1 . When I was a teenager, I was invited to a formal dance party. I was _________, but also nervous about what to wear. Mom suggested I wear high heels (高跟鞋).

“Mom, I don’t know if I can wear these,” I said, feeling _________. “Don’t worry, sweetie. Just take small _________ and keep your weight centered,” she suggested.

As I arrived at the party, I tried to be _________ and act like everything was fine. But _________ struck when I stepped onto the dance floor. I _________ my own feet, falling to the ground in front of everyone.

I quickly got up and laughed it off, pretending like it was _________. But deep down, I felt like a tomato, wanting to _________.

My friend Lilly helped me _________ that incident and managed me another high heels as a support so that nobody would understand my hesitation. But a little bit __________ continued in my mind.

When I returned home, I told Mom I felt like a complete __________ at the party. “It’s okay. You tried something new, and it didn’t go as __________. But that’s how we learn and grow. Don’t be too __________ on yourself and wear what you feel __________ in,” Mom said, giving me a hug.

From that day forward, I stuck to flat shoes. I learned to __________ my true self and not worry about what others thought.

2 . We moved there on my third birthday. My first ________ is our neighbor Arlene handing me strawberries from her garden through a hole in the chain-link fence. She and her husband, Bill, lived next door.

One day, my parents asked Bill and Arlene whether they’d watch me ________ they were out on a date. This ________ well for everyone, so it became a somewhat monthly occurrence. Arlene and Bill didn’t have kids. They had a ________ room in their house, which became “my” room. I had a cabinet and boxes of toys and books in that room, Arlene and I would do crafts together. Bill taught me how to ________ the lawn tractor and eventually a car (stick and automatic).

When I was about five, I had an idea. My parents were watching TV when I spit it out: “What if I adopt Bill and Arlene as my ________?” My parents said I could go over and ask them. I ________ on Bill and Arlene’s door, sat down in their living room, and said, “Will you guys be my grandparents?” They started crying and ________ accepted. Soon after, they printed out an adoption ________, and it hung on their living room wall from then on.

I remember being surprised that they took my ________ so seriously —not because I wasn’t serious but because I was just a kid. They could have ________ it off. Thinking of that moment still brings tears to my eyes. There is something truly magnificent about a child offering up her love and ________ being so excited to accept it. Every child in this world ________ enthusiastically responded love.

Arlene passed away in 2013, two days before our adoption anniversary. Bill gave her eulogy (悼词). At the end, he said, “Arlene ________ her husband, Bill. And the greatest joy of her life, her granddaughter, Katie.”

After the funeral, Bill gave me the ring he’d gifted to Arlene on their 25th wedding anniversary. It’s a simple gold band that I wear on my ring finger as a ________ of the kind of love I wish to put into this world.

3 . A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, but unluckily two of them fell into a deep pit(坑). All the other frogs _________ the pit. When they saw how _________ the pit was, they told the two frogs that they might as well be dead.

The two frogs _________ what the others were saying and tried to jump up out of the pit with all of their physical _________. The other frogs kept telling them to _________. Finally, one of the frogs paid attention to the comments, _________ considered them, and gave up. He _________ down and died.

The other frog continued to jump as _________ as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs _________ him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even harder and finally __________ it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, “Did you not hear us?” The frog __________ to them that he was a little __________. He thought they were encouraging him the __________ time.

This story teaches two lessons: First, there is power of life and death in the __________. An encouraging word to someone who is __________ can lift him up and help him make it through the day. Second, a destructive word to someone who is down can be __________ it takes to kill him. Be __________ of what you say. Speak life to those who cross your path.

The __________ of words is great. It is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. Anyone can speak words that __________ to rob another of the spirit to continue in __________ times.

4 . Years ago, if a teenager had some problems in his life, he might go home and write in his diary; now, a teenager with _______  problems might go onto the Internet and write about them in a blog (博客). In many ways, a diary and a blog are very _______. But what makes blogging different from writing in a(n) _______ diary?

The biggest difference is that a blog is much more   _______ than a diary. Usually, a teenager treats his diary like a book full of _______ that he does not want to _______ with others.

It’s interesting that someone who writes in a blog _______ a diary will probably write nearly the same information.

I have a little sister, and sometimes I go online to read her _______. She writes about things like waking up early for swimming practice and not studying enough for her chemistry test. _______ I was her age, I wrote about the same thing, but ________ in my dairy. Then, after I had finished writing, I would hide my diary in a secret place because I was ________ that my sister might read it.

The biggest ________ with blogging is that anyone can read what you write. If I was angry with a friend during high school and wrote something ________ about him in my diary, he would never know. ________, if my sister ever wrote something bad about a friend, that friend might ________ her blog and get angry.

There are also ________ to blogging, of course. If I was feeling sad one day and wrote in my diary, “Nobody cares about me…” Because no one would ________ about it. However, if my sister wrote the same sentence in her blog, her best friend would quickly ________ and tell her how much they ________ her. Blog help people ________ in contact with their friend and know what the people around them are doing.

5 . I once received an invitation to attend a presentation at the Kentucky School. On that very evening I found ________ had amazing power to change our attitude and our life.

The young musician Mr. Patrick was ________ onto the stage in his wheelchair and began to play the piano. His fingers ________ across the keys as if he made beautiful music himself. He then began to sing as he played, and it was wonderful. But what shocked me ________ was his magic smile．

Mr. Patrick was born with no eyes and an illness in the ________, which left him lame for life. However, as a child, he was________ with artificial eyes and placed in a wheelchair. Before his first birthday, he _________ the piano. When his mom hit any note on the piano, and within one or two ________, he’d get it. By his second birthday, he was playing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”. His father was overjoyed. “We _________ not play baseball, but we can play music together.”

