1 . Neerja wakes up at 7 o’clock. She finds that she has a birthday cap over her head. She’s both ________ and confused. “Is it my birthday today? But it is in August …” She ________ her phone. It shows August 27, her birthday.

Things are getting more and more ________ for her. In a few seconds, her family ________ the room with a huge cake box. She is almost ________ about it.

She comes forward to ________ the cake, and as she opens the box, everything becomes ________ at once. The box has a joker mask with “April Fool!” written on it. With loud laughter, they make her ________ that she’s been tricked (欺骗). Now Neerja owns the title of “FOOL OF THE YEAR”. And if she doesn’t want the ________, she has to pass it to someone else.

On her way to school, she continuously ________ about how to add a member to the “fool’s chain (链)” till she sees Hari. A(n)________ comes to her mind. She says, “Hello, Hari! The class teacher called you to her office. She wants you to be the new class monitor (班长).” After some time, she sees him coming back ________. She realizes that she has made a huge mistake.

She goes to him and says, “I’m really sorry. I just ________ to pass the title ‘FOOL OF THE YEAR’ to someone else”. “‘FOOL OF THE YEAR’... what’s that?” he asks curiously. Neerja can’t help ________ his innocent (天真的) question. Hari laughs too. Though they are both now members of the “chain of fools”, they are happy that this chain is the beginning of their ________ too.

2 . Bill Sumiel, 71-year-old, was dealing with kidney failure and had been on dialysis (透析) 30 miles from home.

He had _______ diabetes over 20 years before, which led to his kidney problems. He was on the transplant list, but no matches had yet appeared. So he _______ his current treatment.

Timothy Letts, a Uber driver of 31, was _______ north when his phone rang. Uber _______ Sumiel’s ride-hailing order to him. Letts could see that the older man was weary-looking but in good _______.

“Sumiel really _______ the trip with positive energy.” says Letts. Over the 40-minute drive, Letts shared that he was an Army veteran. Sumiel mentioned that he’d _______ volunteering at his church and in his community. But he was doing less these days, because the dialysis treatments left him _______.

Sumiel revealed that he was _______ a kidney donor. Letts joked that he’d be a good donor candidate, given that he didn’t drink or smoke. Sumiel agreed, though he didn’t think much of it as they kept driving. Letts, ________ , couldn’t stop thinking about it.

About a quarter-mile away from Sumiel’s house, Letts said, “I’d like to see if I could be a ________ to give you a ________.”

After the initial excitement, Sumiel started feeling a bit less ________.

Sumiel was touched by Letts’s ________ , though he wondered if it had just been an emotional moment. Letts was ________ to his word, and he got in touch with Sumiel a few hours later. After a months’ screening ________, the results were ________: Letts was an ideal donor, and they were a perfect match.

On Dec. 7, 2021, 14 months after the ride, they had their ________ successfully. Being ________ today, Sumiel is volunteering full time remotely. Letts has moved to Germany to work with the Army’s family. They look forward to the day they can ________.

3 . Einstein took a job as a clerk in the Swiss patent office. While working there, out of a strong ______ for knowledge, he continued to study, ______ a doctorate in physics in 1905. That same year, which was later ______ as a miracle year in science, he ______ four extraordinary physics papers. Following this, he gradually became famous ______ the world as the new Isaac Newton. After four years, he was able to ______ his job at the patent office and enter ______ full-time at a university. In 1922, he was ______ the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his ______ of the photoelectric effect.

Circumstances ______ in 1933, when Hitler came to power in Germany. Einstein, who was Jewish, found the doors of ______ institutions closed to him. ______, he had to flee Germany. After spending time in Europe, he finally ______ a job at the institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, USA. ______ that, he continued to make great ______ in physics and mathematics.

4 . A cancer diagnosis (诊断) can bring you to the very edge of the cliff (悬崖). It did for Allie Newman. A bright, athletic 16-year-old one day and a cancer ________ the next.

