1 . On Christmas Day in 2012, when I was fourteen, I didn’t get a single Christmas present. That wasn’t a _________. It was what I had _________. A week before Christmas, I decided that _________ presents, I wanted donations to buy presents for the children in the local orphanage (孤儿院).

When I told my family and friends about my plan, there were a lot of _________ but also support. However, it was only on Christmas Day that the reality hit me. When my baby sisters jumped out of bed, singing carols and opening presents, I lay there feeling _________ and making a list of all the things I really wanted for Christmas that year. I realized I had made a huge mistake.

As I _________ on the door of the orphanage that morning, I felt _________ because I realized how unprepared I was for what was _________. I even had the _________ of dropping the bags of presents outside the orphanage and________. I almost did, but then a kind woman opened the door and smiled when she __________ me in. I was taken to a room full of children, and was __________ angry at how empty it felt. I wanted the room to be filled with __________instead of fear. I wanted to make these children smile but I was __________.

But then something happened. As the workers in the orphanage __________ presents, the __________ in the room changed. I could see the __________ in the eyes of the children and their bodies filled with hope. I __________ feeling so powerless. A little girl, Diana, ran up to me and __________ my legs. I didn’t know I was crying __________ she asked me, “Auntie, why are you crying?” This only made me cry more.

2 . I Still Look for Patches

Aren’t we lucky, when we had a childhood friend willing to be our everlasting, faithful companion(同伴)？I can still remember the day I met my special _________ .

One spring evening, my mother and I patiently waited for my father to come home. His_________ in the doorway made no clear impression on my mind. Suddenly, I heard a_________ “Yip”. “Did I hear something? Daddy, please tell me. What was that?”

As he_________ his pocket he answered, “Nothing. It was only my pocket.” The look on my face must have been a sign of_________.

“Amy!” Softly, daddy called.

I slowly turned around to look at daddy’s_________. There, crawled in his palm was a little dog. _________ several brown spots on her white fur, I named her, “Patches(斑点).”

Patches became a_________ and blame taker. If I was troubled, I could depend on her two ears to listen_________ to everything I had to say. If unfortunately I broke a glass, my trusting companion would willingly__________ responsibility. Her__________ devotion(奉献) only made it hard to separate from her.

When I was about 10, my family moved into a house which wasn’t__________ enough to contain a dog. Sadly, we had to__________ her. My auntie, owning a house with vast pieces of land, __________ her.

I can still remember her eyes__________ at me forlornly(可怜地) as she left. The__________ in her eyes will be with me forever.

I saw her once or twice before she__________. Until my dying day, I shall always expect to see her. I believe that, to this very day, she is still trying to find her way back to her true home. Because I have no__________ that she died, I continue to have faith. The picture is__________ in my mind: a thin white dog comes jumping up, __________ me in loving dog kisses.

3 . Do you listen? Do you really listen? Is there more to listening than just hearing?

Listening is, by far, one of the most important aspects of communication. So often, you pay attention to your way of speaking, your _________ , your dialect, but neglect your ability to listen.

It is my _________ that people scream out or change the intended purposes of much of what they hear. Too often, we consider listening the _________ part of conversation, although it requires our focus, purpose, and active participation.

Listening means to give ear to, to pay attention to, to _________ , to witness, to hear with thoughtful _________ , or to understand.

The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and to be understood. The only way to understand is to _________ .

Learn to be an active listener. Give off positive body language._________ a willingness to socialize. Ask the right questions. Boost your _________ so that you can understand more and achieve effective listening.

Listening means we should respond, that we should be touched, that what we hear has a(n)_________ on us. I believe that history __________ itself only because no one listens the first time.

You were given two ears, but only one mouth, which is a gentle hint that we should listen more, because God knew that listening was twice as __________ as talking. Listening is the key building block in effective communications. Good listening skills are crucial, as listening is the fundamental __________ of all information.

Isn’t now the time to give the gift of listening to those about you? Given them your __________ attention. Use your God given __________ to become a better listener. For me, I’m going to put into __________ what I believe in my heart and become a better listener.

4 . Alvin, 66, was deep in the woods in Grand Cane last December when something like litter on the ground caught his eye. It was a _______ balloon with a note attached.

“Dear Santa,” the note _______. “My name is Luna. Four years old. This year I have been _______. I would like candy, Spider-Man ball, My Little Pony. With love, Luna.”

Alvin’s heart hammered in his chest. It reminded him of his childhood wish. He smiled and set out to _______ Luna’s wish. He posted a photo of the balloon and the Christmas wish list on his Facebook page, asking for help _______ the sender.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez, the mother of four-year old Luna, had no idea that such a(n) _______ was underway. It had been a hard year for her family as COVID-19 spread. On a _______ tough day last December, she _______ the idea of having Luna send a letter to Santa by releasing a balloon. They enjoyed a _______ Christmas together, and then the calendar turned to a new year.

One day, Gonzalez received a call saying that someone had found Luna’s balloon. Her jaw ________. She logged on to Facebook and saw Alvin’s ________. She called Alvin and finally agreed to let Alvin fulfill her daughter’s wish list.

