2 . As my husband and I saw someone publicizing the benefits of spending time outdoors, we were lost in thought. Noticing my daughter had _______ a little homebody, we knew we had to _______ sport into our routine. We were determined to make skiing a family activity. But we needed our daughter’s _______.

When we persuaded my daughter to join us, we _______ two days at an all-inclusive family ski resort aiming to minimize the _______ of skiing with kids and maximize the fun that came on the slopes.

“Well done! You’ve arrived as scheduled,” said our ski instructor as we reached the resort. It was _______ nine degrees. It was freezing, but we got ready soon. I could _______ recognize my daughter because her face was wrapped in thick clothes like the others.

The resort took account of almost all the trouble we might have in skiing. Of the fifty-three runs, eight were greens labeled with _______ reading “Route For Beginners”. However, when our instructor _______ us to ski, our hopes of being a ________ skiing family were dashed (使破灭). “Ahh!” escaped our lips. She was ________ and said, “Sorry, I thought you were ready.” Then she went on to lead us down a gentler way. We still ________ many times. Everyone slid down the slope, but not without falls.

While the experience frightened us, it also ________ our dinnertime conversation. My daughter told us, “Although I had a hard time skiing, there is no ________ of happiness.” I responded, “Your father and I enjoyed ourselves, too.” The next day, we ________ there as beginner skiers, but we believed we would be certainly expert skiers.

3 . Yesterday two unexpected visitors came to our balcony during the brief time we were out. Two brave ______ had came into a district to ______ the freshness of our washbasin and some other bread pieces on our balcony.

When you came across such sudden visitors, are you ______ to sense it as an invasion (入侵) into your comfort zone, or you might ______ it as a lovely moment of Life? We chose the second option, with no ______. After all, we’ve been feeling encouraged to ______ the relationship with our sparrows more and more each day. We can’t stop _______and celebrating their dance from our window. We fed them with the leftovers (剩菜) on our tablecloth after every meal. And we have ______ them with our balcony. ______, they feel at ease in our courtyard. And that has led them to ______ up courage and determine to enter our house. Perhaps they have the feeling that we no longer consider them as unexpected guests, but friendly ______, who only leave some waste from time to time.

The ______ of our dear sparrows draws us out of our boring daily ______ and shows us the potential beauty. They often take different human forms. We’ve met sparrows like those, of all shapes and ______. And they’re everywhere. Perhaps all of them are willing to surprise us. Perhaps all of them are willing to catch our ______. They only ask us not to be afraid of them or feel reluctant (勉强的) to their presence.

4 . It was a long drive to the nursing home (敬老院,养老院) where my grandmother was living. _________, at least twice a month I drove to see her. I’d already _________ my mom to cancer and I wanted to always remember my grandmother, especially because she was beginning to _________ me. Nanna had Alzheimer disease (老年痴呆症), which was slowly starting to eat away at her _________. Sometimes she recognized me when I visited her and sometimes she didn’t.

On one visit, I _________ my grandmother good-bye and started to walk towards my car. Suddenly a tiny hand seized mine. “James!” a _________ voice said. I turned and saw a smiling, wrinkled face. Like my Nanna, she had Alzheimer disease but was still able to walk and get around. She _________ me for her son (A nurse told me he’d died years ago). I held her hands and let her joyfully _________.Though her eyes didn’t know who I was, I saw the excitement in them when she spoke to her son through me.

On the following visits, I always took _________ to visit my Nanna as well as her. I always got a smile and sometimes even a __________ from her. The nurses told me she was always __________ and calmer after seeing her “son”.

Then one day I noticed she was __________. I spoke to the nurses and they sadly told me that she’d been dead for some days. I put my head __________ and went quietly into my Nanna’s room.

Her loss didn’t really hit me __________ I went for a walk at night. I looked at the sky, realizing something—for a while I really had been her son. Actually, in this world we’re all __________ by invisible strings of love.

5 . I grew up both a little frightened and excited by storms and tornadoes. Nearly 9 years ago, when the news reported that there would be _________ coming that night, I was well aware of the _________ of it.

While I was preparing for the storm, I heard the rumble (隆隆声), saw power flashes and knew it was coming. After _________ the power for safety, I jumped into a bath that was right inside the door and closed the door and laid down and _________ my head and prayed for _________ and for my family.

