1 . Although Cuban built a tech company that would finally make him extremely rich, he never showed off that. “I never, ever thought about _________,” he said. Instead, Cuban said his drive was something else _________. He said, “I always think about time. That’s always been my driving force. How can I control my own _________?”

At the beginning, when Cuban sold his first company for 6 million dollars, he never thought he’d have to _________ again. It made him so _________. He saved most of his _________ so he could live freely without worrying about future job. When he did _________, he spent on traveling with friends and family.

Five years later, the stock (股票) he had was highly _________ at the time. However, he hadn’t _________ most of his stock just months before the bubble (泡沫) ________________, and then the share (股份) price dropped quickly. “It taught me a ________________: When you just go after money, it never ________________ well,” Cuban said. “However, if you value time, it can work out quite well. The most valuable fortune we can ________________ is our time. The only thing we can do is ________________ time and make full use of it. In that case, we can get amazing results.”

I couldn’t agree more with Cuban’s views. A person’s life is short. We should make the best use of time to do meaningful things, so that we won’t ________________ a thing before death.

2 . Animal rescue workers often come up with various ways to get their dogs noticed by potential adopters. Happily Forever After Rescue is no different. Their recent idea is so_______that they’re getting much attention online.

It all started when a 7-year-old dog was discovered _______in a drainpipe (排水管). The animal was a homeless dog who was taken off the street and_______for illegal dog fighting. By the time he escaped, his left ear was so badly damaged that it needed to be _______ . And this_______ him his new name: Van Gogh.

Van Gogh was brought to the _______ , but sadly, no one _______any applications to adopt him. Then the founder, Jacklyn Gartner, got an idea. She took out some paints and a small canvas (画布), placed them all inside a big plastic bag, and_______peanut butter on the outside of the plastic bag. The dog started licking off the peanut butter, and his very own_______ artwork appeared!

After Van Gogh completed ten ________, the rescue arranged for a gallery for his artworks. But again, the world just wasn’t__________for this sweetheart’s work just yet! “Van Gogh was so excited. He was dressed up and waited patiently for his guests to arrive, but only two people________,” the rescue said. “Van Gogh put many hours and a lot of________ into creating such beautiful art and we worked so hard to make this a special event.”

________, after Van Gogh’s sad story was shared online, thousands of people lined up to purchase his paintings, and he sold all 30 of his artworks for about $40 each. All the earnings will________ the rescue and the other dogs that come after him. Most importantly, people are finally sending in adoption applications for this very special boy!

3 . In 2019 my son, Ollie, seven, had severe liver failure. In Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, liver transplantation was _______ performed for Ollie. The _______ became our world for the next two months as Ollie fought his way back to health. _______, the doctors said he could come home with Christmas around the corner. I was _______ by Make-A-Wish Foundation offering to grant a wish for Ollie. It was just what he_______. He would love to surf with Mick Fanning, a champion surfer who was Ollie’s hero.

Six weeks before Christmas, I received a call telling me Mick _______ to surf with Ollie. Mick had even _______ a video message for Ollie saying he was looking forward to meeting him. In June this year, Make-A-Wish Foundation _______ us all to Queensland. As we made our way to Green Mount Beach, Ollie was _______.

Finally arriving at the ________, we saw Mick standing on the sand looking out at the ocean. “Hey, Ollie,” Mick said, smiling and relieving him. Mick said, “Let’s catch some ________.” For an hour Mick made sure other surfers gave ________ to Ollie as he pushed himself on to wave after wave. “That was ________,” Ollie said to Mick afterwards.

As we were about to say goodbye, Mick had other________, In the surf shop, he ________Ollie to a wetsuit and anything else he wanted. The kid hugged him tight, not wanting to let him ________.

Ollie is 10 now and ________ well. Mick’s ________ was Ollie’s all-time best Christmas present. But for me, seeing my son ________ , happy and healthy, is the ultimate Christmas gift I couldn’t ________ more.

4 . In 2016, Linda Durrence and her husband suffered the loss of their oldest daughter. Then they _________ to Glennville, Georgia, and attended church every Sunday.

One Sunday, they met three sisters adopted by a family nearby. The couple became good friends with them _________ , so when the girls were going to be put in _________ homes a few years later, they turned to Linda Durrence for help.

