I'm terribly sorry to tell you that I am unable to go to Yunnan with you.

Yours,

Li Hua

Jack and I are good friends. We tried to walk across the United States of America. We’re not exactly sure why we were doing it. Part of     1     (its) was to test ourselves; to see     2     we could face the challenges. When I was a teenager, I often daydreamed that I was going to walk across the United States after     3    (graduate) from high school.    4     , I didn’t do that.

Before I knew it, I was     5    my thirties，married, a job, yet still had this idea in my mind with each passing year. I figured I was too old and my opportunity     6    (pass). Then, a few years ago, I met Jack, who     7     (be) thirty­five years old and quit his job as a civil engineer in New York City to walk across the United States. He wasn’t doing it for a cause as part of an organization. He was doing it     8    (simple) because he loved to walk and discover. The idea was back and I no longer had an excuse. We planned on averaging 20 miles a day and taking some days off     9    (rest), so we expected that the walk will take about 6 months, realizing it could take     10    (long). We were in no hurry: The total distance would have been about 3,100 miles.

Mom was born in a small village, which is famous for paper-folding art, and Mom learnt how to make paper animals. In 1967, Mom went to Hong Kong, where she met Dad. They went to the suburbs of Connecticut later. Not knowing English, she was lonely until I was born.

When I was young, Mom liked to make paper animals for me. She folded up the paper, then lifted the paper packet to her mouth and blew into it. There in her hands was a little paper tiger. It seemed that the little tiger shared her breath. This was her magic. At my request, Mom also made a goat, a deer and even a shark.

Mark, one of the neighborhood boys, came over with his Star Wars action figure. I brought out the paper tiger. Mark examined the wrapping-paper pattern of the tiger’s skin. "That doesn’t look like a tiger. Is it a toy? ""I had never thought of that. But looking at it, it was really just a piece of wrapping paper.

Later, Dad bought me a full set of Wars action figures. I packed the paper animals in a shoebox and put them into the comer of the attic(阁楼). Once in a while, I would see Mom at the kitchen table making new paper animals. I caught them, pressed and then put them away in the box in the attic.

Mom was also trying to learn to speak English, but her accent and broken sentences embarrassed me. I tried to correct her. but in vain. Eventually. I stopped talking with her. For years, I paid no attention to Mom until one day my Dad called and told me that Mom was in hospital. Dad and I stood, one on each side of Mom. She turned to me, " Jack, just keep that box with you, and you will find it so important. "

She died several days later. Dad aged raw after that. The house was too big for him and had to be sold. My girlfriend Susan and I went to help him pack and clean the place.

5 . Robin was 12 years old when his mother sent him to me for his first piano lesson. I preferred that students begin at an earlier _______ . I explained it to Robin that he was too old, but he said it had always been his mother's _______ to hear him play the piano. So I took him as a student.

_______ Robin tried very hard, he didn't seem to have the basic sense of music. However, he _______ and at the end of each lesson he never forgot to say, “My mom's going to hear me play someday. "   But it seemed impossible, and I was _______ by his slow progress. One day, he _______ me that his mother was sick and he couldn't come to my class any longer. I was glad that he stopped coming, since he was really a bad advertisement for my teaching!

Several months later when I was preparing my students for a music show, Robin came to my home and said he had to _______ the show. I don't know what led me to _______ him to do that. Maybe it was the _______ in his eyes or maybe it was something inside of me saying that it would be all right. I was even more ________ when Robin announced that he had chosen one of the most difficult pieces of Mozart. I was not prepared for what happened next.

However, on the show his fingers danced ________ on the keys. He played so well that everyone ________excitedly when he was leaving the stage. In excitement, I ________ up to stage to congratulate him.

“How could you do it?” I could not help asking him a few days later.

“Well, I kept practising at home. My mom had cancer and just passed away the day I went to your ________ to ask for your permission to take part in the show. It was the first time she could hear me play on the stage. 1 wanted to make it ________ . ”

Several years ago, I traveled by train to Stockholm. I was visiting two friends who were to meet me at the train station. I stood there waiting for my first friend to arrive and in the midst of   all the hurrying passengers that Friday afternoon, I heard a weak voice; it sounded like   a   question. I turned and saw a young man standing with a white cane ( 拐 杖 ) , his suitcase by his feet.   I   approached   and   asked,“Do   you   need   help?”“Yes,”he   replied,   nodding   his   head, appearing relieved.

He had been trying for some time, unsuccessfully, to get someone’s attention. He had   missed his train home. His cell phone battery was dead, and he needed to call his mother to tell   her of the circumstances.

This young man named Mustafa, I found out, had just completed his first week at a school   for the blind. He went to school on Mondays and returned home on Fridays. Of course I helped him call his mother. I did not understand what he spoke with her on my cell phone, but I could tell the language was Swedish. Of course the next problem was finding the right train home and telling his mother the new arrival time. Yet in   this disordered   train   station, I did   not want to   miss connecting with my friend Bogdan who was on his way to the spot where we were standing.

Before I could dial the number to call Bogdan, he was suddenly already there. I described the problem and Bogdan took the young man’s arm and we were off on our adventure to help get Mustafa home. While sorting out where his home was, what train, and what time, my second friend Marcello called and wondered where we were. Soon he joined us. It happened that   Marcello speaks 12 languages.

Marcello’s gift in language was a great advantage.

Now we were leading Mustafa to his train.

