1 . I was taking my fifteen-minute walk break at work today when an elderly gentleman asked me for directions. He was going to see a ________. I pointed him towards what I thought was the ________way, but he seemed hesitant (犹豫的). So, I walked with him up the stairs and down the hall to be sure. He was right! He was not in the right ________! There was no doctor.

We had to ________ a girl and were directed down another hallway and still couldn’t find his doctor’s home. We were ________. Finally, we called his wife and found out that he was in the wrong building. The poor man was so ________ that he couldn’t even find his car. But he tried to stay ________ and kept thanking me.

When we finally found his car, I gave him ________ for getting to the other building which was down the road. I ________ with all my heart that he could find it. The old man was happy and continued to thank me.

In fact, I thought I should ________ him. Before meeting him, I was having a very ________ and stressed day. After being in his presence, I felt myself again. I kept ________ about how much contribution (贡献) he must have made to society in his many years. Now he needed ________. And it was my ________ to help him in this very small way. I wished I could have done more. I hoped a shining light ________ him to his destination and then back home.

2 . “How did you publish so much as an immigrant (移民) ?” _________ I wasn’t a native English speaker, people asked this question countless times as I interviewed for jobs last year. I knew that telling my struggles was unlikely to _________ me a job, so I would laugh and say, “I enjoy writing!” But the _________ is that writing did not come easily.

From early on I wanted to pursue an _________ career. But my first applications for Ph. D programs were _________. After learning I would be a stronger _________ if I had some publications, I decided to pursue a project in my undergraduate professor’s lab, hoping for publishable findings. When I had results to write up, I _________ to write a well-structured research paper. I was _________ that my professor’s revisions were less significant than they had been on my paper, highlighting my growth.

Still, the paper was rejected (拒绝) from three journals and I was getting rejected by more Ph. D programs. But I didn’t give up. _________,I tried to focus on what I was learning: Revisions and rejections are a normal part of the scientific process, and what __________ was how I adapted and grew from them.

Learning how my professor __________ writing helped me find my voice. I went on to publish several first-author papers and grew more __________. I finally dared to apply to Ph. D programs again, and was excited to get in. I’m sure many __________ on my CV helped me win the place.

As my Ph. D program neared its end, my publication record made me stand out and improved my confidence during job __________. Writing helped me grow from an uncertain immigrant feeling like a (n) __________ in academia (学术界) to a confident researcher whose background is a source of pride and strength.

3 . To the firefighters who deal with danger each day, every life is worthy to be saved.

Wildfires are just one of the many situations firefighters _________ toward when everyone else is going in the opposite direction. Every year, it seems wildfires _________ parts of California, Washington and Oregon. In September, 2023, Daniel Trevizo, a Los Angeles Fire Department head, and his team worked hard around-the-clock to _________ the fires in the south of California.

One day, they were watering down embers (余火) near Lake Oroville when he _________ a surprising thing. When the fires were put out, his team quickly did everything they could to _________ the fire scene. _________, Daniel heard an animal crying nearby. So he started looking around for the _________ of the sounds. Then they found a small cat under the burnt bushes. The frightened and lonely cat came right up to Daniel.

Daniel _________ the soot (煤烟)-covered cat, later named Ember, and kept it _________ in his jacket pocket until it got much-needed __________ in an animal hospital. The veterinarian (兽医) said Ember had only some minor __________. With medication and Daniel’s care, Ember __________ a few days later. Ultimately, Daniel managed to find Ember’s owners, who got __________ from it while they escaped from the fires.

There’s no doubt Ember’s life was saved by __________ Daniel and his team! They risked their lives to save those around them, and we couldn’t be more __________!

4 . Bill Sumiel had been suffering from kidney disease for years and had been on dialysis (透析) for all those years. He was on the transplant (移植) list, but no matches had yet _________. So he continued with his treatments.

It was a Friday in Oct. 2020, and Sumiel had booked an Uber ride home from the treatment center. Timothy Letts was driving to visit a friend when he received the _________ for Sumiel’s ride home. The trip was out of Letts’s way. Still, he _________ the order, figuring if the _________ was coming from a medical facility, he probably needed a ride.

After Sumiel got into the car, the pair got to chatting. Sumiel revealed that he was _________ a kidney donor. Letts joked that he’d be a _________ donor candidate, given that he didn’t drink or smoke. Sumiel agreed, _________ he didn’t think much of it. As the car neared Sumiel’s house, Letts said, “I’d like to see if I could be a match to give you a kidney.”

