1 . My father never kept anything for emotional purposes-except once. I was the only one in my family who cared about baseball and I always________watching my heroes at Yankee Stadium. One winter, I wrote down a schedule for the summer dates and dreamed every night. To my surprise, one evening I saw my father ________ it before going out to work.

The following Sunday, he told me, “Let’s put away some money into a ________each week, and maybe we can go to Yankee Stadium this summer. ”I ________washed out a jar and________a label: YANKEE STADIUM FUND, 1960.

Each of us ________to the jar weekly. However, we still hadn’t gone to a game because my father had to work every Saturday. So one day, I________him of the remaining time, and then he________me, “Don’t worry and we’ll have a free Saturday. ”

On the morning of the last game, I was waiting hopelessly with no________of my father who had been to work when he suddenly appeared and yelled, “I got two ________ !”.

I could hardly ________ when we finally sat together, father and son, watching my New York Yankees. I sat cheering, but for my father, all I could see is a face________ tiredness from working all week.

In 1963, my father died suddenly while working. In his bedroom, I noticed a ________ ticket in his yellowish book, which read, October I, 1960, General Admission. My father, who________ nothing for emotional reasons, had decided to keep this, a(n) ________ of our afternoon together.

A couple of months before I started high school, my parents gave me the greatest gift any teenage boy could ask for: a cellphone. I lived on that phone all summer with my face buried in its screen. I texted with every friend who was lucky enough to have a texting plan. I ignored my family and my surroundings. Being connected was more important than being present.

So, you can imagine my displeasure when l learned what my dad had planned for our family vacation that year. “This year,” my dad said, “we’ll be doing something special. We’re going camping!” His excitement was met with a disappointed sigh. It wasn’t my dream vacation, but I remained unbothered throughout the packing and planning. My mind was on my phone. I was so buried in the screen, in fact, that the first time I can remember truly looking up was when we drove across a bridge on the way to our campsite.

I stared out the window and saw redwoods towering above us, their branches threatening to pierce (刺破) the blue sky. I saw a roaring river, with slivers of silky black water appearing between crashing white rapids. The air blowing into the car from the open windows was hot and smelled of pine. But none of that mattered to me. The reason I had looked up was for something far more serious. My phone no longer had service.

The last hour of the drive was increasingly tense. My dad announced that he had chosen a campsite that had no cell service, and that my phone would be useless until we returned home. I would be trapped in the forest for four days with no way to contact the outside world! I went through the full cycle of teenage emotions during the first day of the trip. I raged (发怒). I bargained. I begged. I flip-flopped (转变) from a depressive state to anger and back.

I went to bed angrily that night. But when I awoke in the morning, something had changed.

Instead of burying myself in my phone, l focused on something else: my surroundings.

The next four days passed in a flash with many fun activities.

Alex was very excited because the New Year Eve’s party was coming and as usual it was going to be held in his Uncle Peter’s home. Suddenly, he saw his grandfather sitting alone looking very unhappy.

Alex went to him and asked, “Grandpa, why are you sitting alone? Is there anything wrong with you?”

His grandfather replied, “No, I am fine. I just feel like sitting alone.”

“Grandpa, you know the New Year party is near, so are you preparing for it?” asked Alex excitedly.

“No dear, I am not. With the passage of time, the world has completely changed and I don’t see any point in celebrating the world I see today,” answered his grandpa disappointedly.

“I know something is wrong with you and you are not telling me. Please tell me what the problem is.” Alex said.

“I feel I am a stranger in the world I am living in. It is not the same as I have known. Now everyone is busy with their own work. Your father is busy with business, your brother is busy on the computer, your sisters are busy watching dramas and your mum is busy with housework. I don’t know how to pass my days,” said his grandfather sadly.

“Grandpa, you have me!”said Alex.

His grandfather smiled and said, “Yeah, you are here, but what about others? In our days, we had a fixed (固定的) time each day when the whole family sat together and talked, shared problems and laughed together.”

That night Alex thought about what his grandfather had said and an idea flashed his mind. He decided to have a surprise. New Year party at his own home and make everyone come together that day. As New Year’s Eve got nearer, Alex got busy preparing for the party. He kept it a secret from his grandfather and asked everyone not to let him know about it in order to surprise him.

It was December 31 and everyone was busy with their own work.

Alex saw his grandfather looking very happy while talking with the family members.

7 . There is nothing more comforting than the sound of the Singer, a sewing (缝纫) machine. It ______so many memories of my grandmother and mother. The______of turning different materials into something fashionable always______me.

I began sewing as a child alongside my grandmother, a loving woman who taught me how to use a machine and how to sew my first______. It was a simple pullover blouse (衬衫) made from an old pink and white pillowcase. I wore that with such______because wearing something you______yourself just makes you smile. Then, one day I made a mistake, sewing the inside out, and had to start again. This taught me to be______and focused on details.

Later I received the old Singer from my mom, but it was left to gather dust in the corner.Once Covid-19______, I had too much time on my hands and in my head.I got the Singer ______ and began sewing again.

“Measure twice, cut once" is a Sewer’s proverb. We all hear it and I rarely use it, just like road maps, but it is______. It’s a way of life.

In a time when tomorrow is ______,I found a sense of hope and creativity through rediscovery. Relearning how to sew has______my boredom and made me more patient with myself. It also helps build an emotional______with my older generations through this one thing that we______.That brings me joy. And I’ll______that joy for as long as possible.

I was lacking in everything needed to start a new friendship in a new town.

My parents had moved to the town when they decided to look for new jobs, but they didn't realize I was really hurt when I had to say goodbye to my old friends. It felt frightful to be a new student in my new school. When my classmates were chatting, I felt left out. I was not good at math or history, nor was I good at drawing or dancing. I was shy and timid (羞怯的). I had a few friends back at my hometown and it seemed that they were the only ones with whom I could be friends for my whole life. I felt there was no room for anyone else on my friends list. I was ashamed of myself, and believed I deserved no notice from others. That is, until Emily came to my world.

Emily was fearless, frank and easy to be around. She was everything I was not and I was too shy to come out of my shell. I met Emily in school almost every day but I never talked to her, even though we were in the same class. How I wished I could be like her, or at least be a friend of hers.

It was another ordinary day. I wandered to the bus stop in the morning and waited for the school bus. Birds were singing with their friends, but who could I sing with? I got on the bus and went straight to my usual seat, complaining in a low voice about getting up early and going to school like every other day, and about how things were going to be the same all over again. Little did I realize something different would happen that day.

When I got up to get off the bus, my schoolbag was stuck on the armrest (扶手).