1 . My mom died on her 50th birthday.She had been diagnosed with breast cancer a few years before. The day she took her last_________, we each took turns saying goodbye.

When we were done, we all walked outside and sat looking at the river that_________through my parents’ backyard. A hummingbird buzzed by,and my sister said.“I bet that’s mom.”It was as if that_________energy and charm she’d had when she was healthy had eventually been given back to her after so many months’ being_________to her bed,and had taken the form of this_________little bird. My mom was the sort of person who wanted everyone to have a great time. So, on her request, everyone wore a_________hat to her funeral. There was also a DJ who played songs like Consider me gone by Sting. My mom never took herself too _________. She just wanted everyone to be happy.

Even when I was_________with her for not letting me get a hotel room with my friends on prom(毕业舞会)night，or when she expressed_________that I couldn’t ____________ my grades,I still love her so much. She listened to me without judgement. She respected my____________,yet left her door wide open if I ever needed to talk. She encouraged my strengths and____________my weaknesses with humor, “Who cares if you don’t have a great singing voice?Sing your heart out!”

She left us too soon, but she left her children with the memory of being loved ____________. I realized the best way to____________her memory was to find a way to love myself that much, even in her   ____________. What an incredibly gift that has been.

2 . Putri Prihardinni, a freshman at the Gansu University of Chinese Medicine, is amazed at how traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has continued to develop since she began studying it a year ago.

When she was 10, she _________ from constant headaches. So, her mother took her to see a TCM doctor near their home in Indonesia. After several weeks of _________ the bitter herbal medicine, her symptoms disappeared.

“His medical skills were like magic,” Prihardinni recalls. The _________ of being cured by TCM encouraged her to _________ TCM study.

Also from Indonesia, 21-year-old Banon Sayekti is one of Prihardinni’s _________. As she has never been _________ to TCM therapy before, Sayekti found it _________ to understand this branch of medicine at the beginning of her first semester.

“Chinese people believe that good health requires a _________ of yin and yang, and TCM doctors not only _________ a patient’s symptoms, but also to his or her __________ physical condition.” Sayekti says.

Many overseas students, __________, face difficulties in fully understanding the meaning and function of TCM medical terms __________ cultural and language barriers. To help them, the university offers various training courses for freshmen.

“People in my country are becoming increasingly interested in TCM. Numerous social media vloggers(视频博主) in my country are __________ their experiences with Chinese medicine,” Sayekti says. She plans to open a TCM clinic after graduation. “I want to tell my friends Chinese medicine is a __________ choice.”

As for Prihardinni, she wishes to obtain a postgraduate degree. “TCM study is a lifelong __________. I know it is not easy to persist, but I would like to give it a try.”

3 . Giving road directions in fluent Mandarin, 67-year-old American expat (旅居国外者) Terry Crossman has been helping people in Beijing Xicheng District for almost five years now.

He _______ the Xicheng Dama Club in 2017. The volunteer group is mostly _______ middle-aged women. Joining the group has made Crossman an online celebrity. “I guess my _______ is very suitable, because I’m very warm-hearted, very open and friendly.”

After _______ from the University of Pennsylvania, Crossman first came to Beijing in 1987 for business. He and his family then moved there in 1997. Over the past three decades, he has _______ the modernization and rapid improvement of the living standards in Beijing. “We all have electric heat now instead of coal heat, so it’s much _______ than it used to be. People here managed to preserve some of the old Beijing and I am really _______ of the city for doing that.”

Having spent a _______ of his life in Beijing, Crossman considers himself a Beijinger at heart and has made Beijing his permanent _______. But Crossman’s love for China goes ________ beyond natural scenery. He has studied Chinese history, literature, sociology and philosophy. Crossman says he became ________ in Chinese culture as a teenager when he first read the Tao Te Ching by Lao Zi, and Taoist teachings have ________ him until now.

“I mean concepts I like from Taoism or things like Wuwei: I like the whole ________ of going with nature, Shunqiziran: if you trust the universe, the universe will ________ you.”

Taoism has helped Crossman to not only enjoy serving people as a community volunteer, but also to seize today and ________ in the present.

