1 . The New Year was heartbreaking for Melanie Lee. A few weeks earlier, her 33-year-old son had ________ his battle with a long illness. Then the engine on her old car ________ working. She had no means of paying for it to be fixed.

“When it ________, I broke down,” Lee said. “Now I don’t have my ________, now I don’t have transportation. How am I supposed to stay ________ in my grandchildren’s lives?”

Eliot Middleton, 38, the owner of a barbecue restaurant and a former auto mechanic who, in his free time, ________ and gives away used cars. He’d heard about Lee’s difficult ________ from her nephew. On New Year’s morning, Middleton showed up unannounced at Lee’s home with a(n) ________: a white 1933 Oldsmobile.

“I had no idea what was going on,” said Lee. “He ________ me the keys and didn’t ask for anything.” Once again, she was able to ________ her granddaughters from school and take them to dance classes. “I got my ________ back.”

The ________ for the used-car giving away came to Middleton a year earlier during a ________ drive he’d organized. Many of those who’d lined up for a meal ________ up to four miles to get there because they didn’t have cars.

________ are the lifeline in this part of South Carolina, Middleton said. There’s no public ________, no taxis to take people to doctor appointments, even food shopping. So he ________ on a social media platform an offer to trade his restaurant’s specialty for broken-down ________. Since then, people have left more than 100 cars in ________ states of disrepair. Many cars sit in Middleton’s yard waiting to be fixed and ________, usually to those he’s heard about by word of mouth.

It’s a list of names that grow daily.

“People think Middleton is a good man,” Lee’s nephew said. “And I do too.”

3 . Skateboarder Robert Glover’s skills are seriously impressive, but his style isn’t what you’d expect. Born with sacral agenesis(骶骨发育不全), _______ the growth of his legs, Mr. Glover uses his _______ body strength to move his skateboard. Instead of relying on legs, he uses his _______ and body to control the board.

The Namibian born skateboarder, sailor, boxer and entrepreneur speaks regularly about the _______ of not viewing obstacles as limits and is _______ about sharing this message far and wide via social media. “I don’t think obstacles are here to _______ us,” Mr. Glover said. “In my opinion, obstacles have been some of the biggest growing _______ both mentally and physically in my life.”

He regular shares images of his _______ skill to Instagram. In a video, Mr. Glover shared the _______ of how he first realised skntehoarding was a ________ for him and what motivates him to continue improving his skills. “I might not skate ________ but I can skate better than you.” he said in the video.

“Since I was young, I’ve ________ the idea of being in a wheelchair. Someone ________ me their board and I just used it as ________ . One day someone was like, ‘Hey, let’s check out the skate park’. I saw the ________ . I just fell in love with it. Adaptive skating is ________ skaters who use any way, shape or form to ride on a board.”

“It’s pretty sick because everyone has a ________ way of doing things. I’ve been injured, it’s an unpleasant feeling and it’s motivation not to ________ again. Skating is and always will be an outlet. The feeling of landing something is just so ________ . Life is open-ended. Just go out here and ________ things your way. ‘

5 . Earlier this summer, my Ph.D. graduation finally came. I was ________ to return to campus to attend it, which had been ________ because of a flu outbreak. There I ________ a poster board saying “Develop your potential”, and a ________ on it arrested my attention: “Keep trying until you get it right.” It made me stop to ________ my experiences.

I grew up with the dream of becoming a scientist. When I finished my master’s degree, I wanted to try something even more ________: a doctoral degree.My dream met with a(n) ________ when I failed the entrance exam. Nearly all my friends and professors ________ me to put it aside and accept the ________ I had been offered. But I was ________ the routine work would hold back my ________ for exploring. So I decided to apply abroad for doctoral programs.

I worked as a research assistant to earn a ________ while studying for the programs. I never ________ despite the difficulties. I passed the tests _______ and was accepted into a doctoral program in China. There, I met even more ________: language problems, cultural differences etc. Yet I held the same ________ as the note writer: Keep trying. Over time, everything was ________ gradually.

