1 . Nancy Beiman was 65. When she was considering retirement from her job as a professor of animation, she had no _________ how she would fill her days. _________ this, she woke up one day with the idea for a comic strip (连环画).

Beiman had been doing her animation mostly on computers but for this new idea, she _________ to drawing characters on paper. The _________ was FurBabies, a series about a mixed family of dogs, a cat and a child who can all speak the same language.

Beiman wasn’t planning on _________ with the idea until she showed them to her friend, the cartoonist Lynn Johnston, who thought _________ of the drawings and gave her advice on how to develop little scripts (脚本).

Obviously, as a professional animator, Beiman was no _________ to working with larger-than-life characters. Even so, she says the _________ from animation to comics wasn’t as easy as it sounds. “Comic strips are about illustrating verbal humour while animation _________ moving images and does not depend on dialogue.”

Following her friend’s __________, she wrote 24 mini-scripts. A few months later, she __________ them to the website GoComics and successfully got __________.

One __________ of moving into comics, Beiman believes, is that it offers some protection from “incredibly ageist” animation studios which __________ to develop stories from younger people. __________, even at 90 you can still do comics. The great thing is, if you can keep drawing, you can keep going.

2 . On a Saturday morning, I drove my son Andrew to a shoe store. We ________ the trip to arrive right when the store opens, for Andrew is a nonspeaking autistic (自闭症患者) and prefers to go shopping when it’s not ________ .

After the purchase, I thanked the two clerks and headed toward the door. What came next only ________ when the inner voice told you to do things differently. ________ having Andrew point to the “thank you” symbol on the picture chart he carries with him, I held up his letterboard and asked how he’d like to ________ .

The picture chart only contains images that ________ his most frequently used words. The letterboard, however, ________ an effective tool. He can ________ more through the use of a letterboard—by pointing to individual letters on an alphabet grid (网格). Using it requires ________ time and effort for him, though. He would not ________ use of the letterboard on his own. I need to present it to him and ________ his wishes if he pushes it away.

“Thank you,” Andrew pointed to each letter. The two clerks’ ________ almost dropped as they watched. One spoke up: “My brother Jason doesn’t talk. Can I ask you?” “Andrew, what do you think?” I asked, ________ that his patience might be running out.

Surprisingly, Andrew ________ started pointing to letters: “Tell Jason he will change everyone’s opinion of him in 26 letters.” I immediately ________ . Sometimes I forget just how powerful the 26 letters are. Just how powerful Andrew is.

3 . I recently attended a wedding in Canada, in the countryside. When the Taxi driver sent us back at midnight, I was________worried all the way home about tipping him since I was not rich. I________nervously in my purse and realized that all I had was a $100 note, which I was keeping for a(n)________, nothing else but two chocolates from the wedding. I couldn’t not tip him, so I was________between a rock and a hard place. I handed in the note at last, controlling the urge to ask for ________.

Tipping has long been a source of________interactions throughout the world. Tipping customs________wildly from country to country, which generates no small amount of ________. Norwegians, who come from a culture where wages are high and tips are low, could________ people in Las Vegas with their tiny offerings.________, high-tipping Americans might anger people in Tokyo because good service in Japan is a________of honour.

Such an embarrassed mess often occurs because there’s no________logic to any of this. None! Similarly, a 2016 study from Cornell University,________, that people are twice as likely to tip a supermarket delivery person than a supermarket store worker. Why is that?And nobody can work out the reasons for this________.

Perhaps, tipping one and not the other only________in terms of what has become customary.

4 . One summer night in a seaside cottage, a small boy was in bed, sound asleep. Suddenly, he felt himself _________from bed and carried in his father’s arms on to the beach. Overhead was the clear starry sky. “Watch!” As his father spoke,_________, one of the stars moved. It _________across the sky like a golden fire. And before the _________of this could fade, another star leapt from its place, then another...

“What is it?” the child asked in _________.

“Shooting stars. They_________every year on a certain night in August.”

That was all: just an _________encounter of something magic and beautiful. But, back in bed, the child stared into the dark, with mind full of the falling stars.

