1 . Templer was a tour guide in Zimbabwe, leading a canoe (皮划艇) safari down the Zambezi River. During the expedition, Templer’s canoe _______ the way, with the other two canoes to follow.

Things were going the way they were supposed to go. Everyone was having a pretty good time. Eventually, they _______ a dozen hippos, which were territorial animals. That’s not _______ on the Zambezi, Africa’s fourth-longest river. They weren’t alarmed at first as they were at a safe _______.

Templer tried to steer (率领) the group safely around them. However, the third canoe was off the planned _______ and was attacked by an aggressive hippo. The guide named Evans on the canoe fell into the water. Templer went to _______ him. He was getting closer to Evans. He was _______— it was kind of a made-for-Hollywood movie — Evans was reaching up. Their _______ almost touched. And then the water between them just _______. Before he knew it, Templer was up to his waist down a hippo’s throat. His legs were trapped but his hands were ________. So he tried to hold onto the hippo’s tusks (长牙) to ________being torn apart. The hippo must have been uncomfortable because it spat him out. So he quickly burst to the ________, and breathed some fresh air. With others’ help, Templer and Evans made it out of the river.

Despite the unpleasant experience, Templer ________to work as a tour guide. He also became an advocate for hippo ________, recognizing that the animals were not inherently aggressive but were ________ defending their territory.

2 . Happiness can be difficult to find. But even when happiness seems almost impossible, it can be obtained with a shift in ways of thinking or simply a _______.

I volunteered at an elderly care home this past summer. _______, I didn’t think much about the visits to the residents. There couldn’t be anything _______ to talk about with old people, right? But as I got to know them my outlook — and life — completely _______.

One resident I remember vividly was a woman with a friendly smile. I _______ a collection of porcelain (瓷制的) shoes, in varying sizes, beside her window. “Those are really pretty,” I said. The woman’s face instantly lit up. “Ah yes! I used to _______ them when I was younger,” she said, carefully _______ a shoe with a beautiful design. “My daughter bought it for me. I saw it in an antique store and just knew I had to have it.” I could feel the _______ in her voice.

I visited another resident who kept her wedding photograph next to her bed. The photograph, though _______ and black-and-white, showed the pure joy on the bride’s and groom’s faces. Along with the photograph, she ________ postcards and letters from her family. Looking at the pictures on the postcards, she could ________ she was traveling around the world with them.

These stories — so familiar, yet so distant from my ________ — made me see what truly defines happiness. Despite their old ________, the residents had happy memories of friends and family, and a great deal of experiences to ________. All these little details turn into their own ________ of happiness. I must make the most of life so that one day I can unearth my own tiny pieces of happiness.

3 . Apple has unveiled its delayed iPhone 12 line of smartphones in a range of sizes with new designs and 5G connectivity. Unveiled as part of a online-only event, which was ______ by more than a month due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the new iPhones mark some of the biggest changes to Apple’s smartphones since the iPhone X in 2017.

iPhone 12

The midrange model is simply called the iPhone 12 and is a(n) ______ replacement for Apple’s most popular phone from last year, the iPhone 11.It has a new and improved 6.1in OLED screen that ______ the LCD technology used on its predecessor. The iPhone 12 has a new 12-megapixel dual-camera system on the rear with ______ and ultrawide lenses and the True Depth selfie camera from Face ID on the front, all of which can now use Apple’s Night mode for low-light photos. The body of the phone is aluminum like its predecessor, while the ______ is glass. The phone is 11% thinner than the previous model and has new Ceramic Shield screen glass technology, which has four times the ______ performance of previous display glass for fewer smashed screens.

iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max

The smaller high-end iPhone is called the iPhone 12 Pro and has a similar 6.1in OLED screen to the iPhone 12- larger than the 5.8in screen of the iPhone 11 Pro from 2019. The largest smartphone ______ by Apple will now be the new iPhone12 Pro Max which has a 6.7in OLED screen-0.2in larger on the diagonal than the previous iPhone 11 Pro Max. Both iPhone 12 Pro models have improved triple-camera systems on the back with ultrawide, normal and new telephoto lenses, plus a lidar-based depth-sensing scanner that can ______ the distance of objects up to 5 metres away and aids in autofocus. A similar technology was ______ on the iPad Pro in March and is designed for augmented reality experiences.

