1 . Four months earlier, I woke one morning with blinding back pain. A quick Google search ________ a kidney infection. I went for a checkup and was told I had to have a donor who was a ________ match.

My life depended on ________ my brother, Johnny. A(n) ________ mother and an alcoholic father created an extremely unpleasant ________ for both of us. After high school, Johnny moved out. We communicated infrequently. I encouraged him to give up the job carrying the ________ of prison. But he believed I judged him ________. That was our last ________, 30 years ago.

I knew I needed to stay ________, but a part of me felt a glimmer of hope. My friend Anne knew all of this ________ family history and was at my door the next morning to ________ over some print-outs. I would be the one to make the ________.

I dialed the first number... and the second.... I did the same for almost every number — same ________ I went to bed thinking we’d ________ a dead end. The next day, I got up my ________ and looked over the list again. The lone number on the last page ________ out at me from the whiteness. I dialed, just to be done with it. The phone rang and rang. No ________.

Just one more time, ________ told me. I redialed.

“Hello!” It was my Johnny. My palms were damp when I explained why I’d called. Johnny didn’t ________ before agreeing to help. The hospital sent him a testing kit. My brother was a(n) ________!

2 . My daughter graduated from college this year. I couldn’t be more proud of her. Through countless hours of study, books read, papers written, and tests taken, her hard work has paid off. She is no longer a little girl. She has become a wise, giving, caring, and loving adult. She has learned so much and is ready to start the rest of her life.

I think the things I take most pride in her learning, though, aren’t the ones she learned in the classroom. They are the ones she learned through living her life. My daughter already knows things that it took me much longer to learn. She knows that money can’t buy happiness. She knows that laughter exercises the lungs and love opens up the heart. She knows that doing what you love and loving what you do turns work into play. She knows that children are life’s most precious (珍贵的) gift and that every child should be treated with kindness and love.

My daughter knows that life often isn’t fair, that society often isn’t wise, and that everyone of us will face our share of problems. She also knows, however, that with love in our hearts we can bring learning, laughter, and joy to even the toughest days. She knows that life is a journey taken on a rocky road and that sometimes we stumble. She knows that we can pick ourselves up each time and even help someone else up as well. Most of all she knows that she is still learning, just as we all are. May she always know too just how much I love her.

3 . Joe and Della were a new couple. They were both interested in art--one in painting, the other in music. They lived in a small flat. They loved each other and they were happy.

But one day they found that they had spent all their money. One afternoon Della told Joe that she had found a _________ and was to give her three music lessons a week. For that she could get fifteen dollars a week. But Joe was not _________ because he didn’t want to stay at home, playing with his art while Della was at work. He wanted to earn some money too.

Every day they parted in the morning and _________ in the evening.

A week _________ , Della brought home fifteen dollars, but she looked a little _________. Joe took eighteen dollars out of his pocket. They were both _________ to have so much money at hand.

The next week, Joe _________ home another eighteen dollars but Della came home with her right hand in a bandage (绷带). Joe asked Della what was the _________. Della said, “It was because of an iron-- I mean a plate of soup spilled on my _________.”

“What do you do every day, Della? Do you __________ give music lessons?” Joe asked. “Tell me the __________!”

Della cried. She told Joe that she was working in a laundry (洗衣店), __________ shirts. A girl accidentally __________ an iron on her hand and she got a __________ burn. But Della asked Joe how he had guessed that she wasn’t giving music lessons.

Joe told Della that he worked in the engine-room of the same laundry where she worked. They both let out their __________ and laughed.

5 . Once there was a small boy called Shankar who belonged to a poor family.

One day, he was walking through the forest, carrying some wood. He saw an old man who was very hungry. Shankar wanted to give him some food, but he did not have any food with him. So he continued on his way. On the way, he saw a fox who was very thirsty. He wanted to give him some water, but he did not have any water for himself. So he went on his way ahead.

Then he saw a young man with a dog who wanted to make a fire but did not have wood. Shankar learned about his problem and gave some wood to him. In return, the man gave him some food and water. Now he went back to the old man and gave him some food. Then he found the fox and gave some water to him. The old man and the fox were very thankful for Shankar’s help. Then Shankar went on his way happily.

Unluckily, one day Shankar fell down the hill. He was in pain but he couldn’t move and no one was there to help him. But the old man who he had helped before saw him, and quickly came and pulled him up the hill. Shankar had many wounds on his legs. The fox whom Shankar had given water to saw his wounds and quickly went to the forest and brought some herbs. The old man helped to put the herbs on Shankar’s wounds. After some time, Shankar got well. All were very happy that they were able to help each other. If you help others, then they will also help you.

8 . At a medical laboratory clinic in Waterloo, Ontario, an elderly woman sat on the edge of a waiting room chair loudly singing out the Celine Dion’s tune My Heart Will Go On. I was there with my father, who was getting a routine blood test when the woman arrived. She settled into the seat directly across from my dad. The position made it seem as though she was sitting forward to engage in conversation with him. She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

I was concerned about how my dad would react to the possible interact on his space. He was 77 at the time and had been living with Alzheimer’s for several years. He was a brilliant introverted man. When he was healthy, he considered it wholly bad manners to bring undue attention to oneself. I couldn’t help but think that this melodic little woman was playing with fire.

Her singing began gently, like a quiet hum. I glanced over at dad. His smile was gone, and he was staring right at her. She was staring back. I couldn’t read his expression, but it seemed to be something like confusion.This wasn’t an unusual state for him, and I wondered whether he was actually seeing her at all or if he was lost somewhere deep in his mind, not really aware of her presence at that point. Or maybe he was trying to establish whether this was someone he should know. Her singing slowly got louder. By the time she got to the chorus — “Near, far, wherever you are…”, dad looked a little shocked. Still, I watched for any sign of an annoyed outburst. Instead, his face softened, and the tension eased in his brow. He no longer looked confused.

People say that Alzheimer’s is a thief, which it steals your loved ones slowly, day by day. There is so much heartbreaking truth in that statement. But certain experiences with my dad have allowed me to see a side of him that I never knew existed. In an unexpected way, that’s what happened to me that day in the clinic. When her song ended and the waiting room became silent, the woman opened her eyes. My dad was still looking directly at her. “That was beautiful,” he said. And she smiled and said, “Thank you.”