-year-old stay in good condition to complete a marathon, while most people half her __________ couldn’t finish? One reason, according to Sina, is that Wang Guilan runs at least 20 kilometers every day. And she __________ running on mountain roads in her native Liaoning, but in winter she runs on asphalt (沥青) roads.

Wang Guilan __________ believes that age is just a number, and plans to continue running and enjoying the sunset of her life for as long as her health allows it.

4 . Last year my daughter started feeding a homeless cat that we named Miss Alice. Since then, things have_________. First two other homeless cats that we named Garfield and Tang also showed up, wanting to be__________ . Some days later, the local __________noticed them and started flying down to enjoy any leftover cat food after those three had finished__________. Everything was going well. Now my daughter is like a Disney princess. Anytime she walks outside, the __________ gather around.

My daughter always treats them equally with care. The only one who seems ____________with this new arrangement is Miss Alice. She keeps __________the other two cats away from the food. The other day when I walked over to my daughter’ s house, Alice came up meowing(喵喵叫) asking to be___________. While I was touching her head and___________her back, Garfield and Tang also meowed for attention. But Miss Alice scared them away. She wasn’t___________to share anything about me.

The thing that Miss Alice___________understands is something that has taken me years to learn, too. It is the truth that the more love we share and___________ ,the more love we have. Some __________ people like my daughter seem to know a lot about___________. It is in sharing love that we can make__________with the world. It is in love that we support each other. May we all learn this even if poor Miss Alice never does.

5 . I am a teacher and I love children. I set up a classroom library of books that I bought_______my own money. The library looks beautiful, like a _______. And my students _______ it very much.

I read the children a story. It is about a girl who is _______ poor that she wears the_______ dress to school every day. But she says she has a hundred dress _______. The other girls laugh at her until she goes away. _______, her classmates discover she really has a hundred dresses – a hundred beautiful drawings of dresses. Oh, God, every child_________when I close the book.

_______ a moment everything is quiet. Then a boy________in my ear, “I have to tell the class something.” He shows me that he has half a finger________ .

I turn him towards the class and put my________ on his shoulder. He is a bit ________ . “I …I only have nine and a half fingers.” He ________ his hands. “Please don’t laugh at me about it.” The students become ________. Then one boy calls out,

“Anybody who makes fun of you, I’ll kick them.”

“Me, too,” says another.

When the boy sees the class become united (团结) , he is very happy 60 and smiles at me .

6 . Around a bend (拐弯处) on a narrow trail that runs deep into the forest of Gabon’s Loango National Park, Kamaya comes into view. The huge silverback gorilla (大猩猩) coolly watches _______ arrive, then goes back to his meal.

Seated on a _______ branch, the 150-kilogram beast greedily pulls more _______ from the tree to his mouth with a _______ but powerful movement before slowly climbing down the trunk. Soon he falls asleep calmly.

After two years of a total _______ due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Parks Agency has decided to restart _______ observations of Gabon’s gorillas,_______ the iconic (标志性的) species will serve as a“loss leader” to _______ ecotourism.

That Kamaya and his _______ of about 10 members are so used to humans is the ________ of long labors by a team of scientists who also ________ data.

They work to make ________ to protect a species ________ with extinction and to ________ foreign tourists. Spending one hour with Kamaya and his family costs $500, on top of charges for ________ to the site and accommodation.

Loango Park, which ________ more than 155,000 hectares of the thickly ________ country, offers rich reward for a 4-5-hour road ________ from Port-Gentil, the second city, followed by the track and a ________ stage by boat.

Though expensive, the price is much lower than that paid to see the mountain gorillas in Uganda or Rwanda. It also gets income to manage protected areas that ________ a safe place for the animals.

7 . Going to the Olympics wasn’t happening smoothly as I’d expected. I went to Greece as an alternate, but it was a ________experience-watching my teammates ________ together and compete day after day. I was part of the team, yet it was clear that I wasn’t   ________one of them. I never had a chance to compete. Still, I was proud of my identity. A reporter asked me how I felt about being________ as an alternate. I answered, “There is no event that can defeat my sense of inner ________.”

