1 . I’ve been paralyzed (瘫痪的) since childhood and I started using a wheelchair in first grade. So I’ve had 30 years to learn just how______ I am and just how often people assume I’m helpless.

As a culture, Americans are ______ that disability is something they’ve figured out. Disability doesn’t define anyone; try to be ______; and the rule that guides them all: be kind.

Well, here’s the ______: we look through the eyes of nondisabled people so regularly that we ______ to ask even one of the many questions hovering (停留) around the disabled recipients of “help”. Did you want anyone’s help? Was it______ helpful?

“So how am I supposed to be helpful?” you might be asking. You have to______ the person in front of you. What signals are they giving you? What expression do you see on their face? If you really can’t ______, you can ask, but if someone says, “No thank you,” listen.

Like anyone else, disabled people are both capable and in need of some help. If you want to be genuinely, actively “______” to disabled people, invite them into your organizations, businesses and programs. Include disabled engineers and comedians and lawyers and teachers in your world. This kind of ______is a kindness for all of us, because listening to voices that are typically silenced brings to the table creativity, innovation and power.

2 . It was hard not to notice an 8-year-old kid storming in and out of his own house. “He doesn’t have a father,” said his neighbor, William Dunn. “I can probably do something for him.”

That something was fishing, a ________ Dunn’s father had shared with him. “It brought me peace and taught me how to be patient,” he said. He then took the kid fishing every weekend. Gradually he took groups of kids out to fish. Most didn’t have father figures. “They’d been through a lot, and their lives were ________,” said Dunn. “But when they were fishing, all of that disappeared. On the boat, they’d be laughing and making new friends. They just ________ the moment.”

________ by this scene, Dunn started the nonprofit Take a Kid Fishing. He and the volunteers have introduced 2,500 kids — most without fathers ________ — to the calming peace found on the water and the excitement of catching a fish.

Just as important as the fishing are the ________ Dunn forms with those kids. When they have a rough time, Dunn will talk with them, emphasizing self-respect and mental ________. One of the kids, Bella Smith, said she would forget about the past while fishing and concentrate on something positive. “Fishing is learning,” she said. “I’ve learned I ________ a better life than what I had. Whenever I feel down, I know it’s time to go fishing.”

Dunn’s father passed away this year, so fishing has ________ new meaning for him. “I have a stronger liking for it because now I’m fatherless too. There’s nothing like feeling that first pull on the line and seeing a kid light up with a smile,” said Dunn. “I feel ________ to witness that every weekend.”

3 . During the first weeks of his retirement from the fire service, Max had felt lost. And that’s when Polly, a library manager, helped him sign up as a ________ , for Robot Club in the library.

Max hadn’t volunteered before and he didn’t know anything about ________ . He opened the packs containing the robots, nervously staring at the mess of parts. A dozen primary-age children gathered around the table, ________ eagerly. Almost double the number of adults crowded around them, watching.

Glancing around the library at the many parents and carers accompanying the robot builders, Max knew he had to face this ________ .

“Okay, team,” he started ________ , adopting the tone he’d used to brief his unit during his firefighting days. “We’re going to build these robots one step at a time.”

The children nodded, their hands busy with screws and plastic limbs. Max wandered from table to table, ________ words of encouragement, and slowly but surely, piecing together the instructions in his mind.

An hour passed, and the room was filled with the sound of chatter and clinking parts. As the final minutes of Robot Club ticked away, Max stood back and ________ the room. Robots of all shapes and sizes stood on the tables. The children were excited, ________ their creations to anyone who would look.

As they began to leave, many children stopped to thank Max. Each “thank you” and “see you next week” chipped away at the sense of ________ he had felt since retiring. He hadn’t put out a fire today, but perhaps he had lighted something far more important — a new ________ for himself.

4 . It was 4:30 pm. As I was packing up, I noticed my colleague had left his laptop bag in the office. So I decided to bring it to him. It took me about 15 minutes to get to his house, where I _____ the bag and got right back on the road.

Suddenly a snowstorm came and within minutes I was in a whiteout. I stopped because I was afraid of driving into a farmer’s field, or worse. I kept the car _____ to stay warm and called 911.They told me to sit tight and wait things out for the night.

