1 . One day, a professor entered the classroom and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. They waited anxiously at their desks for the test to begin. The professor ________ the question papers, with the text facing down as usual. ________ he handed them all out, he asked his students to ________ the page and begin. To everyone’s surprise, there were no ________, just a black dot (点) in the center of the page. The professor, seeing the expression on everyone’s face, told them the following:

“I want you to write what you________ there.”

The students, ________, got started on the inexplicable (令人费解的) task.

At the end of the class, the professor ________ all the answer papers and started reading each one of them aloud in front of all the students. All of them, with no ________, described the black dot, trying to explain its position in the middle of the sheet, etc. After all had been ________ , the classroom was silent, the professor began to explain:

“I’m not going to grade this. I ________ wanted to give you something to think about. No one wrote about the ________ part of the paper. Everyone focused on the black dot, and the same happens in our ________ . We have a white paper to observe and ________, but we always focus on the dark spots. Our life is a ________ given to us with love and care and we always have________to celebrate: nature renewing itself every day, our friends around us, the job that ________ our livelihood and the miracles we see every day.

________, we insist on focusing only on the dark spots: the health issues that bother us, the lack of money, the________ relationship with colleagues, the ________ with a friend, and etc.

The dark spots are very ________ compared to everything we have in our lives, but they are the ones that pollute our minds.”

2 . One day, I was driving with my three-year-old granddaughter, Madison, when I saw a_______reading “Friendly Upholstery(室内装潢品)” It was a small_______.

When I parked my car and walked inside, the gentleman was_______, so I began to_______Madison what they built in such a place. As we were walking around, I_______to tell him to take his_______as I was in no hurry.

When he_______his call, I began to_______I had a wooden shelf in my home office that extended out from my desk and that_______my granddaughter would strike her head. I needed something soft to________the shelf to protect her.

“She’s a pretty little thing,” he said________, reaching out to make her laugh.

I stood watching as he headed off to a back room. Minutes later, he returned________a piece of leather. I took it and________how much it would be.“How much do I________you?” “Don’t worry about it,” he told me, as he waved his hand________.

After thanking him, we drove home, where I covered the shelf with the leather. It was less than an hour later when Madison slipped off my desk, hitting her face directly on the side of the shelf. A bit scared, she got up,________.

I was inspired by that gentleman’s________for someone else’s safety, rather than the money that he could have gotten from me, a(n)________from out of nowhere.

Last week, one year later, I returned to his small shop and________him once again. I wanted him to know that kindness is________appreciated by some, even in this day and age, and that I will forever remember it.

3 . I enjoy feeding a colorful flock of birds in my garden. About three years ago, I noticed a newcomer to this festive display. It was a baby chipmunk, apparently on its own. Over that summer, I watched it ______. The brown stripes on its back darkened. The next summer, when the chipmunk was ______, I wondered whether it would ______ me to feed it by hand. I named it Chip.

I decided to employ the ______ I used to persuade wild cats to come close for food: patience, a soft voice, slow ______ and repetition.

Before Chip would approach, I’d ______ its favorite food — sunflower seeds, bend down and keep very ______. I’d leave my open hand in place, unmoving, ______ the animal would know I wouldn’t ______ it. I continued doing this for a few weeks.

Finally, late in that second summer, Chip did ______ more trust. One day as I ______ a seed in my palm, it ______ and carefully took the seed into its mouth.

After about two months of this ______, I went further. With my index finger, I touched its back ______ for the first time. Chip stayed put, eating seeds, before rushing into the bushes. Today, the chipmunk comes out of ______ when I call its name, and lets me pet its soft, silky body.

A friend once mentioned that after she ______ a dog, she noticed that her elevated blood pressure had approached ______ without medication, and she became calmer and could handle stress better. I think I, too, feel calmer from my ______ with Chip.

I’ve also developed a greater respect for nature and its ______ and the opportunity to ______, protect and save wildlife.

4 . Capturing the lines of love

I’ve never been the kind of person to say, “it’s the thought that counts” when it comes to gifts. That was until a couple of weeks ago, when my kids gave me a present that blew me away.

For years now, I’ve been wanting to sell our home, the place where my husband and I _______our kids. But to me, this house is much more than just a_______ .In the front room, there’s a wall that has hundreds of pencil lines,_______ the progress of my children’s growth.Every growth_______ is marked in grey, with each child’s name and the date they were_______ .

Most people I know have been featured on a wall like this, or at least had a wall like it in their home.

