1 . Last June, my sister, Katy, graduated from high school. I didn’t think much about it then because I was ____ a great summer holiday. But when the ____ came to an end, I started to ____ that soon my sister would be off to college. 

At the end of August, my ____ drove to my grandparents’ house near Katy’s ____. The next day we ____ to the campus and helped arrange all her things. After getting everything ____ and chatting with her roommates for a while, we headed for our car. We all stood there ____ and kissing her, telling her how much we ____ her and wishing her luck. I looked at my mom and saw her starting to cry. 

As we were pulling out of the parking lot, we ____ our arms to say the last goodbye to her. I would have never ____ that I was going to feel that sad. I was ____ to accept the fact that I wouldn’t be seeing my sister. I was once ____ that I would jump with joy the day Katy left for college, but deep down I knew I would ____ miss her. 

Even now, I miss her and have to keep ____ myself that she is not around. The Internet and telephone are ready for us to communicate. I’m more than delighted that I can talk to her online or on the phone. 

So, to all those little brothers and sisters, treasure the time you have with your siblings (兄弟姐妹). They may be a pain sometimes but once they’re gone, you’ll almost wish you had that pain back.

2 . I’d never been to the Day of the Dead before. As my dad and I looked around for seats, I _______ Marco, my best friend, hurrying toward us. “Hi, Mr. O’kane,” he _______ my dad. Then he turned to me and said, “Nate! Will you help me?” 

“Whatever you need,” I said.

Marco threw me parts of a _______: Mexican sandals (凉鞋), a straw hat, a cane (手杖), a gray wig, and an “old man” mask (面具). “My cousin couldn’t _______!” Marco’s voice rang with worry. 

“It’s part of a traditional dance,” he said,“and we should wear the costume.”

“You expect me to dance? ” I _______. “I don’t want to dance!” 

Marco smiled. “It’ll be fun. And hurry! We’re going to be _______.”  

“We’re going to do a lot of stomping (跺脚). Slow at first. Keep one hand _______ on your back, like an old man with an ache,” added Marco. 

The speakers _______: “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for TheDanceoftheLittleOldMen!” 

“Be quick,” Marco _______ to me to follow his lead. 

We all began stomping slowly to music. I could only see ________ the small holes of the mask. I continued to stomp, trying to ________ what to do. I leaned on my cane and kept a hand low on my back. After a few minutes of dancing like that, my back ________ started to ache. 

The music ________. And we stomped quickly. Performing with Mexican sandals was ________ and inconvenient. People laughed as we hopped and kicked, but after a moment the laughter turned into cheers. 

Marco gave me a thumbs⁃up. As the audience clapped for our group, I said to him happily, “You were right. That was ________.”

3 . I met Daisy Banks on the way to Maghar. She was walking down the road with her white stick, and I saw her walking toward a muddy _______. If she continued, she might _______ into the water. Not wanting this to happen, I stopped my _______ and called out, “There’s a hole in front of you, Daisy. If it’s all right with you, I’ll _______ you to your place.”  

She happily _______. I took her bag so that she could climb on my motorbike. We talked about her_______and I discovered she was on the way to her school.  

Daisy had called me a couple of times since our chance _______. However, I had been unable to meet her _______ my busy schedules. Finally, we _______ at the Mahdu Mall. We talked about a range of issues, and I came to________ that Daisy possessed knowledge which would challenge that of many ________ fit people.  

Although she has a mother and three brothers, Daisy has been ________ on her own for the past years. She cooks for herself and washes her own clothes while ________ to teach every morning at Maghar Primary School. While doing her ________,she tries to remember people, places, and things in order to manage her daily life. She is a(n) ________ person, telling me that she made the decision to live alone after her brothers said they would take turns to look after her each month. Daisy felt this would hurt her. I really admire her confidence and the way she carries herself in her life.

5 . Volunteers in New York call on people to donate their used iPads to help poor patients keep in touch with their families online.

Some people with COVID-19 died alone in hospital physically _________ from their friends and family, which is a heartbreaking situation. This terrible reality _________ on a group of volunteers. Their goal is to connect patients with family members who are unable to be present ___________ hospital restrictions (限制) on visitors. They plan to collect used iPads from across the country and donate them to _________ in communities where the need is extremely _________. Nicolas Heller, a 31-year-old volunteer, said thousands of people had_________ from the disease in isolation (隔离) without the comforting words or _________ from a loved one. Heller is collecting used iPads for patients who do not _________ smart phones capable of video chatting.

By Friday morning, the volunteer group had _________ 375 used iPads from donors (捐赠者) nationwide. So far, 300 of the iPads have been __________ donated to Brooklyn’s University Hospital of Brooklyn. The volunteers were amazed by the donors’ __________. What the volunteers are doing is __________ people’s iPads that are not used anymore to help those patients in hospitals. These iPads can __________ medical staff to communicate with patients from outside of the room, decreasing their __________ of being exposed to the virus.

No one is an island. __________, we can make the world warmer.

6 . It was the final part of the 2016 World Triathlon (三项全能运动) Series in Mexico. With just 700 metres to go, Alistair Brownlee was in third place and his younger brother, Jonny, was in the lead. When pushing himself towards the ________ line, Alistair saw his brother about to ________ the track. He had to choose - brotherly love, or a ________ to win the race?

For Alistair, the choice was ________. His brother was in ________. He had to help. Alistair ran towards Jonny, caught him and started pulling him towards the destination. Alistair then pushed his brother over the line. The move put Jonny in second place and Alistair himself in third. It was an ________ end to the race, but Alistair did not want to discuss it with the media. He just wanted to see his younger brother, who had been ________ to the medical area immediately.