Home Pod Mini

Alongside the new iPhones, Apple has launched a new, smaller version of its Home Pod smart speaker, ______by the Siri smart assistant, which it hopes will help it better ______ with Google and Amazon’s dominant smart speakers. The ______ Home Pod sounded very good, but was let down by Siri’s limited capabilities and Apples ______ of music services to just its own. The new Home Pod Mini has the same S5 processor as the Apple Watch Series 5 to control playback and the sound ______ by the speaker’s single down-firing driver and two passive radiators. The new speaker also has proximity detection for nearby iPhones equipped with Apple’s U1 chip and Siri can now differentiate between different people via their ______ print.

4 . I went to get a coffee this morning. A lovely lady came up to me and said, “You’re so pretty and I love your dress.” It made me feel _________.

Then I dropped my car off for repair, and the girl _________ me had attractive nails, so I said, “Your nails are _________ painted.” She said thank you.

I then got an Uber back with a middle-aged Asian man, and on the way, we _________ a very weak elderly man, and the Uber driver was so kind. Not only did he _________ to me but he got out and _________ the old man to the car, fastened him in, made sure he was _________, and comforted him. When he dropped me off, I said, “What a kind man you are!” I left him a big _________. He then messaged me later and said _________.

Later today, I got an Uber back to get my __________. When I got in, I praised the lady for her perfume (香水), saying how __________ it was. We talked for a while. Then half way through the journey, she __________ in her bag and gave me her perfume. She said, “It’s a __________ from me to you.”

I left her a huge tip, too, just as a reminder that sometimes a simple __________ can make someone’s day. Never be afraid to __________ something beautiful to someone. You may just make their day better.

5 . Tiny New neighbors

One day in 2022, 72-year-old Don Powell was pulling________from his outdoor mailbox as usual when he noticed something________: A tiny doll couple were sitting on a love seat inside the mailbox. There was also a sticky note reading “Mary and Shelley decided to live here.”

Don_______ thought somebody must have left the wooden dolls inside his mailbox_______ and would get them back soon. The mailbox looks nice, which________26 inches long, 15inches wide and 10 inches high, with windows on the top and sides to let the_______ in. “It’s no wonder the dolls want to move into it,” Don said humorously.

But a few days later, the small couple did not________. Instead, they acquired a table and a pillow. More than that, over the next several months. additional items mysteriously_______ : a bed, a painting and a wood-burning stove. And at Christmas time, a small decorated________was left with tiny presents.

Now, Mary and Shelley are still living in the________, bringing a little community humor to the neighbors who have followed Don’s________on Orchard Lake Village’s Nextdoor page. “Some people thought I had________the dolls myself, but all I did was provide a mailbox. Somebody else decided to make it a________for Mary and Shelley,” Don wrote on Nextdoor.

Don says he now doesn’t want to know who is________for the mailbox mystery and he’s just hoping it will_______ .

6 . Amanda and Daines Tanner’s dog jumped onto their bed a few months ago and pawed at their bodies while they were trying to sleep. It was around 5:30 A．m. on a Saturday — the day each week the couple ________ sleeping in.

Amanda Tanner had never seen Axel, their 1-year-old border collie, so ________ that early. They guessed he needed to be let outside, so that morning in August 2023, Daines Tanner ________ him downstairs. But when Daines Tanner opened the door to their backyard in Texas, Axel wouldn’t go outside. He________ rushed toward Amanda Tanner’s 17-year-old son’s room downstairs and began ________ at the door. Inside, Gabriel Silva was already awake. Minutes earlier, he was walking in the living room when he lost his ________ and fell. He said he couldn’t move, and everything around him looked ________ than usual. He didn’t know why he was feeling poorly, so he went back to his bedroom and got back in bed. Then he heard Axel at his door and Daines Tanner downstairs. Gabriel ________ Axel into the bedroom, where he began explaining his ________ to Daines Tanner — he was struggling to walk, the right side of his body was ________ and his vision was magnified (放大的). But Daines Tanner could ________ understand him because Gabriel’s speech was slurred (含糊不清的).

Daines Tanner drove Gabriel to an emergency room in Houston, where doctors determined that he was having a stroke. Gabriel has since ________ his ability to speak, walk and move his right arm, as the “Today” show first reported.

Sabih Effendi, a doctor who ________ Gabriel, said that he might have never recovered if Axel hadn’t ________ the family that morning. Amanda Tanner is planning to ________ a medal to the front of Axel’s collar (圈，箍) to honor what he did for Gabriel.

7 . When a bowl or teapot falls and breaks into pieces, we throw them away regretfully. Yet there is an alternative, a traditional Chinese practice that ________ and enhances the breaks thus ________ value to the broken object. It’s actually called golden repair.