I was the_________seven-year-old boy whose father believed that a new experience _________more for a small boy than an unbroken night’s sleep.

That night, my father opened a door for his child, leading him into an area of splendid_________.Children are naturally curious, but they need someone to_________them. This art of adding new dimensions to a child’s world doesn’t _________require a great deal of time. It simply_________doing things more often with children instead of for them or to them. Good parents know this: The most precious gift they can give a child is to spark their flame of _________That night is still deeply_________in my memory. Next year, when August comes with its shooting stars, my son will be seven.

5 . One snowy night, a pair of beagles（比格犬）was struggling on a rural highway. The father-to-be looked around anxiously, trying to seek _________ for his dear companion. Frequently he would look at her _________, feeling guilty she labored along, her way made heavier by the new life growing inside her. They _________ for a warm, dry place. When her _________ came, it must not be out here along the roadway.

As _________ would have it, Gus Kiebel, a county wildlife officer, who was driving home from work, spotted the pair. He _________ to the shoulder of the road immediately.

The beagles made no effort to _________ when Gus bent down and stretched out his hands to them. Gus _________ their tags（狗牌）by his truck’s headlights and tried to ring, but the falling snow _________ the screen. He placed the dogs in his truck, __________ his phone and called again. A man answered and instantly grew __________ when Gus told him why he was calling.

“I already gave them away,” the man responded coldly.

Obviously, these beagles were __________. Meeting their large begging eyes, Gus felt his heart __________. “Putting them back in the snow is out of the __________,” Gus thought to himself, “I must bring them home.”

It’s a simple story, but it speaks to the best of our nature: Kindness and love can keep cruelty and cold at __________.

6 . Donnie Wiseman was worn out after work. But his son was_______on going to a reptile show at Scales and Tails Utah. So, after a short rest, he_______ his son to the show.

Inside viewing windows was the show’s star attraction, a huge alligator(短吻鳄). It swam around the pool before_______its head on a two-foot-wide platform. It was feeding time, and the_______alligator was staring expectantly at its trainer, Lindsay Bull.

For the sake of_______, Bull wanted the alligator off the platform before beginning the show. Entering the enclosure, she held out one arm and shouted “Back!”—a(n) _______that usually worked. _______, this time the alligator responded by opening the jaw and_______her into the pool of water.

Outside the enclosure, some_______if this was part of the show. Not Wiseman. Sensing something was________, he threw open the glass door and climbed inside. “Jump on its back and push your fists into the top of its nose!” shouted Bull. Wiseman did as he was________，pressing down with all of his 180-pound body weight. Time seemed to stand ________ for a while. Finally, the alligator eased its ________and Bull was quickly helped out of the enclosure. Meanwhile, Wiseman________a chance to jump off the alligator.

Apart from minor wounds, Wiseman was more________than injured. “One mistake and I’ll be a statistic, but still, I’m just glad I was there,” he said.

7 . Twins are supposed to have a lot in common. However, my twin sister and I can't be more ______.I'm louder, taller and sharper while she's quieter, shorter and sweeter.

While most of the time we could get along, our relationship didn't enjoy the usual ______between twins. For years we spoke only when necessary. Twelve years ago, our mother   ______lung cancer. Because I lived closer to my parents, I ______ all the day-to-day caretaking. Meanwhile,   my sister ______ gave suggestions that felt like criticisms, which ______ our already delicate relationship, especially after our mother died.

When the COVID-19 pandemic started, I turned to Chinese dramas to ______ my anxiety. That felt ______-my mother also loved watching Chinese dramas, even in a hospital bed. Perhaps these dramas were her only ______ to her childhood in China.

As I watched, I found myself missing my mother more than ever. Suddenly, I had a（n） ______to text my sister what I might have normally told my mother--that she had better watch Chinese dramas.______, she agreed to watch along with me. Soon we were livetexting enthusiastically as we watched. The more dramas we watched, the more______our conversations became. We couldn't help______what it would be like to grow up in China with Chinese people like us.

I could never have imagined how Chinese dramas could fill my mother's absence, leading me to ______my Chinese roots and how dramas would help me ______ my sister.