1 . My adult son walked to the table this morning for breakfast and opened his arms to me. I opened my arms too and gave him a big hug just like I do every morning. And this time when I did, a beautiful memory came back to me. It is ________ how one simple act of love can forever ________ one’s soul.

My Italian Granny had been a big hugger when I was a boy, but my mom had grown up in a more ________ household. She hugged me sometimes but less often as I grew into my teenage years. By the time I was a teenager then, except for my Granny, I didn’t hug anyone.

When I was sixteen, I left on a trip with a group to ________ a Seminary College in the Mid-West. And on our way there, we also stopped by an old Monastery. As we entered, we were ________ there by the largest monk I had ever seen. He was over six and a half feet tall with huge arms and a ________ voice. And as he greeted us, he gave each one of us a HUGE HUG. When my own turn came, I felt scared but ________ in and hugged him back. I felt a warmth in my heart. Later that day I began to wonder why I had ever stopped giving and receiving hugs when they brought so much ________. When my own children were born then I ________ to never stop hugging them and telling them I loved them.

What use are arms, after all, if we can’t use them to hug each other. What use are lips if we can’t say “I Love You!” God gives us ________ ways to share our kindness and delight here. Let’s use them all to share our love.

2 . While taking a 20-hour train ride along the edge of the Taklimakan Desert in northwestern China, I had the kind of humbling, educational, and above all else, wonderful _______ with a local that all travelers long for. A young Chinese man approached me on the train. My _______ friend spoke virtually no English, so I happily took the chance to practice my Chinese.

Over several hours, he would tell me about how he had attended a two-year professional school to quickly find a job _______ highways in order to help support his family. Perhaps the most _______. however, was the fact. that this man spent hours studying every day after hard physical labor. Without batting an eye, he would _______ a translated Emerson passage before asking about the literary influence of American writers as a whole. “And what do you all learn about Russian authors?” I _______ him asking at one point.

It would have been easy to _______ my assumptions about this highway builder who had never been more than a few hundred miles from home. But this highly informed, _______, and admirable person prevented me doing so. In the course of a couple of hours, he showed me just how much one can gain from _______ with an open mind, and a willingness to __________ with locals from all walks of life.

3 . Kim Stemple, a special-education teacher, faced terrible diseases during her stay in a Boston hospital. While wrestling with depression in her hospital room, Stemple received an unexpected present from a friend: a medal.

Before Stemple got too sick to ______, she had been a marathon runner and the medal brought back her racing memories. It served as a much-needed pick-me-up, ______ her of the strength and perseverance she once possessed. Surprisingly, it worked like a charm, and then some, ______ her spirits and renewing her determination.

Inspired by this life-changing ______, Stemple began to think about how such a simple act could bring hope to others going through ______ times. And from this seed of inspiration, her charity, We Finish Together, was born. This initiative collected medals from strangers — runners, dancers, swimmers, singers and even spelling bee winners — and donated them to individuals in need.

Part of the process ______ the donor writing a personalized note on the ribbon, giving the recipient a unique connection to someone who cares. Indeed, for those who were ______ in hospitals and battling health challenges, being presented with a medal and reading the warm ______ really made a big difference. It ______ a reminder that they were not ______ in their struggles and that there was always support available to them.

4 . In 2008, Calvin Lowe’s four-year-old son Tyler needed to have a serious operation.

On the appointed day of the operation, he and his wife brought Tyler to Children’s Hospital Colorado in Denver. “As we sat in the waiting room, waiting for someone to call us back to the operation area, there was a lot of _______ in our hearts,” Lowe remembered.

When a nurse called the family back, Lowe’s fears _______. A young doctor walked into the room and told the couple that he would be _______ the operation. As the doctor began to _______ how the operation would proceed (进行), Lowe’s mind went to the worst possible _______. But then the doctor did something _______. He looked both Lowe and his wife in the eye, put a _______ hand on each of their shoulders, and said, “Today, your son is my son.”

After the operation was over, the doctor came back out to the family with a big smile and said, “Our son is just fine, and you can see him here in a few minutes.”

Tyler is now 19 years old and hopes to become a professional photographer. All these years after the operation, Lowe still thinks about the young doctor’s kindness. “I will never forget that,” Lowe said. “Because that was indeed a _______ of stress then. I can’t tell you how _______ we both were for what he said to us that day. It was very ________ and meaningful.”

5 . Growing Roots

When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t _______ lives, he was planting trees.

The good doctor had some interesting theories on planting trees. He believed in “No pains, no gains”. He never _______ his new trees, which was _______ many people. Once I asked why. He answered that watering plants spoiled them, and that if you water them, each following tree generation will grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things _______ for them. He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots, and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of water. I came to understand that he meant deep roots were to be _______. I planted a couple of trees a few years back and I took good care of them. Two years of _______ has resulted in trees that expect to be waited on hand and foot. Whenever a cold wind blows, they shake and tremble their branches. Funny things about those trees of Dr. Gibbs’. The lack of water seemed to _______ them in ways comfort and ease never could.

I used to pray for my sons that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to _______ my prayer. I know my children are going to meet _______, and I’m praying they will be strong. The prayer for comfort is seldom met. What we need to do is to pray for deep roots, so when the winds blow, they won’t be __________ away.

