1 . Brad hadn’t seen Grandma Joy for six years since their fierce argument. At his brother’s wedding, he ________ her again. He saw her walk unsteadily into the church and helped her get to the seat. But they didn’t say much.

Six months after the wedding, Brad hiked the Appalachian Trail. He found himself ________ a lot about his grandmother and the time they had spent at Blue Rock State Park, which is close to her house. There, they’d lift rocks in the river to find fish. It puzzled him why that ________ in particular stayed with him. He decided to call Grandma Joy.

It would be their first real ________ in years. She invited him over and he said “yes”. When the door opened, everything inside looked the same. But he was looking at a woman who had ________. They made small talk. Grandma Joy said that she had many ________ in her life. One of them was that except her time at Blue Rock State Park, she’d never had the chance to see what she called the great outdoors.

Brad left his grandmother’s house and went back to his routine. But he couldn’t help thinking of Grandma Joy and her sadness of not seeing more of ________. She just lived a simple life that stopped at the edge of the county line. He thought it would be a lifelong pity if he didn’t ________ her. Then he came up with an idea that even he knew was ________. He would take his 85-year-old grandma on a camping trip to a national park. He told her his crazy idea. The old lady ________ him by asking, “When do we leave?”

Having arrived there, Brad made a campfire. They sat next to each other, feeling the warmth and looking at stars. They ________ the lockbox of their past, talking about families and friends, about loss and pain. They told each other they’d wasted too many years being ________. So they decided to go on more trips together.

They have now visited 62 national parks. The open road provided time for the pair to ________ their secrets. Grandma Joy highly valued Brad’s company during the trips. She said she wouldn’t ________ him for anybody. Now, they’re not just traveling partners, not just grandmother and grandson, but ________.

2 . “Dear department, I would like your approval if I can have a unicorn (独角兽) in my backyard if I can find one. Please send me a letter in response.” In mid-November, Joyce wrote a letter to the local department of animal care and control with a(n) _______ request.

Director Annabelle Bradshaw wrote back a few weeks later with good news. She said the department does in fact license unicorns under certain _______. Those include polishing the unicorn’s horn (角) at least once a month, giving it _______ access to sunlight, moonlight and rainbows, and feeding it watermelons at least once a week.

_______ that Joyce would meet all the requirements, Bradshaw sent her a “preapproved unicorn license” for her future pet. “It is always   _______ to hear from young people who consider providing a loving home to animals.” Bradshaw wrote. She deals with a lot of “emotionally exhausting” issues on the job. So Joyce’s letter has _______ brightened her spirits. The first-grader also _______ her for wanting to ask permission in the first place, and doing her research to figure out how to go about that.

Joyce’s mother didn’t want to _______ her when she asked for a unicorn at first, so advised it might come down to getting approval. Joyce agreed and she _______ and an hour later she came back and said, “Will you help me ________ this?”

While the letter was received and replied to in a matter of weeks, Joyce thought the license would be a perfect present for her birthday this month.

3 . I grasped a sandwich as I tried to finish my work during lunch. My company, like many companies, had_________ costs by not replacing people as they left. The survivors had to take up the work. For me and my co-workers, this meant no lunch hour. I wanted to quit, but given the economy, it was hard to find another job. I felt ________. Then a conversation with a six-year-old girl changed my ________.

The young girl was standing in line with her mom at the supermarket.

“Good day at school?” I asked.

A nod.

“What’s your favorite subject?”

“Lunch.”

I smiled. That had been my_________ too. At lunch, I could talk with my friends, draw pictures or play games. There were no adults to tell me what to do. The time was mine.

But what happened to lunch time now?

I knew I was entitled to a lunch break at work. So I decided to ________ it. Our office was located in the downtown and I set out to_________ the area. A few blocks away was an art museum with free admission. At the end of another street, I was surprised to discover some horses eating grass in a field.

At the beginning of my tours during lunch, I received some ________ stares from my co-workers, but I chose to ignore them. In fact, I watched in amazement that some of them started to_________ their work during lunch. ________, we started inviting each other out for walks and discovered we had other topics of conversation beyond the common complaints about work.

I’m still looking for a new position, but with less anxiety than before. If we can’t change our ________, we can change our attitude.

4 . Jennifer finds Cecelia reading a newspaper alone in the room. “Hi Cecelia, do you_______me? Jennifer.” The 91-year-old resident at Newburgh elder care center says a friendly hello, but doesn’t seem to recognize Jennifer today.