I realized that by trying again and again, I have ________ my potential. Trying does not always lead to ideal results. However, by focusing more on what I ________ and less on what I missed, I learned to enjoy the ________ of trying and the unexpected opportunities it brought.

6 . How do we make good things out of bad? How do we look at ourselves? Can there be a _______ side even in our pain?

There was an elderly woman who needed to walk down to the river every morning to _______ water for drinking, cooking and cleaning. She _______ two buckets, filled them up on the riverbank and walked back with them to her rural _______.

One of the buckets was newer, perfectly sealed (密封) and _______ its water completely. The second bucket was older and contained a few thin cracks that would _______ water as the elderly woman walked. By the time she arrived home, _______ about one third of the water in the second bucket was left.

One day, on the walk down to the river, the cracked bucket that had always felt like it wasn’t as good as the other bucket said to the elderly woman, ‘‘I want you to know that water has been _______ out every morning for the past several years. I’m so sorry for being cracked and making your life more _______. I understand if you need to ________ me with a better bucket.” The elderly woman ________, ‘‘do you really think I haven’t known about your cracks this whole time? Look at all the beautiful flowers that grow on the ________ from my cottage to the river. I ________ their seeds, but every morning it was you who ________ them.”

We all have a few cracks, but choose to see how it’s exactly those ________ that make us good enough.

7 . Last month, I slept through a flight from London to Beijing. Upon waking up, I was shocked to discover that I could no longer _________ my right arm and fingers. My arm just simply did not follow my brain’s _________, as if it no longer _________ my body.

The doctor at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital _________ me to have suffered neural (神经的) injury. Aside from _________ that I see a physiotherapist (理疗师), he only told me, “Rest for two months first and come back for _________ check-up.”

In that moment of _______, a long-time family friend, who is an acupuncturist (针灸师) in Sichuan, _______ to help. I started my acupuncture _______ the next day. I was skeptical at first, but my ____________ was soon beaten by the results. After a few days, I could move my __________. Two weeks later, I could have meals using chopsticks. After a month, my arm and fingers were almost back to their ____________ functions.

In that clinic, I heard many other patients’ ________. One 11-year-old boy, who was born with ________ autism (自闭症), was treated at the age of three, and now he communicates quite __________. One lady, who suddenly became deaf two months ago, has just __________ her hearing.

I’m surprised at how these ________ needles can cure so many illnesses, many of which even big hospitals with expensive medical devices __________ with. Is it magic? No! But it is the right __________ of the Chinese tradition that brings __________ and happiness to friends here and farther.

10 . We always celebrated my Dad’s November birthday on Thanksgiving Day, even after he entered a nursing home. As years went on, these events took on a(n) ______ meaning — a traditional birthday party for Dad, and a personal deep sense of ______ for all that he had done for me in my life.

When we knew that it might be Dad’s ______ birthday, the whole family decided to come together for a huge birthday celebration at the nursing home. It was a crowded party ______ all of us sitting around him.

Dad was a wonderful ______, and here was the biggest audience he’d ever had.

During a quiet moment, I announced that it was now Dad’s turn to ______ stories from us. I wanted everyone to tell Dad ______ we loved about him. One after another, we told stories from our hearts, while Dad listened with wet, ______ blue eyes. However, we ______ all kinds of lost details of the memories — stories about when we were little, stories about when Dad was young and stories that are shared as family ______ . Even the littlest grandchildren couldn’t ______ to tell their grandfather why they loved him. For a man who had been kind to so many people in his life, here was our ______ to honor him.

A few months later, at Dad’s memorial service, we fully realized what we had given Dad that night. Those were the stories people normally tell at a ______. They are told, then, full of tears with the hope that the departed will somehow hear the outpouring of love. ______ we had given those loving ______ to Dad when he was ______, told through laughter, accompanied by hugs and joy. I’m sure the stories and memories ______ over in his mind during his last months and days.

Words do ______, and they are enough. We need to say them, to speak them ______ to the ones we love, for everyone else to hear. That’s the way to ______ love and our chance to honor a person in life.