The Brownlee brothers have been doing triathlons since they were children. “Obviously, when your older brother is doing it, you think it’s a ________ thing to do.” says Jonny. Alistair says that they ________ each other when they train. Despite ________over “stupid things” now and then, Alistair agrees that having a brother is an ________. “I’ve had my brother trying to beat me at everything I do. It has been an positive force.”

The ending to the race has ________ opinions: should the brothers have been disqualified (取消资格) or ________ for their actions? But for Alistair, his ________was easy to explain: “Mum wouldn’t have been happy if I’d left Jonny behind.” At that moment, he was no longer an athlete aiming for a medal — he was just a ________.

7 . Exercise can mean a lot of things to a lot of people, so there are a lot of great reasons to exercise.

Sometimes exercise can feel like a bit of a ________, something you have to do for health ________. But regular exercise can ________ your life, whether it helps you overcome stress, learn something about yourself, or help you ________ your body. Here are 2 stories from people who moved their bodies in new and sometimes ________ ways, and found out that it changed their life for the better.

I have had depression (沮丧, 抑郁) a couple of times and I also have general anxiety disorder. I found that longboarding around the city really ________ my mood the last time I was going through a ________ of depression. I don’t skate much anymore, but I have picked up ________ the past three years. All I can think about when I am climbing is climbing. It has been a ________ for my anxiety to be able to completely throw away the worries in my head and just think about getting to the top.

When I was 23, my grandpa sadly passed away. Hearing my mom’s message, I was ________. The tears couldn’t stop swimming in my eyes and I ________ control, I was just starting my track season and I decided that I should get a head start and start running. When I felt like crying or screaming or anything, I would get up and go for a ________. That year I ________ my personal best by over a minute and I ran my first half marathon. Since then I ran another half marathon, full marathon, and am ________ training for a second marathon. Running just ________ emotion for me.

8 . Several years ago I went on a trip alone to Mozambique. Our bus broke down by the side of the road. There was certainly nothing in the way of _________ or campsites or any kind of place to sleep. I _________ I’d just have to bed down on the roadside like others. But I was pretty _________ at the idea. Most everyone else was traveling with their families or other _________, and here I was, a very young woman, alone, with pale white skin that just screamed out “I’m a foreigner and do not _________ here.” Besides I spoke Portuguese reasonably _________ but not any of the local dialects, which _________ my difficulty.

I was trying to work out what to do when I _________ one of the women passengers I’d been chatting with _________ to me. “Come with me,” she said. I was then taken to the nearby village, where she lived. She and her large family __________ me that night. We had chips and matapa, a delicious Mozambican dish. Her kids laughed and circled around and were __________ to have a visit from a real white person. I couldn’t __________ a lot of the conversation, because only the woman spoke Portuguese, but I felt so __________ despite my foreignness.

This kind-hearted woman accommodated (提供住宿) a __________ a night spent shaking in __________ and hunger by the side of the road.

9 . When I was living in New York, I decided it was time to get my middle-aged self back in shape. The gym near my house was tiny. I was the weakest person there and I felt _________ as I did my pull-ups (引体向上). However, nobody really seemed to _________ me.

One day I was on the assisted pull-up machine when a huge guy walked up to me and _________, “Why are you always doing assisted pull-ups?” I looked at him, embarrassed, searching for a(n) _________.“Because I can’t do real ones,” I finally _________. “Yes, you can. You are strong,” he smiled. “Get over here, and I’ll _________ you.” We walked over to the “real” pull-up bar, and he _________ how to do it. He told me, “_________ practicing and by the end of the month, you will be _________ to knock out four or five.”   

After that day, I started to love going there. I was __________ the weakest one there. But I could do pull-ups: First two, then nine. When I stopped __________ looking foolish, I started asking others questions.

There were __________ everywhere in that gym, once I was willing to ask for __________. By the time I left New York, I could complete 10 pull-ups and I had been certified as a personal __________, so I could teach other women what I’d __________ in that gym.

10 . An Urban Farmer’s Garden of Eden

Ivy Lawrence-Walls didn’t set out to choose farming. But it chose her. She grew up on a five-acre farm in Houston and credits many ______ life lessons to her childhood. She remembers observing a bird build a nest as an inquisitive seven-year-old. She learned ______ as the nest gradually grew bigger overtime.

She didn’t know then that many of those childhood lessons would be ______ to her life now as a full-time farmer and enterpreneur. Now at 27, she has ______ the farm into a farm and vegetable garden ______ creating sustainable, healthy food access for neighborhood communities.

The garden grows carrots, cabbage, pumpkin, peppers, and delivers for free to local residents. It also hosts various plant pop-up events at local schools to ______ the next generation of farmers.

“Starting the farm in the early stages of the pandemic was a leap of ______,” said Lawrence-Walls. Now her daily ______ is not working in the hospital but trading in her lab coat like a doctor to produce food full-time. ______, she is still ______ in public health. “Food is public health and we hope to ______ some of the issues that we do face in the neighborhood through food and community wellness, green spaces, and mental health awareness.” she stressed.

Lawrence-Walls said her biggest challenge ______ from her nine-to-five to a full-time business owner was ______ the news to her mom, who thought she was crazy to leave her corporate job to dig holes. Additionally, she had to mentally move past the ______ by which success traditionally gets defined in society. “It took a lot for me to realize that, yes, I am digging holes. Yes, I am dirty 90 percent of the time, but I’m happy and realizing that this work is ______” she said frankly.