1 . I’ve never really understood why more Oscar winners don’t thank their teachers.

Yes, family and your “team” are a given. But what about the ________ who helped you get to where you are now?

I was ________ enough to have a lot of great teachers, but one in particular ________ the person I am today: Lin Robbins. She was always smiling and had endless ________. She was no taskmaster, and there was no ________ love, just excitement about what she could teach us.

Miss Robbins once gave me a copy of The Catcher in the Rye. I don’t know ________ she did this — it wasn’t an assignment (作业). She just gave me a copy of the book and said, “I think you’ll really ________ this.”

This book inspired me to start ________, and I haven’t stopped since. After I moved on to high school, I would still ________ and share my work with Miss Robbins. She read it all, and told me two ________ words: Keep Writing.

I haven’t sold a screenplay. But, I know that I have to ________ writing. And I also ________ who I should thank on any winner’s podium (讲台) I get my hands on. Miss Robbins, I’m ________ that she saw whatever it is she saw in me, and that she gave me the ________ I needed to become a writer. So, don’t miss out on ________ your teacher-hero. They’re the ones who make us who we are.

2 . I strongly believe that it is rather important to be a good listener. And although I have become a better listener than I was ten years ago, I have to admit I’m still only an ________ listener.

Effective listening is more than simply ________ the bad habit of interrupting others while they are speaking or finishing their sentences. It’s being ________ to listen to the entire thought of someone ________ waiting impatiently for your chance to respond. In some ways, the way we fail to listen is symbolic of the way we live. We often treat communication as if it were a ________. It’s almost like our goal is to have no time ________ between the conclusion of the sentence of the person we are speaking with and the beginning of our own. My wife and I were recently at a cafeteria having lunch, overhearing the conversation around us. It seemed that no one was really listening to one another. ________, they were taking turns not listening to one another. I asked my wife if I still did the same thing. With a smile on her face she said, “only sometimes.”

Slowing down your responses and becoming a better listener ________ you in becoming a more peaceful person. It takes ________ from you. If you think about it, you’ll notice that it takes an enormous amount of energy and is very stressful to be sitting at the edge of your seat trying to ________ what the person in front of you (or on the telephone) is going to say so that you can ________ your responses. But as you wait for the person you are communicating with to finish, as you simply listen more ________, to what is being said, you’ll notice that the pressure you feel is off. You will immediately feel more ________and so will the people you are talking to. They will feel safe in slowing down their own responses because they won’t feel in ________ with you for “air time”! Not only will becoming a better listener make you a more patient person, it will also ________ the quality of your relationships. Everyone loves to talk to someone who truly listens to what they are saying.

3 . It was 6 p. m. on 24 January 2001, the first day of Chinese New Year. I was working as a tour guide and was on my way to ________ a group for a night tour around Kuala Lumpur. As I drove along the road, a small hatchback flew across the centre divider from the ________ direction and crashed into my car head-on. I passed out and was ________ by the ringing of my mobile phone. It was a travel agent, asking me if I had arrived at the Mandarin Oriental for my assignment. Then I went into shock.

In the hospital, I saw my crushed feet hanging from my body, blue and lifeless, and I pleaded with the doctors to save them at all costs. They calmly promised to do their best.

Days after that, I was informed that I lost the job. My heart ________. How was I going to support my 65-year-old mother? And plus, I have so many other commitments.

I felt utter helplessness, but a lot of unexpected ________ came my way. I had many visitors during my 14 days in hospital and when I was ________ at home. Friends and relatives helped me with my financial stuff or simply came to cheer me up.

But I was only 30, and wanted to see the world. When the casts were removed, I did not let the sight of my weak legs ________ me. I worked hard at my physiotherapy with only one ________: I must walk again. After the five-month ________, I was back on my feet. After eight months, I was walking without the aid of crutches. By February the following year, I had started globetrotting again.

Today, after eight years, I have travelled to many countries as a tour leader and am determined not to let the pain interfere with my work.

The ________ made me realize how lives can change in a split second; five out of the six people in the overcrowded car that hit me lost their lives. In my ________ state of mind, I recalled how motorcyclists wrapped their jackets around their arms and ________ away my shattered side window to save me. I also recall the Chinese family who ________ taboo (禁忌) and drove me to the hospital ________ my bloodied condition on Chinese New Year. The kindness I’ve experienced taught me never to give up hope on anyone or in any situation. I ________ life more, not only my own but also everyone I know, and will always try to help when I know of someone in trouble.