My _________ was racing with a million thoughts, regrets, prayers, etc, but I still heard the storm _________ my house, and then the sheetrock (石膏板) overhead _________ and it sounded like my roof lifted and came back down. I heard the _________ of nails being pulled out of wall, glass breaking, and then the most __________ sound I had ever heard.

I suddenly felt something __________ my head and everything went __________. When I opened my eyes again, I __________ blood on my wet head coming from a small __________. I went out to check my car. I got blinded by a light as I exited the carport (车棚). It was my neighborhood, coming to check on me. I stood there and tears poured down my face. Fortunately, we were __________ that day.

6 . The rubber surgical gloves were created about 135 years ago. Believe it or not, this little tool _________ in every doctor’s office and hospital was invented out of _________. In 1889, Dr. William Halsted was in love with the nurse and eventual wife, Carolyn Hampton. _________, this invention should be named “rubber gloves of love”.

Hospital procedures _________ surgical personnel to wash and disinfect their hands before interacting with patients. Carolyn _________ severe dermatitis (皮炎) due to the use of mercuric chloride (氯化汞) for disinfection. She was almost _________. Halsted wanted to keep her near him. To protect her _________, he thought hard and suddenly, something _________ him. He contacted the Goodyear Rubber Company, asking the engineers there to _________ thin rubber gloves for Carolyn.

__________ rubber gloves were very different from what we have today, but they proved to be an excellent ________ to the operating room. The gloves were __________ well received. Many other personnel began wearing the gloves. It’s generally __________ that now they have many uses, far beyond their original __________. For example, hairdressers use them to protect their hands from dyes (染料) and solutions used in their business.

Whenever I see gloves anywhere, I couldn’t help but think of this __________ of inventing the “rubber gloves of love”.

8 . In 2019, after Ane Freed-Kernis retired, she decided to build a home workshop and devote all of her free time to stone carving. “I might be ________ head to toe in dust but I’m happy.” she says.

This ________ has its roots in Freed-Kernis’ childhood. Growing up on her father’s farm in Denmark, she used to wander through the fields with her ________ fixed on the ground, looking for stones to ________ to her collection.

After moving to England in 1977 and training as a social worker, Freed-Kernis soon became ________ with her busy career and the demands of raising her son. Stones were the ________ thing on her mind, until her father died in 2005. “He took a stone carving course in his retirement, and I always thought it seemed so ________ but never had the time to look into it myself,” she says, “After he died I became determined to learn ________.”

“It was really ________ at the start because you would spend hours just hammering.” She says, “I’m glad I kept going, though, because eventually you begin to see the ________ that was in your mind emerging from the stone-and it’s ________.”

When she turned 60 in 2019, she realised this had become a passion she needed to ________ to. “Everything else ________ and I only love the creative process of seeing a design I have ________ in 2D drawing become something real,” she says. “It felt like a new ________ of life.”

10 . Taylor Hash desired to become a career pilot and she was under training. One day, she had just started building up hours of flight time when a(n)________ struck. As she guided the Diamond Star plane off the runway at airport, on her third-ever independent ________, the front tyre (轮胎) of her plane fell off.

Taylor was ________ at that point that she had just lost important landing equipment. “I didn’t feel anything wrong in the take-off ________,” she said. However, a(n)________ pilot Chris Yates, saw something and immediately took action. He knew that Taylor would have to make a difficult emergency landing. He ________ the control tower and said, “The Diamond Star that just took off lost its nose wheel tyre on the runway.” Yates asked people there to put him through to Taylor so he could help her. When Taylor learned what had happened, she was in ________.

Therefore, Yates ________ that the most important thing would be to keep Taylor calm so she could follow him attentively. Then Yates ________ Tavlor and told her that she could ________ above the field until she was ready to land. “When you touch down, I just want that joystick (操纵杆) all the way back. You’re gonna hold it back like you don’t want that nose to touch,” he ________ her.

Despite feeling unsure, Taylor trusted Yates. With palms sweaty and lips ________, Taylor successfully create a best landing chance. Finally, she managed to land ________.

No sooner had Yates extended his arms than Taylor hugged him tightly with tears of ________ rolling down cheeks. Yates smiled, patted on her shoulder and encouraged, “it was your excellent skill that help yourself ________ the emergency successfully. I am so proud of you.”