1 . During the first weeks of his retirement from the fire service, Max had felt lost. And that’s when Polly, a library manager, helped him sign up as a _________ , for Robot Club in the library.

Max hadn’t volunteered before and he didn’t know anything about _________ . He opened the packs containing the robots, nervously staring at the mess of parts. A dozen primary-age children gathered around the table, _________ eagerly. Almost double the number of adults crowded around them, watching.

Glancing around the _________ at the many parents and carers accompanying the robot builders, Max knew he had to face this _________.

“Okay, team,” he started _________, adopting the tone he’d used to _________ his unit during his firefighting days. “We’re going to build these robots one step _________.”

The children nodded, their hands busy with screws (螺丝) and plastic limbs. Max wandered from table to table, _________ words of encouragement, and slowly but surely, __________ the instructions in his mind.

An hour passed, and the room was filled with the sound of chatter and clinking parts. As the final minutes of Robot Club ticked away, Max stood back and __________ the room. Robots of all shapes and sizes stood on the tables. The children were excited, __________ their creations to anyone who would look.

As they began to leave, many children stopped to thank Max. Each “thank you” and “see you next week” chipped away at the sense of __________ he had felt since retiring. He hadn’t put out a fire today, but perhaps he had __________ something far more important — a new __________ for himself.

2 . Jim owned a store. A customer once asked him how he managed to stay ________ all the time. His answer was, “When I wake up in the morning, I know that the day will have good and bad ________ for me, but whatever happens, I’m going to choose to be in a good ________.”

Then one day, something ________ happened. Jim was about to leave the store when an armed robber came in, held him up at gunpoint, and made him open the ________. As he was trying to open it, Jim’s hand ________. The robber saw this and probably thought, “He’s about to attack me!” The robber ________ and fired his gun.

Jim was rushed to the hospital. In the ambulance, he felt ________ because the paramedic (医务辅助人员) kept telling him, “I’m sure you’ll be OK.”

But when Jim was in the operating room and he saw the faces of the doctors and nurses, he got the feeling that they thought he was ________ dead. He knew he needed to do something to change their ________.

There was a ________ who was asking him lots of questions, very fast. One question was, “Are you ________ to anything?” “Yes!” Jim said loudly and everybody stopped what they were doing. There was total ________. “Bullets!” Jim said, and all the doctors and nurses burst out ________. And then Jim added, “Please operate on me thinking that I’ll live, and not that I’ll die.”

Jim survived, thanks to the skill of the doctors and nurses. But what also helped was that he managed to remain an optimist even in the most ________ moment of his life.

3 . In 2012, I had just recovered from a serious illness when I received an invitation to a writer’s conference in Orlando, Florida. My family persuaded that a(n) _______ might be just what the doctor ordered, so off I went.

Arriving in the Sunshine State was rather tiring, but I _______ to catch a taxi to my _______ and settle in. Next morning, I took another _______ to the shopping center to buy a few souvenirs. Later, I went to a café to have lunch, but all the tables were _______. Then I heard a friendly voice saying, “You can _______ my table.”

I gratefully sat down with the _______ lady and we had a happy lunch together. As the meal drew to a close she asked how long I would be in Orlando. I had already told her that I hadn’t _______ a car, and hadn’t realized how _______ taking taxis would be. After a while she said, “My dear, don’t use any more taxis. I’m retired and it would be my pleasure to drive you wherever you wish.” I told her that I couldn’t put her to that ________ , but she brushed aside my protests (反对). She asked me where I was ________ and next morning she was waiting at my apartment at the ________ time to take me to Disney World. She spent some time with me before leaving me to ________ alone. At the end of the day, she ________ to take me back to my accommodation. I offered her money but she refused to take any.

I’ll never forget that wonderful lady who, through her ________, filled my brief holiday in Florida with wonderful memories.

5 . I have a degree in business. But it was my father’s _________ for me to seek to attain a business major. He thought that having a business major would guarantee (保证) me more available choices and make me more _________ in entering a global labor market. I _________ his advice. However, even though my college experiences were _________, I had no interest in any field of commerce, let alone having a long-term career as a businesswoman.

After I _________, I worked as a marketing planner at a computer company. My _________ and working environment were great; yet I still didn’t feel happy doing something that had little _________ for me. After two months of working there, I made up my mind to _________ and decided to do what I love, namely teaching history. I have now been doing this job for over twenty years. I am _________ of being with my students.