It’s one nice spring afternoon. Jennifer invites Cecelia to go down to the_______. She helps Cecelia head to the elevator. Cecelia wheels herself forward, as Jennifer_______guides her from behind.

The two have been getting to know each other over the past few months since Jennifer, the recent Boston University graduate, began to volunteer in the center,_______residents with Alzheimer’s disease (阿尔茨海默症).

Down in the courtyard, Cecelia begins reading a poem, slowly and lyrically (抒情地). Jennifer listens attentively, and then asks if Cecelia knows who wrote the poem，to help her with a “_______stretch”. Together, they reflect on the poem’s meaning. Cecelia’s deep understanding of the poem suggests that she is such a_______lady. Jennifer tells Cecelia, “You’re the one who makes me_______coming here every week. I love learning from you. You’re like my teacher.”

“You give the old people a_______to think and to know they get good care,” Cecelia replies.

Jennifer’s relationship with Cecelia has played an important role in_______ her passion for looking after older generations. “We should take time to listen to them. Just listening is an act of__________,” Jennifer says.

5 . A photo, shot in the Luding earthquake, soon went viral(迅速传播). In the photo, a 20-year-old firefighter, Zhang Zili, was _________holding a 2-month-old baby,___________the hearts of people. People nouiced the word “Wenchuan” on Zhang’s left armband. Zhang, born in 2002 in a county neighboring Wenchuan, was hence lovingly referred to as “Wenchuan Brother”.

On May 12,2008, Zhang was attending a _________class when the magnitude-8.0 earthquake struck. He and his classmates were crying on the playground, not _________what was going on._________, the People’s Liberation Army came to their rescue. He _________how emergency supplies were air-dropped from helicopters and how PLA soldiers built_________ and offered instant noodles to locals. One _________even hugged and comforted Zhang, saying “Don’t be _________,we are here now”. The words left a deep impression on Zhang.

This year, when the Wenchuan brigade(消防队)was __________firefighters, he did not hesitate to join, hoping to save people just like the PLA soldiers. In less than four months, he has taken part in several forest firefighting __________and rescue operations. By Thursday, Zhang’s brigade had urgently __________two rescue channels in the baby’s village to transport the villagers.

Actually, many Wenchuan Brothers have participated in the search and rescue operations for the Luding earthquake. Of the 74 people from the Wenchuan brigade, many are __________from Wenchuan. With an average age of 27, they __________the Wenchuan earthquake and want to help people facing__________difficulties.

6 . It Only Takes One

I was that girl you would see alone.

I’d sit alone on the bus, at a table in the lunchroom and the library. I loved reading, but I knew it was my _________, a way to look busy and not like I was being alone. I didn’t want to appear as though I had no _________— which was basically true.          

One morning, as usual, when getting on a bus, I got out my _________ and put my head down. Then, I heard someone ask if I minded her sitting next to me. I _________, and there stood a girl I didn’t know. She looked nervous as she introduced herself. Her name was Jane. She was new to the neighborhood, and this was her first day at school. That day at lunch, when she _________ me in the lunchroom, she hurried over and sat down.

In the following weeks, it wasn’t just Jane who looked to see if she could sit next to me—I looked for her, too. Little by little, we began to talk about school and other things and,_________, ourselves. We soon became best friends.

Isn’t it amazing how overnight your life can _________? I feel so different now. It only _________ one other person to make you feel as though you are no longer _________.

I no longer hide behind books—although I am still an enthusiastic reader. Jane also loves books, so we go to the library together, check out books, and __________back and forth when we finish reading them. Then we take them back to the library and check out new ones. Amazing! Just one other person makes you feel like you are really important.

7 . My grandfather was a writer of many books. As a child and a teenager, I wrote _________, trying to be an author like him.When I _________ my first book, I was not sure if I should throw it out to the world or shelter it forever. That’s why I went to grandpa that night, my faithful reader, who once again gave me tremendous _________。

“Did you bring the book? I heard you talk about it and I can’t wait to see your _________.”

“Oh yeah, the book. I completed it yesterday,” I handed him the draft, “but I don’t think it’s that good...”

He turned to a random page and _________ more of the pages. “Why do you think this isn’t good? It looks fine to me.Very heart-warming.”

“Well, I’m not sure. It could be better than it is now.”

“You can’t expect for the book to be _________. Writing is a skill that takes time. You already finished the story, and now you have to _________ others what you’ve got.” he passed the book back to me. “If people don’t like it, then write again. Criticism is important, but you are going to have to keep on writing till you are _________ with your work.”

