1 . I was shocked when my socially awkward sister, who had suffered from Asperger Syndrome (阿斯伯格综合症), decided to sing in front of our school. I knew she would _______ me in some way, so I disagreed. However, my parents insisted that she _______ and I would have to be part of the audience. I silently hoped that something would happen to save me from watching her _______ face.

As I waited in the hall, sweat (汗水) _______ my face. I comforted myself that no one knew she was my sister and tried to persuade (说服) myself that it would be _______. The lights darkened and the _______ opened to reveal (使露面) my sister standing alone on stage. She seemed _______ , taking a minute to stammer (结结巴巴地说) her name and class. _______ began to be heard in the audience. I shifted nervously in my seat, afraid what was about to happen. But as my sister started to sing, I was _______. Her voice flowed effortlessly and melodiously (悦耳地), filling the hall with its ________. I watched in wonder, realizing I had never known she could sing so ________. I listened carefully to the lyric(歌词) she had written herself, feeling ashamed for doubting her ________. My heart gave way as I heard the heartfelt words.

In that moment, guilt and shame flooded my heart. ________ my unwillingness to support her, she had never taken anything that I had done to her to heart. It was then that I determined to love her ________. It was as if a veil (面纱) had been lifted (移开) from my ________, and my heart was full.

2 . “IS THERE A DOCTOR ON BOARD?” No doctor wants to hear these words while   _________, but this time I was already ready by the worried sounds. My husband and I were on our way home after a European holiday. The cabin (机舱) was _________ for the inflight movies when sound of “Wake up! Oh, help!” _________.

I was out of my _________ fast. The flight attendant and I arrived together to see a frightened elderly woman _________ the hand of her husband, who didn’t _________ to her. His head was back, mouth open. He may have been asleep, except that he couldn’t be _________.

I did a quick _________: irregular but steady pulse (脉搏), colour good, no evident pain, breathing _________ without effort. I sat on the arm of the seat across the aisle, still __________ his pulse, and asked the woman about her husband. At 80 years old, he had a __________ medical history and had never taken medications. The couple had travelled to Scotland to __________ their 60th wedding anniversary, and they were on their way home. It had been a good holiday, she said, but __________.

Suddenly her husband opened his eyes, looked at me, smiled and asked what had happened. “Well, you lost consciousness (意识) for a few minutes,” I said. “Your heart beat isn’t quite right, and that may have __________ this.”

Three weeks later, I received a lovely thank you note from this kind gentleman, who will hopefully remain in good __________ for years to come.

3 . Catherine Krestyn furnished her home mainly with hard rubbish, such as the chairs, doors and lamps, which were collected from the street where she lives. And it’s a way of life she’s sharing with her community in the hope of making a __________.

Catherine leads a 6, 000-strong online group called Boroondara Hard Rubbish Rehome, where members __________ pictures of their hard rubbish piles for eager locals to find. She started the group in 2022 with her childhood friend Jennie Irving, hoping to _________ a community of thrift (节俭) where they lived. The _________ have stopped more than 7, 000 kg of hard rubbish _________ in landfill since they founded the group. Some items are _________ as they are, like chairs and lamps, and others take a bit of _________ to clean up, like the old, wooden doors.

Local teacher Ruth Polgar discovered the group while surfing the Internet and has since _________ her classroom with second-hand items, including artwork she has rehomed from a neighbour. “We _________ take unneeded items from the group and use them for our school projects,” she says

_________ the group can be really challenging for Catherine. But she isn’t down on those who have to let go of their _________ because of stressful circumstances. “If you’re downsizing or If you’re clearing an _________ house, quite often you’re desperate for _________ to easy options,” she says. “Hard rubbish piles are often that option.”

All Catherine wants to do is give her community a way to _________ their waste, and to send a _________ to those in charge that things need to urgently change.

4 . When I was a little boy, my Mom, Dad, brothers and I lived in my Nana’s old house. It was _________ by four huge vegetable gardens. And around the house were _________ so many flowers. It was so _________ there in the spring and summer. On the back porch (门廊) Nana had dozens of potted plants _________ on hooks (钩). She watered them, talked to them and _________ them. And in the winter she would carry them all _________ and set them on shelves near the windows of our enclosed front porch. There with a little water and a lot of love she kept them _______, green, and growing even during the _________, darkest months.

