1 . Have you ever been in a position where you were required to participate in music lessons, although you had absolutely no interest?

The _________ was this: My father was a professional music teacher _________ in teaching Hawaiian and Spanish guitar. My mother was an accomplished piano player and, _________, the whole family was very musical. I was the only one who had not been involved, yet, in learning to play a(n) _________.

And, as a lot of _________ do, I was enrolled (注册) in piano lessons _________ I had absolutely no interest in learning how to play it. So, it _________. Lesson after lesson I attended but didn’t play carefully at the time I was meant to practice. Finally, I just quit practicing and my piano teacher told my parents that I was hopeless. Great-no more piano lessons. However, the music _________ didn’t end here. It went on to where I decided what I wanted to learn and that ended up being the drums. I _________ playing the drums and went on to play in several bands for many years after that.

The point here is this: We all make __________ sooner or later but those cannot be forced on you. The other __________ is that you will make your own choices on whatever basis and for whatever reasons when you are __________. Some people take longer than others to __________. This can be annoying to some people but that is the way of life.

Now, that doesn’t mean you just have to sit on your hands. It means, instead, that you __________ to exchange ideas. After all, whether you know it or not, what you say does have a(n) __________. You can influence but you cannot force.

2 . A sheep in Scotland, known as the “loneliest sheep”, was stuck at the bottom of a cliff for over two years. A group of farmers made it their _________ to rescue the sheep. The sheep was first _________ in 2021 by a kayaker (皮划艇运动员) and had been unable to move from that _________ since then. Local agencies were _________ but said the sheep was not in danger and could not be rescued. One of the farmers, Wilson, named the sheep Fiona and provided _________ about her on his social media account.

Wilson explained that it was too _________ to attempt a rescue earlier due to the dangerous location of the sheep. He expressed concerns about the safety of the rescuers and the difficulty of _________ the sheep by boat or with a dog. However, after careful _________, Wilson and four other men successfully rescued Fiona using heavy _________ and a winch (绞车). They __________ brought her to the slope of the cliff.

The Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was present to __________ the welfare of the sheep. They confirmed that Fiona was in good __________ but needed her wool to be sheared (剪).The ownership of the sheep was transferred to the __________ group of farmers.

Wilson __________ the risks involved in the rescue and expressed gratitude for the successful __________.

3 . My PhD project is to protect a tiny species of fish, whose color is greenish. To ______eggs, Clanwilliam sandfish (沙鱼) swim to ______tributaries (支流) of the Doring river system in South Africa. Local people say it was once a ______event: The water seemed to change ______ as thousands of sandfish migrated to the shallower tributaries. Now, ______those numbers have reduced to dangerous levels.

My PhD project at South Africa’s University of Cape Town is in ______with a nongovernmental organization in saving sandfish. Human activity, climate change, etc, are drying up the rivers. As newly young sandfish try to ______to the upstream (上游), they now get ______in shallow tributaries. The sandfish population has decreased by more than 90% since we began keeping count. They’re now regarded as ______species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.When the river starts to dry up, we ______young sandfish and put them into buckets of water, then move them by truck to prepared fish nurseries (鱼种场) ______ by local people. The support from local people is amazing. Once the sandfish are large enough to be less threatened, we will ______them to the natural ecosystem.

The data so far show the project has been ______. We’ve ______ about 36,000 young sandfish over the past three years. I’m looking forward to ______those numbers next year.

4 . It was time to go back to school. I was excited to see friends I hadn’t seen in a really long time, but, to be honest, I was also nervous about all the new staff. That was why I _______ that I was extra well _______ .

My plan was to wake up early, put on my carefully _______ clothes and eat my carefully chosen breakfast. I would enter my brand-new classroom, and feel calm, cool and _______ for the rest of the day.

I have to say, everything went according to plan — _______ well, it didn’t.

My new teacher. Mr. Jax who seemed very strict and serious, asked each of us to tell a quick story about our _______. Most kids seemed pretty shy after being away from their _______ for a spell. As Susan talked about her family’s road trip, I heard a _______ scratchy-scratchy sound coming from under my desk. Was it the sound my hamster (仓鼠) makes when he is fluffing (抖松) up his _______? I ________ my backpack — and very quickly zipped it back up again. I had no idea when, why, or how Mr. Nibbles had ________ into my backpack, but there he was!

My heart pounded. This was ________ not how my first day back to school was supposed to go! “Arizona, it’s your turn,” said Mr. Jax. I sat still awkwardly but finally made words come out of my mouth, explaining what was ________ .

To my surprise, Mr. Jax comforted softly. “ The first day of school can be ________ for all of us.” Then he asked the class if anyone wanted to share ideas to help Mr. Nibbles feel more comfortable. As we ________ this. I noticed that trying to figure out how to help Mr. Nibbles helped all of us feel less anxious and calmed my nerves.

5 . As an immigrant from China, my mother loves Chinese culture deeply. She _________ Chinese food every night. She prefers to do it herself at home because she thinks the local restaurants aren’t authentic. _________, strangely enough, she likes to take my son to Panda Express to have _________ with her friends who are also from China. She is even _________ to point it out whenever they are at a food court.

