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!

4 . It was the first night of a tiring seven-day 250km race across the Gobi Desert a year ago. Mr. Leonard___________a little dog going around his camp trying to ___________herself.

“Cute, but I’m not giving you any,” Leonard thought. Like all ___________, he had packed just enough for the whole ___________. He’d been running competitively for three years, and he had a___________ to win.

The next day, at the starting line, the dog ___________ him again. He waved her away, worried that she might be stepped on by the runners. ___________, the dog followed him all the way until the day’s race ___________. That night the dog snuggled (偎依) up to Leonard and even___________ to get a little food from him. By then, he was determined to name her Gobi.

The pair went on to finish the seven-day race, with Gobi____________ a distance of 125km on her own, and winning Leonard over, enough for him to make a____________ — he would take her home to Edinburgh. “Seeing Gobi on the race ____________my attitude to things. It made me think more about stopping and helping her, rather than just focusing on winning, ” said Leonard, who finished second. “It also made my running more enjoyable , giving me a lot of pleasure.”

As Leonard was preparing to get Gobi home, she was missing. With a group of 20 local volunteers coming to his ____________ , he finally found her. After that, Leonard never let Gobi out of his____________. Now Gobi’s favorite activity is still running, and she__________ does at least 8km a day with Leonard up the hills.

6 . 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.

7 . A little girl created a perfect gift for her mother’s birthday. It was a drawing of a _______on white paper with the words “For mom: love, love, love” decorated with hearts. She folded (折叠) her letter, but then she _______it.

For most people, that would be the _______ of this story, but this story had a different result. James Carrell found the letter. He had just_______ his mother, wishing her a happy birthday. After he hung up, Carrell saw the _______ on the ground outside of a hardware store in Manvel. “I _______ it was a gift,” said Carrell. “I opened it up and saw the flower and hearts. It really _______ me.” Carrell thought the letter would _______ someone’s day and that maybe he could find the owner, so he posted it on the Internet. The message moved a lot of people, _______ one man.

“I was sitting at my friend’s house and saw a man’s ________,” said Carrell.

The comments included one from Robert Alvarado. He wrote, “I can’t ________ you found my baby’s letter.” Carrell reached Alvarado to ________ the letter. It took a few days, but the men finally met on Thursday night.

“Eventually the letter made it home,” said Alvarado. “We are ________ for what James Carrell did.” We often forget the power of ________ things, but for this family from Alvin, Carrell’s small act left a ________impression.

8 . Thousands of people online are involved in efforts to help an 8-year-old, cancer-stricken (患癌症的) boy from the United States to realize his dream. Dorian Murray of Westerly, Rhode Island, has been receiving_________from around the world in recent days.，

Dorian has been_________cancer since he was 4._________the disease had been brought under control after a series of_________treatments, a medical checkup early this month found that cancer cells (细胞) had_________to the boy’s brain. The family decided to_________treatment.

Dorian then told his father that before going to heaven, he wanted to be_________in China because it had the Great Wall, which he called “a bridge for people to walk on”. The_________between the boy and his father was posted on Facebook, where it was_________and commented on by thousands of Internet users, including many from China.

Some responded with____________taken at the Great Wall in Beijing, in which they held signs with words of____________, reading “D-Strong” and “You are very famous in China.” Some left messages below the post, saying “I hope you will____________soon.” or “We are delighted to make your dream come true.”

Dorian’s mother wrote that she was____________and deeply moved by the responses to Dorian’s____________. “Dorian has brought so much inspiration to people around the world! I couldn’t be more____________my son,” she said.

10 . A mysterious creature was living under a man’s shed (简易房). Everything in his garden was almost ________, so he decided to set up a ________.

“I’ve been a gardener for over 20 years and I’ve never seen this kind of damage. Everything I ________ was getting eaten to pieces,” said Jeff.

He ________ a squirrel and a mouse grabbing snacks, but something didn’t ________. Then one day, he saw the culprit (肇事者), a groundhog (土拨鼠). The groundhog looked straight into the camera as if he was ________, “Yeah, I’m here. I’m eating your garden. What are you going to do about it?”

At first Jeff was a little upset and built some high ________. He put woods under the fences. But nothing ________. He kept seeing videos of the groundhog eating his vegetables.

Things only got ________. The groundhog, whom Jeff named “Chunk”, got a girlfriend and invited her to enjoy Jeff’s delicious treats, right in front of the camera. No matter what Jeff did, they were ________ a step ahead. “All they do is wake up and eat,” he said.

Well, as the saying goes, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” So, Jeff ________ to give them their own garden.

After they went into hibernation (冬眠) last November, Jeff had the ________ ready for them when they woke up. And to his ________, there was now a baby groundhog.

Jeff ________ the groundhogs a small picnic table, a water fountain, and put out some nice decorations. “If I can do a job to ________ them and keep them safe, I’m all for it,” Jeff said.