1 . When Jackelyn Kastanis found out her childhood best friend, Brooke, had cancer, she dropped everything to be by her side. She not only stayed with her in the _________, she also tried to help her feel normal and give her a sense of _________.

“She was told at 27 years old she had a year to _________. Once I found out she was very sick I came home and I _________ residence with her in her hospital room,” Kastanis told CBS News. “I brought hair and make-up and tried anything to _________ her spirits. And she, believe it or not, changed _________.”

Jackelyn wanted to find a way to copy the _________ for other women who are battling cancer. So, she set up her nonprofit Simply From The Heart and started visiting hospitals with _________ to give beauty products and makeovers to the women.

Jackelyn and the volunteers _________ “glam boxes” with 30 beauty products, __________ by individuals and corporations, and take them to the women in the hospital. Since 2014, they have __________ the lives of more than 5,000 patients. Medicine and treatments help them __________, but friendship and kindness help regain the hope of life.

“One patient, I remember her __________, ‘These girls cured me in a way the __________ could not,’” said Jackelyn. “You know, we have our doctors and they keep us alive. But __________, we all want our souls to feel sparked up to get us through.”

I live in a small but lovely neighborhood. Our house is neither large nor luxurious, but it has a fairly big garden. My father loves his garden. He planted some seeds in it and took good care of the plants, watering them, applying fertilizer, weeding and getting rid of bugs. He was never tired of doing all that stuff. But at that time, I didn’t understand why working in the dirt excited him so much.

Unfortunately, in the summer vacation before senior high school, my father was seriously injured in an accident. He had to stay in bed for a while. My mother had several business trips, so she couldn’t take care of the garden. I didn’t want my father to worry. I said that I would take care of his garden until he recovered. I assumed that the little plants would continue to grow as long as they had water, and luckily it rained fairly often, so I didn’t think much about the garden.

One Saturday morning, my father said to me, “Christine, the vegetables should be about ready to be picked. Let’s have a salad today!” I went out to the garden and was upset to see that many of the lettuce (生菜) leaves and carrots had been half eaten by bugs. There were hundreds of bugs all over them!

I panicked for a moment but then I quietly went to the nearest supermarket to buy some vegetables. When I was making the salad, my mother came home and saw the bag from the supermarket in the kitchen. I was embarrassed and admitted, “Dad would like a salad, but the garden is a disaster. I don’t want to disappoint him, so I went to the store and bought some vegetables.” My mother smiled, saying, “Honey, you know what is the right thing to do.”

My father seemed very pleased when I took the salad to him.

Feeling guilty, I decided to do the right thing.

My sister, Mary, and I were quite different. In my eyes, Mary was quiet and, maybe, cold.

My parents ran a chicken farm. Since my parents were busy with other farm work, I offered to clean the chicken house, on the weekend and each school day after I returned home. It surely wasn’t fun for me, but I was happy to lend a hand. More importantly, the 20 dollars my parents promised me for the job meant much to me, with which I could afford my favorite books and CDs.

Cleaning the dirty chicken house was really a challenge for a 12-year-old like me. For several times, when I stopped by Mary’s room, I knocked at her door and asked whether she would help clean the chicken house However, I got “No” each time. She was indeed cold, I said to myself.

One Saturday, I came back home late due to a class outing. I was anxious and I hated to see the tired and disappointed look on Dad’s face! Luckily, Dad hadn’t come back yet.

7 . A daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable. She didn’t know how she was going to ________ it. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon________. She was always worried and ________ of fighting and struggling all the time.

Her father, a chef, took her to the ________. He filled three pots with water and ________ each on a high fire. Once the water began to boil, he put potatoes, eggs and ground coffee beans into the pots ________. After twenty minutes he________ the burners. He put the potatoes and eggs in a bowl and dished the coffee out into a cup.

“Look closer”, he explained the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same ________ the boiling water. However, each one ________ differently.

The potato became ________ and soft in boiling water. ________ being fragile(易碎的),the egg became hard inside. However, the ground coffee beans were ________. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and ________ something new, whose rich sweet smell makes people ________

The father asked “When trouble knocks on your door, are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?” These words made the daughter lost in thought and seemed to cast________ on her attitude to life.

Jared was a boy who was raised by his single father, Steve, and his grandfather Michael. Although he didn’t have much in life, Jared was grateful for what he had. He enjoyed living a simple life with his dad and grandfather.

After school, Jared would often go into his grandfather’s garage and they would repair his car together. Jared was a skilled mechanic and it was all thanks to his grandfather’s patient teaching. And Jared wished one day he would open a car repair shop using his grandfather’s garage. Michael supported it.

Unfortunately, Michael died when Jared was 14. Jared continued to look after his grandfather’s car. One day, his dad entered his room and handed him the key to his grandfather’s car. “Your grandpa wanted me to give this to you on your eighteenth birthday. He said you could decide what to do with the car—either sell it or keep it,” his dad said.

Jared smiled. He was thankful that he now had a car. And he was happy it was a special car that he and his grandfather maintained together. “I’ll keep it! I don’t have to take the bus to school anymore. I can just drive!” Jared replied excitedly.

Then Steve returned to his own room. He hoped Jared would not sell the car. And he hoped someday Jared would find the envelope Michael had secretly left for him. The envelope was put under the driver’s seat of the car. In the envelope, Michael left Jared $15,000. And he had left a note. It read, “I knew you wouldn’t sell my car. Thank you, Jared! I hope the money can help you. Be a good man!”

The following day, when Jared arrived at school, many students saw his car. They didn’t think highly of it because it was old and noisy. But Jared valued it. Later that day, after school, he couldn’t start the car. There appeared to be a problem with it.

Jared decided to repair the car himself.

Confused, Jared quickly opened the envelope.

9 . For years, friendship in America has been in decline.     1     Friendship can be an important factor in well-being, while loneliness can be associated with depression and anxiety or heart disease and stroke. Julianne, a professor of psychology, said, “    2    ”

While she admits there aren’t many studies that have specifically tackled the question of how many friends people should have, somewhere between three and six close friends may be the sweet spot.     3     Another study found middle-aged women who had three or more friends tended to have higher levels of satisfaction.

    4     Loneliness is a sort of signal or alarm system. Everyone feels lonely from time to time, but this is a deeper question about whether you regularly feel left out or isolated. One recent survey suggested that roughly one in three Americans have experienced “serious loneliness”. It also helps to ask yourself if there are parts of your identity that feel restricted.

However, making friends in adulthood isn’t always easy. Research shows people struggle with it because they find it difficult to trust new people and because they are simply short of time. For those reasons, it is often easier to start by restarting old relationships. Take action and don’t assume that friendships just happen organically.     5     Dr. Hall’s research suggests that on average, very close friendships tend to take around 200 hours to develop. Quantity and quality go hand-in-hand. Your personality and the characteristics of your life are going to make a difference, so try to make some close friends.