“Is that how you became a writer?”

“Yes, and every other writer before me. You have to start from the _________ and then reach the top.”

I finally broke out into a smile and he did too. I looked carefully at the book one more time. The pages bound together gave me hope for the future. That settled it. I was going to have to __________ myself and let others see my work. For me and for my grandpa.

8 . Though new term had begun for weeks, the new girl Molly still remained _______ around her classmates. Now she was sitting at the picnic table alone. She seemed unsure of what to do or say, yet I could see her eyes longing for _______.

Brianna, the class clown, was standing near the playground making the other students laugh, as usual. “Brianna, Molly looks awfully _______. Would you invite her to join us?” I said.

Brianna sighed. I could tell that she was _______ to do what I was asking of her, but I also knew she was so sweet and kind. I had specifically _______ her for this task. She looked at her friends, then at Molly.

Knowing this choice was _______ her, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a D-buck, our class currency(货币). I needed to _______ her cooperation.

“Here, I’ll _______ you for your time.”

She offered an insincere smile, grasped the green paper, and headed off.

I watched closely as the girls talked. When they finally walked back together, I sighed with _______.

A minute later, Brianna came back and handed me the D-buck.

“I shouldn’t keep this.” Her eyes fell to her feet, __________ radiating from her quiet voice. “I don’t want Molly to think I only went to get her so I could earn a D-buck. She’s my friend.”

Then Brianna skipped back to amuse her classmates again, and who laughed for the first time that week? Molly.

9 . My mother looks just like many grandmothers — short and white-haired. She comes from an old, traditional family in Canada, where she now still lives. She was a civil servant. In short, she didn’t do _______ things.

That all changed a few years ago. She began to _______ me with what she described as “independence”. At that time, I didn’t fully understand what she was doing.

In early 2015, the year she turned 75, she informed me she’d _______ a seven-night trip to Turkey, and that she was going alone. There was no way I could _______ that. A little old lady not speaking a word of Turkish, with no _______ of the laws and customs of the land — it was impossible!

My mother paid no attention to me. Off she went. When she returned, she told us it had been a wonderful success. As it _______, she had barely spent any time alone, after _______ a taxi driver to show her around. He introduced her to a rug vendor (地毯商) — Mustafa, “a lovely fellow”, and she bought some rugs. The vendor had taken her address details and promised to _______ them to Canada.

I couldn’t believe her naivety (幼稚) and explained that she had been _______. The vendor had her money. She neither had nor would be receiving any rugs.

Well, I was __________.

To my great shock, her rugs did arrive some weeks later, along with a lovely note from Mustafa. To my even greater surprise, the following year Mustafa himself arrived in Canada.

“I invited him for a cup of tea and he came,” my mother told me. I was __________ because she hardly knew this man! But again, she paid little attention to me, telling me to stop being silly.

I wondered: “Is she not thinking straight?” __________ I worried about her, Mum was thinking straighter than most of us.

Her __________ seemed to be based on a realization that life needs to be lived, when there’s relatively little of it left. It __________ me of the line “Get busy living or get busy dying.”

I don’t think Mum knows what her next big “thing” is going to be. But I am sure, she is open to any __________, which is something we all probably need right now. Live life to the fullest.

10 . It was an unexpected call for Aranza Delgado from the shelter, Peewee’s Pet Adoption World, 800 miles away in Texas. She was so pleasantly ________ when learning her dog “Puppies” was picked up by a passerby after it went missing four years ago. Since he was ________, the shelter called the chip company and got the name and telephone number of his ________.

However, Aranza had a limited window of time, and could only come to pick up Puppies one week later. Ernie Cochran, a volunteer of the shelter, replied that they were more than ________ to provide the dog with a place to stay for several more days.

“If we can get a dog back to his family, it’s a wonderful thing,” thought Ernie. Ernie and the other locals teamed up with a plan to get Puppies back home as ________ as possible.

“Everybody has been amazing, from the shelter to the people who are helping me transport Puppies,” Aranza told Kris News. She was happy to be ________ with her old friend soon. “I didn’t ________ how friendly everybody in Texas was and how helpful they’ve been. I’ve had a lot of ________. Actually, the lady that I’ve been in contact with is picking Puppies up tomorrow and she’s going to ________ him overnight and then will send him back home.”

Although she may never completely know what Puppies went through during the four years, Aranza hopes that her story ________ the kindness of Texans.