1 . At six feet, seven inches tall and weighing 253 pounds, Father was a quiet giant（巨人） who only roared when he was angry. He would work long days, often_________when I was already in bed. My two younger sisters and I both loved and feared him. Hearing the words, “Just wait until your father comes home,” would guarantee the three of us would start_________immediately. I was seven years old the night the “giant” became a person, and my_________. All it took was the_________of a tiny, dirty kitten.

I_________to the sounds of my father coming home from work. I slipped out of bed and moved quietly towards the living room in hopes of spending a few precious minutes_________with my parents without my annoying sisters around.

I heard mum say, “We cannot _________ it.” What was the “it”? The giant saw me and _________ I should sit down near him. I was at a loss, although terrified might be a _________ word, for I had never seen or heard of a giant crying before. Unshed（ 满 眶 ）tears__________ up in his eyes. His cheeks were __________ from the ones he had cried earlier.

The giant reached into a cardboard box and brought out a dirty young cat and __________ it on my lap. I was soon__________, as the giant shared a story with mum. As he spoke, with shaking shoulders caused by__________and at times sorrow, he transformed from a giant to a man who became my hero.

He explained that he was on his __________ home when he heard two men laughing and talking. As he rounded the corner, he heard the most terrible scream of pain. He couldn’t__________what he saw. The men had thrown a kitten into a furnace（火炉）. He yelled and ran up to them but it was too__________. He couldn’t save the kitten. The men had run away and he was about to run after them when he saw another kitten at his feet.

“We have to__________it; we have to keep it!” said the giant. “It needs a__________,” said mum. “I can help, Mommy!”

Reminded of my presence, mum and my hero sent me off to bed. As I fell asleep, I heard mum running some water.

We named the kitten Cinder and it joined our family. I never saw “the giant” again; I only saw my hero and a man whose heart was__________than he was.

2 . I was 11 years old standing outside in just my underwear while I watched the house that I grew up in rapidly burn to the ground.

A few minutes earlier I had been in bed when a _________ woke me up. A fire had _________ in my grandma’s room and awakened her. _________ hearing her, my brother had jumped into _________, running from room to room quickly waking everyone in the house. _________ we could do anything, the fire consumed it. We all barely _________ it outside before the flames had taken hold of every room.

I stood there _________ while the fire destroyed my books, clothes, and toys. I watched _________ while my mom cried and my dad sighed. I wondered what was going to happen to us _________ we had lost all of our things.

As I looked around, though, I ____________ something for the first time: The things that ____________ aren’t things. I saw my brother running across the swinging bridge by our house to get help. I saw my grandma and dad wrapped in each other’s arms and my mom ____________ our little dog. I realized at that moment that we were all ____________. Everything that was ____________ had survived the fire. Our life would ____________. We would survive without the “stuff” that was ____________. We would all be around to love each other for many years to come. And that was all that mattered.

I still think of that fire in the night. It helped me to become who I am today. It showed me for the very first time what was ____________ valuable in this life. It helped me to learn that the ____________ we share is far more important than the things we own.

Live your life for the things that matter, not for the things you ____________. Love your family. Love others. Let the fire inside of you make this world a ____________ place. Let your soul shine bright.

3 . There’re many ordinary people who have been volunteering for decades. When Sholapurkar got a call from the Red Cross ______ whether he could help get in touch with some ______ donors, he said “Yes!” and acted at once.

He started contacting voluntary donors. Through efforts, he ______ scores of people to go to the blood bank and donate their blood. “There is ______ in the air when people think of donating blood. So it’s my task to help them overcome fear, ______ confidence in them and tell them through my own safety practice that it’s ______ to donate blood,” Sholapurkar says.

Sholapurkar has been donating blood for more than 40 years—163 times to be ______. “As I complete 90 days after a donation, I feel my body and mind ______ me towards a blood bank,” Sholapurkar laughs.

For Sholapurkar, regular blood donation is not only a healthy ______, but also one way of showing that you ______ others. “Voluntary blood donation is just a(n) ______ thing. Nobody can force you to do it and you just do it ______ love for other people. It brings you a sense of ______ when you know your blood will be used to save someone’s life. That’s a very powerful feeling indeed.” He also ______ his first donation experience, “My mother was rather upset first, but she voiced ______ when I explained to her how blood donation helped.”