This traditional technique uses a precious metal like liquid gold or liquid silver to ________ the pieces of a broken pottery item and at the same time enhance the breaks. The technique ________ bringing pieces together and giving them a ________ look.

With this technique, it’s ________ to create true and always different works of art, each with its own story and beauty, ________ the unique cracks (裂缝) formed when the object breaks, as if they were wounds that ________ different marks on each of us.

The technique ________ many things. We shouldn’t ________ broken objects. When an object breaks, it doesn’t mean that it is no longer useful. Its ________ can become valuable. We should try to ________ things because sometimes in doing so we obtain more ________ objects. This is the most important quality of adaptability. Each of us should look for a way to deal with unpleasant events in a ________ way, learn from negative experiences, take the best from them and convince ourselves that exactly these experiences make each person ________ and precious.

8 . When I moved to Washington, D.C, I left all of my friends behind. ________ new acquaintances to home-cooked meals was my best ________ to make new friends. Given that my food was pretty good, everyone was soon asking me for the ________, which was how Bun Bo Bae, my cooking blog came into being.

In hindsight (事后看来), I’ve probably been   ________ to start a food blog. I spent most of my childhood in the kitchen with my mom. I would watch her cook,   ________ a lot of knowledge of cooking. To my ________, I left for college before I could learn my mom's best dishes.

I went to France to study. I was ________ alone for the first time in my life. There were no roommates, dorms or dining halls. I was ________   homesick. So, I started calling my mom and asking for the recipes for my favorite dishes. As it ________, my mom didn’t have any recipes. She just taught me how to cook intuitively (凭直觉地); thus, I learned to cook by ________ and feeling my food.

Bun Bo Bae was initially a space for me to put what I learned into writing. I wanted to write down every ________ I was given in detail. Later on, I ________ more. I created some recipes by myself. Soon my food blog and follower count grew.

Bun Bo Bae increased my ________ at work. I knew I was a great cook, but I had no idea how to make a website. So I taught myself web building. And the ________ helped me land my job at NPR, where one of my recipes was ________ in a famous cafeteria.

9 . On May 7, “eco-mermaid” Merle Liivand _________her own world record by swimming a full marathon’s distance with a single fin (鳍) in Biscayne Bay, Florida. When Merle Liivand was a child, she had health problems, and began swimming to help her lungs get _________ . In one training session, she nearly wound up swallowing some _________ that was floating in the sea.

That _________ made her think of all the sea animals who faced _________ pollution every day. She decided to work to make people more aware of plastic pollution. Inspired by sea creatures, she began swimming with a special single swimming fin _________ both of her feet. This single fin allows her to swim by _________both of her legs together. She believes swimming with it _________“a bigger message”.

Since 2019, she’s broken records, swimming vast distances—first in California, then in Florida, and this time swimming the _________ of a full marathon. Despite encountering challenges like jellyfish stings, she __________ , collecting trash along her route. Her dedication extends beyond records; it’s about community and global __________.

During her__________, a friend kayaked (划皮划艇) alongside, providing food and water and collecting the trash she __________ . By the end of her marathon, the kayak held three bags full of trash. Liivand’s actions aim to __________ a bigger goal: it’s not just about achievements, but about making a __________ impact on the world.

10 . Many years ago, I knew a man named Bob who was friends with my boss. He showed great _________ for learning languages and could speak several fluently(流利地). And he was a very _________ man.

My desk was right at the front, _________ I could see everyone who came in. One day, a man, who looked tired and sad, came in, speaking broken English. After a short _________, I knew he wanted to sell office supplies. _________ , I told him our supplies were sent from our main office. So we couldn’t buy anything.

Bob was just _________ my boss, and he heard the man talking to me. Bob came and asked the salesman a question in a language that sounded _________ . The man answered him with a look of _________. Then they sat down and talked for several minutes, and the man grew _________ by the minute.

Later, Bob __________ that the man was from Italy and that they talked in Italian. Besides, Bob told the man he was from there, too. “Are you really from Italy?” I asked. “No,” he said. “I __________ to him. I’m Irish. But he needed to talk to someone from home, and it didn’t __________ him to think I was Italian.”

Bob’s words have left me a powerful __________ and stayed with me through the years. It’s true that sometimes we just need to talk to someone from home to __________ our spirits. Bob could have __________ the man, but he took the time to make him feel better, and maybe a little less homesick.