1 . My new birthday tradition is a big hit today. I ______ it a couple of years ago. It goes like this: I put the ______ number of one-dollar bills as my new ______ into my pocket and surprise strangers around town.

I know, $25 isn’t much but that’s my attempt (努力) at spreading kindness. I ______ strangers at local shops including McDonald’s, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Blenders, Kyle’s Kitchen, Yogurtland, along with ______ tips (小费) to some of the folks behind the counter.

Reactions (反应) were wonderful as I ______, “It’s my birthday and paying for this is my gift to you.” I would ______ the money and leave. Recipients (接受者) and even people working at the shops were astonished and excited.

I love it when people tell the story of the ______ guy with the Batman mask who paid for their coffee or burgers.

The ______ one of all was the last one at a restaurant. I paid for a young man’s ______. He was shocked and delighted. When I left and got into the car, he ______ me and told me I had made his day. Besides, I got the news that his ______ was in three days and we’re both Capricorn (摩羯座). So I told him that he can fill 25 ______ in his pocket and make people ______ the way he felt right then.

He wished me a happy birthday and a Merry Christmas, and I drove off ______ with my Batman mask on.

What a great birthday!

5 . A daughter complained to her father about how hard her life was. She was ________ and wanted to give up.

Her father filled three pots with ________, and placed them on the fire. The daughter looked at him in a strange way, ________ what he was trying to do. He then put carrots, eggs and coffee beans in each pot respectively (各自) without saying a word. Half an hour later, he ________ the fire. He pulled the carrots and eggs ________ and placed them in two bowls. Then he poured the coffee in another bowl.

He asked his daughter to feel the ________. She did and ________ that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and ________ it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to ________ the coffee.

She frowned at the strength of the coffee.

________, she asked, “What does it mean, Father?”

He explained, “Each of them ________ the same 100 degrees of boiling water. ________, each reacted differently.”

“After going through the boiling water, the carrot, became ________. An eggs is easy to ________ But now its inside has become hardened. The coffee beans were ________. After they were in the boiling water, they became stronger and richer.”

Which are you? When adversity (厄运) knocks on your door, you should act like the coffee bean.

6 . When smoke was found coming out of the back of the school bus early Tuesday morning, the bus driver, Teresa Stroble, immediately knew what to do. Thanks to her ________ thinking, more than 50 students’ lives were ________

While ________ a group of 56 students to their middle school in Duncan, South Carolina, on Tuesday, Teresa Stroble noticed the heavy ________ rising from the back of her bus. She ________ pulled the bus over, evacuated(疏散)the students, and asked ________ to call 911. Firefighters arrived at the scene shortly after the fire began and quickly ________ the fire, which was so ________ that people driving by were able to feel its heat inside their cars. Parents of the children on the bus were ________ the fire, but thanks to Teresa Stroble, the news they received was all ________: not a single child had been hurt.

Since then, Teresa Stroble, who has been a bus driver for seven years ________also works as a teacher’s assistant (助教), has been ________ for her brave actions. “We are so ________ of our bus driver,” headmaster Scott Turner told local CBS News. “She was ________. She also kept the students calm. She made sure they were safe. She didn’t leave the bus ________ they all left. She is our hero today.”

7 . A mother was criticizing (批评) her daughter because the girl was not good enough to compete at a championship level in the gymnastics camp.

The scene reminded me of my ______ of the day when one of my own gymnastic performances put me to tears.

My mother became seriously injured when she was young, and she has______ a wheelchair ever since. But she never let that ______ her. She raised five children and had a career.

One day I joined a gymnastics program at a nearby park. Before long, I was totally ______in it. By 1972, I was on the National Gymnastics Team for the Olympic Games. I couldn’t think of anything else but ______ a gold medal.

Before the competition, all in my mind was ______ not to disgrace (使……丢脸) my country and myself. But, though I tried my best, I didn’t win a gold medal. I was so ______. When the winners were receiving ______, I joined my parents in the stands, and we all cried. “I’m sorry. I did my best.” I said.

