1 . My long-distance cycling career of 13 years and 35, 000 kilometres ended as I approached 75. Although I am now no longer strong enough to _________ the long days and big climbs, day in and day out, I have my memories.

The road behind is just memories, some soon to be forgotten, others to be _________ and enhanced with the retelling. A 6000-kilometre cross-country ride initially appears _________, but, once done, it is simply done, much like the challenges that life _________.

Real _________ would come when I was alone on my bicycle. I enjoyed meeting and even _________ the daily targets I had set for myself. I enjoyed the technical challenges faced by tire bursts and loose handlebars, but _________ not at that time. I loved cycling with a strong tailwind pushing me along and hated _________ into a strong headwind. I loved striking up conversations with a diversity of people and sincerely appreciated the support and comfort they _________.

Long distance cycling brings unbearable exhaustion, long hours of anxiety, even fear and desperation, but these __________ into insignificance, compared to the joy and __________ of climbing huge mountains or seeing fantastic sights for the first time. The experiences add newness and __________ to my life and the memories are __________.

Most importantly, cycling taught me to know myself better. It eventually dawned on me that I had more __________ and courage than I ever imagined. The self-awareness and long-lasting memories will give me enormous __________ as I carry on my life journey.

2 . When a bowl or teapot falls and breaks into pieces, we throw them away regretfully. Yet there is an alternative, a traditional Chinese practice that ________ and enhances the breaks thus ________ value to the broken object. It’s actually called golden repair.

This traditional technique uses a precious metal like liquid gold or liquid silver to ________ the pieces of a broken pottery item and at the same time enhance the breaks. The technique ________ bringing pieces together and giving them a ________ look.

With this technique, it’s ________ to create true and always different works of art, each with its own story and beauty, ________ the unique cracks (裂缝) formed when the object breaks, as if they were wounds that ________ different marks on each of us.

The technique ________ many things. We shouldn’t ________ broken objects. When an object breaks, it doesn’t mean that it is no longer useful. Its ________ can become valuable. We should try to ________ things because sometimes in doing so we obtain more ________ objects. This is the most important quality of adaptability. Each of us should look for a way to deal with unpleasant events in a ________ way, learn from negative experiences, take the best from them and convince ourselves that exactly these experiences make each person ________ and precious.

3 . Kai Ture, at 11 years old, is a budding (崭露头角的) actress. All of her acting roles mean that Kai has to ________ her acting and school life. ________, she doesn’t let those ________ upset her and takes a positive attitude to them. For her, going to auditions (试演) and getting acting roles mean that she is only ________ her acting career.

When Kai isn’t ________, she focuses on putting her ________ and community first. ________ her hard work, she was able to be ________ into a school for top students. Despite all her acting credentials (证书), Kai still regards her educational achievements as her biggest ________. Acting isn’t her only fine arts skill—Kai can ________ play the violin and piano.

Kai has worked hard to help her local community as well. With the help of her Girl Scout group leaders, Kai was able to ________ some of Atlanta’s homeless communities with food in a community service event. Kai remains ________ when helping the homeless and is working again with her Girl Scout group to organize a larger ________.

Kai enjoys her ________ schedule, doing all the activities she loves. Kai first started off in smaller roles and has been able to get larger roles. Start off with some small steps and you’ll ________ achieve your biggest dreams!

4 . During my second month of the art school, our teacher gave us a pop quiz(突击小测验). I was a hard-working student and I did well in all the ______. I had finished the questions successfully and easily, until I read the last one: “What is the first name of the ______ who cleans the school?”

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and about 50 years old, ______ how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the ______ question empty.

Just before class ______, one student asked if the last question would count towards our quiz grade.

“Absolutely(绝对地),” said the teacher. “In your life, you will meet many people.______ people are important and all jobs are important. They deserve(值得) your attention and care, even if all that you do is ______ and say hello.”

I’ve never ______ that lesson. Actually, that was the most ______ lesson in my life. I ______learned her name was Feng Yue.

5 . The World Health Organization says it believes between 80,000 and 180,000 health care workers may have died from COVID-19 in the period between January,2020 and May, 2021. In a ______ issued Thursday, the group ______ those deaths are tragic loss and an irreplaceable gap ______ the world’s pandemic response. It said the reported ______ of infections and deaths among health ______ workers has gone down ______ time but added that more work needs to be done to ______ the risk of infection in the health carework place. It said as of September, 2021 ______ data from 119 countries, only an average of two and five health care workers were ______ vaccinated. It said fewer than one in ten are fully vaccinated in the African and Western Pacific regions ______ 22 mostly high-income countries report that above 80 percent of their personnel are fully vaccinated. WHO said it is deeply concerned about the probable number of deaths, the overall low rate of vaccinations and the vaccinein equities among health care workers in low- and middle-income countries.

6 . The red star over China is shining brightly on its sixty-fifth birthday. And why is that? There are many reasons. First of all, there is peace and prosperity (繁荣) in China. The country isn’t at war and most Chinese are living _________ and more comfortable lives than at _________ in history. And things will get even better in the future.