4 . A nonprofit is making their community more inclusive and accessible, one tool at a time.

Many people living in low-income areas don’t have access to the _________ they need to make even the most _________ home improvements. Most can’t _________ to buy pricey tools themselves, nor can they afford to _________ someone else to repair their homes. That’s where the Chicago Tool Library comes in!

Tessa Vierk and Jim Benton started the tool library in 2019. It _________ exactly like a regular library, except _________ books, people can borrow tools they need for home _________, woodworking, gardening, cooking, camping, sewing, and more. People _________ for a library card, and there’s a pay-what-you-can annual fee with no standard or minimum payments. _________ can borrow as many __________ as they can carry for seven days, and renew them if they need more time.

When the library first __________, they had about 150 members. During the pandemic (流行病) when more people were home, their membership increased __________. They now have over 1,500 members from all over the Chicago area and more than 2,500 tools to choose from. In fact, they’re growing so fast that they’ve had to __________ tool donations. So now they’re searching for a __________ building to hold “twice as many tools”. They haven’t found the __________ expansion space yet, but they’re looking for a place that’s easily __________ from the transit (运输) system to make their __________ available to even more people.

What a __________ idea! It is also putting a new twist (转变) on a(n) __________ concept, all to bring more __________ to their community.

5 . One day Bella, a future psychiatrist (精神病医生), visited a clinic with her teacher. While the teacher was _______ his business, Bella was invited to wait for him in the art room. Walking in, Bella looked with _______ at everything around her. Suddenly a young man _______, talking loudly to himself. He threw a quick look at Bella and _______ the piano in the corner. Stopping at the window, he _______ to speak. Bella assumed he was a patient because she found clear signs of _______ in his voice and the waving of his arms. After a while the young man _______ the piano and started pressing the keys randomly. Bella thought the young man might break it.

Bella found herself facing a _______ patient when one orderly (护工) appeared. The orderly asked if there was much work to do with the piano. The young man replied that he had already _______ it up. Then Bella noticed a headset sticking out of the man’s ear and she was terribly ________. He was a piano tuner. At this point, the young man ________ asked the orderly whether it was normal to leave a patient ________ at the clinic. “I’m a visitor, not a patient!” Bella protested. Bella was terribly ________. Not only was she a future doctor, unable to tell the ________ between a healthy person and a patient, but she herself was considered crazy!

Hasty (草率的) conclusions too often turn out to be ________ and put one in a foolish position. Avoid them.

6 . Jenny Ferguson, a young mother, walked around a grocery in California, looking for diapers(尿布) for her four-month-old daughter Anne. She was _________ because of the unreasonably high prices. _________, a set of three diaper packets which was on sale caught her attention. She _________ her coins and discovered she could pay for them. She quickly _________ to the cashier with the packets, hiding her _________. The cashier looked at her from head to toe, giving her a dirty look. “That’s $ 30.”

“$ 30?!” cried Jenny. “But there’s a discount! They should be a lot _________.”

“I’m sorry, lady. The deal has been invalid(无效的)!” the cashier _________.

“Oh, no,” she whispered, teary-eyed. “I can’t _________ it. Can you please give me a _________?” The cashier laughed, “Nice try, woman. But tears won’t work here.”

Jenny couldn’t control her __________ at this point. She whispered to Anne and burst out tears. She had been     ________ to Anne when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She __________ and saw a woman, somewhat in her late 80s, standing behind her.

“Oh, don’t cry,” she __________ Jenny. “I will pay for you.”

She took Jenny’s hand in hers, __________ some baby food, fruits, and bread, and told the cashier to __________. “We’ll take everything, including the diapers. The bill is on me.”

Jenny’s tears were not __________ again and she thanked the older woman for her __________. “I appreciate that so much, ma’am. But do __________ me for I didn’t even ask you your name.”

“Oh, lady,” shrugged the woman. “There’s no __________ to worry. I should leave now…” She rushed out of the store without even __________ her name.

7 . Jenny was a little girl who was not very confident. She always lowered her ________ because she didn’t think she was beautiful enough all the time. One day she went to a shop to ________ a green bow (蝴蝶结). The shopkeeper constantly praised she looked very beautiful with it. Though she didn’t ________ that, Jenny was so ________ that she couldn’t help raising her head.