Osteosarcoma isn’t a word that should be in a high schooler’s ________. Allie got very familiar with it, a type of bone cancer. She ________ 12 months of treatment, losing her hair, her strength and her desire for food but never her positive ________. Then came the surgeries to replace some of her bones. In addition to those was long-term medical treatment. The ________ suffering can prevent a person from being ________. But when Allie ________ herself on the cliff’ edge, she decided to live and ________ life, no matter what it brought. Though it was ________, Allie discovered the courage to finish college, travel abroad and celebrate every new year of being cancer free.

“Cancer ________ people,” Allie says. “It shapes us into someone who understands more deeply, hopes more desperately and lives more passionately.” With that ________, Allie joined an organization that helps hospitals treat teenage cancer patients. So far, the organization has ________ 18,000 families.

You ________ know where your life will lead and what courage you will have to gather. But when you are facing your ________, do as Allie says, “Take a second to smile, and give yourself a minute to truly ________ all the good in your life right now.”

5 . A homeless man hung out in front of my barbershop. He _________ people now and then, “Hello, my friend!” However, he didn’t ask for _________ though he desperately needed it to purchase goods. My shop assistant showed much _________ to the homeless man, too. The next day, she called me for a _________ —$2 and promised to repay it the next month. I saw her _________ it to him. I walked over and_________ him in for a rest. He looked much _________ after we washed his dirty face and cut his messy hair. We _________ him warmly, so he left with his stomach full.

He _________ my assistant back when he got his social security check. That’s when we knew his name was Jack. “I sometimes lose it when I have money on me,” he said. So eventually I became his “bank” for his check and __________ it as needed. In the __________ of items, we became friends.

One __________ evening, I found Jack lying on the ice outside. He had a fever. I quickly sent him to the hospital. His doctor thought of me as his relative and took my number. __________, I became his emergency contact. He __________ under the care of my assistant and me. __________ my kindness, he offered to help me with the chores in the shop. Meanwhile, I taught him how to cut hair. He was a (n) __________ learner. As was expected, he became my competent assistant soon.

Business in my barbershop was so booming that we were __________ in working every day. A few years later, we had __________, and we each had to manage a shop. Now we have the __________ power to do charity work. We believe with good thoughts, __________ things will come.

6 . Games and sports teach people a lot of useful skills, as well as helping them to ____ fit and healthy.

Lots of people love team sports. They enjoy being a member of a team so they have the chance to ____ the matches and events. They also enjoy sharing the ____, or failure, with others. While playing, people have to ____ each other, otherwise they can never win. At the same time, it is important to respect rules, because no game will work ____ everyone plays according to them. Team games also teach you that ____ is not the end of the world. You will always have another opportunity (机会) and you will be more successful against your competitors next time.

_____, there are many people who just don’t like team sports. They have to find other ______ to exercise. Perhaps they had a bad ____ with a kind of sport when they were younger. Maybe they feel embarrassed (尴尬的) because they think they’re not very ____ at a sport. They worry about disappointing (使失望) the rest of the team if they ____ badly. Team sports are ______ about competitions, and for some people, this is too ____. So individual (个人的) activities are more suitable for them. ____, during the COVID-19, many people exercise in their houses by following work-out (锻炼) videos posted online. Hundreds of free workouts are produced online every day, so you can have your own personal ____ without leaving your own house.

Whether team sports or individual activities, always lead positive lives!

7 . We’ve all had a wrong number text before, but how often do they lead to years-long friendships? For Jamal and Wanda, a _______ text has resulted in seven years of shared Thanksgiving dinners!

In 2016, the 17-year-old Jamal received a text, _______ from his grandma, asking if he would _______ it to Thanksgiving that year. After exchanging a few _______ , it soon became clear that the text’s sender, Wanda, _______ , was not his grandma. She invited Jamal to the _______ though, and after Jamal _______ the exchange on the Internet, the pair went viral.