The Chinese economy is a world wonder— grow so quickly, so many buildings and so many new businesses. China is now the_________ economic country in the world only next to America. Some believe that China will be Number One _________ the year 2030. What amazing _________! And what does that mean for you? It means that there will be lots of chances for you to do good jobs and to use all of your talents.

The rest of the world has started to take a closer _________ at China and they like what they see. In recent world wide survey, almost seventy percent of the people said they had a “positive image” of China. They thought China is beautiful and they are _________ in what is happening in China.

And it is not only because of economy, _________ Chinese culture. Zhang Ziyi and Gongli are famous all over the world, as well as the movie director Ang Lee. Writers like Gao Xingjian and Ba jin have won international awards. And painters, such as Wu Zuoren are selling their works for record high prices. This _________ China seem pretty cool and it really is!

So happy birthday, China! We are__________ you!

7 . Once there was a little girl who had many misfortunes in life and was struggling with problems. One day she felt so upset that she couldn’t help ________ to her father why her life was so ________.

Sensing her ________, her father, a chef, took her to their ________. He asked her to just ________ till he finished everything. He filled three small pots with water and placed each on a burner. Once the water began to ________, he placed a potato, an egg, and some ground coffee beans in each pot. Curious, though, she kept ________ as her father instructed her to do so.

About twenty minutes later, he turned off the ________. The chef turned towards his daughter and said, “See, the potato went in strong and hard but in boiling water, it became soft and weak. The egg was ________, but now the egg became hard. ________, the ground coffee beans were unique. After being ________ the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.”

Seeing the little girl was still confused, he then ________, “The potato, the egg and coffee beans had each faced the same ________-the boiling water. However, each reacted ________. When hardships come your way, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?” Hearing these words, the girl made her choice inside-she would be the ________, which could not only change the whole situation but also change in its own way. After all, life is 10% what happens to you and 90%how you react to it.

8 . You may think that speaking English to yourself is a silly idea. In fact, it is one of the most ________ ways of improving your speaking skills.

First off, speaking to yourself will ________ you of the fear of making mistakes and feeling ________ as you probably would when speaking with another person. You don’t even have to speak loudly. Yet, this will help you ________ the sound of your own voice when speaking English, which you may find strange at first.

If you are wondering what there is to ________ about, you can always start by expressing the ________ you are having at the moment. What you say isn’t important; it’s ________ that you simply keep talking. Another thing you can try is ________ that someone is asking you questions so that you can answer them. This is an excellent way of practicing to ________ in English.

Perfect your talking-to-yourself ________ by using a mirror to make short 2-3 minute impromptu speeches. Pick any topic you like, and speak about that ________ for several minutes straight, without ________. It’s important that you don’t stop speaking even if you feel that you have nothing else to ________ or that you can’t find the right word. Go around and express your ideas in a(n) ________ way. In time, you will realize how ________ this exercise really is.

9 . My father is a doctor, who is always as busy as a bee. However, he doesn’t love me any less.

Today was my father’s birthday. I decided to make it an unforgettable birthday to show how ______ I am for everything he has done for me.

I told Mum that I waned to give my father a surprise birthday party. At my words, she was really ______that I even remembered his birthday! She ______ to help me, but I told her I determined to plan everything myself.

First, I called Bernie, my father’s best friend. He gave me the name of my father’s favorite ______. Next, I called the restaurant and booked some table. Then, I also ______ our relatives and asked them to come.

Without telling anyone, I went to the watch shop to ______ my father’s present. When he was young, his father gave him a ______. It stopped working last year, but my father ______ had time to get it fixed. So I took it to the watch shop and get it ______ and polished(擦亮).

The moment Dad and Mum turned up, we shouted, ”Happy Birthday!“ I gave Dad his present. When he saw his shiny watch, he cried, ”What a surprise! Thank you, George. This is the best ______ ever. ”

10 . In 2019, I went on a winter break trip with my family. One of our _________ was London. The first thing that I _________ when I landed in London was the weather. It was too _________ for my liking as it required me to wear a thick jacket.

After some _________ using a map of London, we decided to go to Buckingham Palace first.

Buckingham Palace was one of the _________ of a “hop-on, hop-off (随上随下)” bus that we took. The palace itself didn’t look very big or impressive from the entrance _________ it got much more impressive when you entered the gates.

While continuing on the “hop-on, hop-off” bus, we _________ the London Bridge, which I didn’t notice until the driver pointed it out to me. While it felt kind of special to be driving on such an iconic (符号的) bridge, the _________ was not as cool as one would imagine it to be.

Besides its history, this bridge was just another bridge that _________ two masses of land, something that pretty much all __________ do.

When we __________ Big Ben, we decided to hop off the bus and take some __________. Big Ben was a pretty __________ experience for me. In many pictures of London, Big Ben is a very visible (看得见的) building in the skyline, and it was very nice for me to see the clock tower __________. I am a big fan of skyscrapers (摩天大楼) and skyscraper-like buildings so this clock tower certainly caught my __________.