1 . A gentle wind blew through Jennifer’s hair. The golden red sun was _______. She was on the beach, looking up at the ball. She was amazed by its _______, deep red in the middle, _______ fading into yellow. She could hear nothing but the waves and the seagulls flying up above in the sky.

The atmosphere _______ her. After all she had been through, this is what she needed. “It’s getting late,” she thought, “I must go home. My parents will be _______ where I am.” She wanted to know how her parents would react when she got home after the three days she was _______.

The sun had set by now and it was getting _______. She _______ having her favorite jacket on until she saw the front door. It seemed different. _______ had taken care of the outside garden for days. She was ________: her father was usually so strict about keeping everything clean and tidy, and now... It all seemed ________. She couldn’t understand what was going on.

She entered the ________. First, she went into the kitchen where she saw a note written by her father. It said, “Dear Ellen, there is some coffee ready. I went looking.” Ellen was her mother but where was she? On the right side of the hallway was her ________ room. She went in. Then she saw her mother, lying on the bed sleeping. Her face looked so tired, as if she hadn’t ________ for days. She was really pale. Jennifer just fell asleep beside her. When Jennifer woke up she found something ________. She was in her cozy bed in her nightclothes.

It felt so good being back home. Suddenly she heard a voice. “Are you feeling better now, dear? You know you got us very, very scared.”

2 . It was the men’s skating finals of the Winter Olympics when I was 16. Someday I’d be in the Olympics. In fact, it was my dream.

That night I lay on our living room floor _________ watching the battle between the Brians: American Brian Boitano _________ Brian Orser in Canada. Both of them had been world champions. Both of them deserved to win. Naturally I was _________ Brian Boitano, a northern Californian like me. We had _________ on the same ice. I held my breath in amazement. Boitano _________ successfully. The gold medal! I jumped in the _________ when his score went up.

But what happened next is what I’ll never forget. Brian Boitano sat in front of the camera with his coach, _________ by a group of journalists. He was talking about his career and his medal, talking to the whole world. A terrible _________ feeling went through me. I could never be in the Olympics, I thought. I could not talk in public like that. Just the idea of a press conference _________ me.

I loved skating party because I didn’t have to talk. I could __________ myself with my jumps and dances better. I didn’t have to stand up and give a speech like some teachers expected. I could feel the blood __________ to my face if I thought a teacher was going to call me. I __________ at my shoes. I was sure I’d make a(n)__________ of myself.

The next day I was at the rink (溜冰场) as usual. I was practicing a combination of jumps that had once seemed __________. I worked very hard the next few years, on the ice and especially off. After journalists talked to me and although my heart __________ every time I spoke to them, I got to know them. They became __________ faces. And they got to know me. So when my big __________ came four years after Brian’s, I was ready.

Sometimes I think my biggest accomplishment was not winning the gold __________ talking to the press afterwards. When you do the thing you fear most, you put an end to fear.

Fear can stop you dead in your tracks. Fear can __________ a dream. What are you afraid of? What scares you more than anything else? This year, walk __________ up to it and conquer it, step by step.

3 . When my father and I traveled to Paris, Notre Dame was our first stop. But when we arrived at Notre Dame, we saw a long line outside it. Even so, we didn’t want to _______. We decided to go to the back garden of Notre Dame where there were few tourists.

Immersed in the beautiful natural scenery, we wanted to take some _______ photos. As we tried to find a photographer, a tall, slim Frenchman _______ toward us and showed us he was willing to take pictures for us.

Trying to get the perfect shot, he kept changing the _______ of the camera. However, after a few _______, he didn’t return our camera. His behavior confused us. But after a while, it became _______. He asked for 10 euros as payment before he would return our camera.

At that point, I was so angry that I _______ to argue with him. But my father stopped me and paid the money, with a (n) _______ expression on his face, the man walked away quickly to search for his next _______.

Later, my father ________ to me: There’s no such thing as a free lunch. So it’s ________ to ask for a payment after taking photos for us. But if someone offers to help you, never ________ the kindness just because of this particular event. Most acts of kindness are pure and without any ________ intention.

________, we met a lot of warm-hearted locals who guided us and lent a hand when we needed them. So just remember, we can’t throw away the ________ because of its core.

4 . Last summer, I was suffering from too much stress. I’d just graduated from a(n) __________doctoral program and was exhausted from the years of research, study and writing. I took a __________to celebrate, but the academic intensity had become a __________. Sitting on the beautiful lawn of the hotel on Mackinac Island, I just felt like I should be studying or working __________.

Generally seeing natural beauty would have __________ me, but I couldn’t slow down. I couldn’t help looking at my cellphone __________in case I missed something important. “Enough,” I murmured. I needed to unwind, but why couldn’t I?

A dragonfly (蜻蜓) buzzed around me.With each __________, this creature’s wings __________ color — blue one moment, green the next. Dragonflies usually fascinated me with their quick movements that __________ me of acrobats (杂技演员) in the wind, but I wasn’t in the __________ that day. What I needed then was stillness, not movement. Suddenly, the dragonfly came to rest on a blade (叶片) of grass in front of me.