“I was shocked,” Sumiel recalls. He was shaking so hard and could _________ write his name when they exchanged contact information. After the initial excitement, Sumiel started feeling a bit less _________ — he wondered if it had just been a(n) __________ moment. Would he hear from him? And what was the __________ they’d be a match?

But Letts was __________ to his word. Letts had contacted the kidney transplant program quickly. After a long screening process, the results showed: Letts was a(n) __________ donor. In Dec. 2021, 14 months after they ended up in the same __________ by chance, Sumiel and Letts had their surgeries. It was a(n) __________. Today Sumiel is doing well, and he and Letts still keep in touch.

5 . My daughter went in to a big public school from a small homely pre-school last year. I acted happy for her but inside I was _________. My daughter did not _________ anyone at her new school and I wondered how she would get on with making friends.

The first few weeks were _________ for her. She would often come home and tell me that she _________ walked around by herself during recess (课间休息) and most of the kids didn’t _________ to play with her.

I wanted to _________ this problem. I’d been the one helping her through so many moments, _________ this one was more difficult. I couldn’t be there holding her hand and _________ her to other little kids. _________, after a few weeks, she slowly started to make friends.

This year my daughter went to school as a confident Year Two. She was __________ no matter how her class changed, she would be OK. What __________ me was her experience in Year One would influence her in a positive way.

“I __________ some Year One kids today,” she told me recently. “It was their first day and some of them looked __________ so I thought I should go play with them. I __________ what it was like walking around not knowing any one.” “And maybe,” she continued.“ If I do this for them, they will do this for the __________ Year One kids next year and no one will feel they are not __________.”

My heart was full of __________. I realized it was probably a __________ thing that I wasn’t there to hold my daughter’s hand anymore.

Starting a new school is a time of great __________ — not only for children but for us parents too. One __________ for parents is learning to let go, little by little.

6 . I grew up in a small town near the South Dakota border. There was no Internet, and the television signals coming from Minneapolis were ________ received. It would have been a(n) ________ childhood if it were not for one of the most memorable characters of my life and the small library.

Miss Grove, the ________, was a “queen” and the library was her “realm (领域)”. She ________ no loud behavior in her library She was serious and ________, just sitting at the top of her staircase. “Reading is the way the soul breathes” was one of the few sentences she ever said. Other than that, she seldom broke the ________ in her library.

My most ________ memory of Miss Grove was the time when I forgot to ________ an overdue (逾期的) book. When I finally put it on her desk, she informed me that I had to ________ the library thirty-three cents. “I forgot,” I replied. She gave me a reprieve (延缓) and said I could keep my library card ________ I paid her in installments (分期付) of three cents a week. I left the library immediately to ________ empty pop bottles in trash cans to earn money. A few weeks later, when I ________ several pennies on her desk, she said, “Dennis, you’re still 15 cents short but I think you’ve learned the ________.” She slipped me the pennies I had just given her and said, “You can keep these.”

Miss Grove was a small-town character, but she played a ________ role in helping children fall in love with reading, especially those with ________ reading resources in the town, just like me.

7 . I’ve always wanted to attend a music festival. But as a person with autism (自闭症), the _________ of being forced into a loud group of thousands of people has always _________ me. For years I avoided them. _________, after gradually developing an attitude of trying new things, I decided to go to this year’s Reading Festival with my _________.

We arrived at the festival last Thursday afternoon only to be faced with a(n) _________ check-in line. Thankfully, we could skip it and enter at a welcome _________ for disabled guests. Soon a warm-hearted volunteer _________ us to a camping area for the disabled. Noticing me struggling with my _________, he kindly offered to carry them. He even offered to help me put up my tent. I _________ with a grateful smile, saying my friend was __________ to offer much needed help.

The next afternoon, volunteers guided us to a disabled viewing stand. It was a(n) __________ atmosphere with a sea of people from around the world dancing and singing along to their favorite __________, who all gave excellent performances.

I was surprised to see how the power of music could __________ people from different ages, backgrounds, and cultures. __________ soon became friends because we all had a shared language — music.

All in all, I __________my first music festival, which opened my eyes to a whole new world. I greatly respect the volunteers who gave up their time to help disabled people.