Those seconds after the call were _____. Breathe, I told myself. Panicking won’t help.

I texted my colleague, joking about my good deed ending in _____. He suggested I share a satellite view of my _____ on my social media. And I did so, praying that anyone who knew the residents of the nearby farms could get me rescued.

Waiting in the car, I doubted whether _____ would be able to come. Soon enough, though, I got a message from someone who was going to put me in touch with them.

At 8 pm, I saw a tall figure in a yellow raincoat striding toward me in the dark, carrying a flashlight. I’d never been more _____ to see someone in my life. It was André Bouvier, who’d walked about 550 yards to come get me, fighting the wind and snow each step of the way.

He turned around and started to trudge through the snow, sure of the direction. I drove behind him, feeling my heart begin to beat more _____. When we reached his house, I burst into tears, all my fears turning into relief and _____.

The experience has been a game changer for me. I now ______ challenges with a sense of calm I’d not known before. But best of all, it brought André into my life.

5 . I hadn’t seen Anne in nearly 20 years since college, yet we could still party like old times. It was great to have her here, _______ our lives.

She was looking at the few blooms (花) left in my yard. I hadn’t planted much after losing my job. It had been a _______ year for me. Just when I thought I was done with the bitterness, it would all come rushing back and the _______ thing on my mind was flowers.

“One of my hobbies is taking photos of _______,” she said and steadied herself near the last rose of the season. I shrugged (耸肩), wondering why anyone would _______ taking time to look at a lowly rose.

Suddenly a hot song rang from her cell phone. “I set it to remind me to take my medicine,” she said calmly.

“An _______ for medicine?” I laughed. “Are we that old?”

“For my brain,” she smiled. “I have been diagnosed with a rare cancer, a small tumor (肿块) no bigger than your fingernail,” she laughed softly. That was Anne — ever _______. Even cancer was no more than joking about.

So _______ that I was beyond words.

Later next day, an e-mail filled with the flower photos popped up from Anne — clear and beautiful. She had gotten past the anger, the pity and unfairness, taking one moment at a time and polishing it until it _______.

I shifted my eye to outside, and I had her flowers in full bloom. Actually, I always had them, but it was Anne who got me to really ________ them.

6 . In 2019, Thierry Henry, a bus driver, found there was a rise in bike thefts in his city, Reykjavik. Rather than ________ that the bike was gone forever, he decided to take matters into his own hands and started to track down the bikes and return them to their ________ owners.

The 44-year-old has helped return hundreds of stolen bikes in the past 4 years. His social media account has over 14, 500 members and helps people track down more than just lost bikes. His page ________ to people who have lost tools, cars and other items of high value. On top of his noble act, Henry has helped the bike ________ to reform in the process.

________, Henry would deal with the thieves with anger. However, over time, he realized that most of the thefts were driven out of poverty and other issues. He went from feeling ________ towards the thieves, to developing empathy (同理心) for their situations. It was very tough at first. But Henry decided to try to ________ them and just talk to them.

From this moment onward, he reached out to the thieves, offering help and guidance. After the change in his ________, Henry found that the bike thieves began to often hand back the bikes to him. Amazingly, some former thieves that Henry helped now ________ him in looking for the stolen bikes.

“It’s like a ________ that has got bigger and bigger, ” says Henry. “It’s not only me. Many times, someone spots a bike hidden in a bush and takes a picture. Then someone else comments, ‘hey, that’s my bike’”.

Thanks to Henry, everyone’s looking out.

7 . When Susan was a high school senior, her English teacher Mr. DiMeo gave the class a challenging task: Recite a poem in front of the whole class.

“I had a mild stutter (结巴). I’d be ________ to get a word out that might begin with ‘D’ or ‘TH’, or I might say ‘the’ three times,” Susan said. The thought of getting up in front of her classmates and stuttering through the poem was too much to ________.

Susan went home and ________ how scared she was to her mom, who agreed to write a note asking for her to be ________ from doing the task in front of the whole class.

When the day of the recitation came, Susan recited the poem one-on-one to Mr. DiMeo. ________ she was done, Mr. DiMeo said something she’d never heard before: that he liked listening to her voice. For the first time, she considered the possibility that public speaking didn’t have to be a source of ________.