Jenny happened to meet her teacher when she went into the classroom. “Jenny, it’s ________ beautiful when you ________ your head,” said the teacher.

That day Jenny got the ________ from many people. She ________ it must be because of the bow. When she looked in the mirror (镜子), there wasn’t any ________ on her head. She must have ________ it when she went out of the shop and bumped against(撞到)someone else.

Self-confidence is originally (本来) a kind of ________, but many people ________ so much about their appearance (外表) that they lose a lot of ________. Poor or ________, pretty or plain, as long as you, raise your head, it can make you ________.

8 . Pooja Rani entered the boxing area at age 18 all thanks to her coach Sanjay Kumar. However, even with much _________ , Pooja felt shy to wear the boxing gloves. She also knew that her father would not _________ her taking up this “violent” sport. But Pooja went after her interest _________ anyway until one day when _________ came to her father—he discovered the truth and stopped her playing the sport.

“My father wasn’t _________ of boxing because he thought it violent. He didn’t _________ me playing other sports but boxing was a _________ no-go zone,” Pooja said. It then took six months of continuous _________ from Pooja and her coach Sanjay to _________ her father to change his attitude.

She won the National Youth Boxing Championship (锦标赛) in 2009, which ____________ her career on an upward path. She bagged back-to-back medals and was qualified for the Rio Olympics later. Unstoppable as she was, her wins came to a____________ for some reason. It took her a whole year to get back on ____________. Pooja returned in an impressive way, winning gold medals at the Asian Boxing Championship in 2019 and 2021. This ____________ her to be the first woman boxer to ____________ the title. Given the road she took to get here, for us, Pooja is ____________ the “queen of boxing”.

9 . The Mid-Autumn Day is a happy time for a family reunion (团聚). But it was a different________after my parents and I came to America. I remember the first Mid-Autumn Day we spent here.

On that morning, I smiled seeing mooncakes on the table. But then I________I had classes at 1:50 pm and felt________. You see, there’s a________in China for this special day but not in America. Noticing my upset, Mom tried to comfort me, “We have duck at lunch, your favorite.________?” The duck cheered me up. We had a delicious lunch, but before we________it was time for class. I had to put down my________and sat before my computer. I couldn’t help________that my Mid-Autumn Day was like this — having online classes with lunch half-eaten. I would never________this in the past.

At the Mid-Autumn Gala (联欢会), the scene (场景) of a family having dinner together made me________. I really missed my grandparents. Although we had________them in the day, it was different from a reunion. How regretful we couldn’t________!

At midnight, I got lost in thought. The day is so important that I felt upset without a good________. But on second thoughts, although the holiday________, the moon was still full.________, although in different countries, all hearts of my family were connected. Realizing this made me filled with warmth.

10 . Pilot becomes a real-life hero

I would like to introduce a movie, Sully, which tells us about an airplane crash due to mechanical failure.

After leaving New York City, US Airways Flight 1549 is struck by some birds, which _________ both engines. The _________ of the flight, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, _________ to make an emergency landing on the Hudson River, as he believes that the damage will keep them from reaching the closest airport. Luckily, all passengers and the crew are _________ evacuated(疏散). However, his decision is _________ by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), as its simulation(模拟)shows that there was enough _________ to reach the closest airport. The NTSB thinks that Sully’s actions put all the people on the _________ at risk. The incident has already hurt Sully’s _________, but he still has to _________ suspicions(怀疑)and rumors. He __________ that the simulation is not reliable, and they should reconsider it. At that moment he didn’t have much __________ to analyze the situations, consider all possible ways and weight the risks before making the final decision. Considering those human factors, the NTSB runs the simulation again and shows that Sully has made the __________ decision.

After watching the movie, I was so __________ by Captain Sully. __________ an emergency that endangers hundreds of people, most leaders might feel fearful and anxious and be unable to think __________. However, he takes responsibility and saves the passengers’ lives. He follows his gut(直觉)and logically defends himself in the hearing(听证会).