As a boy I was puzzled by all the _________ she put into them. I understood the vegetable gardens. They helped to __________ the family all winter long. The reason she put so much effort into __________ those potted plants, however, puzzled me. They didn’t give us any __________ and they rarely had any flowers on them. They __________ a mystery (神秘) to my child’s mind.

Now as I’ve grown older I am beginning to understand. It is the same reason I have so many __________ of sunrises and forests hanging in my home. They __________ me during the dark, cold, winter months full of bare trees and yellow grass that light, love, and growth still exist.

5 . Born into a poor farmer’s family in Meixi township in 1960, Liang Ruirong suffered polio (脊髓灰质炎) when he was a child. This physical disability ______ his life.

After failing the college entrance examination, he made a ______ working in fields. After about a year, Liang seized the ______ chance to become a full-time employee at a _____ factory in a neighboring town. Modest and ______, he was promoted to workshop director after five years. Over time, the idea of ______ his own company began to take shape. “I didn’t have the money,” he said. “I had to ______ it from friends.”

During the first few years, Liang traveled with the delivery truck to ______ customers with the bamboo products in person. “To save on ______, I often slept in the truck at night,” he said.

Liang never forgot about the ______ he had gone through. As company chairman, he created jobs on the processing lines, which do not require much physical ______. To make sure that as many people as possible could ______ his success, the company establishes a charity which ______ 250, 000 yuan to Meixi township.

Liang’s company is now well-known for environmentally friendly bamboo products. For Liang, the company has   ______ to the world, showing that it is possible to ______ the right balance between economic development and environmental protection, making money and benefiting society.

6 . “Nothing will ever be the same again,” Ally said to herself.

Ally’s father _______ last summer. It wasn’t fair, Ally thought. Dad was young and had never been sick. Why had his heart _______ stopped? Ally sank slowly into her father’s favorite chair and looked at his picture on the bookcase. “I miss you, Dad,” she said _______.

She felt a hand smoothing her hair and _______. “Why don’t you come outside with me , Ally?” her mother asked. “By this time last year you’d already taken dozens of pictures of birds.”

But her mother must know bird watching wouldn’t be the _______ this year. How could it be? Ally wondered. Ever since she could remember, she and Dad had been a team, _______ the woods for the special wood warbler (林莺). “I’ll be out in a while, I promise,” she answered.

After her mother left, Ally _______ the photo album. On the cover was a photo of a tiny yellow bird with blue-gray wings and black eyes. Dad _______ it from a local newspaper. Ally smiled, remembering the _______ look on Dad’s face when he showed her the pretty bird.

“I can’t ________ someone spotted this little guy way up here in New Jersey,” he said. “Wood warblers are usually ________ in the south not this far north. I bet ________ we search real hard, Ally, we’ll see this little guy together someday.”

Ally closed her eyes. She loved ________ about the times she and Dad had spent searching the woods for the little bird. They’d never spotted the warbler ________ her father had an amazing way of making each outing seem ________. If only I could get that good feeling back, she thought, sighing.

9 . Culture and tradition are the soul of a country. When a country ________ them, it is difficult for it to make ________. Chinese culture can be seen everywhere in China. _________, I did not really understand it in the beginning. Then I realized I had to ________ something in order to understand it.

Last winter I decided to stay at our university to ________ all the activities organized for foreign students to celebrate the Spring Festival.

The ________ began a month ago with the decorating of our rooms with Spring Festival couplets (对联) and New Year paintings. On February 10, we ________ an activity to write Spring Festival couplets. When I saw the brush, I became ________ . Why is there such a pen? How do we use it?

After understanding the tools, we started our creative ________ . I tried to hold the brush and start writing ________, but the tip of the pen was too ________ and I couldn’t grasp it at all. I was ________, but I didn’t give up. After several ________, I wrote a line of words. At this time, I found that my sleeves were dirtied with ink as I was too ________ practicing. Even so, I was very happy, because I felt that I had learned the essence (精髓) of writing calligraphy.

Through this activity, I came to ________ the amazing Chinese culture more.