1 . 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 ________ 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 a 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 what we loved about him. ________, we told stories from our hearts, ________ Dad listened with wet, flashing blue eyes. We ________ all kinds of lost 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.

That night, I quarreled with my mother, then stormed out of the house. While on the road, I remembered that I did not have any money in my pocket, I did not even take my cell phone with me to make a call home.

At the same time, I went through a noodle shop, and I suddenly felt very hungry. I wished for a bowl of noodles, but I had no money!

The seller saw me standing before the counter and asked, “Hey little girl, you want to eat a bowl?”

“But … but I do not carry money …” I shyly replied.

“Okay, I’ll treat you.” the seller said, “come in, I will cook you a bowl.”

A few minutes later the owner brought me a steaming bowl of noodles. After eating some pieces, I cried.

“What is it?” He asked.

“Nothing. I am just touched by your kindness!” I said as I wiped my tears. “Even a stranger on the street gives me a bowl of noodles, and my mother, after a quarrel, chased me out of the house. She is cruel (残忍的)!!”

The seller sighed, “Girl, why did you think so? Think again. I only gave you a bowl of noodles and you felt that way. Your mother has been taking care of you since you were little, why were you not grateful and why did you hurt your mom?”

I was really surprised after hearing that.

Why did I not think of that? A bowl of noodles from a stranger made me feel grateful, and my mother has raised me since I was little and I have never felt so, not even a little.

Just at that moment, many memories came back into my mind.

When arriving home, I saw my mother sitting at the dinner table, worried and tired.

4 . Brave daughter Neve, aged seven, and son Billy, five, save their mum’s life after calling 999 to say “mummy’s dead”. A proud mum was _________ by her young kids after she fell down the stairs and knocked herself out. Neve found her phone and _________ called 999, while anxious Billy who _________ her a blanket as the mum _________ unconscious was saying, “My mummy is dead.” Ambulance service chiefs gave a lot of _________ to the children, describing Neve as “very brave”.

The mum said she remembered going upstairs at her home in morning, but after that everything went _________ and she estimated she had been black out for half an hour. Neve told the operator, “I need _________ for my mummy. She’s not awake.” _________, Neve was able to give the ambulance service her full _________, and counted her mum’s breaths for the __________.

Rebecca, who is diabetic (糖尿病患者) and has had four __________ on her back in the last two years, said, “I’ve always __________ them that if anything happens, this is what they have to do. She listened to everything.” Neve even had the presence of __________ to call a friend of Rebecca’s and a neighbour as the drama __________. “Billy went to get a blanket, he’s a very __________ little boy.”

The mother said it __________ the value of being prepared, and said paramedics (急救人员) were full of praise for Neve and Billy for their incredible __________ to the crisis. An ambulance service spokeswoman said, “We’d like to say a very big well done to the little girl for her __________ thinking to help her mum! We would encourage parents and __________ to teach your children about 999 using our __________ campaign called Little Lifesaver. ”

6 . I met Mr. Vijay when we moved into our new house. He was our_________, just living next door. Mr. Vijay was an elderly man who lived alone. He_________a steady servant who came daily to cook and wash for him. Mr. Vijay was a very_________and amiable (和蔼可亲) man. Almost everyone in the neighborhood was_________with him. He was in his mid-seventies when I first came to know him. His_________were so bad that he was almost blind without the_________of his thick glasses.

I became a fast friend with the old man. Mr. Vijay was a_________. He loved spending most of his time_________books, magazines, and newspapers. He was a truly learned person. He was inquisitive (好学的) by_________and he would read on just about any topic. This made him a great__________as he could speak on just about any topic.

Mr. Vijay had bought the house when he__________a few years previously. It is said that Mr. Vijay was very__________but he never spent money unnecessarily. Indeed, it seemed that Mr. Vijay__________most of his money on books and other printed matters.

I enjoyed__________with Mr. Vijay and we would often__________various interesting topics. I was a bookworm as well. We would spend hours__________history, science, politics and other subjects of mutual (相互的) interest.

Three years ago, Mr. Vijay died at the age of seventy-nine. He left all the books that he had in his__________library to me. Believe it or not, Mr. Vijay had more than six thousand books in his library! My father transformed one of our rooms into a library to__________all the books Mr. Vijay left me.

I feel__________because Mr. Vijay is no longer around. I always__________someone with whom I can communicate as I had with that knowledgeable old man.

Meet Ben Saunders: adventurer, athlete, motivational speaker. Ben, at the age of 23, was the youngest man to ski solo (单人滑雪) to the North Pole. He dragged a 180-kilogramme sledge (雪橇) over 1,420 miles through the worst Arctic conditions. This year, as well as planning a return to the Arctic, Ben plans to ski solo from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole and back in the autumn, carrying all his supplies on his sledge.

Ben Saunders was fired after persuading the firm to support his disorganized first adventure. “Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. We were attacked by a bear. We started running out of food. It was just desperate. And we didn't get to the Pole; we didn't get there, so we had no media interest. No one heard about it: no book deal, and no speaking. I was so unhappy.”

People said it was impossible for me to get to the Pole. I said, “No, I can get there,” and I did. Self-belief, I see it as being a bit like a muscle — it's my belief that the more you stretch (伸展) yourself the stronger it gets. If you never do anything that's uncomfortable or risky then your self-belief gets weaker. So that's one of the lessons I've figured out along the way. The thing that I've stretched and tested is my self-belief.

“My Antarctic adventure is just practicable and that's what is exciting to me. If I knew it was possible, if I knew I could do it without too much bother, I wouldn't be interested.” Why? “Personally I'm attracted by the human performance element to it. Not that long ago, running a marathon was seen as the top point of human attempt, and now I wouldn't be that surprised if my mum said she was going to run one next year.”

People's horizons (见识) are changing. “I'm not particularly gifted, and I'm absolutely average. I've just chosen this one goal to achieve and I've been working hard to realize it. That's it. And that's the thing that attracts me: with enough training and enough determination, enough focus and preparation, how far can we go? And I don't think I've found out yet.”