“Santa dropped your balloon ________,” Gonzalez told Luna, “but one of his elves (精灵) found it.” Not long after that, Luna received three boxes’ worth of ________with a note signed “Alvin the Elf.”

Now, having received so much ________, Gonzalez and her girl intend to pay it forward this year. After all, when Alvin could have just ________ that balloon in the trash, he went more than the extra mile.

5 . As my family and I drive to my grandmother's house, my dad points out all the houses he lived in as a_________. I count 12, probably _________ one or two along the way.

At 16, my dad had to_________ high school to support his mom and six siblings. He tells my brothers and me stories of when he was our _________.One time, he came home from school to find a(n)_________ house and a notice that his family would be removed from the property. But he says it like it was _________. We start to understand why he has no _________of his younger self. His dad spent all his money on gambling and alcohol.

There is no anger in my dad's tone. _________, there is a sense of longing as he _________the few times he and his dad would sit together and watch football. His little sister would ____________at birthday parties because she could never have one of her own at home. We ____________my dad his first birthday party when he was at least 40.Forty birthdays before his first party. My brothers and I have had one every single year.

He tells us to make a(n) ____________to work hard and stay in school. We've heard it so much that sometimes we ____________our eyes. But his words now ____________in my head, and I find new ____________every time I recall them: “There's nothing you can't do if you stay in school and work hard.” I wonder how different my father's life could have ____________if he'd had just one person saying those words to him.

My dad works 16 hours a day. He's gone before I'm ____________and home just as I'm falling asleep. He works hard so we can have a good home and do the things he never could. It makes me think the world is at my ____________and nothing is impossible. For 18 years, my dad has always told me this, but now it's my ____________: I am so ____________of you, Dad.

6 . Most young people are always on their phones, which may upset many people. ___________, a group called Girl Scouts are receiving _________ for setting up their first walk-in clinic for elderly people, who have difficulty understanding how to ___________ the secrets of their smart phones.

Each teen spent at least an hour of one-on-one time with their oldsters. Based on their _________ knowledge, each Girl Scout was assigned to ___________ different aspects of Android and Apple phones.

Some of the oldsters actually wanted to take part in e-commerce (电子商务), and needed help to _________ a payment account on their smart phones while others simply had _________ when learning how to send messages to their family members. "I was teaching this older woman how to _________, and the first thing she did was to send a message to her daughter,” one of the Scouts said. “How ___________ it was! It just made me feel really, really happy.”

In addition to arranging group lessons for all of the seniors to ____________ together at the end of the clinic, the youngsters even printed out brochures and guides for the seniors to take home in case ____________ seniors would encounter problems with their smart phones in the future.

The eighth graders earned their “Silver Award, for their job”. After experiencing the ____________ of their project, the girls hope to organize more ____________ in the near future. “Those girls were just great,” said Nancy, a great-grandmother who once ____________ the clinic. “They were ready for us and had a very mature attitude towards answering our questions, and they ______________ the praise.

7 . Zhang Huiying used to feel very lonely because she and her husband live far from their children. To _________ time, the 67-year- old resident living in a community in Chengdu, danced with her peers in the _________.

However, her life has _________ a change since she became a “shared granny”. The role sees Zhang taking care of children in the community when their parents are _________ with work and don’t have time to _________ them. Now, her life has more meaning. When she acts as a shared granny willingly, Zhang has a sense of _________ because she is loved by the children. The role is _________, but Zhang is proud of her contribution to society and she is _________ as a contributor instead of as an old woman killing her time.

Most of the children she cares for are _________, who are keen on something __________. Zhang surfs the internet daily to learn new things. Then she __________ the children to make new handicrafts. Last year, Zhang was sick for several days and could not care for the pupils. She was __________ when several of them visited her with their parents. When she opened the door, five kids rushed up to her saying they __________ her.

The community’s retired residents had plenty of free time and __________ to participate in more social activities. __________ local decision-makers __________ the shared granny program to __________ female seniors to take care of the children. In return, parents provide a range of __________ for the elderly.

Zhang feels taking care of young students is __________. Thanks to the program, community __________ has been enhanced and many neighbors have grown closer.

8 . Last week I wrote about how giving to others can and does lift your life and brings more happiness, contentment, and even better health and a longer life. It must have _________ me to practice what I was preaching (宣扬) because later I _________ myself in my car driving to the high school that all my kids attended and going _________ to the office where I made a pretty sizable donation.

As I walked out of the building, I felt so good and happy in the _________ of my heart and brain that I _________ another school. I made a couple more _________ that day and felt like I was on top of the _________. It’s very _________ that when I make donations, including all those $2 bills that I _________ give to kids, I always feel that I __________ much more out of it than the recipient (接受者). What a great __________ it gives me! As science has proved, there is a great __________ between the brain and the __________. This allows us humans to help and __________ our entire physical being by what we run through our heads. __________ is one of those things that can set off a lot of good __________ feelings in our bodies.

Most of us, when we talk about giving, tend to think __________ in terms of giving money. But there are so many other ways and things to give. With very little __________, I came up with this list of things we can give to others that can be a __________ help to those people and, at the same time, can give a __________ to our brains, souls, and bodies.