1 . He caught my eye and up went his arm. As usual, I _________ and gave him a smile. “Do you know the old man, Mom?” asked my son. I _________ my head. “I don’t know his name, but he’s very _________. He waves to me whenever we meet.”

We were _________ to this town. Having moved from another city, I wasn’t used to waves from strangers. _________, where we were from, people hardly _________ each other. We simply passed by each other, heads down, _________ our own business.

Perhaps that’s why I _________ these daily waves. It felt good to be noticed and _________ that message of “Hello!” On days when I didn’t meet him, I missed him and wondered if he was __________. The next day, I’d find myself driving with only one eye on the road. It was a happy __________ when I’d spot him, and I’d wave first in my __________.

One evening when I was walking alone, my __________ travelled to “The Waver”, as my children called him. I wondered if I could be __________ enough to wave at the people I don’t know. I wanted to give it a try, but I __________. “I’ll feel silly,” I thought to myself. Then I heard a __________ approaching. The next moment I found myself waving to the lady in the passenger seat. Her __________ softened and waved back. I was a little shocked. They do this here! I reminded myself. It’s __________ cool! I waved to everyone I saw the rest of the way home.

That was the day I became a “__________”. I can’t change the world. It’s enough to help __________ it a little.

2 . Kelsie’s grandmother always encouraged her to step out of her comfort zone and try new things. The two of them were especially ______ because it was her grandparents who raised Kelsie rather than her parents. Sadly, her grandmother passed away last year.

One ______ her grandmother pushed her out of her comfort zone was ______ her to sing more, especially in public. Kelsie gave it a shot, but it didn’t turn out as she’d ______.

“I once tried to sing in church,” she said. “The music started playing and I just ______.”

Luckily, Kelsie didn’t ______. She took the American Idol ads as a ______ from her grandmother for her to take another chance on ______.

Taking this leap was no small courage for this ______ 18-year-old. As she grew up in the country and had never been on a plane before, just getting to the audition (试唱) would mean experiencing lots of ______. Not only was she about to ______ for the first time ever, but she was about to do so before ______ Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie.

Kelsie chose to sing “Piece by Piece” by Kelly. All three judges were ______ by Kelsie’s voice. But the judges could tell Kelsie’s ______ held her back. After much encouragement, they asked her if she could sing the second song she had ______: “When We Were Young” by Adele.

At first, Kelsie’s ______ remained the same. But as Perry shouted out instructions to cheer her up, something ______ happened. Kelsie eventually walked out of her ______ and performed wonderfully. The judges were so ______ by her excellent first performance that they couldn’t help but say, “You are ______ going to Hollywood!”.

We can’t wait to see where Kelsie’s singing career takes her!

3 . I have been in Taiyuan for two years as an international student from Bangladesh. Over the two years, I have found myself loving Shanxi and China as I more ________ local lives and got more familiar with the city, the province and the country.

I must ________ that it’s normal to feel lonely when you start a ________ life in a strange place. You have to adapt to everything—food, language and culture. But for me, the ________ didn’t take a long period of time. I have got used to eating noodles for breakfast and using online ________ by means of my smartphone very quickly.

My ________ in Shanxi, I think, is an opportunity to help broaden my view and life here is full of ________. The pleasant changes are made ________ with the help of my teachers, schoolmates and friends.

My teachers at Shanxi University are excellent. They highly ________ critical (批判性的) thinking among students and ________ us to conduct research in an innovative (创新的) way. After a while at the university, I didn’t feel much ________ in my study. There is still ________ time to allow me to visit various parts of Taiyuan and Shanxi and make friends with locals.

My favorite sport is cycling and I find China very cyclist-friendly because it is ________ to hire a bicycle here. I like to ________on the streets in Taiyuan and visit various places I meet. The cycling tours helped to ________ my understanding of the city.

4 . A flat tire (爆胎) on the road. It’s certainly ______, especially if you have kids with you. For Courtney Potts, a mother of two kids in Tennessee, her flat tire experience was about to turn into something she had never ______.

Potts was driving home on Sunday when one of her tires blew out! ______, she realized she was in trouble. She had her ______ with her and leaving them in the car to change a tire wasn’t a ______ for her. Then a SUV stopped behind her car. A man got out and walked over to her, saying, “God, I almost ______ you! Can I help you?”

