1 . The second Sunday in May is a volunteer day in my neighborhood. Last year, my neighbors and I chose to ______in the cancer ward (癌症病房) at a children’s hospital. As Children’s Day was coming, the hospital wanted us to make some cards with children, ______them stories and play games with them.

The day before we went to the ______, many of us were feeling quite nervous. We didn’t ______how to react (反应) when we saw those sick children. As we were preparing morning tea for them, I asked some ______to make chocolate bread and candies at my home.

We arrived ______the hospital early and were welcomed warmly -it was exciting to know that they were ______us and expecting what we would offer to them. Our first job was to ______morning tea to the children-it seemed nothing broke the ice better than candies!

Then, it was time to start making ______—we brought some cardboard (卡纸板), crayons, glue and shiny things to excite the children. It was amazing that soon we felt relaxed about staying with the sick children. We ______with them and helped them choose colors and styles. The children were seriously ill, ______they were positive (乐观的). Most of them______bright colors as they believed that they would be better soon. The colorful and lively cards the children had made brightened us.

Later, my neighbours and I told the children some funny stories to make them laugh ______often, and they were also very happy to play games with______. Looking at their smiling faces, we even forgot they were______.

4 . An old car, a few dollars in the pocket, and a sense of adventure. That’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the _________ of a lifetime. They met on a park bench in Regent’s Park and

_________ a year later. For their honeymoon, they decided to try what few people thought _________—crossing Europe and Asia overland, all the way to Australia. It took them several months and all the money they could earn or borrow, but they _________.

It was too amazing an experience to _________ themselves. _________ by their friends, they stayed up nights writing their very first travel guide “Across Asia on the Cheap”. Within a week they’d _________ 1,500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. The name _________ a misheard line in the song “Space Captain”. The _________ words are “lovely planet”, but Tony Wheeler heard “lonely planet” and liked it.

Lonely Planet has gone on to __________ the world’s largest and most successful travel publisher, __________ over 100 million books. Lonely Planet enables curious __________ to experience the world and get to the heart of a place through guidebooks and almost every place on the planet.

“There’s a whole world of amazing sights, hotels and travel companies out there—and we want to tell you which ones we __________ are best. But we never use our opinions for money. If you __________ something written by a Lonely Planet author, you can be __________ they’ve been there, had a look themselves and are __________ you what they really think. It’s trusted advice from a __________ source,” says Tony.

Tony and Maureen are continuing to travel and devote much of their spare time to __________ projects, providing support for people in need. And the __________ is still driven by the idea in “Across Asia on the Cheap”: “What you’ve got to __________ is decide to go and the hardest part is over. So go!”

5 . Deng couldn’t sleep. Tomorrow was English class. Everyone was supposed to talk about their most precious possession (宝贵的财富). He’d heard the other kids talking. Everyone ________ something special, something expensive.

Deng had ________. His family had lost everything. Their last money was used to get a place on the boat to Canada. But no one knew that. Deng was too________ to tell anyone the truth. He didn’t want anyone to laugh at him. He didn’t want anyone’s pity. He pretended his family was rich. ________, now everyone would find out.

Perhaps he could be sick. But he knew his mother wouldn’t________ that. She would make him go to school. His parents were proud of him. They thought he was happy at school. He didn’t want to________them.

Suddenly he had an idea! Mr. Petrovski’s gold watch. ________ he would lend it to Deng just for one day. He was always pleased when Deng cleared his snow or went to the store for him. He could ________ the watch was his.

The next day, Deng found something on the back of the watch. It was almost ________. He looked closely. There was one word — “friendship”.

It was Deng’s ________ . “My family’s very poor. We don’t own anything valuable any more. So I asked my friend to ________ me this. It’s his most precious possession.” Then he put up the watch. “I was going to pretend it was mine. But it’s not. He lent it to me ________ I’m his friend. And that’s what I have. A friend.”

There was ________ in the class. Then Deng heard a sound. Slowly, his classmates started to ________ their hands. One by one they came to the front of the classroom and gathered round Deng. “You’re right,” one said. “ ________is more important than anything. And you have a lot of friends.”