Of all the objects and all the ___________, it’s this one thing in a home that’s the   ___________ to leave behind. Friends I know have returned home after work only to   ___________       their wall of heights has been ___________painted over. A new paint job wouldn’t normally be greeted   by____________,   but   erasing   that   evidence   of   motherhood ________ more than it should.   Our   kids   grow   in   so   many   ways,   but   the   wall   is   ____________evidence of their progress, right there for everyone to ____________.

Over the years, I’ve   talked   about   how   much   I   would________ leaving   that   wall behind when I moved, even though the last marks were made 10 years ago when my kids stopped________.So one day, while I was at work, my children decided to do something     about it.They hired a professional photographer whose________ is about capturing ( 捕 捉 ) the________ things in life, from clear lakes and skies to ballgowns ( 舞 会 礼 服 ).Over several hours,she took photos of the hundreds of drawings and lines, little grey fingerprints, and old marks. Somehow, she managed to photograph all those________of memories perfectly. Afterwards, she put all the photos together into one image (影像), ________ them into a beautiful history of my family.

Three weeks later, my children’s wonderful gift made its way to me – a life-size photo of the pencil lines and fingerprints that________ entire lifetimes of love and growth.

5 . Miriam Schreiber of Hartford, Connecticut, is proof that it’s never too late to make your dreams come true.

At 7, the Poland native’s ________ life was gone when World War II began. School was no longer a ________ as she and her family members spent years ________ the enemies-the Nazis. While Miriam came out a survivor, she’s always wished she could have ________ her education. This year, she finally made that dream come true by transforming her ________ into a well-deserved achievement!

_____ starting first grade in September 1939, Miriam, with her family, was _________and on the move for months, hiding from enemies in villages and forests, but ________, it didn’t last long. They were ________ and sent to a slave labor camp in Siberia, where for six years Miriam watched her loved ones’ ________

At long last, they were ________ when Miriam was 14. Many years later, she married fellow survivor Saul Schreiber in Germany. ________, they moved to the U.S., where they raised their two sons. She refused to stop ________, while Miriam never got the _________to go back to school! She ________ knew Polish and Yiddish and went on to teach herself English, German, Hebrew, and Swedish.

“I ________ myself,” she said. “I read books day and night. I still do.” Inspired by her ________, each student at Hartford’s New England Jewish Academy agreed that she ________ an honorary diploma. So on August 16, 2020, the 88-year-old finally achieved her dream of ________ high school!

“When I got the ________, I burst into tears,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe it was mine.”

6 . I was on my cellphone sharing my excitement about the stories we received for a new book about resolutions (决心). When I _______ my call, my 11-year-old son Bailey asked if he could write a story. I was surprised by his _______ and asked if he had “resolved”to do something _______ in his life. His reply _______ me. He said,“I have resolved to be nicer to younger children.”

Bailey has always been generous with older kids. _______, when it comes to younger kids, he falls _______. He gets angry when they touch his Lego creations or _______ to understand how to play his video games.

My husband and I have many friends with younger children who _______ regularly. Each time before they arrive, we tell Bailey how we would _______ it if he were more patient with the younger kids. He starts out great, but as the night wears on, his patience ________. I found it interesting that he was ________ making a change.

Later, I ________ our conversation and realized that Bailey had actually taken action. The last time our friend’s son, Brayden, ________, Bailey invited him to play with his Legos. Instead of getting angry that Brayden was not ________ correctly, according to Bailey’s ________, he allowed him to create his own version of an airplane. When playing video games, instead of telling Brayden he was too ________ to understand the concept, he gave him an unplugged (没插电的) ________ and let Brayden believe he was fighting alongside Bailey.

As parents, we often feel as if our ________ fall on deaf ears, but now I realize that my son has been listening all along. He is ________ to be a better person and I am ________ of him.

7 . Kindness can really make you pause and be thankful during a stressful time.

Cassandra Warren was in a_________and was feeling a little overwhelmed(使应接不暇)by work and planning her wedding. After she got her wedding invitations ready one day, she hurriedly_________one to her aunt and uncle. A week later, the invitation came back. She had written down the_________address. A handwritten note was_________the returned envelop, which read, “I wish I_________you—this is going to be an enjoyable experience. Congratulations—go to have dinner_________me. I’ve been married for 40 years—It gets better with age.” A $20 bill was inside.