Potts was ______! Little did she know her luck was about to ______ even more than she imagined. Immediately she heard the man’s voice and saw his face, she knew this was no ______ man!

“The man offering to help wasn’t some ______. It was Luke Bryan!” said Potts.

If you aren’t a country ______, you might not know Luke, but he’s one of the most successful country music artists of the 2010s and 2020s.

According to Potts, Bryan finished ______ the tire with her extra in 30 minutes. Bryan also took a photo with Potts and her daughter, Ellie. Later, Potts shared a video online showing Bryan ______ on the ground, changing her flat tire, saying he deserved all the praise for ______ to help her. Her video received over 4 million ______ in two days.

5 . Steve Sanders is a dad who suffered from a serious kidney (肾) disease. Although he had been living a ________ life, going to the gym regularly, the doctors warned him that his kidney function was ________ and that he needed dialysis (透析). This made Sanders start a ________ for a kidney donor (捐献器官者) online. After he shared the post, he got ________ from 26 people who began handing in paperwork to become donors, ________ nothing moved beyond that. It could have been that they weren’t matched, or they stopped the process. “I don’t ________ them on that,” Sanders said. “I completely ________.”

One day, Chris, a local shopper, ________ him that told him he wanted to be a kidney donor. ________, Chris ended up being a perfect donor, making Sanders very excited. It was a total ________ for Sanders and he said he was happy that somebody was ________ to give him a chance.

Chris filled out the paperwork and ________ the process after a few weeks. When asked why he chose to donate his kidney, he said that he wanted to ________ what he preached (宣扬) to others on being kind and ________. Chris wanted his kids to grow up and ________ what kindness is.

Once the hospital showed his kidney was a ________ for Sanders, he agreed to receive the operation ________. Sanders was grateful for Chris’s ________. “Chris has made me feel very comfortable not ________ him anything. This is a guy who did this out of love,” Sanders added. After lots of tests, the two dads had the operation in October 2022. It was a(n) ________ transplant (移植) and even after it, they have continued their friendship.

6 . It’s time to register for tenth grade, but my parents could not pay the tuition. ________ I   was   the   top   student   in   my   class,   I   was   sent   home.   This was a ________ experience, as I loved being in school and ________ wanted to continue my education. I went home and helped my father at his tire - repair shop.

________, things took an unexpected turn three days later. One of my classmates ________ to tell me to go back to school because my tuition was fully paid. I returned to my classroom, but I kept ________who had done this for me. I________ the registrar to reveal the donator’s name , only to be told that the donator wanted to keep it a ________. Upon my ________ and on condition that I didn’t go and thank the person, she ________ me that it was my English teacher, Olivia Balian. When Ms. Balian noticed my desk was ________, she asked why I was not in school. Learning the reason, she paid my tuition with her salary. The whole year I sat in Ms. Balian’s class, thinking about her ________ gesture but unable to express my________ .

________, I received two master’s degrees. Almost 40 years later, I visited Ms. Balian. She had ________ from teaching long ago. She was as ________ to see me as I was to see her. I was finally able to thank her. I ________ to assist her in any way possible, but she ________ all offers.

While this story is about Ms. Olivia Balian, it is also a story that one person can make a great ________ to the lives of others. ________ her timely assistance, I probably would have spent the rest of my life repairing tires.

7 . In 2014, Mom wanted to live closer to us. My husband, Kevin, and I found a lovely ______ for her. The next day, she ______ me to complain about the food in a nearby restaurant.

I asked Kevin. “Do you think I complain a lot?” Kevin hesitated a few seconds before saying no. I realized that the family nature of complaining had taken ______ in me.

I decided to keep a better watch on my______. Things went fine for a few weeks. I was delighted at my ______. But every time Mom called, I got ______. I felt ______ to change by myself.

A few days later, I received from my friend Torry a ______ with one word on its cover: Blessings. He encouraged me to keep writing things I’m______for.

The next morning, I ______ the journal and wrote the date, then two things I was grateful for. Number one, friends who ______ me. Two, my caring husband. ______filled my heart. Maybe this was it. Not just the missing piece to help me ______the complaining but a joyous replacement:______.