Why is American Chinese food not _________ among some Chinese Americans? How is American Chinese food not better than _________ Chinese food? I can’t _________ that it’s not as good as authentic Chinese food. In fact, authentic Chinese food really tastes better while American Chinese food _________ to have food with its own taste — they are right for different persons. It’s important to _________ American Chinese food from authentic Chinese food. They are not the same __________ and have their own characteristics. So they should be treated __________. That’s why my mother thinks that Panda Express is not very authentic, but can still __________ it. Actually, American Chinese food is often created by Chinese immigrants according to their own preferences. As people from various countries have differences in their __________, it is changing.

My mother has a deep feeling for authentic Chinese food and restaurants, so I decide to open a restaurant where she and other immigrants can feel the __________ of Chinese family dinner. My son says he’ll learn Chinese cooking skills from me, which, I think, should be __________ from age to age. Likewise, I’ll also pass on the Chinese food culture to the world.

6 . I wasn’t raised to be a fan of snails (蜗牛). I was always taught that if we see a snail on a plant, we should pick it off and_________on it. This brought us the kind of giggly (咯咯傻笑的) _________that only children experience. We loved it. However, my_________on snails has changed, as I’ve grown older. They bring me a different kind of happiness.

The first time I thought of snails as more than a_________was when I saw something that_________ me in my garden. A small snail, _________a hard shell, moved slowly toward one_________bud and explored it. The exploration lasted for quite a while and, _________enough, the bud turned into a full bloom. Watching the snail carefully touching the flower_________me of the lyric: “Snails see the beauty in every inch.” I realized that the snail is probably a best representation of__________and taking life slowly.

Then, I__________the snail in my palm. It was scared by the sudden move and immediately__________back into its shell. I thought it would__________inside for several minutes, but shortly after gutting used to the takeaway, the snail poked its head out again. It was not just hiding but__________.

Giving ourselves time to nourish (滋养) inside and out, and waiting for the right__________to reenter the exciting life, is extremely restorative and worthwhile.

7 . 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.

8 . Harland “Colonel” Sanders was born in 1890. He was left to be the only ________ of the house at a young age when his father died, leaving him with a mother and two younger sisters.

By the age of 7, he had started ________ and soon after, he was working several odd jobs.

At the age of 40, he had ________ the perfect fried chicken recipe and had even opened a restaurant to ________ the high demand for his food. As he was perfecting his chicken, he was ________ by a pressure cooker (压力锅) salesman who ________ Sanders to invest in his product to help speed along his cooking process. Sanders ________ buying 12 pressure cookers, and then he was ready to sell a lot of chicken.

At the age of 60, Colonel Sanders decided to ________, but because he was not content with ________ of his $105 social security checks, he decided to franchise (给予特许经销权) his chicken.

He started traveling to different restaurants, cooking his fried chicken at the spot for restaurant owners. If the owners liked the chicken, they would be sold the ________. However, Colonel Sanders got ________ 1,009 times before he made his first sale.

________, Colonel Sanders had 600 franchises selling his ________ trademark chicken. In 1976, the Colonel was ________ as the world’s second most ________ celebrity.

9 . When I was a little girl, every time when my dad was repairing something, he would ask me to hold the hammer. Then we could have a time for a _________ with each other.

I grew up and left home for the college, and since then, he had been _________ me every Sunday morning. Later, when I bought a house, my dad was _________ it by himself for three days in the 30℃ summer _________. All he asked for was to hold his paint brush and _________ to him.

Several years ago, he was _________ me. He spent hours _________ a swing set for my daughter. He asked me to bring him a cup of tea and have a talk with him, but I had to _________ for a trip, so I did not have time for any long conversations.

One Sunday morning, we had a telephone talk _________ , and I noticed that my dad kept forgetting some things we discussed __________. Few hours later came a call. He was in hospital with an aneurysm(动脉瘤). Immediately I bought a ticket for the __________ and by the time I got to the hospital, my dad had passed away. Now it was he who did not have __________ for a talk with me.

After his __________ , I learned more about him, and I realized how little I knew about his deepest __________ and dreams. All he ever asked me was my time, but now he has all my __________ every single day.

10 . I was halfway across Indiana headed home to Kentucky when my car broke down. My phone was ______, too. I managed to get to a gas station, but it was Sunday in the early fall, and there was no ______ on duty. I was working my way through university then and had little money for ______ the car.

I sat alongside my car for several hours trying to ______ the heat when an older gentleman ______ to fuel his car.   He asked about my car, and I ______ my predicament (困境). To my ______, the gentleman told me that he had a daughter my age, and then he opened his trunk and ______ a tool set.

Right then and there, this total ______ examined my engine, explaining as he worked that my spark plugs (火花塞) hadn’t been charged for so long that they were ______ to function.   After about an hour, he ______ that my car was safe to finish the trip.

______ came at the hands of a stranger. ______ his clothes, working on a hot September afternoon, this man ______ a college student from disaster, just because she could have been his ______ .