4 . When our first son Brendan was born in Sydney in 1966, we planted a golden elm tree in our front yard.It and Brendan _________ together and when we _________ the house, eight years later, the tree branched (长出枝条) out over our heads. We were _________ we had to leave it behind when we moved to New South Wales.

A young couple bought our home and were _________ it.Over the next 37 years, when travelling to Sydney, my family _________ couldn’t help stopping to see the tree. With time, the golden elm grew more beautiful.The owners still loved the home and seemed not to _________ at all that we didn't completely leave them alone.

Recently on the way to Sydney, my husband _________ to see how the house and the owners were getting on. It had been about ten years since we had last _________ and the tree had been removed some years earlier._________, the owner, Gillian, suggested she would contact (联系) us some time in the future, so my husband gave her our ____________.

When I heard about her ____________ message, I wondered what she meant. One day in December, we had a phone call from Gillian. She wanted to drop something in to us for our ____________. I told Brendan that there was a mysterious gift being ____________ for him that day, so it was indeed ____________ when Gillian handed him a package containing two carved wooden bowls. Gillian had asked a local woodworking company to make the ____________ from a piece of the trunk of the golden elm, which she had ____________ several years earlier. My husband’s ____________ had driven her to follow through with her idea.

What a pleasure it was to ____________ that package. We were ____________ by her thoughtfulness (体贴), and amazed that her long­term plan actually did ____________.

5 . Jessica McClard thinks a lot about those in her community who need help feeding their families. That inspired her to ______ Little Free Pantries, small boxes set in neighborhoods where people can either take what they ______ or leave something for others who might be having a ______ time.

McClard ______ up in the small community of Arkansas. “It was a food ______ from my childhood,” she said. “The ______ store was 30 miles away.” Though she always had enough to eat, McClard grew up with the ______ that her neighbors might not. So when she started seeing Little Free Libraries ______ in her neighborhood encouraging community members to share ______ , it gave her an idea to create a ______ system that could help feed others.

McClard built the first pantry in May of 2016, but her first ______ to place it at a multi-family, mid-size apartment complex (综合社区) didn’t ______.

At the end of the school year last May, McClard decided to have another try, so she and her daughters placed a ______ Little Free Pantry across the street from a local elementary school and ______ it with both food and special treats for the ______, like bubbles, candy necklaces, and ______toys. Then they made sure the parents knew it would be there.

“My girls had so much ______ picking out all of the supplies with me,” said McClard. “Then we sat at a distance and ______ the kids as they went up to the box. It was really ______.” For the beginning of the school year, McClard and her daughters tried to ______ school and art supplies in the pantries as well.

6 . My partner and I wanted to spread some joy this Christmas, so we decided to organize gifts for the residents of a local nursing home. I _________ our plans on Facebook. My aunty and two of my friends sent me money to _________ gifts. Then one of the ladies who works at a different branch (分店) of the store where I work sent me over a huge box of chocolates, biscuits and sweets to _________the presents. We bought lots of food and gifts for the residents and _________ wrapped them. A man called James who saw my post _________ to drive us to the home and another lady _________ me saying she had her own gifts she wanted to give. It was _________ to see people coming together to help.

So, on Dec 22, we were all ready to go and be Santa’s elves (精灵)!James _________ my partner and me, and we _________ to the nursing home with 74 __________ plus a few extras for good measure! After signing in, putting on our masks, gowning up (穿上长袍) and having our temperature __________we were in. We were ready to __________ the Christmas cheer.

I was a little __________ as it was my first time in a nursing home and I’m shier than my partner who has no __________ talking to people whatsoever. But once the nursing manager began taking us round to everyone’s rooms, I saw the __________ , surprise and happiness on their faces. I was so happy to be there and it gave me so much __________. We went to everyone’s rooms,__________ them a very happy Christmas and gave them each a small gift of soaps, hand creams, biscuits, chocolates, etc.

It was a __________ experience and I highly __________ that people should do something like this as it will bring you so much fulfillment and happiness. The feeling of __________ people gifts is simply wonderful.

7 . Twenty-eight years ago, best friends Tom Cook and Joe Feeney made a promise to each other that whoever won the Powerball jackpot (强力球头奖), if they were so lucky, would share the winnings with the other. And that _______ to Tom who picked a ticket worth $22 million last June. He remembered his _______.

