1 . When I was 14, I invited some friends for a party at our home out in the country.

I planned it well, but something _________ happened.

When it was time for us to ride the bus, Nora, one of my friends, didn’t _________ I felt _________ Why would she tell me she’d come to the party and then _________ without letting me know? So, I decided to call Nora and get some _________, I needed no apologies but I demanded to know why.

Nora _________ she had to stay away from school because she was sick. Anger still seized me and I _________ to listen, “What kind of friend are you?”Nora began crying on the phone, hurt and surprised. For the rest of the school year, we _________ hung around again, and I forgot about my _________ call with Nora. __________ had happened   between us at some point, but I shrugged(抖肩)it off.

Years later, I began to reflect on that ugly phone conversation. Now, I __________ it. I recognized how selfish, and __________ I’d been, caring only about myself. I wanted to make things __________. I composed an apology letter to Nora and soon got her __________ So finally, we did bring a sad moment from the past to a __________ conclusion, healing both of us.

4 . One of the greatest tests of a parent’s patience comes at night when you trying to get your children to fall asleep. You know you need to rock them, stroke their backs or just keep a comforting hand on them until they nod off.But that time is playing a zero-sum game(零和游戏)with your own need for sleep and something else you need to do:work, zone out on Netflix or just enjoy the quiet after the kids have gone to sleep.

When my older daughter was just a baby, I figured out a way to control my impatience: I’d count to 100,along with the slow back-and-forth sway or the calm and steady strokes of her back. It gave me the light at the end of the tunnel that almost always did the trick. My impatience would die down because I knew that I’d reach the goal.

The result was surprising. By not thinking over the activities waiting for me, I focused on my daughter instead. The numbers from 1 to 100 became the calm breath.I couldn’t hold complex thoughts on the top of counting, so deeper emotions surfaced, specifically love and appreciation of the small person I was holding and touching. I was less likely to get pulled away by unnecessary streams of thoughts and soon began to deeply enjoy these moments.

My daughter benefited from the extended touch as well. Science shows that the physical touch releases three chemicals in our brain associated with emotional and physical health benefits. These chemicals promote feelings of happiness and well-being, and increase pleasure while regulating mood and relieving anxiety. By holding and stroking our children, we’re conveying safety and trust, relieving stress and activating(激活)our bodies’ special nerves. This is what actual bonding with our child looks like.

My daughter is 11 years old now, and I still continue this nighttime ritual(惯例): Give her comforting and loving strokes and frequent hugs, maintaining a physical connection.

My teenage son, Jordan, always complained about having to be home earlier than all his friends. He would tell me that he was already seventeen, but still had a curfew (宵禁). He believed he was practically an adult. I pointed out that he was not an adult as he was still in high school.

“You don’t trust me!” he yelled. Before I continued, he rolled his eyes, slammed the door and walked away. I sighed. How could I make Jordan see that I only wanted to keep him safe?

I decided to go for a walk, hoping the December air would clear my head. I opened the front door and nearly stepped on her: a small black cat, just like a meatball. “Hi, Meatball,” I said, bringing her into my arms. I walked back in, touching her neck gently. Meatball seemed happy enough to come in the house, but after an hour or two, she sat by the door, meowing to go back outside.

“Why won’t she just stay in with us all the time?” Nathan, my youngest son asked.

I explained to him that she was happy here but she liked being able to come and go as she pleased.

“That must be nice,” Jordan muttered from the other room, complaining why the cat, not him, could come and go. He even asked me to give Meatball a curfew.

Meatball became a regular.

One night, temperatures were unusually low. Meatball stood at the door, meowing to go outside.

I shook my head at her, afraid that she might freeze to death. She stared at me and meowed again. I patted her head, “I know you’re not happy, but it’s for your own good.”

“Mom’s not being mean to you,” Nathan told the cat. “She’s just trying to keep you from turning into a frozen meatball.” We both laughed at his joke.

The next morning, I couldn’t find Meatball. I asked the kids if anyone had seen her.

Jordan nodded, “I let her out last night.”

As I drove to the animal hospital, Jordan sat in the back, holding Meatball inside his coat.

6 . January 23, 2007 became a nightmare for Jessica Bachus. Her second daughter Kenzi _________ at just 24 weeks. “When Kenzi passed away, all my hopes went away, too,” Jessica says. The Colorado-based mother was overcome with emotion, _________ she eventually decided to channel her grief into the _________ of Kenzi.

Jessica knew that even if she couldn’t give dolls to both of her daughters that year, she could still make the holidays _________ for another girl. With the help of her husband, Kyle, and their daughter, Bailey, she _________ 150 dolls to gift underprivileged girls in the community.

“When I saw a family _________ a doll we donated, I cried tears of joy for the first time in almost a year,” Jessica says. So, she _________ to collect dolls and founded the Dolls for Daughters, a nonprofit organization dedicated to _________ financially-strapped families in Colorado with toys, food, school supplies, and more.

Now going into its ninth annual _________, the Dolls for Daughters operates five toy shops in Colorado on the first Saturday in December. Parents are able to choose at least one new gift for each of their children free of charge.

“Most families in our __________ make less than $15,000 a year,” Jessica says. “Many children are used to getting hand-me-downs — this is one time we guarantee that what they get is __________.” Since the establishment of the Dolls for Daughters, more than 48,000 children have been __________ and more than 323,400 items have been gifted to the families.

Jessica and her husband now have four children — Bailey, Kam, Karson, and Kenzi. “We talk about Kenzi all the time. Last year our goal was to serve 10,000 kids since she would have been ten. It was a big __________ and we surpassed it,” Jessica says. “For our living children, volunteering is a great way for them to __________ back, honor their sister, and learn that even from the greatest tragedy can come something __________.”

My name is Zhao Ming and I’d like to be your pen friend. I’m 16 years old. I have two little brothers. They’re very     1     (love). I often help my parents look     2     them in my spare time. My mother     3     (work) in a toy shop. She loves     4     (she) job. And my father is     5     engineer. He is busy every day,     6     he tries to spend more time with us.

I’m in the school basketball team. We usually play     7     (match) on Saturday mornings. Last week, we played against another school. They ran     8     (fast) than us. However, we had better teamwork. Finally, we     9     (win)! How happy we were! This is the     10     (eight) time we beat them.

Could you tell me something about you?

Best,

Zhao Ming

10 . My father and I always had a bit of trouble in our relationship. It’s not that we didn’t love each other. It’s just that we used to have ________ opinions. My dad is one of the most hard-working men I know, but I was a(n) ________. I played sports as a kid, but________ when I was making progress. Then I showed an ________ in music. My father got excited and ________ me a guitar when I was about eight. But I didn’t like it until I was a teenager. During those teen years, I took up my guitar and ________ playing along.

Then I went to college. My father thought I should focus more on my ________ when I had more fun playing music. I dreamed to be a musician. When I grew into a young man, I suddenly fell ________ ill one day and it was discovered that I had a terrible kidney (肾) disease. I had to accept treatments all my life, or get a transplant (移植).

I felt like there was a heavy ________ on my shoulders. Life became hard for me. But I was lucky enough because of my loving parents who ________ me and took care of me. While trying to ________ just what to do with my life, my father got tested to see ________ he was the right man to give me his kidney. I tried to refuse, but he’d hear ________ of it. He saved my life at last.

Two years ago, I ________ a band. He had always wanted to play in a band, but ________ got the chance when he was young. It was one of the greatest gifts I could give to him.