If you are in a __________ where you don’t love what you are learning or doing, please ask yourself what you are really __________ about, and what you truly want for your life. Don’t __________ to get yourself a quick answer. Take some time to think about what career could bring __________ to you.

I like this motto “Success is not the key to happiness. __________ happiness is the key to success.”

Happiness __________ the inside of you, not from the outside. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

6 . It was December 2022. I was finishing up my Ph. D. in the United Kingdom, and a professor I admired invited me to interview for a position in his lab in Japan. The interview went well. I was sure everything would go _________ in 2023.

Then, in April, my mother told me about some strange symptoms she was _________. “Have you submitted your thesis (毕业论文) yet?” she asked me. “Almost, Mom,” I said. She seemed to be _________. But I was buried in finishing my experiments, so I brushed away my _________. A week later, the doctors had an update: It was lung cancer. During the next 2 months, I was _________ between my research and my family as I prepared for my defense, _________ for mid-July. My Ph. D. supervisor (导师) encouraged me to take all the time I needed to be with my mom, but my _________ always pulled me back to the lab. In the meantime, cancer had spread throughout my mother’s body.

Yet my scientific _________ still occupied me. I was set to attend a conference in New Zealand in early July. But on my way to the _________, I got the news that my mother had 1 or 2 years left. So I flew back to Madrid instead. I __________ my Ph. D. defense. Meanwhile—in just 3 weeks—the rest of my mother’s life was changed to 1 year, then months, weeks, days. Cancer __________ my mother at the end of July. I am always __________ for losing precious time with my mother. I had never slowed down before, knowing what it takes to secure an academic __________. Losing my mother put things into perspective for me. I saw the humane side of science in the __________ and flexibility offered by my Ph. D. supervisor. And the work I missed felt __________. I defended my thesis in September and moved to Tokyo later.

Please, take my advice: If your loved ones need you now, be there for them.

9 . In the first class of college, our teacher gave us a special task — get to know someone we didn’t know before. When I looked around, I found a wrinkled, little old lady _________ me. She said, “Hi, my name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old.” “Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked _________. “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids...” she replied. “No seriously,” I asked. I was _________ what may have motivated her to be taking on this _________ at her age. “I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!” she said.

From that day on, we became _________ friends. We left class together and talked nonstop. I was always _________ to listening to this “time machine” as she shared her wisdom and _________ with me.

At the end of the term, Rose was invited to _________ a speech. I’ll never forget what she taught us. “The secret of staying young _________ being positive and pursuing dreams persistently. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die,” she went on. “Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any __________ or ability. The elderly usually don’t have __________ for what they did, but rather for things they didn’t do. The only people who __________ death are those with regrets.”

Finally, Rose finished the college degree successfully. A month after graduation Rose died __________ in her sleep. Thousands of college students attended her funeral (葬礼)__________ the woman from whom we can learn a __________ that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be.

10 . Paint the Nails for Her!

Last July, Amy, 36, rolled her wheelchair into a nail salon with the idea of doing her nails. But Amy, who has cerebral palsy (大脑性瘫痪), was ________. The salon, she says, told her that they were afraid it would be ________ difficult to properly paint her nails given that her hands ________. What was meant to be a day of beauty for Amy was then a ________.

________ the interaction from a few feet away was a Walmart cashier about to go on her ________. Ebony Harris, 40, ________ a similar spirit in Amy, a Walmart regular. “She’s a lovely girl,” Harris told ABC News. “She’s just like you, me, my daughter, and anybody else. She wants to look ________. So why can’t she?”

Harris ________ Amy. “Do you want me to do your nails?” She asked. A smile ________ across Amy’s face. “Yeah!”

They shopped for nail polish and ________ on a bright blue — a color that would catch everyone’s eyes. They then made their ________ to a neighboring subway, and found a table for two. Harris ________ took Amy’s hands into hers and began carefully painting her nails.

“I was a little nervous and was shaking too because I didn’t want to ________ her nails up,” Harris admitted to ABC News. “I told her this is a blessing to both of us, not ________ her. She makes me look at life and appreciate it much ________ than I have done.”

Watching it all with ________ was a subway employee Tasia Smith. What struck her most was the ease and gentleness ________ by Harris as she painted Amy’s nails, all the while chatting ________ they were old friends. Smith was so moved by the scene that she wrote about it on the social media. “She was so ________ with her,” she wrote, “A big thank you to the Walmart worker for making this beautiful girl’s day!”