2 . She was a four-year-old girl with very fine golden hair when I first met her. She was carrying a bowl of soup. I was 29 at that time and _________ from the flu.

Her mom and I had been friends for years. _________ that friendship grew into care from care into _________ and marriage. Marriage brought the three of us together as a _________. At first I was afraid to be a “stepfather”. Therefore, I tried not to come _________ my future daughter and her _________ father. I acted in that way in order to be liked. However, _________ she was growing up, I found it increasingly hard to _________ with her.

Once her school required the parents to individually write an open and _________ letter to our children. I wrote a letter about a little golden-haired girl who had __________ me a bowl of soup when I needed __________.

A week later, all the parents __________ together with our children. The students were allowed to make a few statements. I was __________ to hear what my daughter would say.

Finally my daughter __________ make her way up to the microphone. She said something like others and then __________ “At this very moment I just want to say. I love you, Father.”

Immediately people around me started __________ at me. For a teenage girl to say __________ in front of so many people “I love you,” took a great deal of courage.

Since then I have __________ to understand I didn’t need to have any __________about being a stepfather. I can still __________ honest love with the same little girl I met so many years before carrying a bowl full of what turned out to be kindness. I can also be friends with the girl — my dear daughter.

4 . In the post-war era, re-gifting and returning gifts to shops were commonly occurring.My mother and Aunt Florence ran a_________. For them finding desirable stock (储备物) for the store was an adventure. But the greatest_________of all was getting the wanted items without taking too many_________ones ‘paired’ with them. This pairing resulted in a highly saleable item being paired with something that had to be heavily discounted just to move it off the shelves_________at a loss.

One item I particularly remember was an ugly ornament (饰物) framed in a horseshoe.My mother was shocked by its_________ . My aunt patiently explained she had to buy it to_________some attractive crockery sets (瓷器套装) in high demand. She had paid ten pounds for it and hoped to get five pounds for it. After briefly_________ it at ten pounds, she put it on our bargain table, expecting the crockery sets would sell quickly and cover the_________ on it.Several days later she managed to sell the ornament for three pounds to a value d customer who _________to give it to a neighbour, who loved horses.

The following Saturday, our family was invited to a 21st birthday party, and my father was     __________with buying a suitable gift from the jeweler in town. However, he delayed his __________because he had his car repaired. As a result, he __________a wrapped present from our own store’s stock. Little did he know that it was the __________ .

At the party, as the presents were__________, my mother held my shoulder tightly when she saw the ornament. The__________of our family, the gift’s original purchaser, and the recipient’s (接受者) family were a mix of shock and__________. My father, realizing his mistake,__________that he thought it was a collector’s item due to the ten pound price tag.

The next day, realizing my mother discovered the ornament which had been sold had been returned by Sheila, the recipient’s mother, who __________a ten pound refund , Aunt Florence burst into laughter, though the relationship between the__________owners of the ornament sourced.

5 . Before it was proven that the earth was round, it was a well-known “fact” that it was ______ . This “fact” was so ______ accepted that no one dared test it, because they thought if they did sail out beyond the horizon they would fall off the edge. ______, because they believed it couldn’t be done, it wasn’t done.

That is, until Columbus ______ common knowledge and asked “what if?”, this question literally expanded the ______ of his country, changed history, and altered the ______ reality forever.

In spite of our ______ to think of reality as the undoubted ______ of our experience, the definition of reality changes every time someone ______ the boundary conditions of traditional wisdom. When our view of reality changes, our ______ changes with it, based on ______ is newly considered possible. When Columbus returned from the New World, a revised world map was ______ and this began a new era of exploration and adventure.

Examples of the impossible being made possible can be found throughout history. When Chuck Yeager flew the X-1, he destroyed the myth that there was such a thing as a sound barrier. His training and talent, ______ with the new technology of the day, not only enabled him to go ______ the speed of sound, but strengthened the fact that even so-called technological barriers can be ______ as well.

6 . Rejection doesn’t always hurt. Sometimes rejection may _________ a more certain path to our final goals.

This year football fans have been watching to see how Joe would _________ in the playoffs(季后赛) this season. Joe dreamed to play in the National Football League (NFL), but his journey wasn’t a(n) _________ one. He applied to several colleges, but none _________ him. Later, he got into Ohio State, but he sat on the _________ for three years. Ohio State had a great football program and coaches, who didn’t think Joe had _________. But Joe thought differently. He _________ Nebraska and got rejected once again, but he didn’t quit. Then he applied to Louisiana State University, which accepted him. The rest is history.

Joe became the Heisman Trophy _________ during his senior year, then he was admitted to the NFL, and later, his team participated in the World Championship.

Joe’s story reminds us that there are _________ paths to our final goals and that it __________ strong endurance and determination to reach them. No single __________ is going to prevent you from __________ your long-term goals. Be sure to__________ the pain that comes from disappointment and face it bravely. Try to focus on goals rather than the __________ outcome of being rejected and remember that the hurt of rejection comes from how we __________ it.

10 . In January 2008, Rachel Lapierre, a full-time nurse and part-time volunteer aid worker, made a life-changing decision. After an exhausting day at work she ________ a $4 lottery ticket (彩票) at a local store. At that moment, Rachel made a(n) ________ — if she struck it lucky with the lottery, she would ________ her nursing career. Because humanitarian (人道主义) work was what she had longed to ________ her life to. When Rachel scratched the ticket, she discovered she had won a big ________ — $675,000.

True to her word, Lapierre spent all her life through her ________ project, Le Book Humanitaire. It began as a humble ________ of good deeds in a simple notebook, which she used to keep track of what she had done to ________ those living in the small communities around her. To her, they were just small acts of ________ — buying clothes for newly arrived immigrants, or delivering ________ to lonely seniors. But ________ started spreading, and a Facebook page she created for the project became a(n) ________ way to answer requests from those in need.

Over the years, Le Book has ________ a remarkable team of 80 volunteers. This nonprofit ________ has become a hope for the community. The notebook itself has since been replaced by dozens more, ________ millions of deeds. In 2022 alone, it ________ nearly 450,000 acts of service, ________ the lives of countless individuals.

Le Book Humanitaire, born from Rachel’s lottery win, continues to be a source of ________ for the community. “When you do a good deed, it has a butterfly effect,” says Lapierre. “One good deed can ________ 10 people. So if we all do a good deed? That can ________ the world.”