Tom bought the S2 winning ticket for the June 10 drawing. He was having breakfast the next morning and he froze when he read the _______. He handed the ticket over to his very _______ wife.

Tom said he remembered the promise he and Joe made almost three _______ ago. So he called his friend to share the _______ news. They made the promise to each other while _______ what they would do if they won all that money.

“He called me and I said, ‘Aren’t you _______, man?’” said Joe of his _______. “A handshake’s a handshake,” said Tom. What a ________ guy! Tom and Joe were ________ around $5.7 million each after paying taxes. They could now do anything they ________.They have no extravagant (奢侈的) plans about the ________ winnings, but both are looking forward to spending more time with their ________.

“We both got grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and we’re looking forward to spending time with them, not worrying about if we got time to go, and where we can go, and if we can ________ it,” said Tom.

8 . If someone said they’d pay you $1,800 to stay off social media for six years, would you do it? Could you?

In 2016, Lorna _______ her 12-year-old son Sivert to stay off social media until he was 18. If he made it, she’d award him the _______ on his eighteenth birthday. On February 19, 2022, Sivert received his _______. Sivert thought it was a great _______ at the time. “I thought it was _______ indeed. What’s 6 more years?” he recalled.

“It’s the _______ money I’ve ever spent,” said Lorna. “We are not against social media, but it’s the _______ use of it. It’s about not letting yourself get _______ affected by it.” Lorna has three older daughters, and she’d already seen problems from their _______ activities. When one of her daughters was 16, Lorna ________ her phone. Her daughter later thanked her for doing so, as it improved her mental health.

Sivert said it wasn’t that ________ to live without social media for six years. “There wasn’t a time when I thought of giving up,” he said. “Staying away from social media also meant I had more time to ________ my studies and sports instead.”

Other parents have seemed ________ trying a similar challenge with their kids. “I advise ________ the behavior you want to see in your children. If they see you before the ________ all day, they will follow your example,” said Lorna.

9 . My mother came from a traditional Catholic family and was a teacher before retirement. In short, she didn’t do crazy _______. That all changed a few years ago.

When she turned 75, she _______ us she’d booked a seven-night trip to Turkey. Alone. Of course, that was _______. She paid no attention to us. Off she went. When she returned she excitedly told us it had been _______.   As it _______ , she had barely spent any time alone after _______ Mustafa, a carpet seller, who showed her around Istanbul for several days. She bought some carpets. Mustafa had taken her address and _______ to ship the carpets home. Mustafa and my mother apparently _______ quite a friendship and she had told him to please drop by if he were ever in our town. We couldn’t believe how _______ she had been and explained that she had been cheated. ________ , some weeks later, her carpets arrived. As did a lovely note from Mustafa. To our even greater ________ , the following year Mustafa himself arrived and visited.

Still, this year, she decided to get a tattoo (纹身) as her 80th birthday ________ to herself. My brother and I ________ each other. Was she joking? Six days later, she had a tasteful butterfly on her left ankle.

Mum ________ straighter than most of us. Her absurd behavior seems to be thoughtfully based on a ________ that life is to be lived, and when there’s relatively little of it left, it needs to be lived now.

10 . Born into a poor farmer’s family in Meixi township in 1960, Liang Ruirong contracted polio (脊髓灰质炎) when he was a child. This physical disability ________ his life.

After failing the college entrance examination, he made a living working in ________ . After about a year, Liang ______ the rare opportunity to become a full-time employee at a ________ factory in a neighboring town. ______ and hardworking, he was promoted to workshop director after five years. Over time, the idea of ________ his own company began to take shape. “We didn’t have the money,” he said. “I had to ________ it from friends.”

During the first few years, Liang traveled with the ________ truck to present the bamboo products to customers in person. “To ________ on accommodations, I often slept in the truck at night,” he said.

Liang never forgot about the hardships he had ________ . As company chairman, he created jobs on the processing lines, which do not require much physical ________ . To ensure that as many people as possible could ________ from his success, the company establishes a ________ which donates 250, 000 yuan to Meixi township.

Liang’s company is now distinguished for environmentally friendly bamboo products. For Liang, the company has set a(n) ________ to the world, showing that it is possible to ________ the right balance between economic development and environmental protection, making money and benefiting society.