I watched that dragonfly carefully for many minutes. So did the dragonfly. “It’s not a matter of relaxing,” it seemed to say. “Life is so short.Be here in the __________ and let the mood take care of itself.” Suddenly, it __________ me that this beautiful creature, which only had months to live, was “instructing” me about the __________ of life and I felt much relaxed. The dragonfly seemed __________ that its message had been delivered. It sprang from the grass and flew away. I didn’t see it again. But I would never forget what it taught me: Be here and _____________ yourself.

5 . A professor entered the classroom and told the students about a surprise test. All students were_________ and waited for the test to begin. The professor gave the test papers to all students with text facing down at the desk. Once he was done with _________ the test to all students, he asked them to_________ the test paper and begin.

Students were ___________ to see that there was just a black dot in the center of the page. The professor told them, “I want you to ___________ about what you see there.” The students were___________ confused but got started with the test. At the end of the class, the professor collected all answer sheets and started reading each answer from each sheet in front of all students. All of them___________ about the black dot and tried to explain its position.

Now, professor began to explain, “Here everyone_________ the black dot and wrote about it_________ no one wrote about the white paper. The same is with our lives. The white paper stands for our whole life and the black dot __________problems in our life.

Our life is a __________ given to us by God, with love and care, and we always have reasons to celebrate—our friends around us, the job that provides us with everything we need. However, we just focus on day to day ____________ like health issues, lack of money, poor relationships, but we seldom see that these problems are very small __________to everything we have in our lives.”

We should try to take eyes __________ our problems and enjoy each moment that life gives us. Be happy and live your life ____________.

6 . Passion, like life, is about the journey, not the destination. Kimberly and I have been planning a trip to Europe for a year. This was a/an ______ of ours. We took our friends Frantoise and Stein Eriksen with us.

The most   ______ part of the journey started with a train ride that had some curveballs (不顺利). When we were trying to get on a   ______ from Zurich to Croatia, we had gotten the departure time wrong and had to ______ around the station to make it in time. We had a tough time finding a taxi to ______ it to the ship. We finally found a taxi and arrived an hour late. ______ , they waited for us.

Once we got onto the ship we ______ it was not like a large hotel with great service. It was tight quarters. The bathroom was very ______ . The shower was a spout (喷头) connected to the bathroom sink. You ______ it on and sprayed yourself, along with the rest of the room.

The week-long ship ride was full of ______ . There were people from different nationalities speaking different languages. We stopped on islands of all sizes. We bicycled 30-40 kilometers. Then there were high winds-so high that the buses couldn’t ______ because they might blow over. So we took an expensive taxi, and ______ back to make our flight home.

While we loved the more predictable parts of the trip, our real passion was in the ______ —the missed rides, the ______ ship, the mixture of cultures, and even the ______ .

Sometimes people are so ______ it scares them to do something different. ______ when they do get out of their comfort zone, the different experiences they once thought were ______ are what stand out. Mixing things up, trying new things, seeing something through another person’s eyes, being ______ to adventure—this is how you create ______ .

8 . It was a sunny day when my dad and I were arriving at his company. We_________the car and got out of it. I_________and saw a gray thing on the ground. I thought it was a_________, but it started to move. As we approached, we_________that it was a small wounded dog.

We were so moved by the_________that we decided to help the poor dog. We bought some dog food in the store across the street and got some_________water for the dog in order to help him regain strength. He was hungry and thirsty_________while we were giving him the food and water he almost buried his head in them. Once he had eaten we encouraged him to move;_________, he could not. My dad tried to take him in his arms, but he started barking due to a wounded bleeding paw._________, we made a decision to carry him on a small stretcher (担架) to our car.

Rapidly, we took him to the vet to receive__________treatment. The vet told us that he had a broken leg and that he had been__________for days. He got out of the vet’s office after 5 days of__________, and we decided to look for a__________for him.

He was finally__________by one of my dad’s workers and is living happily. In conclusion, I learned from this that everybody can do an act of kindness. Everyone__________a second chance to be happy.

9 . My nephew Tyden and I were playing at a local amusement center. It was the kind of _______ where you get tickets for scoring points in the games and then cash them in for prizes.

Tyden won top prize of tickets, so we went to _______ his gift. I felt a little _______ because my loved one and I had our first _______ at this center and had exchanged little things from the showcase. I _______ a turtle and remembered my partner loved it. I asked the assistant behind the _______ if I could just buy the turtle without _______ . He said, “ _______, that isn’t a choice.”

I needed to _______ 350 tickets to cash the turtle in, so I ________ Tyden choosing his gift alone there. I had just bought game tokens(代币) when I heard Tyden’s ________ voice, “Auntie! Look!”

He pulled the turtle out from behind his back and gave it to me. My eyes filled with tears and my heart ________ with love. He had listened to that whole ________ and chosen to give the turtle to me ________ getting whatever he wanted.

I held him tightly in my arms, and told him how much I ________ him. I am beyond thankful to have the title of his Auntie.