1 . My earliest memories involve waiting for my Dad to come home. He would hand me a comb (梳子) and ask me to clean it. I would _________ brush it as hard as possible. When I proudly _________ it to Dad, he would smile. At five, this _________ task brought me such joy.

Later, Dad left his job and started a business. That was when our _________ life started getting shaky. Dad’s business wasn’t doing well. So he always come home _________, and I’d already been asleep. I became mad and _________ waiting for his returning.

Now 28, I’ve got my own job. Dad’s business got _________. Things are better now. Yet the uncomfortable silence between us _________.

One day, Dad came home early and said, “Hey, would you like to clean my comb?” I looked at him for a while, and then took it to the _________. It hit me then: why, as a(n) __________, cleaning his comb was such a joy. That __________ meant my dad was home to spend the __________ with me.

I passed the clean comb back to Dad. Again, he smiled. But this time, I noticed something __________. My father had aged. He had __________ next to his eyes, yet his smile was still __________ — the smile of a father just wanting a good life for his family.

2 . You don’t have to be alone to feel lonely— anyone who has experienced a fallout with friends or has to endure an awkward social gathering will _______. A recent Wall Street Journal column teaches us how to _______ loneliness.

“Loneliness is not just about whether there are others around you. It’s about whether the ones around you are those you can _______,” says John T. Cacioppo, director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago.

Cacioppo explains that men and women are equally as likely to experience loneliness, but the kinds of social interaction they may be _______ are different. Women generally _______ for face-to-face social interactions, whereas men are looking for a sense of connection and _______ within a group.

Quoting therapists, The Wall Street Journal column points out that loneliness in its most unhealthy form is a distorted way of thinking. It often has an emotional _______. Big changes in life, such as a breakup or a move to another city or country can be the cause of loneliness. But _______ things such as attending a wedding alone or quarreling with a sibling or a friend can also make us feel lonely.

The column also gives advice on how to stop being alone from _______ into feeling lonely. You can start by ________ that you are the one who tells yourself that you feel lonely. You are creating the bad experience of loneliness by how you are thinking and behaving.

You should acknowledge ________ thoughts and then try to think differently. How to achieve this? Change the mental story you ________ yourself. Remember that there are people who care about you, ________ they may just be busy at the moment.

Try to enjoy the moments you have ________. Do things you enjoy doing alone, like reading or listening to music. If you are single and live by yourself, you can ________ a gym or a volunteering group to be around other people.

3 . Mike Veny was walking to his truck one afternoon when he received an email from a colleague _________ that some information he needed for a project wasn’t available. Immediately, he became _________ and thought about a growing list of complains: a coworker who _________ him, people on the street were looking at him funny, his dad hadn’t _________ him all week... Veny, who works in a company that _________ mental wellness (心理健康), recalled, “Bad feelings stormed faster and faster until things _________ 10,000 times.”

_________, Veny had a plan for dealing with these. He _________ in the middle of the street to collect himself and then got into his _________. He thought about the answers to three __________: What do I feel? Anger, but also sadness at losing work and fear of whether I would get the motivation by going to the __________. Where do I feel it? In my chest and stomach. What do I need now? Time to feel the emotions rather than suppress (压制) them.

Next, he went to the gym. The music was loud and he became relaxed while he __________. When he got home, he did yoga, which he says helps him let go of his __________ emotions. In bed that night, Veny __________ he had a smile on his face. He said, “I felt like I was in __________ again, like I had taken my power back.”

4 . Compassion (同情) literally means “suffering together”. Among many emotion researchers, it is __________ as the feeling that arises when you encounter a person’s suffering and feel motivated to __________ his or her suffering.

Compassion is not the same as empathy (共鸣), though the two concepts are __________. Empathy refers more generally to our ability to feel the __________ of another person, while compassion goes a step beyond and appears when those feelings and thoughts include the desire to __________.

When we feel compassion, our heart rate slows down. Then a chemical is produced in our body and _________ regions of the brain linked to empathy and caregiving light up, which often results in our wanting to __________ other people and offer assistance.

Compassion often comes in two forms, which vary __________ where these feelings are directed. Your experience of compassion may focus on other people, or it may inwardly focus on yourself.

When we __________ compassion, we can start by __________ another person’s situation. We look at what they are __________ without passing judgment on their behavior and put ourselves in their shoes. And then we’ll find ourselves filled with compassion.

Compassion tends to have a __________ impact on our life, ranging from improving our relationships to boosting our psychological __________. One study found that people who volunteer out of concern for others can be as __________ as the receivers. The finding suggests that compassion itself can be a __________ to the givers.

5 . 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.

6 . A hero isn’t just a superman that flies around saving people. A hero can be a volunteer worker, a teacher, or even a _________ member. My hero just so happens to be my dad, which may sound like something _________ to you. You would also say your mom or dad is your hero because they raised you, or you’re always able to _________ them. My _________ are like that as well. _________, I still consider my dad a hero above everybody else and he _________ deserves it.

My dad has always been caring and loving. When I was young, he was the one that stayed at home with me, taking _________ of me and loving me wholeheartedly. He also helped me with my _________ so I could do well in my schoolwork. I couldn’t ask for a _________ dad. I love how my dad __________ my mom as well. He is a fantastic __________, so my mom is willing to share her sorrows and joys with him. Besides, my dad is always __________ to offer a helping hand, sharing housework and solving her problems at work. He has also shown others his good __________ by serving our country and helping the community.