The oldest sister had turned 18 and left the care system, and Linda didn’t _________ to welcome the younger two girls into her home with open arms. “The first thing that broke my heart was that they came with a _________ bag that wasn’t even halfway full of clothes that didn’t _________ them,” Linda recalled. What Linda and her husband did first was to take the girls to go _________. “We watched them coming from a place of _________ brokenness and they blossomed,” said Linda.

The idea of blossoming _________ in her mind, as did the image of the children ____________ with just a garbage bag full of too-small clothes. “I couldn’t forget that,” she said.

Last December, Linda opened Blossom, a shop giving out free ____________ to anyone in need. At Blossom, families can choose seven full sets of clothes and shoes free of charge. They can come back every ____________ for size and season changes. She’s relying on ____________ from kind-hearted people to keep the shop going.

Linda hopes that getting new clothing will ____________ adopted children’s confidence. She wants them all to have the same____________ to blossom as her own children.

5 . About a month ago I noticed something really amazing, which I must call a garden miracle(奇迹). It so happened that when I _______ the double doors of a small storage area in the back of my house where I _______my garden supplies during the long, severe New England winter, I found, in one of the dirt-filled pots, a living, growing plant, topped with two of the most unlikely pink _______you’ve ever seen.

How was this _______? The unheated space had been closed all winter, and it was still cold outside. Once I caught my breath, I _______and discovered something approaching a reasonable explanation-there was a small glass window at the top of the double doors, and it was possible that a ray of sun fell directly on that pot, giving the plant just enough light and warmth to_______ it to grow in its own personal greenhouse.

I can’t help feeling_______ at the lessons this wonderful plant has to teach.

For one thing, I am moved by the happenstance(巧合) of the whole thing. If I had _______my pot six inches to the left or right of that spot, the plant might not have gotten that_______ray of light. If I had ________ the roots of the plant in late fall, there would have been nothing but dirt in that pot.

But there’s something else that________me about this-just how little light and________it took for this plant to grow and flower. I’m not________ we should be mean with love and kindness and all the other warming things we__________for others and for ourselves. But isn’t it comforting to think that just a drop of________can brighten a day, a place, a life?

When it comes to positivity, a little goes a long way. Just ask my little miracle plant.

6 . A single tremble shook beneath my feet. The trees above me began to sway(摇摆) hard. Then came the deadly_________that could only mean one thing, destruction. Every house and object was now_________. My vision blurred (模糊) even more when I saw the remains of my house. The house that used to_________all the happiness in the world was now_________a pile of ruined pieces. I_________all the times I played with my little brother and sister. Images of them were_________in my mind, so I let the darkness sweep over me completely so I could see them vividly one last time. I regained a bit of my_________after lying on the ground for some time. My eyes viewed different things, but I walked on mindlessly, with no_________to anything around me at all.

Years have passed since the disaster that_________me years ago. I never thought I would be okay again after this__________event.

Today I am going on a trip to California to help__________of a recent earthquake. Then, I see her. A young girl is weeping into her arm. I walk toward her. Losing family was__________, but because of my life changing experience, I am strong, and I can__________the lives of those who are suffering as I was. When I reach the girl, she stares at me with sad eyes, and I gently stick out my hand for her to hold to. One day, she may__________others the way I did for her. She holds my hand tightly, and together, we look for a brighter future where we can help those around us and__________the world starting with one disaster at a time.

7 . I was born in India. My dad was a busy doctor, but the best thing he did was to______the Reader’s Digest. He didn’t read_____but the Digest and the Illustrated Weekly of India, because he said they were the only stylish magazines. We looked forward to the RD monthly, simply because we loved them. ______, the postman didn’t at all like the day he brought it. My siblings and I used to ______ him by pulling it from his hand, ______the packing and throwing that back in his bag.

We used to fight for the magazine so much that he nearly fell off his______once!

Realizing what a group of ______youngsters he had to encounter, he soon learned his lesson and always got off his bike______he rang the doorbell, especially on the day the RD had to be______!

It was only when I was 17 that I fully understood the ______ pages. I had an irritating habit of laughing out loud, which I did, in the______places. Once I was travelling to London with my parents. Lost in the jokes from Reader’s Digest, I burst out laughing. People were staring at me in ____ ; my parents were embarrassed, but I was____of all that, and just enjoyed reading my Digest.