Spending Thanksgiving together has become an _______ thing for Jamal and Wanda. The year of 2023 will _______ the tradition’s eighth anniversary. Their friendship has gone from strength to strength, even through ________ like the passing of Wanda’s husband, Lonnie.

Wanda said, “Jamal ________ me that age made absolutely no difference. When Jamal came along, my husband and I and Jamal and his girlfriend, we would go out eating dinner through-out the year together and we would just lose all track of ________ . One time, we were at a restaurant for three or four hours and I couldn’t ________ we were there that long. We kept talking! It was just such a ________ conversation.”

Thanks to the wrong number text, the two have developed a deep friendship. The pair have even gone into ________ together, launching a water company.

8 . Joshua “JJ” Rowland, a 2-year-old boy, had been missing for 24 hours. It was believed that he left his home while his mom was_________. When his mother woke up, he was missing.

Over 500 volunteers helped in_________the baby. Nearly 24 hours passed._________, they could find the baby nowhere. “That long period-everybody starts_________the worst, and it’s hard not to. How can all these people search all this and not_________a clue (线索)?” Roy Link, one of the_________, said. He decided to start searching on his own.

When he came to an open field, he was met with a(n)_________—two wooded areas with an open space in between. He_________the forest on his left and heard the first cry. As it got louder, he_________JJ. He could sense that the boy was__________. The 2- year-old held onto him closely and wouldn’t go to any place without him. “He had scratches (划痕) all over his arms and legs, but he really looked in good__________. You know all the bad things start going through your mind, but then finding him healthy and alive, it’s just ... wow,” Link said. “And I was__________that he managed to survive a day in the wild. Some adults wouldn’t have made it that long either.”

Online commenters__________Link for saving the 2-year-old and named him the “Man of the Year”. Link was__________about such a big title. “How could you not go when you heard that there was a need for volunteers to search for a 2-year-old child?” Link said. “I was just doing the__________thing.”

9 . I grew up around books. I remember opening my parents’ _______ book Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce and thinking: They might have never opened the _______ from the sign of the dust (灰尘), and with so many obscure words in it, why did they _______ it? In spite of this, I could sense the magic of buying it, and I carried that sense of _______ into my life.

In the past, I had hundreds of books in the house. They _______ my bookshelves, and the books got in the way sometimes. They gathered around the chair where I _______ on to watch TV. They _______ the space on my ottoman (凳子) where my feet were _______ to go. I thought I needed more _______ for my books. Since my work is to write about books, I have some forms of ________. But there’s more to it than that. That is I always had the ________ of holding a book, reading a book, and buying a book.

Though many books I ________ may haven’t been read, nothing can stop me from buying them. ________, with many books around me, there will always be an opportunity (机会) for me to pick up a book ________, and it takes me back to ________ times.

10 . Renée and her roommate were living thousands of miles away from their hometown. They often travel back home to _______ their friends and family.

One day at the airport, her roommate couldn’t _______ her passport (护照). She looked for it everywhere. And then she became _______.

“I felt _______ because my roommate is easily with a bad mood (情绪),” Renée said.

Renée tried to ask her roommate where she had last _______ it. And then her mood took a turn for the worse.

“That’s when she shouted at me,” Renée said. “I don’t even _______ what she said, but it was loud and sharp.”

Out of nowhere, a man got close to them. The man _______ asked if she had checked the _______ on her backpack. There it was. Her roommate responded with shyness and her _______ became quiet.

“And it was such a ________ moment. It was seconds. But the man stepping in, it just immediately defused (缓和) the situation,” Renée said. “The man’s gesture of ________ made my roommate realize her own rudeness and impoliteness. And she ________ an apology (道歉) to me.” “He was my hero. It is because of his little gesture that my roommate realized her bad manners, and after that our ________ made deeper. And I truly ________ him for that,” Renée added.

Now, Renée is in a good ________ with her roommate.