1 . Michael Surrell and his wife had just parked the car when they got a call from their daughter: “The house next door is on fire!” He instantly went to ________ and saw an old woman cried. “The baby is inside!” “The baby” was 8-year-old Tiara Roberts, the woman’s ________.

Though the fire department had been called, Surrell ________ rushed into the burning house. The thick ________ caused him to stumble blindly around and made it impossible to ________. After a few minutes in the smoke-filled house, he moved outside to ________ his breath.

“Where is Tiara?” he asked ________.

“The second floor,” her grandma shouted back.

Taking a deep breath, Surrell went in a second time. Because the house had a ________ layout to his, he found the stairs easily and made it to the second floor.

But the darkness was ________. All he could feel was the crackling and popping of burning wood. Then a soft but ________ moan emerged. He crawled toward the sound, feeling around for any ________ of the little girl. Finally, he ________ something. He scooped Tiara into his arms, ________ through the smoke.

Fortunately, Surrell managed to help Tiara out, she was ________ from the hospital after a few days. However, The fire worsened Surrell’s pulmonary (肺的) condition, which he suffered before, and he feels the effects even two years later. “It’s a small ________ to pay,” he says. “I would do it again without a second thought.”

2 . Spanish was my only language until I came to the US from the Dominican Republic at 5 and started school. _______,going to school was scary because I didn’t speak English. I would cry and look for _______ to escape like “My stomach aches”. Now, it’s hard to _______ struggling with English because English feels so _______ to me. At 17, I write and think in English.

But my mom, a health aid _______ Spanish people mostly, never really learned English. I spent much time _______ for her, from school forms to text messages. Sometimes those who can’t understand English here encounter _______. People simply assume they’re lazy. But the _______ is more complex. Learning a new language takes much more energy than adults who work long could ________.

After 12 years in the US, I’m always ________ Spanish words. Sometimes, my mom and I can’t understand each other, and our chats are becoming increasingly ________ day by day. I often end up giving up when I can’t ________ what I want to say. In these moments, I feel like I’m ________ an important part of myself — the Dominican part that connects me with my homeland.

So this year, one of my New Year’s ________ is to speak Spanish on a daily basis. Learning a new language is hard; so is________an old one. But I have to.

3 . My daughter’s dog, “Thunder”, has been in declining health for months now. He is eating less, sleeping more, and ______ not doing well. Sadly, it is a ______ I have seen too many times as my own dogs have gotten older. Thunder is 12 years old or 84 in people years. It has always seemed so ______ to me that our dogs live such short lives compared to ours.

Seeing that Thunder’s time was coming to an end, my daughter tried to ______ a new puppy to ______ her weak dog. Unfortunately, things didn’t ______ as she hoped. Her dog didn’t enjoy having a high energy puppy around. So “Hank” the puppy ______ me. Thankfully, my sons took him as their own. Each day Hank runs and plays with them until everyone is ______ but him.

______ lovely Hank bark, chew, and play all day makes me wish that I also had the ______ of a puppy. In terms of ______ , I am much closer to old Thunder than Hank. My body tends to be ______ every day and I just can’t do all the things I used to.

As I watch both Thunder and Hank, however, my heart fills with love for them. Dogs are such a ______ from Nature. They teach us so much about life. They play with abandon, not caring about what’s happening around — just live each day ______ . And they love unconditionally. If we all could just live with the ______ our dogs do, this world would be a better place.

6 . One teacher had two students. One of them had a positive vision while the other had the _________ one.

One day, the teacher _________ for a park with both the students and while wandering in the garden, they _________ a mango tree from which some ripe and juicy mangoes were _________. On seeing this, the teacher thought to _________ both of his students. Then, he asked the first one, “My dear child, what do you think of this mango tree?”

The student answered instantly, “Teacher, in spite of people _________ this tree with stones, it gives us sweet and juicy mangoes. It does _________ but still it gives us fruits. I wish all human beings learn this important _________ from the mango tree—to share their _________ even if they have to suffer for this.”

After that, the teacher asked the other student the same question. The student __________ answered, “Teacher, this mango tree is no good and will not give mangoes by itself but only when we hit it with stones and __________. Therefore, we should hit it hard to get sweet mangoes from it. That is the only way to __________ these mangoes. It is also clear from this tree that in order to get good __________ from others, we need to be violent and only when we become violent, then and only then will we get __________.”

The teacher was delighted with the answer given by the first student because he had an admirable vision and __________ the tree with positive vision.

8 . Several years ago I was teaching in Melbourne, Australia. Like most Brits down under, I wanted to _________ my time in this country, so I would take every chance to travel around the far _________ of Australia.

On one trip, I and three friends went as far into the Outback (内陆地区) as it was possible to go, camping and _________ Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. In these riverine areas, there were plenty of crocodiles and smaller, deadly _________ to make us nervous.

After picking up some _________ from an isolated shop near an even more isolated settlement, we reached a _________ which had to be forded (涉过). It was a likely _________ for dangerous salt water crocodiles to be loitering (游荡), so all of us were warned to _________ any “salties” as our vehicle entered the water.

At first the water only reached the top of the _________, but within seconds it was lapping at the windows. My heart was beating fast as I peered out, searching for any __________ logs floating towards us.

__________ there was a scream from the back seat. “Ah! Get it off, it hurts!” I turned round, feeling quite __________ that I was about to see a horrifyingly grizzly animal. As it __________, one of my friends had bought a hot pie in the isolated little store. The contents, hotter than the Arnhem Land sunshine, had __________ onto his bare legs as we bumped through the stream.

We made it to the other side with no “salties” __________. Just one passenger with a very sore leg.

9 . I would say I totally did it.

I could sound a(n) _________ to cause people to pay attention to the children with neurological (神经系统的) diseases. I could put my _________ as a dancer to perform on stage across the country in order to raise money for these children.

I have tried a lot, and also _________ a lot.

On the other day I went to _________ money we collected to those extremely sick children. They all _________ me happily and looked at me as if I had been their long-lost family member, and one of them _________ held my hand, expressing his wish that I would come more often.

Therefore, I have made it my life _________ to help fight neurological diseases, and to inspire more young donors to participate in for _________ lives through arts.

I spend many weekends speaking at medical conferences to provide visibility (可见性) for the _________ ill children, so do my colleagues.

__________ things can happen if the arts and medicine join forces. A life can be saved somewhere in the world with funding research, __________ the medical equipment, and providing home-care services.

In these ways, the young __________ of our generation, along with our times, can come together and __________ a domino effect (多米诺骨牌效应) that we’ve been dreaming about.

I have learned that the __________ work is not something reserved for adults. I am 16 years old and I am responsible for my fellows. What happens to each of us __________ us all. I’ve only just begun to learn how to care about others.