1 . Tidying your desk, watering your plants, folding clothes — these household chores (家务) are very common. I often find myself _________ these little chores. If the deadline of a task is coming, I’ll clear up the papers _________ around my office to make me feel not so nervous.

I’m not _________ in this. As facing the influenza (流感), many people _________ finding new interest in looking after their homes as a way of _________ uncertainty. Psychologists (心理学家) say these chores may _________ encourage you to become active.

Little chores may be useful because they occupy the mind, leading us to devote fewer resources to the things that _________ us. We may find household makes us _________ when we finish them, but this depends on where we place our _________.

In a study, researchers __________ 51 participants into two groups. Half of them were encouraged to __________ focus on washing the dishes. “__________ washing the dishes, one should be aware that he is washing the dishes”. Another half only needed to know something __________ how to do washing without being encouraged to focus their awareness on the activity.

Finally, the participants were asked to take a questionnaire about their feelings. Those who had fully engaged with the experience reported a better mood. This included the reduced __________ and even a sense of “inspiration”, as if the simple activity had __________ their minds.

2 . Hansen and his 10-year-old son Chase search the streets of Salt Lake City every weekend for the homeless to take to lunch. They started Project Empathy (共情) four years ago to _________ a meal, listen to their stories and figured out how they could _________ help.

“Just start with a smile, a hello. It really just starts with that. If you do it, you can make a connection. A small gesture can have a _________ impact on others less fortunate,” Hansen _________ in an interview.

Some of these shared meals have turned into stronger _________. Ward, a homeless, was _________ in a flat. He credited the Hansens with helping him _________ the difficult process of moving off the streets. “It is great to have friends who make us feel _________ and I’m impressed with the pair,” Ward said.

Father and son’s _________ have developed into a passion project that __________ faith and community, which focuses on the __________ community members can have in helping the homeless have a better life. They know they can’t settle the homeless __________ alone. They’re hoping empathy will __________.

“My hope for the future is to __________ more connection across our country. We could and we will succeed __________ we have other people join in and help the homeless,” Chase said.

3 . Kurt Campbell was a special student at school. He had difficulty in learning. For him, the hurt and ________ came in fourth grade.

Learning was hard at school. It was a complete ________ for him. His teachers and parents ________ everything to help him but just failed. By the end of his fourth-grade year, he couldn’t spell or read.

His parent ________ from their home in Washington to the town of Edmonds.

Kurt’s parents took him to a new school, where he would ________ the fourth grade.

He wasn’t ________ about going to a new school, but he was terribly upset about taking the fourth grade again. It was a ________ of not being intelligent. He felt worried and afraid. ________, he wasn’t at his old school, so none of the kids would know what he used to be.

But his new teacher, Mrs. Hornall, knew. She had got Kurt’s ________ from his parents. She spent a lot of time with him. Mrs. Hornall helped him ________ words into sentences and taught him how sentences became paragraphs. She even explained patiently to him how stories are ________ new meaning.

Over the next few weeks and months, things began to ________. Kurt could read a Hardy Boys book. When he finished the final exam, he ran down the hall, ________ to his mom and dad, “I did it! I did it!”

“Mrs. Hornall made the ________. She was one of those amazing teachers who paid ________ to me and never once made me feel different from my other classmates,” said Kurt.

4 . Hello, everyone. It’s my honor to recommend (推荐) Educator of the Year. I’m sure everyone has a favorite teacher that they will be able to _________ for years to come. There is one famous teacher that everyone wants to have in our middle school — Ms Sullivan, whose _________ you must often hear at school. Ms Sullivan does a lot of things to make herself _________.

First of all, she shows great interest in her _________. She teaches many different classes — Language Arts Enrichment, Writing for Publication and Reader’s Theater, though most teachers in middle school only teach one _________, such as math, social studies, science, etc. Ms Sullivan is also responsible for directing the school play. Every year she devotes her time to _________ an amazing school play. Luckily, I have been a part of it and _________ it so much!

In addition, Ms Sullivan always shows us that she _________ us, whether in our study or in life. Some teachers teach us the lessons in a _________ way, while Ms Sullivan shows us that she is always easy-going like a friend. In writing classes, she makes us have a group discussion first, which I think is a good way to __________ our creative ideas. Then she lets us __________ write our stories at our own speed. She __________ everything we write and gives us an honest opinion about it. We are getting more __________ writing a composition, and no longer consider it hard work. Most importantly, she makes each of her classes __________.

In a word, I think Ms Sullivan should be Educator of the Year. Even if she doesn’t get the __________, she still deserves our respect and love!

6 . Mid-Autumn Festival, a typical agricultural harvest and get-together festival, falls on lunar August 15. I disliked it not because it’s _________ commercialised but because I’m an orphan (孤儿). However, a(n) _________ changed my view.

Last year, finding I had little in common with my classmates, I felt _________. With Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, my class   _________ to hold a Mid-Autumn Festival Party. After all, this was a _________ occasion for them. On that day, we dressed up in beautiful costume, setting off to the _________ together. To be frank, seeing the classroom _________ fancy lanterns, everyone seemed happy except me. After having mooncakes and some snacks, many activities, ranging from singing to solving riddles, went off. Everyone _________ when someone gave a great performance.

Later, in spite of my unwillingness, I was still invited to _________ my group in the wrestling match. Unbelievably, I won. Given __________, I was wild with joy. I was grateful to the __________, taking advantage of this chance to express my __________ to them. From then on, I began to make friends with others. As time marched on, I had more faith in myself.

In brief, I __________ Mid-Autumn Festival now. I __________ always on the joyful moments and merry atmosphere of that night, believing that life’s __________.

7 . That year I was eleven and in sixth grade. In Wethersfield, all sixth-graders are ________ to take part in the R. O. P. E. Program. Its main ________ is to believe your peers (同龄人), work together, and ________ new adventures. These programs including falling backward and ________ peers to catch you, working together to fit into a small circle (圈子) and something of that kind.

I was ready to take part in these ________ . Falling backward and fitting into a small circle were nothing to me. Crossing over a stream (小溪) with nothing holding me up but a rope was daring, but I could ________ it. Finally the day came when my sixth grade class would travel to climb and rappel (绕绳下滑) a mountain in Southington. Those people who were too ________ were allowed to practice climbing and rappelling a smaller area of rocks, but that wasn’t for me. I could climb the big mountain.

Twenty minutes later, my ________ arrived. As I was well ________, I set off at once. I got a quarter of the way up but couldn’t seem to get any ________ . I tried and tried. I began to put myself down and cry. There was nothing more ________ than my classmates were looking at me. All I kept ________ was “Lisa, you can do it. Try to fit your foot in there. ________, Lisa. You’re almost there.”

It was then that I thought to myself, “Why am I crying? I can do this.”Almost ________ I went on going up the mountain. Within five minutes I successfully ________ to the top.