6 . Emily Smith always wanted to be a performer. She was _________ of Disney movies and musicals from an early age and her mum, Katherine, would often _________ to watch together with her in front of TV. When she was nine, Emily’s happy childhood took a _________ when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. When the doctor _________ the Smith family that Katherine’s disease was terminal(晚期), they made a decision to Disney World. _________, in November 2018, the family _________ and headed to Disneyland located in Los Angeles.

The Smiths decided not to care about _________ for their once-in-a-lifetime vacation and stayed at Disneyland for eight nights. They spent their days in the parks while _________ Katherine in her wheelchair and watching her face light up with joy. They all _________ the joy of experiencing the park for the first time with Katherine though they ran out of their savings. The trip to Disney World during Katherine’s __________ with cancer allowed them to escape into a world of magic and laughter.

Emily says she’ll never forget the __________ that changed her life on that trip. After long day at the parks, the Smiths decided to see one of Disney World’s nightly light shows. During the show, a Disney performer came up to Katherine and rested her __________ on Katherine’s shoulder. They __________ smiles and Emily still remembers how __________ her mom looked. The whole family was touched by the performer’s __________. This was the day Emily decided she wanted to work for Disney to bring smiles to every visitor’s face.

Emily continued to pursue(追求) __________ for a living. After she received her degree in musical theatre from Ouerbein University, she __________ moved to Los Angeles. Emily __________ for years, trying to make it as an actress. Her hard work and determination finally __________ when she was hired to work as a(n) __________ Disney performer.

7 . When I heard my name called by the teacher, I knew what lay ahead. She called me to the whiteboard to _________a long division （除法）problem. Math was my _________ subject. When doing a long division problem, I always _________either put the numbers in the wrong places, _________forgot to add in the zeros.

As I _________ the whiteboard, I looked at the gold haired girl next to me, trying to _________ what she was writing. _________ I tried my best, she went faster than I could understand. Impossible to understand. Why me? Why couldn't I understand this strange concept that all the other kids understood? Why, even when I _________ my hardest to deal with the division problems?

Why? Why?

I _________ back salty tears and wrote some numbers randomly （随便地）on the board. The teacher read over our answers silently.

"Now, class, Susie did this problem absolutely correctly. "

"As for Tara, " the teacher said, __________ her eyes, “Gosh, I don't __________ know what she did. ”

The class burst into __________, and I felt my face turned __________ as I tried to sink as low as possible into my seat, hoping to __________ them from seeing me at all. However, after class my teacher wrote me a note, __________, “No one will care how you feel, unless you __________ yourself to succeed. "

This __________ from middle school is the most impressive and the only one I can remember. The experience made me feel stronger, and gave me __________ . When I get a __________ grade in school, or am put down by somebody, I think of that moment and every single one of those whys that I asked myself which gives me the willingness to __________ all of those whys and continue until perfection, or as close as I can get.

9 . Last week, I wrote about how I had no idea how important the social aspect of my life was until the pandemic(疫情)hit．That made me_________ just how much I valued my face-to- face conversations and _________ with my friends. It also hurt that our annual _________ to Europe and other countries was gone. We’ve_________ so many wonderful people and made so many new friends on those trips as well.

Most of us take too much for granted and aren’t as _________ as we should be for what we have. But when one of those great things in our lives is suddenly_________ ,we certainly notice how much we _________ those things when they are gone.

Something I took for granted was my _________ long walk. I have given myself a minimum _________ of 20,000 steps a day. I use a super great __________ my wife gave me, a Fitbit, which __________ each step I take and gives me weekly__________. That little device has helped me stay fit, even now as the __________ age of 80 approaches.

Last week, I had a fall and hit my right knee so hard that I could __________ walk for many days. That is when it __________ me that I’ve taken the __________ to walk without pain totally for granted. I think all of us should take time to __________ all the great things in our lives that we are just taking for granted. I__________ now, that all of us consider making a list of that kind so we have time to enjoy and appreciate what we have while we have it. Doing so has the potential to make us more __________ as we begin to truly __________ all the great things we have in our lives.