1 . I once had a real show of what love is about from my son, Branton, who was then eight and totally unkind to his little sister, Susan.

One Autumn evening, I discovered Susan was ________. I thought she was in the house at first. By the time I ________ she was gone, Branton was comfortably on the sofa watching his favorite television program with a friend. After I’d searched every room for Susan, I began to be ________. It was dark by then, and she was only 5. Our house in the country had many ________ surrounding it.

Careful not to betray my ________, I announced, “Susan is gone.” There was a pause, then Branton ________ and looked at me. “I can’t find Susan,” I ________. “She isn’t in the house, and I don’t know where she is.” He was up as if a bomb had blown him off the sofa. “I’ll find her,” he said running to the door. Then he stopped and turned to his friend. “Get up, Jeff,” he ________, “We’ve got to find Susan. Hurry up.” Within two minutes he’d rung two doorbells to ask if the ________ knew where his sister was. Branton, still running at top ________, came up and passed me by, calling, “Susan, Susan.”

As we headed up the big path into the woods, I heard the sound of a child ________ out. It was Susan. I tried to comfort her we were coming — while attempting to ________ falling in the mud. Meanwhile, Branton ran on ahead, apparently ________ nothing. In another minute he had her in his arms. As I ________, I heard him saying repeatedly, “Susan, are you all right?” as tears streamed down his cheeks.

That night I told Susan, who frequently ________ Branton’s trick, that we all should know what Branton really felt about us.

2 . My grandmother suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Seeing her condition worsen over time, and knowing I could do nothing, created a feeling of ________ in me.

As the years passed and my understanding of the disease grew, my frustration turned first to anger, then resignation (顺从), and finally ________. Though the disease was bound to slowly eat away at her, there were ways to ________ its progress. Every night the two of us would sit together and ________ while my grandmother would count beans. The exercise could help to keep her mentally ________.

Gradually her counting became slower, and she would lose track of things more ________. While at night we would count beans, in the day I involved myself in studies of ________. My earlier feelings of despair gave way to ________; advances in genetic engineering offered the possibility that one day those like my grandmother could be cured, or ________ from developing Alzheimer’s in the first place.

Seeing my grandmother slip away ________ me to take biology courses to learn more about cells, the nervous system, and genetic information, which helped me better understand how our ________ of this disease has grown in the past decade. ________ I began to see new possibilities for preventing diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Nowadays, my grandmother cannot count beans anymore and doesn’t ________ me at all. Once she used to tell me stories and I whispered to her all my problems. Now I am a ________ to her. How I wish one day I could contribute to a future, where no child has to watch their grandmother count the ________ they have left together.

7 . I was sitting with my study group when I received an email from my landlord. “Your apartment has lost ______.” This was my first spring in Montreal. I’m from ______ Saskatoon in winter — so no stranger to cold weather — but the damage an ice storm could ______ wasn’t something I was used to.

A dozen thoughts raced through my head. With no Wi-Fi or heat, how would I cook supper or finish my ______ for grad school? “You can come and stay with me.” My new friend Kanika’s voice cut through the noise of my ______. I hesitated because I didn’t want to ______ her with a house guest at such short notice. But she ______.

An hour later, I watched in ______ as the friend I had met only six months ago quickly and generously prepared her own room for me to use. Our night ______ continued into the morning, from what we wanted to do after our graduate studies to our ______ childhood cartoon characters. It turned out that we had much in common.

During my ______, never once did Kanika ask how much longer I was going to be at her place. ______ she always assured me that I was welcome to stay for as long as I needed. When my power finally came back, we were both sad that our adventure together had come to an end, but ______ that we had made so many memories. What I ______ would be a stressful, lonely week turned into one of friendship and fond memories. And I’ll remember that ______ when I see someone else in need.

8 . Castillo wrote a letter to her father for his 50th birthday. Her father, who suffers from Down’s syndrome (唐氏综合征), had at one point been a(n) _________ in her life. But in her letter, she wanted the world to know how much she _________ and loves her father.

Castillo said it took years before she had the courage to _________ the truth about her situation and her father. She got bullied at school because the other kids saw her father as “_________”. She didn’t understand at the time why the kids were bullying her. _________, she thought of herself as a “coward daughter”.

“You _________ love, understanding, patience and acceptance as any individual with Down’s syndrome should,” she wrote.

Besides having Down’s syndrome, her father has a wide _________ of health complication (并发症). Therefore, her father has been in and out of the hospital getting all sorts of _________. Castillo wrote that her father is the “most _________ person” because of what he went through, yet he rarely complained. But there were times when he couldn’t __________ the pain and broke down in tears, which hurt her greatly and made her cry. But her dad kept persisting (坚持), which gave her __________.

“Dad, no words can sum up how __________ I am for being a(n) __________ daughter. If there is one thing I regret, it is __________ you from my life because I was afraid of getting bullied. But I love you more than you could ever __________ and I am always inspired by you,” she wrote.

9 . My dad is easy-going and has a gift for chatting. He ________ a fast food restaurant called Queenie’s Weenies, which is specialized in hot dogs. I work with my dad at the ________ on weekends.

One Saturday, we went ________. As we got into the checkout line, I ________ something: our cashier (收银员) was very ________! She ________ no smiles, no greetings and no small talk. Her “anger aura (光环)” was obvious and kind of ________ to me. When we ________ to check out, I was thinking that we should just pay for our things and leave quickly. My dad had a different ________. When it was our turn, he started ________ her.

Dad said, “Hi, how are you today? This is my son. I have a restaurant, and we ________ together. It’s called Queenie’s Weenies. Drop by my restaurant sometime and I will ________ you to my hot dogs. I’m good at cooking them.” By the time we ________ checking out, the cashier was smiling. She said, “Thanks, umm… I hope you and your son have a very nice day.”

Back in the car, Dad said to me, “The cashier was obviously ________ today. It happens to everyone. Smile ________ or give a few kind words, which is all it takes to make one a little more delighted.”

10 . It might sound a bit old-fashioned, but there’s something unique about handwritten things. And I’m a real believer in the_______of letters.

When I was about 12 years old, my friends and I wanted a pet mouse. The pet shop wouldn’t_______us one until we had a letter from a parent, so, having the tidiest_______, I faked(伪)one.

My trick was quickly_______. My mum felt that the punishment should fit the crime, so she made me write letters to a few randomly selected_______.

One of them was my uncle who I’d only_______a few times. I wrote along letter_______my life and listing my interests.

My punishment_______, I forgot about this until I suddenly got a reply from him. He told me all about his life and would love to_______about what school subjects I enjoyed. And so started a correspondence(通信)that________for several years.

Then out of the blue, he passed away. My mum was________as they had not really spoken for years. I went upstairs and presented a box of________from him. She comforted herself reading them and knowing that ________she hadn’t been in touch, I had grown close to him by writing to him.

I often think about how that one________childhood behavior led to such an enriching correspondence. It________me-to write to lots of other people, and it’s something I keep up with to this day.