After I returned, I soon ________ myself. My coach even said it was as if I had   ________ on; he could see the light ________in me. In the gym, working on my training plans, I ________to my dream of being an Olympian, and from then on, I spent 24 hours a day________to this goal.

I________it to the 2008 Olympic tryouts in Philly, and sailed right through them. When the decision day finally came when the president of USA Gymnastics________ team members competing for Beijing Olympics, I was very, very confident. The second my name was heard, with a ________, I fell to my knees. Then, smiling and crying at the same time, I ________ up and hugged my coach. I hugged everyone. I was   ________   and inside I was grateful for the ________ and hardship I ever met with.

The greatest thing I got from those years is that once I find a(n)________, it’s a matter of grasping that dream with________ confidence and unwavering (坚定不移的) ________. And then let the dream ________me!

8 . When we were growing up, our mother, a single parent of seven kids, always took on two jobs, so it fell to Nina, the oldest, to take care of us. Because of Nina, pop music was an ________ part of our home, and growing up with the music of the 1960s was an added ________. One of her favorite ________ during the 1960s was 96 Tears. I ________ her turning up the radio and singing along when it was ________. I was 9 and she was 15.

I think music was ________ to her because it kept her grounded and reminded her that she was still a ________, even though she had so much responsibility. I remember the music always became the ________. We would wake up ________ the morning show as we got ready for school, and then into the night. The ________ was always on.

Nina wasn’t much older than me, but she shouldered great ________ while my mother worked. I didn’t ________ much of it then, but years later, and especially now she is gone, I realize how much she must have ________ because of caring for us. I don’t ever remember her complaining, but ________ remember the music and the sisterly friendship.

Recalling my childhood, I think things could have been ________ for a house full of kids ranging in age from 3 to 15 years, but somehow, I remember it as a relative happy time, thanks to Nina’s ________ ability. Now, that song reminds me of my ________ sister, as well as the sacrifices she made for me, and the ________ childhood I experienced because of her. ________ that song makes my eyes water, but still a ________ touches the corners of my mouth.

9 . There are always some persons in your life who touch your soft heart with kindness.

As a little girl, my favorite thing was _______. And when I thought about _______ I wanted to be when I grew up, I figured I’d be a librarian, just because the two librarians changed my life.

At that time, the town library limited the number of books a person borrowed _______ two once a week. I _______ the books in just three days. So to read more, I was _______ about what books to choose. The librarian, Mrs. Tonne, was a warm person. Every time I went into the library, she greeted me, _______. When learning about my trouble, she often _______ some better books. Thanks to her help, I _______ a lot from these books.

Gradually, I developed an interest in writing, _______ poems. When I was in fourth grade, our school librarian, Mrs. Ketelsen, encouraged me to write more. When my poem was not accepted, she ________ me with comfortable words. Once she helped ________ some poems I’d written about dinosaurs to Highlights magazine. It was my first published writing!

Later, at the University of Iowa, ________ I majored in journalism, my dream was different. I realized that I was shy about interviewing people, which made me ________. When I recalled Mrs. Tonne and Mrs. Ketelsen, I made a decision without ________ to be devoted to writing. And now I am an editor at Reader’s Digest.

Whenever I think of the help from them, how ________ I am. It is their kindness that makes me what I am.

10 . Some folks spend decades looking for their best friends. I was   ________   enough to find mine in Grade 7 at my senior school –eight   ________   girls.

As we progressed to high school, a couple of girls ________ and a couple of new ones wormed their way in. By the end of Grade 12, the group had more or less ________ into its final form, one that’s remained remarkably ________ for the past 20 years.

Among our many ________ is an annual Christmas exchange. This event first ________ when we were 12. We set it up on the long, sticky cafeteria tables at our school to swap ________ gifts bought with our babysitting money. In following years, we’d ________ a night of it, watching movies and ordering pizza in parents’ living rooms, ________ moving into our own shabby student apartments, into slightly less shabby adult apartments and then into our first   ________ .

At the beginning, we gave each other butterfly hair clips and so on. Those ________ bright mall jewellery and cheerful housewares as we began nesting in our 20s and baby clothes once we started having ________ in our 30s.

Holidays with family can be ________ , but our exchange offered something else:a chance for my friends and me to ________ our own traditions and play at being grown-ups.