My dad isn’t a great person who changes the world, but he has __________ my little world. He is a great __________ for me and I’d like to be an ordinary hero like him.

7 . Cope With Loneliness or Depression

My grandmother, Margaret lived to be 104, spending the last 16 years of her life in a nursing home. Although ______ kept in a wheelchair from severe arthritis(关节炎), she was mentally sharp until her ______. In fact, she was one of the very few residents there who could still think clearly. ______ the passing years, friends and family members died. Yet, when I had the ______ to visit her, she never seemed to be despondent or ______ of being lonely. After my visits, I ______ left thinking “If I lived that long, would I have the same ______? Was there something special or different in the way she thought that prevented her from becoming ______ ?”

By our very nature, human beings are relational. As social beings, we need some sense of ______ to the world around us, whether it’s through people or the ______ world. In what appeared to be the very ______world of my grandmother, she had ______ close relationships with the nurses on her floor. I’ve ______ a lot on the example my grandmother provided during her ______ years. I’ve asked myself many questions about aging and how to ______ a sense of well-being as our world ______ to narrow from the death of family and friends or major health issues. Perhaps what I’ve ______ will help you, too.

Being alone. What does that ______ bring into your mind? The way we feel about being alone has something to do with the way we frame it. For example, you ______ be in a large group of people and still feel very lonely. Yet, some people seem to recharge and actually energize by taking the time to be alone. Once your thoughts and feelings change, it will be ______ for your behavior to change as well.

8 . I didn’t believe in ghosts (幽灵). However, my mother reminded me many times that I had the_________ . It was all because of a_________ I told when I was 4. One night I ________ to get ready for bed, so I lied there was a ghost in the bathroom. Mother was_________ to learn that.

After that she often_________ anything unusual—a sudden wind, a vase that fell and got broken. She would ask me,“Is she here?” She ________ my grandmother, who she said died in a car accident. When I was 14, my older brother was seriously ill. My mother ________ me to ask my grandmother to save him. When he died, she asked me to talk to him as usual. “I don’t know ________, ” I said. When my father died six months after my brother, mother asked me if they still loved us. I spelled out the answer which I_________ she wanted to hear: “Yes， always.”

When I became a writer in my 30s， I wrote a story about a woman who killed herself by eating too much opium (鸦片).

________ the story, my mother got shocked, ________ its exactly how my grandmother died. For some reason, mother didn’t tell me the truth. Now she had ________ : My grandmother had talked to me and told me her true story. She asked me, “Is she here now?” I answered ________, “I don’t know.”

Over the years, mother always asked me some ________ questions. Sometimes I really got ________ of them. And I began to ________ whether there was something wrong with her ________. Ten years later, my mother left me forever. Suddenly I felt sad and ________. It seemed that I had lost everything. That night I ________ about her and she was laughing at my surprise. When she reached me, I felt as if I had been ________ in the chest with something: love, but also joy and peace. “Now you know,” my mother said.

9 . Last Friday, Emma, my 11-year-old, decided to thank our local mailman Doug, for the service he provides for us.

Usually, a letter from her is likely to _________ some art, a joke or two, a mention of her younger brother, her cat… So, in her note to Doug, she _________ nothing out. “Dear sir, I’m Emma… Thank you for taking my letters and _________ them. You are very _________ to me. I make people happy with my letters, but you do, too.” Emma wrote. That afternoon, Doug took it when she smiling _________ it which was enough to him.

Saturday, Doug _________ at our house with a thank-you note. Then two days later, an unexpected package, full of _________ and letters from Doug’s colleagues in USPS _________ with him again.

To our amazement, these letters are so deeply human, filled with family _________, pets… and an overwhelming sense of __________. A Tracy wrote “Your letter __________ made a difference! Not many understand how hard we work…” Another, “I work alone here. And you __________ me of my son of your age…” Some Michael, to inspire Emma to start collecting stamps, even sent two special ones from his __________ while the rest were mailed for her to write back or to others.

With dozens of __________ pen-pals, Emma did what she does best. She wrote the dad. She wrote his son… She shared her time to give others the one thing they need to be well-human __________.

10 . As a little kid I always asked to be held up in the air. So I could ________ down upon my mom’s washing machine and was attracted by clothes swimming in ________ in the soap water. I loved watching clothes being ________ so much. My mom and her mother ________ my passion by taking me shopping, involving me in fine clothes, and teaching me how to ________ them.

My love of washing clothes only ________ as I grew older. I learned how to wash and dry my own clothes properly before I was ten. In my ________ , I taught myself how to iron ________ , creating razor-sharp lines in my trousers. As time went by, with a love of dry-clean-only clothes but on a tight ________ as a college student, I asked my textiles (纺织品)professors if I could wash my wool sweaters myself rather than pay to get them dry-washed. To be ________ , I suspected I could. People had been wearing wool clothing since long before the invention of dry cleaning, ________

What I learned from my professors were not just the ________ but “love languages”—ways to ________ and experience love. Caring for your loved ones’ clothes shows them love. When their ________ are clean, smell wonderful, and look great, they are going to feel as if they can take on the world, and their days are going to be all the ________ .