Mother said nothing but ten words I never ______, “Doing your best is more important than being the best. ” Suddenly I understood her______than ever before. She had never let her handicap(残疾) ______ her from doing her best.

Now I approached the crying girl and put a(n) ______ around her. “Honey, ” I said. “I know you have done your best, and doing your best is more important than being the best. I’m ______ you. ”

She ______ me with tears in her eyes. Maybe somewhere, someday, she’ll ______ those words along.

8 . The taxi driver was a man in his late thirties. He picked me up and ________ me to my place. I usually like to have brief ________ with people no matter where I come upon them and this situation was no different.

I started by asking him how ________ was. He told me briefly that his business was just________ but the cost of gas was really hurting his ________ line. We then got around to discussing the job environment. He told me that he had difficulty getting another type of work because of his________. “I used to be a con (罪犯),” he said ________. “People look at my record and then I’m ________, but you know I’ve turned my life around and have been ________ for several years. You don’t seem to be at all worried that you are riding with a con?” As we parked at my place, I thought about my ________ for a few seconds. “It is never easy to start a new life,” I said, “but I’m glad you are starting. If you don’t want to drive taxi for the ________of your life, then you can move down to some other job you may be ________.”

The driver seemed to be quite ________ as he took my money. “What you said to me makes a lot of ________,” he said. “I will remember your ________ and that you were real easy to talk with―I hope to see you again.”

9 . Imagine loving someone so much that you’d swim more than 5, 000 miles to see him or her. Dindim ____ swim that far every year to visit his friend Joao. This is ____ , not only because of the love between the two friends, but because Dindim is ____ a penguin. Joao found Dindim covered in oil, barely alive on a beach near his home. He picked him up, cleaned him off and brought him to his house where he ____ him and got him healthy again. Joao named him Dindim.

After a week, he brought the penguin back to the beach and tried to release him, _____Dindim refused to leave Joao. They lived together for the next eleven months. Then, Dindim disappeared. ____, Joao thought he’d never see his friend again. But just a few months later Dindim was back. He found Joao ____, and followed him home. Each year he ____ four months to live with other penguins. For the other eight months, he lives with Joao. Joao says that each time they meet again, Dindim seems ____ to see him. He says he loves the penguin ____ he were his family. He feels certain that Dindim loves him in the same way. Ecologist Carl Safina says that animals can and do love humans. He writes and speaks a lot about animals and their ____ . According to Carl, it’s clear that animals feel love for humans. What’s less obvious is whether or not humans love animals enough to ____ them. Hundreds of thousands of animals are killed by the same oil that____ Dindim when Joao found him.

Fifty percent of ____ has died out in the last 40 years because of humans’ ____their habitats. Scientists say we’re in a new mass extinction period. In the next two generations, they predict that we’ll lose 75 percent of the remaining species on earth.

10 . “I couldn't survive without music,” says fifteen-year-old Steve. In the morning, Steve wakes up to his favorite _________ radio station. He listens to rock on the radio while he eats his _________.He puts on his personal stereo before he leaves the house and listens to cassettes on the bus to _________.

“Last week I put my headphones on in the maths _________,”admits Steve.“The teacher was really _________. She took my headphones away and I couldn't use them for a week. It was _________.” At home Steve does his homework to music—loud music.

“My mother _________ shouts ‘Turn it down!’,” says Steve.“She can't _________ how I can work _________ music on, but music __________ me to fix my attention upon my studies.”Steve would like to make music himself.“I'm learning to play the guitar. __________,it doesn't sound so good at the __________.But I'm going to keep Practicing!”

For __________ like Steve, music is a very important part of __________.Music is social. It brings people together at discos, parties and concerts. Fast, __________ music is full of energy. It helps people to forget their problems and have fun. Music talks about love, freedom and imagination. There are always new songs and new styles.

But Steve's mother agrees that music brings some problems.“Steve is a sensible(明智的)boy.” she says.“I don't think he would ever take drugs hearing rock. But I do worry about his hearing with all that loud music. And it drives me crazy!”