Cassandra was at a bit of a professional crossroads and had been having a_________day. In fact, she’d nearly broken down, telling her_________to her husband-to-be Jesse Jones just as she opened the_________envelop. Then she read the note. “It was kind of perfect timing,” said Cassandra Warren. “We are____________who the mysterious note writer is. But I really____________it.”

Cassandra and Jesse____________with a friend who was going overseas the following night. They happily put the $20 towards their____________. Then Cassandra stopped by a store and bought a thank-you card. She____________wrote her aunt’s address on the envelop again—this time____________ —and addressed it to “Kind Stranger” ____________ by the following words inside，“Thank you for the____________and taking____________ to send it. Not so many people would have done that. It was a big____________ after the day I was having. I am____________people like you still being in the world.”

8 . Every Friday and Saturday night I deliver food for a local food delivery company. I need this _________ job to pay off the debt that resulted from an accident a few years ago.

Last night I got a(n) _________ in which the restaurant and the customer's house were pretty far away from each other. This was actually a _________ thing. The customer got charged a higher delivery fee, which would be paid to me.

I _______ the customer's food and drove to his house. Though I used Google Maps, I still had problems_________ his house. I called the customer and he told me that the address on the order was _________. When I knew this, I became very _________. By this time I had already _______ half an hour on this order. What's more, I had_________ another order which got reassigned (再分配) to another person during the time.

Another 30 minutes later I got to the customer's door. I __________ him to be in a bad mood because his delivery had taken so long. __________, I was greeted by a very pleasant customer. He__________ to me that his wife's eyesight was not that great so she had put in the wrong address in the order __________, so the whole thing was their ________

Knowing the________, I didn't complain to the customer. I__________ my anger towards the couple. But he said he felt so __________ for me and decided to give me an additional ＄30 cash for my __________. I knew I needed money, but I also knew forgiving was a virtue. So I ________

Later the company I worked part-time in __________ me for what I had done and I was given an extra amount of money as a reward. You can't imagine how happy I was!

9 . Many times, the small things in life, which we often ________, are more important than the ones that we consider far more valuable.

This theme is highlighted in Kenny Roger’s song Buy Me a Rose.

This song tells the ________ of a wife whose husband ________ her very much. However, she thinks that the ________ her husband shows her his love is not ________ .

According to her husband, the best way of showing his love to his wife is by ________ her with all the wealth and comforts of life. ________, he works hard day and night and is thus not able to ________ any of his time to her.

His wife, however, ________that this is not what she wants. All she wants from him is to show her more ________ by giving her more of his time, caring for her and by ________ his feelings for her. These are the things that she ________ in her life and not the big, flashy things that he has given her.

“Buy me a rose, call me from work.”

Open a door for me, what would it hurt?

Show me you love me by the look in your eyes.

These are the little things I ________ the most in my life.”

To her, these are all the things that can ________ great joy and happiness.

Although her husband loves her very much, his way of showing his love for her is creating ________ between the two.

This song leads us to ________ on how we lead our lives and how to make a person ________ .

People who are closer to us ________ more sincere expression of our love. Spending time with them ________ spending money on them is a better way of expressing our love. We should learn to express our feelings than to show our love through ________ goods.

10 . An old art lover collected many famous paintings. Under his influence, the son also _______ collections. One day news came that the son _______ his life to rescue another soldier in a battle. The old man felt very _______ and he couldn’t cheer himself up even on New Year’s Day. He was thinking of his dear son when someone knocked at the door. The old man _______ it and in came a young man who _______ himself, “I’m a friend of your son. He lost his life to _______ me, so I painted this portrait of your son _______ him.” The old man took hold of this painting with _______. Then he carried the painting upstairs and gently _______ it on the wall. It took the place of a painting by Pablo Picasso, a very ________ Spanish artist.

Several years later, the old man passed away and all his ________ would be sold at an auction (拍卖会). The auctioneer (拍卖师) ________ at a portrait of a young man and announced, “Let’s ________ with this painting. Who would like to pay $50 for it?”

Nobody thought it was a(n) ________ price. People were whispering, “That’s too much for a painting by nobody!”

“$40?”

There was a(n) ________ for a moment. No one responded.

Then a voice came up, “I’m a ________ of the boy. We live in the same block. I saw him growing up, but I’ve got only $ 10. Can I have this portrait with all my money?”

The auctioneer asked ________, “Ten dollars once? Ten dollars twice? Ten dollars three times? Deal!”

The audience were excited that the real auction would begin. ________, the auctioneer concluded, ‘‘The auction is over. According to the ________ will, all the other paintings will ________ the person who buys the portrait.”