Susan went on to graduate from high school and go to college. She never got to properly thank Mr. DiMeo. But sometime after college, she ________ a job as a corporate trainer. The new position made her realize how big a (n)________ he had had on her confidence.

“I stand up in front of people and speak, and I do it all the time. If I do stutter once in a while, no big deal,” she said. Susan recently found a way to ________ her former teacher, and plans on sending him a letter expressing her appreciation.

In her mind, Mr. DiMeo is an unsung hero, because he’s a big reason why she has a successful career and life. “I don’t know where I would’ve gone if I felt like I had to keep my voice ________ because I was afraid of embarrassing myself. I’d like to thank him for that kindness.”

8 . I was preparing for dinner with my husband when our daughter Rikki stormed into the sitting room and marched to the sofa. I glanced out of the window and saw our neighbor Lexi walking slowly back to her house with her head down, looking so _______.

“I don’t want to play with her,” Rikki complained, “I wish she would stop coming over here all the time. Her dress looks terrible and smells disgusting. Everyone in our class chooses to _______ her.” “That’s not her _______ , Rikki. Maybe she doesn’t have anyone to help her.” I said.

“You see, baby,” her father began to say, “I really know how she felt when you showed your _______ to her because I had the same experience when I was a kid. I was the poor kid with hand-me-down clothes, the kid who others looked down on. That _______ never goes away.” He told her he wanted her to be kind and _________ , not judgmental and hurtful. Tears were streaming down her face.

Then we _______ Lexi to come over and have dinner with us. I remembered Lexi coming in all smiles. We gathered together and soon I saw the girls talking and _______ . They had a great time. I could even see a sweet glow in Rikki’s eyes.

Rikki began to think _________ from that day on. Lexi came over a few times after that. They became good friends.

Today, Rikki has a heart of gold. She is always the first to welcome those whom others might __________ and is generous in helping others. I truly believe that day made a major difference in the person she has become today.

9 . We live in a town, about half a mile from the banks of the Ahr River. It had been raining buckets that week and there were _______ warnings for some of the nearby areas, but not where I was.

As a precaution, I’d _______ sandbags outside my garden door and piled electronics and clothing on tables and the couch just in case water managed to see p through.

As I fell asleep, I was _______ by the sound of rushing water. When I swung my legs off the bed, I was _______ to feel cold water already up to my knees and rising fast. Shivering and in darkness, I grabbed my phone and _______ its flashlight. Water was coming from the garden door, and chairs, bookshelves and pieces of my drum set were floating all over my living room. The Ahr must have _______ burst its banks and breached the sandbags. And now I had to get out — fast!

With the water now up to my waist, in bare feet I started to paddle to my only _______: the door leading to upstairs. Finally I made it to that door and tried to pull it open, but the water’s pressure was high. I managed to make a _______ of about 30 centimeters with all my strength and effort, enough for me to squeeze through. Rushing down outside, I _______ that if I had woken up just a few minutes later, I would have drowned.

The experience made me grateful and determined to live each day to its fullest. I will remember what my mother told me: “Don’t remember the day when you ________ everything. Remember the day you survived.”

10 . While I was in hospital for a heart surgery, something affected me and made me do something meaningful. Before my surgery, my doctor showed me a video, in which there were patients like me and they each had a heart pillow, so I decided I would get one.

Right after my _______, I asked about the heart pillow. Unluckily, I was told they didn’t offer it but it could be _______ at the hospital gift shop. So my daughter bought one for me. It was comfortable and became my “security blanket”. However I was _______ that many patients couldn’t get that comfort. So I took this whole mission upon myself. I called various hospitals to find out what they used for patients after heart surgeries. I also found a site _______ that the cloth pillows were considered dangerous because it might spread bacteria to patients. I _______ understood, but that didn’t stop my mission. I continued to call the manufacturers. Finally, a lady called back and told me about the heart pillow that they had produced, which could be _______ and disinfected (消毒).

I did all my _______ so that no one could think of a reason why this wouldn’t work. It took me over a month to be able to meet with the hospital authorities to _______ my finding. I’m glad that they agreed and are _____ getting these pillows for patients. I cannot be ________— I actually did something that will help many patients.