1 . In 1991, Davenport played in her first professional tennis match when she was 15. She was ranked (排名) the Number 1 woman _________ player in the world eight different times.

I had the chance to _________ Davenport at the 2012 US Open. _________ that night, she answered some questions from our group and I asked her, “Ms Davenport, _________ can teach people a lot of lessons. What lessons did you _________ during your time as a professional tennis player that you didn’t learn _________ an amateur (业余运动员)?” To be honest, I had a personal reason for asking this question. I played baseball in college, but not _________. So I wanted to know what I missed.

Davenport’s first _________ was to talk about how she had to grow up _________. She mentioned the power of the media and learning to live her life in front of a(n) __________. But then she changed the __________ and talked about improving her skill and the lessons of competition, hard work, and perseverance. Those things, she said, were learned long __________ she became a professional. In other words, to learn about what it’s like to __________ as a professional athlete, you need to be a professional athlete. But to learn the lessons of playing sports, you just need to __________ your sport.

Take note: you don’t need to be the best in order to be __________ or satisfied, but all that matters is that you play the game.

2 . When it comes to experiencing other cultures, there’s no doubt that traveling is one of the most effective ways. ____, if you don’t have the time, money, or energy to ____ a trip abroad, you have other choices. In fact, you probably don’t even need to ____ your hometown to ____ other cultures!

Given the great ____ of America today, chances are that even the people you meet every day represent a ____ range of cultural heritage and experiences. Your friends, neighbors, and co-workers may ____ people of different national, religious, or ethnic backgrounds, all within arm’s reach. Take the ____ to get to know more about them. You might be ____ at the variety of people living right next to you.

Other types of cultural exploration can be ____. Consider spending a weekend learning about a different culture by ____ some activities such as visiting your local museum, reading a book and trying new cuisine.

In the ____, you can learn about works of art from other countries, look at archaeological finds from distant lands and think about how they may have ____ particular cultures. Read a book that explains the history of different societies and how they’ve evolved (进化) into the culture they are today. That can help you ____ how their customs, traditions, and food got to be the way they are today. Even food offers chances to ____ cultural variety and how it is expressed through cuisine.

3 . I got off the bus at 10:00 pm, with some books and a wallet in my hand. I walked to my _______, thinking deeply about my paper.

A car was driving slowly down the street. As it _______, I saw the driver. I kept _______. The car slowed down and _______. I heard its door was shut. A few seconds later, I heard footsteps (脚步声) behind me. I imagined when I reached my house, the man would put his right hand over my mouth and then I would be robbed (抢劫) of my _______.

I shook my head and stopped imagining the _______ scene. All I knew was that I _______ to experience that imaginary attack. I turned around and waited for him. He came closer and closer. I could see his eyes _______.

“Would you please leave me alone?” It was neither a question nor a scream. My _______ was low. Nothing could be worse than what I had ________.

“I’m not going to ________ you,” he said, then turned around and walked back to his car.

Although this ________ was important to me, it should not be understood as ________ action for anyone else. ________ evil (邪恶) could be dangerous. For me, a young student, the experience combined my imagination and my ________. I did not run away.

4 . At 20, I was scared and lonely. My laptop was filled with the beginning of novels, half-finished song lyrics (歌词) — things I’d started with teenage ________ only to be disappointed by my lack of creativity. I was ________ trying to find a new way to approach life, with no one to ________ me in the right direction.

One Saturday, I went to a training day for my school’s new journalism team. The teacher suggested I start a blog as a good way to get into ________. Bored and in need of a ________, I immediately set up a Blogger account.

As I typed post after post in the months that followed, I assumed I would run out of ________. But somehow writing about the news and, later, about ________, came easily. Here was something interesting that required only a laptop and an ________. I loved the research that went into each post, loved being able to ________ what interested me and loved finding just the right phrase to describe how I ________. I found something I was good at and more importantly, something I ________.

I kept posting and slowly I got better. I ________, edited and even learned how to employ a metaphor. It wasn’t long until my mind was made up: I was going to be a(n) ________.

Seven years later, I am having just completed a fantastic placement (实习) in a local newspaper. I have never been so ________ to my younger self for actually listening to the one piece of advice that turned out to ________ most.

5 . How long have you been going to the same hairdresser or barber? It’s a question that gets us thinking about the unique friendship we _______ with our stylists over the years.

You have confidence in each other. You have a laugh together and regularly _______ each other’s news. Plus they try to make you look and feel your best. That’s a(n) _______ not only for a great friendship, but also for the perfect relationship with your hairdresser. When you find a good barber, it’s something to _______.

Many people have _______ experiences with their hairdressers. I’ve had my hair cut by Claire Miller for more than 15 years. She’s taken me through all kinds of _______, and she’s helped me find a totally new look now during the post-chemotherapy (化疗后) period with dyed blonde hair! _______ hairstyles, there have been communications about the joys and trials of motherhood, the _______ of health problems and changes in our careers and lives — the stuff of 15 years that we have _______ in the three salons Claire has worked in.

While she cut my hair recently, we chatted about that special __________ that forms between hairdressers and their clients. “You hear so many stories from them, and sometimes you feel like a counselor __________ a hairdresser. You assess their needs, and you know how to react to them,”says Claire.

For Claire, the customer interaction is something she loves about the job and that she has __________ developed throughout her working life. “It’s about being human and __________ about people. A lot of my clients are my friends and like family now. It’s my __________ to cut their hair, making them look and feel good, but I also want them to feel __________ by the experience,” laughs Claire.