Over the next few months, as I ______ to list blessings each day, I noticed little things I’d been ______ to: how the wind made the leaves ______; how the smile of a baby ______ my heart.

Looking for things to be thankful for ______to a deeper shift in me. Life didn’t suddenly become trouble-free. But a new awareness of the ______ around me made me see how lucky I was.

8 . Tim Robinson, a former soldier of the British Army, was on holiday in Bridport, Dorset. While enjoying a walk down the beach, Robinson ________ on a piece of seaweed lying in the sand and fell, breaking his ________.With no phone and no one around, he could either just _______ anxiously, or he could try something else. As he lay _______, he remembered his ________ training and thought about what he could do.

Though his leg had made him partially ________ to move, Robinson still had the ability to crawl (爬), and so he did. The choice was easy but the crawl was ________.Having crawled for a while, he started ________ his torch in SOS and spinning it over his head to create a Buzz-Saw signal to ________ helicopters in the armed forces nearby.

No one seemed to be around. So he _______ crawling and signaling. In what appeared to be a(n) ________, Robinson finally got a response. It was his wife, who was shining the torch ________ his signal. The former soldier kept on his crawling-signal routine while ________ his way to his wife. All the while his broken leg hurt increasingly worse and was at risk of infection. He needed an ambulance and medical care________.

When the coast guard finally came, they couldn’t believe what Robinson had ________.They were ________ that this man had the ________ to crawl more than a mile in total, after suffering such a wound.

_______ it weren’t for his training and knowledge of Morse code, he might not have   ________ it. Mrs. Robinson is grateful that her husband was ________ and tough enough to bring himself back to safety.

9 . Which ones are quick language learners, adults or young children? It is not hard to answer, because there is new evidence showing kids really can learn things much _________ than adults.

A study published in Current Biology _________ that children and adults have different concentrations (含量) of a key brain messenger called GABA. This _________ makes newly-learned materials steadier. It also produces a calming effect and is thought to largely _________ nerve cell hyperactivity associated with _________, stress, and fear.

The team used neuro-imaging _________ to examine visual perceptive learning in elementary pupils and adults. _________ were shown multiple different images and were later asked questions about them following the test. The visual learning _________ an increase of GABA in children’s visual cortex (大脑皮层), the area of the brain that _________ visual information. GABA levels didn’t change at all when adults __________ the same visual tests. Children participants kept GABA __________ for hours after training ended, while the concentrations of GABA remained __________ in the adults studied.

“In continuous behavioral experiments, we found that children __________ steadied new learning much more rapidly than adults, which __________ the common belief that children are __________ to adults in their learning abilities,” study co-author Sebastian M. Frank said. “Our results proves GABA as a __________ player in making learning efficient in children.”

These results, the authors argue, should __________ teachers and parents to keep giving children opportunities to learn anything from riding a bike to playing an instrument throughout their __________.

In future studies, the team plans to __________ the differences in maturation rates between brain regions and functions and GABA responses in other __________ of learning, such as reading and writing.

10 . Once upon a time, there was a young man, rather immature (不成熟的) in his life, but ready to learn. He had a ________ for tea cups. He felt that they all had their own stories to tell.

Once in a store, he ________ a tea cup. He asked the ________ “May I see that attractive tea cup?” As the salesperson ________ him the tea cup, the young man ________ heard the tea cup speak. Here goes his story. “I have not always been a tea cup. I was just a piece of red clay on the ground. I’ve lived for thousands of ________. One day my master came. He took me to his home, ________ me on a wooden table until I ________ all my sense of direction. The master then placed me in a(n) ________. I never felt such heat before. After a while, he ________ took me out with great care and put me on a shelf where I began to ________.

After I had become solid, he carefully brought colors along with glaze (釉). The smell was terrible! I thought I would ________! Then he put me back in the oven. I felt this was my death. After taking me out, he placed a ________ in front of me and said, ‘Look at yourself!’ What I saw ________ me. I replied, ‘It could not be me. It’s fairly beautiful.’ But he said, ‘I knew it ________ you when I did all these. I knew you must feel dizzy ________ I was spinning you. And when I placed you in the oven for the second time, it would be the most ________ part. But all I did was for your ________.’”

The young man bought the tea cup and he never ________ the lesson he received from it. Whenever he was in a(n) ________ situation, he remembered the words of the tea cup.