When Patrick was at the University of Louisville, his father ________ classes with him. He was also a part of the 214-member marching band! He was a blind, wheelchair-bound trumpet player; and he and his father did it together. His father ________ the night shift in order to accompany his daytime band practice. Patrick says, “Dad is my ________.”

But even more than his ________ musical talent, it was Patrick’s “attitude of gratitude” that ________ my soul. On stage, between songs, he talked to the audience about his life and about how ________ he was with a great father. When his performance was over, Patrick and his father were on the stage together. The crowd rose to their feet and ________ for over five minutes.

We all face misfortune in our lives. ________, it’s not the hardship but how we ________ to it that will determine the joy and happiness in our lives. During ________ times, do we spend too much time feeling ________ for ourselves, or can we, with gratitude, learn how to dance in the rain?

7 . On our first anniversary, Jack bought a bottle of Casaque, an expensive cologne(古龙香水for me. “We agreed to save the money for your postgraduate education”, I said somewhat half-heartedly as I took it out from a beautifully-wrapped packet. “I am unable not to give something_________to the world’s most beautiful bride, honey! ”I held it to my_________, and smelled the most pleasant flavor I could ever_________. Looking down at my_________blue jeans and ugly, ragged tennis shoes, I wondered if I could ever be worthy of it. But I would_________.I used only a little of it every time _________Jack graduated and our life was financially easier. It’s a _________ the foolish love of a young husband.

Then one day three-year-old Jim was sitting on the floor_________the empty cologne bottle His lips wet, he was making a( n ) _________face. He drank my __________cologne! ”Jack; come quick, ’I cried, “Can cologne__________ my baby? Jim drank the rest of it!” “It’s mostly just alcohol, honey,” Jack __________ me. Little Jim was fine, and my concern for my child was __________. I now felt __________to see the empty cologne bottle.

A few weeks later, Jack bought another bottle of my beloved cologne. I__________ it as much as I had done to the earlier one. __________, it became three-quarters empty. I thought it best to buy another __________.But the shop assistant told me that there wasn’t even a maker of that brand any more.

Now I only use my special cologne on very important occasions, because there will be __________ to replace it when these last few precious __________ are gone. But from the bottom of my heart it’, not three-quarters empty but still one-quarter full. Perhaps if I’m very careful, I can __________using it for the rest of my life.

8 . Afroz Shah, a lawyer in Mumbai, hasn’t had a weekend off in four years. But he hasn’t spent this time preparing for _________.

His mission? Saving the world’s oceans from _________ pollution.

It’s a calling he found in 2015 after moving to a community in Mumbai called Versova Beach. He had played there as a child and was_________to see how much it had _________. The sand was no longer _________ because it was covered by a layer of garbage more than five feet thick — most of it plastic waste.

“The whole beach was like a_________of plastic,” he said. “It hurt me. The _________ mess.” What Shah had seen is part of a global environmental crisis. More than 8 million tons of plastic _________in the world’s oceans each year. It’s predicted that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. “Plastic in the ocean is a _________. And the sea species have no choice at all, ” Shah said. “We are ______________ their habitats.”

In October 2015, Shah began ________________ up plastic waste from the beach every Sunday morning. At first, it was just him and a neighbor, and then he began calling on others to join in. Word ________________ and with the help from social media, more volunteers got ________________.

For Shah, the work has always been a ________________ journey, but it has earned global attention. After he was ________________ as a Champion of the Earth by the United Nations in 2016, Shah now devotes nearly all of his free time to this ________________.

He’s now spent 209 weekends on this mission, ________________ more than 200,000 volunteers, some of whom are young students, to join him in what’s been called the world’s biggest beach cleanup. By October 2018, Versova Beach was ________________ clean and Shah’s cleanups expanded to another beach as well as a stretch of the Mithi River and other regions of India.

“This world talks too much. I think we must talk ________________ and do action more, ” he said when interviewed by CNN in October 2019.“We are a smart species. Well adapt. We’ll learn. And with these youngsters rising up, I see ________________.”

9 . “Just sign here, sir,” the deliveryman (送货员) said as he handed Oscar Reyna a package.

The package consisted of (装有) a long, narrow box ______ wrapped in brown paper. ______ the box, Oscar saw an umbrella inside—a very old one with a beautifully carved handle. ______ he had not seen it for more than 20 years, he recognized it immediately.

Oscar was 16 when he first saw the ______ umbrella. He had gone to a concert with his grandparents. As they were leaving, he noticed an umbrella on an empty seat. Impressed by its ______, Oscar felt a strong desire to find its owner.

Oscar ______ the manager to look in the record of advance ticket sales. Just as he thought, a name matched the seat ______ Oscar had found the umbrella. The name was Mrs. Katie O’Brien.

Oscar talked his grandparents into going by Mrs. O’Brien’s house on their way home. He rang the bell, the door opened, and an elderly woman appeared. “May I ______ you?” she asked. “I’d like to return it if it’s yours,” Oscar said, ______ the umbrella as if presenting a gift that had long been wished for. “Why, yes! it’s mine, “ replied Mrs. O’Brien with a ______ smile and shining eyes. “It was given to me by my father years ago. Thank you so much for returning it. May I offer you a reward for your ______?” “No, ma’am.” he said, “my grandmother says that a good deed is its own reward.” “Well, that’s ______ what my father used to say. What is your name, Young man?”

Years later, Oscar was staring at the finely carved handle of the umbrella as he remembered Mrs. O’Brien. It was in perfect condition, considering how ______ it was. Why had it arrived here today? As if ______ , a note fell from the paper. It read: Mrs. O’Brien wanted you to accept this umbrella as a present for a kind, ______ gesture long ago.