2 . Our neighbors had a loud party last night. We weren’t _______ but this was one of those celebrations that I didn’t mind. They are a bunch of young, single guys and I would have felt out of place.

What _______ me was the way they behaved. Ono of the young men came over _______ in the day to “warn” us of the upcoming event and said it would be over at about 11 p. m. That was the first step. Even more _______ was what they did next. “Here’s my _______”, offered our neighbor _______ “Text me if it’s too noisy.” That was a level of _______ I had never experienced in all my years of being a neighbor!

And it really worked in their favor. My husband and I were so friendly that even when the event went past the _______ end time, even when the music reached high decibels(分贝), and even when we couldn’t get through to the phone number, we felt no _______. We knew they would stop and ________ to it eventually.

It takes such little effort to make people feel that they ________ and get people on your side. Everyone needs to ________ every now and then, especially in these uniquely tough times. But people who do it without disturbing others are few and far between. I hadn’t fully ________ my neighbors until this week. But now I see them in a new light and with greater ________ . They didn’t just bring the noise to the neighborhood; they showed us a good manner of ________ in life.

3 . When most of us get a text message on our cell phone from an unknown person, we usually say “sorry, wrong number!” and move on. But when Dennis Williams ______a text that clearly wasn’t intended for him, he did something _______.

On March 19, Dennis got a group text ______ him that a couple he didn’t know were at the hospital, waiting for the arrival of a baby.

“Congratulations! But I think someone was mistaken,” Dennis ______. The baby was born and update texts were coming in quickly from the overjoyed grandmother, Teresa. In her ______, she didn’t seem to realize that she was sharing the baby’s photos with a complete stranger. “Well, I don’t ______ you all but I will get there to take pictures with the baby,” replied Dennis before asking which room the new ______ were in.

Much to the family’s surprise, Dennis stuck to his ______! He turned up at the hospital ______ gifts for the new mother Lindsey and her baby boy. Lindsey’s husband was totally ______ by the unexpected visit. “I don’t think we would have randomly invited him over but we ______ it and the gifts.”

Teresa ______ a photo of the chance meeting on a social networking website ______by the touching words: “What a______ this young man was to our family! He was so ______ and kind to do this.” The post has since gained the attention of social media users all over the world, receiving more than 184,000 shares and 61,500 likes in just three days.

4 . My husband and I changed our front yard with something eatable, adding apples, bananas, oranges, and pomegranates (石榴).

Every crop brought us ______ to neighbors and strangers. The food was a(an) ______ to communicate. Kids in the neighborhood (including our son) learned ______ and gentle timing. When we had extra, we would ______ it. Then, we received a powerful lesson: a gift hidden as a ______. Our first-ever crop of pomegranates had ripened (成熟). ______, at harvest, they all disappeared in the middle of the night. We were ______, sad and angry. Friends had fun suggestions. One ______ suggested we post a sign to curse (诅咒) those who _____ our fruits.

And suddenly, the ______ was clear. We did need a sign. But our sign would encourage sharing and community. Last autumn, we had a larger crop of pomegranates. We put ______ a sign that read, “If you’d like one, please knock and ______ yourself, and we would be ______ to cut one off the bush for you. Cutting saves the branches and is good for future growth, so we can ______ to share pomegranates with ______ friends like you. Thanks, the Green Family. “

Out of eight fruits, one pomegranate was taken and most of others were ______ to new friends. This year, we won the Kindness Contest award, ______ we planted three trees —a peach, a pear, and a plum. Before they fruit, I’ll ______ a big sign to the yard to encourage sharing. Today I’m happy to be a role model of ______ for my young sons and to have the opportunity to ______ an eatable front yard for others.

7 . I manage a financial department. I recently promised my team that if they exceeded their goal, the company would _________ them to a very good Italian restaurant that we all love. They exceeded the goal by a lot, so I made a _________ for the sixteen of us.