Violet sat on the gym floor, waiting for her turn to do somersaults (翻筋斗). She looked at her little sister angrily, Tilly, across the room. This was Tilly’s first week at gymnastics. Violet had done gymnastics for the past two years. Why couldn’t Tilly find her own thing to do? It was the same at home. Tilly followed Violet everywhere.

“Violet, you’re up!” called Violet’s instructor, Miss Taylor. Violet came over and pushed off with her legs and straightened her arms. She did one, two, three somersaults. Miss Taylor clapped. “Perfect!”

Violet noticed that Tilly had stepped away from the younger group to watch Violet’s somersaults. “Tilly!” called Tilly’s instructor, Miss Brooke, from across the room. “Your turn to do somersaults.” Tilly walked nervously. She bent down to start a somersault. When she rolled, she fell heavily on the blanket. Kids laughed in surprise at the noise.

Tilly stood uncomfortably and then ran toward the restroom. She was gone from the gym, as Violet had wanted. But it didn’t feel right. After telling Miss Taylor where she was going, Violet hurried to the restroom. She found Tilly crying hard. Violet put an arm around her sister. Tilly cried. “I don’t want to do gymnastics anymore.” This was Violet’s chance. If she said nothing to her sister, Tilly might quit gymnastics forever.

But Violet knew how excited Tilly had been about joining in gymnastics.

Seeing a smile on Tilly’s face, Violet said, “What about giving it another try?”

Once there was a little girl Lily who was very friendly and popular in her class. She was friends with everyone in her class. There was no one in class who did not like her. She was very kind and would always be busy with her friends. She felt very happy that she had so many friends at school and in her neighborhood.

On Friendship Day, her class organized an event, in which everyone had to make three presents and give them to their best friends. Lily was really looking forward to the coming Friendship Day as she was expecting gifts from her friends. However, when all the presents were shared among her classmates, she was the only one who hadn’t received any presents. She felt terrible and cried a lot. She wondered how that was possible. She had made so much effort to be friends with everyone but in the end no one thought of her as one of their best friends.

Everyone came and tried to comfort her for a while but each one only stayed for a short time before leaving. This was exactly what Lily had done so many times to others.

On that day when she got home, her mother saw her sad face. And then her mother asked her the reason for her sadness. “Where can I find true friends?” Lily asked. Her mother was surprised at her question. Then she asked Lily what had happened in school. Her mother comfort her and said, “You cannot buy friends with a smile or a few good words. If you really want true friends, you will have to give them real time and love. For a true friend you must always be available，in good times and bad.”

Lily replied, “But I want to be friends with everyone!”

Her mother shook her head.

Lily decided to change her ways and thought how she could make true friends.

9 . For ten years my father had been fighting cancer. Now he was forced into the hospital because of an infection. I sensed he_________being there, but he hardly complained. That wasn't his_________

One night after_________ to call a nurse, he tried to reach the bathroom on his own and fell, getting his_________ injured. When I saw his wounded head the next day, I felt my helpless anger_________.Why isn't anything I can do? I thought. As if_________ my thoughts, when the lift I waited for opened, two dogs greeted me. I was_________ that hospital rules should allow it.

A(n) _________ grew as I walked to my car.I_________ that if I could give my dad nothing else, I was going to give him some__________ with his beloved dog Boots. When dad was at home, Boots was always there, watching him protectively. When dad had to go to the hospital, Boots waited and jumped every time a car__________ to the house. Later that day I came back for another__________, bringing Boots. Upon arrival, Boots flew out of the car and dragged me through the hospital lobby.__________, she knew to stop directly in front of the very lift.__________ she had never been here before, when the lift door opened, she ran directly into the room. Ever so gently, she crawled into my father's open arms, not touching his __________ sides and laid her face next to his. For the first time in a long time, I saw my father’s broad smile.

Pumpkin (南瓜) carving at Halloween is a family tradition. We visit a local farm every October. In the pumpkin field, I compete with my three brothers and sister to seek out the biggest pumpkin. My dad has a rule that we have to carry our pumpkins back home, and as the eldest child I have an advantage-I carried an 85-pounder back last year.

This year, it was hard to tell whether my prize or the one chosen by my 14-year-old brother, Jason, was the winner. Unfortunately we forgot to weigh them before taking out their insides, but I was determined to prove my point. All of us were hard at work at the kitchen table, with my mom filming the annual event. I’m unsure now why I thought forcing my head inside the pumpkin would settle the matter, but it seemed to make perfect sense at the time.

With the pumpkin resting on the table, hole uppermost, I bent over and pressed my head against the opening. At first I got jammed just above my eyes and then, as I went on with my task, unwilling to quit, my nose briefly prevented entry. Finally I managed to put my whole head into it, like a cork (软木塞) forced into a bottle. I was able to straighten up with the huge pumpkin resting on my shoulders.

My excitement was short-lived. The pumpkin was heavy. “I’m going to set it down, now,” I said, and with Jason helping to support its weight, I bent back over the table to give it somewhere to rest. It was only when I tried to remove my head that I realized getting out was going to be less straightforward than getting in. When I pulled hard, my nose got in the way. I got into a panic as I pressed firmly against the table and moved my head around trying to find the right angle, but it was no use. “I can’t get it out!” I shouted, my voice sounding unnaturally loud in the enclosed space.

It was five or six minutes though it felt much longer.

The video was posted the Monday before Halloween.