______, I started reading all the articles in the RD, and I must say I truly enjoyed reading the magazine from cover to cover. I am now 65 years old. Reader ‘s Digest has ______over the years, but I have not stopped reading. I even got my own subscription.

8 . While some creatives discover their passion later in life, others find their calling at an early age. One elementary school student in Colorado named Kaia Aragon has been _________ the Internet with her closet of handmade designs. She was even _________ a sewing machine by Vera Wang! This _________ 9-year-old has been making her own clothes by hand since November 2021 and has dreams of one day being a _________ fashion designer.

Aragon _________ her growing collection of clothes on the Internet, where she poses in each one. These custom creations range from attractive dresses made from shining fabrics to casual tops to sports outfits she can wear while _________ “My inspiration comes from a _________ place for every design,” Aragon tells My Modern Met. “The one thing that stays the same is that I only use super _________ and comfortable fabrics.”

As it turns out, comfort is a huge _________ for Aragon, who was urged to make her own clothes due to a sense of __________ with the pre-existing selection for girls of her age. “I like making clothes because the fancy dresses in the little girls’ sections are so stiff (僵硬的) and __________,”she explains. “With my own clothes, I can be super __________ but also comfortable at the same time. So I can go to a tea party and then go ride my skateboard at the park and not have to __________ first.”

Although Aragon has made numerous outfits, her __________ favorite is a pale pink dress with a special design at the hem (裙边). “My next outfit will be a white dress with hand-painted fabric,” Aragon __________.

9 . As a(n) _________ English teacher at my school in Japan, I have a weekly English music broadcast where I showcase different English songs. I try to get the students to recommend songs to me for the broadcast. At the broadcast, I usually _________ who recommended the song and then play it for everyone to hear during lunch time.

I give everyone a chance to _________ themselves through their music, including one _________ student of mine. This student constantly gets into fights with the other students, doesn’t study, and brings down the _________ of the class. Most of the other teachers and students push him away. I knew though that he just needed a _________, or at least someone he can connect with.

I could tell he was _________ to me over the last year. I told him to think of a song he likes that has some English words in it and that I’ll play it on the broadcast for him. He eventually recommended a song. In _________, I really liked this song so I put in on the broadcast and made sure to announce his name, so everyone knew that he contributed and recommended such a _________ song.

__________, the boy was thrilled, and he’s been much happier and focused in English class ever since. While everyone else still __________ him and pushed him away, I saw right through and knew that he just needed someone who __________ him and give him a chance. There’s still language __________ between us, but words aren’t needed, you can always sense where you’re at with someone.

He recently walked by me and gave me the most __________ smile that I’ve ever seen. My colleague turned to me and said “I’ve never seen him smile like that before. How did you __________ to him?” “I gave him a chance,” I said, “through just one song.”

10 . Davon Cannon never thought that he would spend $5000 on a four-day summer vacation. But there he was, buying Universal Studios tickets for his three sons, ______a room at one of the theme park’s resorts.

“We’ve never spent that much money”, says Mr. Cannon, a 44-year-old IT manager. But he can’t stop thinking about the family get-togethers they didn’t attend, the ______ birthdays spent jumping in a rented bounce house, no friends ______ “I really just want to make sure they have the best time possible.”

______more than two years of canceled graduation ceremonies and spring breaks, parents are trying to ______ the lost time. So many childhood milestones were ______whether in state shutdowns, or positive home tests and quarantines(隔离). “We’re going ______”,says Kerry Doman, who invited many people to the combined birthday party she’s______ for her 6-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter. There might be 100 guests.

Ms. Doman, who runs a website______for parents in the Detroit area, has been working on the September party since June. But she knows that booking the gathering place and sending out the invitations are no ______ that Covid-19 won’t interrupt her plans. Plenty of milestones continue to be missed as the latest______of infections fuels a fresh round of cancellations and inconveniences.

“It’s slightly frustrating, Ms. Doman says of the fact that plans are still ______ .She reasons this is just our reality right now, and it’s teaching her kids ______. It’s a great learning experience that, hey, there are disappointing moments in our life. ”

______, wouldn’t it be nice if our plans ______for once?