Sholapurkar has worked in various non-profit ______ like the Red Cross over the years. He has devoted most of his time ______ the message of the significance of blood donation. He tells people not to be under the ______ that blood donation has side effects. Actually, a donor will remain healthy and ______ to other people’s fitness ______.

4 . What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word “hero”? Is it someone who _______ a cape (披风) and can _______ in the air? There are onscreen heroes like the superheroes in Avengers, and also _______ heroes in our lives.

But what _______ a person a hero?

In general, a hero is someone selfless, _______ and brave. These qualities _______ heroes to help others in times of need, even if they are _______. You can _______ them to be there for you if something bad happens.

“The people that we set up as heroes are people that generally go above and _______ the call of duty. They do things that are __________,” said Nick Carden, a psychologist at the AAPHC Renaissance Center in the US.

However, why can some people be heroic? Nick Carden said, heroes are made. “They __________ are people that have been influenced by and have been helped by or have been modeled or raised to have those as __________.”

Ordinary people — just like you and me — are heroes in their own way, simply just by __________ their part for their families and communities. Cleaners, doctors, journalists, delivery workers, nurses, and bus drivers-the __________ goes on and on.

These ordinary people help __________ in our day-to-day lives. And, sometimes, when there are __________, these ordinary people show courage and bravery to help __________ strangers in need.

Being a hero is a universal attribute (属性) of human nature. The decision to act heroically is a choice that many of us will be called upon to __________ at some point in time.

__________, you should strive (努力) to be your own hero. Be courageous, honest, and a person with integrity (正直). Because, __________ you are your own hero, you can truly do anything you set your mind to.

5 . In American countryside, the message we hear is this; Go and get an education._________your small town and make something of yourself, Success and opportunity will be found elsewhere.

After_________from a high school in Helena, Arkansas, I did go.

I went to Colby College in Maine. I had visited the school before._________, I knew what I was getting myself into. I knew about the difference in weather. I understood the difference in_________atmosphere and I wanted to stretch myself and_________my comfort zone. You know what? I_________loved my time there. But one thing took me by_________, that is to say, the lack of countryside representation._________of the other students at Colby were from big cities: New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco... And when I had_________with these students in or outside of class—we almost focused on topics__________large American cities. In my education classes, it was always "urban this" and "urban that". It was like small towns didn't__________in the USA.

And this urban interest doesn't just happen in college. I__________an education conference a couple of years ago, and a professor—someone who had been__________to educational reform—was there to__________a speech. I was chosen to be part of a small group that got to meet with him. So there we were, five or six of us sitting in a room, and I asked him, "What are your thoughts on the state of education in the__________?" And this man was__________

I'll never forget that moment. It tells a larger__________. Towns like mine are forgotten.

This trend of__________talent and resources to our big cities—this mindset of leaving small towns and never coming back—I don't want to add to that movement. I want to make the__________ of that movement.

Now it's my turn to help people__________to me. And you know what? I'm a sixth grade teacher in a primary school in Helena now.

6 . I was a zombie(行尸走肉), going to high school barely even awake. I played video games till midnight ______ every day. Luckily there came a new teacher who ______ me up.

On the first day of my senior year, I sat at my desk in a(n) ______ state. I yawned, not even ______ to cover my mouth. Ray Seabeck leapt to my desk and beat his hands on it.

"Do you like Shakespeare?” he screamed at me.

My ______ was/were stuck in mid-yawn, wide open. "Well, do you?” he ______.

"Yes!” I ______ Actually I had no idea what Shakespeare was. But I was going to find out. What’s more, this man tried to fan my ______ in literature.

We ______ Hamlet, and bit by bit I found that I couldn’t put it down. Why did Hamlet keep hesitating? Why? Suddenly I began ______ Shakespeare, and then Hemingway, and then Fitzgerald, Wordsworth and Blake. I ______ dreamed of becoming an English teacher like Mr. Seabeck! But could I make it to college with only several ______ left?

I stayed after school one day to consult Mr. Seabeck about my ______.

"You’re Hamlet!” he said. “Here are two ______ laid open for you—to be or not to be. To ______ your dream or to give up.”

I left ______ that day with college in my eyes and ears. Just thinking of that made me feel ______.

Mr. Seabeck was right. I ______ got accepted at Plymouth State University. Now as an English teacher, I can still ______ Mr. Seabeck screaming, “Do you like Shakespeare?” I might never have ______ that I, in fact, love Shakespeare but for the flame he lit in me.