8 . In recent years breakfast cereals (谷物) seem to have lost their appeal. Many contain things that ________ consumers avoid, from carbohydrates and gluten to artificial flavours and genetically modified (GM) grain. Add to this a rising ________ for big brands and adoration of small, “authentic” ones, and large cereal-makers have been suffering declining sales. The market for “ready-to-eat” cereals shrank by 9% in America between 2012 and 2015, according to Euromonitor, a data firm. In Britain, the second-biggest cereal market, sales fell by 6%.

Now, the manufacturers are boasting a(n) ________. On February 16th General Mills told investors that its American cereal sales were stabilising. Kellogg follows, reporting on February 17th that it expects its American cereal sales to grow this year. But it will take hard work to make breakfast’s business ________ again.

Cereal firms have tried many ways to cope with customer’s ________ appetites. They have ________. Post Holdings, which sells Honey Bunches of Oats and Grape-Nuts, now also sells eggs and protein shakes. Some firms have ________ trendier brands, with mixed results. After Kellogg bought Kashi in 2000, many of its loyal customers ________. Kellogg is now trying to win them back, returning Kashi’s headquarters to California. A new Kashi cereal features popped sorghum （高粱）, crispy yellow peas and smashed red beans.

Makers are also spending to help their main brands. Kellogg has put more fruit in its Special K Red Berries cereal. General Mills plans to ________ all artificial flavours and colours from its cereals by 2023. Retailers do not want cereal to enter terminal decline — it is too ________ for them. Jim Holbrook, who led Post’s cereal business and is now boss of Daymon Worldwide, a retail consultant, says grocers might ________ sales by placing milk or bananas alongside cereal.

For now, cereal-makers can take ________ that at least some brands are still popular. Sales of Kellogg’s Froot Loops and General Mills’ Cinnamon Toast Crunch have ________ in recent years, points out Alexia Howard of Sanford C. Bernstein, a research firm, even as more virtuous brands such as Fiber One, All-Bran and (until recently) Special K were failing. ________ shoppers may or may not come back to their cereal habit just due to smashed red beans. But cereal’s most ________ customers are those who don’t mind heaps of sugar, or “red #40” food colouring, in their breakfast bowls.

9 . “Students with a good mastery of foreign languages need to accumulate (积累) knowledge in other aspects so that they can better ___________ national development, the Belt and Road Initiative, and other major initiatives to help build a community with a shared future for humanity,” said Chen Lin when he was 96 years old. With a “life is to give, not to take”   ___________, Chen devoted his whole life to the ___________ of foreign language education in China.

Born in 1922, Chen worked in foreign education for more than 70 years. In 1949, he ___________ teaching at Beijing Foreign Studies University. At the university, Chen was known for his nickname of “Three UP Professor”, since he always ___________ “standing up” and “speaking up” when teaching. Also, when class was over, he would instantly “shut up”.

Since China’s reform and opening-up in the late 1970s, Chen broke new ground (打破常规) by ___________ one of the country’s ___________ English-language TV programs, which introduced a brand-new way of language learning to China. To help students learn English more effectively, Chen advised providing ___________ English-learning material for students at different levels. In the 1980s, in most English classes, teachers did most of the ___________, while students mostly only listened. But Chen ____________ students to speak and practise more.

In 1999, Chen ____________ experts to develop English curriculum (课程) standards. ____________ that, English teaching ____________ from primary to university had not been connected. But the standards ____________ the situation, making English education work like “one package”.

In 2023, Chen Lin ____________ in Beijing at the age of 101. Chen once said that his lifelong dream was to he 100 years old and still teaching. It was a dream that came true for the senior educator.

10 . I was enjoying the summer when I was a middle school student. I got _______ news that I had a cancer which couldn't be cured. That meant my dream of going to college wouldn't be _______.

Suddenly I came to believe I couldn't _______   without a fight. I began to do online research to see if someone else could help me. _______ , I received a call from a doctor a week later, telling me “I can help you.” Those were the most _______ words I've ever heard.

However, the disease was much more serious than the doctor _______. I was told that after the operation, I would not be able to walk or might not hear. In spite of the _______, I decided to receive the operation. As it turned out, I completely lost the hearing in my left ear and my _______ of walking was damaged.

As the days went by, my thought of going to college didn't _______. So I took action and applied for a college degree through an online university. I had to balance my ________ and study when I was in poor health. Each step was such a challenge. But I held a ________ that there was a purpose to my life. I ________ what I could to do recovery exercises and study.

It took me three years not only to ________ the courses, but also to regain enough strength. My ________ returned and my balance improved. I felt ________ most that I received the degree. Whatever life throws at you, you are bound to succeed as long as you make a decision.