6 . The other day,Jenny and I went to a cookbook launch party at our friend Odette’s apartment. We stood in her_________and drank Prosecco. While eating pasta salad, we chatted about work and fantasy vacations to Italy. After a couple of hours, it was time for me to head_________for the boys’ bedtime,so I turned to Jenny.“Okay, let’s_________behind the kitchen is-land,”I said, noting Odette’s position on the other side of the room.

Jenny looked at me in_________.“But we have to say goodbye.”

Oh, right! I_________that not everyone ghosts after parties. Meanwhile, I’ve been happily ghosting for the past_________.It started 10 years ago,when my husband Alex and I_________a big holiday party. Fifty friends squeezed into our tiny apartment, and everyone was having a_________ time until something started happening.

For the entire second half of the party,friends kept coming up to say goodbye and_________ us a happy rest-of-the-weekend. It just felt like a mass leave because we were consumed with saying goodbye to every__________person who was heading home. It felt like the__________was already over. The next morning, Alex and I made a decision: We would never say goodbye to the   __________of parties. We would__________slip out the door.

Goodbyes are, by their very nature, at least a mild disappointment. So I__________people to leave parties without saying goodbye. What if your friends wonder where you’ve gone?They probably won’t even__________that you’ve left.

7 . A relative invited me to come and live in his house. With complete _________ in his promises, I loaded all my worldly possessions onto a ship _________ India in November 2001. Everything had gone _________ in the run-up (准备阶段) to the trip. I was confident that this _________ was the next big step I had to take.

When I arrived, he said, “Things have _________. There is no place here for you.”

I was stunned. I was so _________ that I couldn’t speak. Like a frozen statue, I stood perched on the edge of the vast _________, not sure of what to do. The anger _________. I could not go back to England as all my worldly possessions were on their way to India.

In order to live, I submitted articles to magazines in India and, occasionally, they _________ me for them.

Those years of __________ left a permanent impression. I was searching for an appropriate place to __________, but only later did I realize that the movement itself was meant for my __________ development. If I had only stayed in his house, I would never have learned many valuable lessons. One such lesson was that through __________ and commitment to one’s ideals in life, any adverse situation can be __________. I am writing this story from my __________ in India.

8 . Eight years ago, Nixon, 59, started each day from a bench of the St. Petersburg, Florida, waterfront. Watching a sunrise makes him feel ______.

“Seeing you ______ here, I know everything will be OK.” a woman’s words changed his perspective. Nixon ______. “That’s when I knew: I needed to pay attention to the people ______. I needed to ensure them we ______ to each other.”

______ watching sunrise, Nixon started smiling at people and ______ conversations. People began joining him on the bench, asking for advice.

“I wanted them to walk away ______ they didn’t have to feel alone.” said Nixon. “People feel their purpose hasn’t been ______ in their 50s. At this stage in life, this is definitely my ______.”

Weather permitting, Nixon will sit on the bench before sunrise every morning. His presence and ______ to listen have led some people to ______ him the Sunshine Mayor. No matter what problem a person wants to ______, Nixon lends an ear.

Once a couple talked about problems in their relationship. “The husband was ______ working, rarely home,” Nixon said. “It was ruining their marriage. I told him: ‘My friend, if your wife’s words didn’t scare you, then maybe the possibility of losing her will.’” Finally, the man agreed to slow down.

No topic is off limits, but some ______ want to sit next to someone and share the silence.

9 . Technology has really improved my life over the past years. For example, the _________ that the iPhone brought have been dramatic (巨大的). We _________ our phones as music players, cameras, flashlights, and entertainment (娱乐) devices. We can use Siri, or Google on our phones to _________ to our voice requests. Phones have _________ become a way to pay for items. And the saying “There’s an app for that” has become a serious _________ to many of our questions and problems.

The Amazon Echo voice assistant (Alexa) has also had a dramatic _________ on my life. With a few Internet-connected light bulbs and switches, I can now _________ Alexa to turn lights and devices on and off. When I get into bed at night, I tell Alexa what time to _________ me. In the morning, Alexa _________ the alarm clock and gives me the weather and news.

A more recent ____________ to my home, the Google Home voice assistant, has also made my life ____________ . With the addition of a $35 Chromecast device for my TV and a subscription (订阅) to Netflix, I can tell Google to play a certain Netflix movie or television show by ____________ . For example, I can say, “Hey Google, ____________ The Crown on TV.” My TV will display the show and ____________ right where I left off. No more ____________ the series in the Netflix app or trying to remember what I watched last.

10 . I was walking through the bush when, suddenly, a baby koala rushed to me through the sky. Through quick thinking, I managed to catch it in my _______. “Oh Doodah, are you —_______ to see me today?” I asked the koala. Doodah, a baby koala, was just one of the many koalas that had come into my _______. And while I might be his favourite person, I loved all of these animals _______.

Ever since I was a girl, I’d loved animals and at 18 had started work at the Curmmbin Wildlife Sanctuary as a _______ collector. Selecting leaves for the koalas brought me so much joy as the koalas _______ them for food. Through hard work and _______ I eventually became a koala specialist, which saw me working in China, where I _______ in koala-breeding programs.

My son, Jett, always been with koalas and comes out _______ them with me. But we’ve both become concerned over the __________ of our beloved koalas. I knew the best way to stop them from dying out was to __________ the young like my son because the future really is theirs. So I wrote a children’s book, Have You Seen a Tree for Me?, which I hope will help them understand we’ve got to __________ our beloved wildlife.

There are lots of __________ things kids can do to start helping now; Keep dogs and cats locked away from wildlife, plant a tree that will encourage native animals to visit and __________your family to drive slowly in wildlife habitats and areas. That might only sound __________, but if we all do this, it can make a big difference.