6 . A Person Who Has Influenced My Life

There is always a time in one’s life when a hero comes along. Someone who has inspired you can really help you learn what life is about.

I remember it as if it was yesterday. I was fifteen years old that year. It was around eight o’clock one evening when my mother _______ a phone call from her brother-in-law, who told us my aunt was in hospital and that the doctor _______ them she would need an operation immediately. My family became very _______ about my aunt’s situation.

While my aunt was in the hospital with special _______, my cousin Mark, who is mentally disabled, spent time with my family. Mark was seventeen at the time, and had been born with _______ mental disorders, which created a wide range of social and physical problems for him throughout everyday life. He never had any true friend because no one could re late to him. I must _______ that at the beginning I was filled with uncertainty as to how much of a burden my cousin would bring on my family. Now looking back it saddens me to see the _______ I once showed.

Over the two weeks when Mark lived with my family, I probably _______ more about life and its meanings. Thinking back, I took _______ in daily life for granted, believing it would always be there. I never even thought about being able to do things like walking, brushing my teeth, or going to the bathroom on my own. Now I see how ________ I am to be able to do these things independently.

Mark was seventeen, but learned on a nine-year-old level. Although his learning ability was slower than most, he could ________ learn. He explored ________ to do most of the things everyone else did.________ he did pretty well and succeeded in almost everything he tried to do. He ________ his illness and showed an ambition to love life. To him, having a successful life means achieving goals on his own terms and at his own ________.

Mark is my hero, for his disability has forever formed my viewpoint on life.

8 . On a bright afternoon, Jordan, Mahir and Mahir’s father gathered at the foot of a mountain. “Hey, Jordan, over here!” Jordan’s best friend, Mahir, waved his hand, pointing to a crack in the side of the mountain. “We could _______ this!”

Jordan tied his safety harness (系带) and checked his rope. He weighed one of them in his hand, determining its weight. Then he looked for _______ locations, considering the difficulty of the task. “That crack is _______ narrow. I don’t think we’d get up very high.”

“At the time of a test, a person rises or falls.” said Ghanim, Mahir’s dad. Shaking his head in _______ over the foreign proverb (谚语), Jordan examined the crack. It was nothing more than a sliver in the solid face of the cliff. He shifted in his harness as Mahir gave the proverb his own explanation: “If you’re not reaching the _______, you’re not trying hard enough.” Jordan recognized the bit of advice from a previous climbing lesson.

His own father’s voice resounded in his thoughts, as if in a half-forgotten dream. “Climb a mountain, son, and you climb the insecurity in your own life. You climb over your shadow, climb over your _______.”That was five years ago, before the automobile _______ that took his dad’s life. Jordan’s father swiftly turned his car and effectively _______ a car from going over a cliff (悬崖). The sudden move had saved the people in that car. But his father’s car went off a cliff. _______ with the difficult situation, Jordan’s dad had never hesitated before making the decision.

And now Jordan wouldn’t either. ________ on his balance, he took a deep breath and began to climb. Finally, they made it to the peak of the mountain.

9 . One winter, a homeless dog called Shavi was left to die on the streets of south-west Russia after being _______ by a driver. With two broken legs, she was taken to a pet clinic for _______ by a volunteer from One Green Planet. After launching an appeal to find someone who could look after Shavi, the vet found Nina who _______ her and nursed her back to health, working on regaining her confidence and _______.

Due to work commitments, Nina couldn’t keep Shavi and instead found her a new _______ 185 miles away, near the Russian border. However, after just a few days, Shavi _______ from there.

Two weeks later, while walking along the road outside her home, Nina felt something brush up against her leg. Realizing it was Shavi, she was so _______ and excited. The dog had made the almost 200-mile journey back to the woman who had saved her life and legs.

The pair lived together and moved into a bigger apartment so Shavi had plenty of room to play. “Of course, she has now remained with us for good. I would never give this kind of friend away again. _______ are the most loyal and loving companions in the world. For every drop of human love, they _______ give all of theirs in return, and I know that from personal experience. Shavi is just like a __________ to me.” Nina said.

10 . A school bus driver returned to college to become a high school history teacher, thanks to some _________ students.

Clayton Ward is a history lover, and as such,_________the time he’d spend chatting with students about their history classes as he _________ them to and from school.

“After several of these discussions, some of the students would tell me they wanted me to be their _________.” he said. “That small mention from those kids… it _________ me and gave me the motivation to complete a goal I had started years ago.”

_________, Ward went to college after his highschool graduation; but after a year, he had to leave and soon started driving buses. But he still valued _________, and talking with the students on the bus route renewed his sense of passion for expanding and teaching young minds.

Ward enrolled (注册) at a community college in May 2019, and _________ to take his classes full time while also still driving his bus.

“It wasn’t always _________. I would drive my route in the morning and afternoon, take classes in between shifts and take night classes,” he said. “I would think of those students and all the years I wanted to make this happen, and it helped me focus my energy.”

“You wouldn’t think that kids can do something like that, to give me the __________ and ambition to go back to school,” Ward said. “It’s kind of crazy that such a small thing can make such an impact on your life.”