The day of our outing, we were seated. Right away and in a while the waitress took our _________. Then, the waitress told us that she was sorry, because the person who was supposed to be helping her didn’t _________. So she had to _________ our party, and other customers on her own.

She looked visibly _________ when I told her that I would pay for everything on one check instead of separate checks. Our ordering was a little chaotic. We were busy having fun and conversation, so none of us _________ that. The food was delicious and we enjoyed it very much. It came time for the _________ and, as was explained to me when I made the reservation, the restaurant _________ an 18% tip to the bill. The bill came to about US $ 650 before the tip and I gave her my credit card.

She returned with my receipt and thanked us and __________ that their service was a little slow. We told her everything was perfect and thanked her for working so hard. She had been so nice to us and __________ that I left an additional US $ 50 cash tip in the receipt folder.

All of a sudden, the waitress came out of the restaurant and grabbed my arm. I was thinking if I forgot to sign the __________ or something when I noticed she had __________ in her eyes. She thanked me for the tip and said she really hadn’t __________ it. She had had a __________ time lately and the tip really warmed her heart.

8 . “New Recruits (招募) Wanted.” This________caught my eye and revived (重新唤起) the dream I had since my childhood. But, just as________, I reminded myself that I was getting close to sixty. Hesitating for a while, I finally entered the hall and filled out a(n) ________.

My dream of becoming a firefighter began when I watched the television show Rescue 8,   ________ with the cooperation of the Los Angeles Fire Department when I was young. Unfortunately, life doesn’t follow young people’s dreams. A career in construction, a family to     ________, and many other factors got in the way of volunteering with the local fire department. Now, ________retirement, my wife and I have just relocated to a beautiful village near Seattle. I have time to give.

To my delight, I was accepted for ________. Yes, I was the oldest recruit, and it was so   ________that I was ready to drop out one day. When I got home from practice that day, a friend came over. I was about to say I could________do it anymore when he passed me a beautifully-illustrated book of firefighters who are in     ________ , with a personalized message of inspiration, encouraging me to follow my dream. As I looked through the________ , I felt amazed at the courage and devotion of these brave ________ . It gave me the strength I needed to carry on.

Over the next few weeks, the training continued to be tough, but I never lost     ________again. I lost twenty pounds, but eventually I was certificated as a firefighter. And now I can drive the big red trucks and ________ my community. When most of my friends are retiring, I’m ________ a new career I love. And I know that you're never too old to take on new challenges; never too old to follow your dreams.

10 . “Don’t worry. Those are just age spots (老年斑),” the doctor said. “Are you _________ that these are age spots?” I questioned, pointing to the dark spots on my hands. Angie, the doctor, smiled warmly and _________, “I’m 100% sure.”

I let out a scream of _________. “You’ve no idea how long I’ve waited for these to _________” I said. Angie looked slightly _________, and I realized there was no possible way I could explain my excitement. What Angie didn’t know was that I shouldn’t have _________ to see age spots! At age forty, there was not much hope that I would live long enough to see any signs of _________. I was in the battle of my life—fighting lung cancer.

After the five-year mark of being cancer free, I started to have hope. When I got my first white hair, I quickly pointed to my husband, “look, honey, a white hair.”

_________ I was taking a trip down the memory path, Angie _________ , “Here’s the fade cream (增白霜) that you can __________ to your hands twice a week before going to bed”. And then she mentioned another __________ , “of course, you can always have the spots removed with lasers (激光).”

“Remove them?” I questioned. “ __________ would anyone want to do that?” Angie stared at me, not understanding the meaning of those words, while I explained, “I’d like to __________ them.” As I walked out of the hospital, I was __________ that I had such wonderful age spots!

Later that year, I celebrated two milestone (里程碑)—my sixteenth birthday and twenty years of being ________ from cancer. I’m excited to be growing older with white hairs, wrinkles (皱纹) and now age spots. And I can see the beauty in all of them!