1 . A sunny afternoon before Christmas, a little girl was decorating a box with a gold wrapping paper to put it under the Christmas tree. Money was tight, so the girl’s father _________ her for wasting almost all roll of that _________ paper.

However, the next morning the girl _________ the gift to her father. “This is for you, Daddy.” she said. He opened the box and found it _________, so he became angry again. “Don’t you know, that when you give someone a _________ it is supposed that there would be something inside it.” he said _________. The little girl looked at her father with _________ in her eyes. “Daddy, this box is not empty, I _________ it with my kisses, all for you.”

The father was extremely _________. He felt so embarrassed that he could just put his __________ around his little daughter and beg for her __________. For many years of his life the man kept that golden box near his bed. Wherever he felt __________ and downhearted he opened the box and thought of __________ that the little child had put into it.

Each of us have been __________ a present of unconditional love from our children, family, friends and God. It is the most precious __________ that anyone could hold.

2 . “I knew when I saw you, I wanted to take you home,” my dad says to me when I visit him one Saturday. There is a deep-seated _________ of a father seeing his daughter when she was born.

My father has Alzheimer’s (老人痴呆症). He does not _________ express in words, so the sudden accuracy of his words _________ me.

Another Saturday, he points to a photo of me and says, “She’s smart.” Does he know the _________ person, 30 years older, is sitting beside him? It does not matter. At that moment I can feel his _________.

Now I bring a spoonful of yogurt to his lips. With a _________ hand, he touches me and says, “You’re very good. Thank you.” He totally forgets it was he that _________ me in lifting a spoon to my mouth.

These words are all he can give now. But they make me understand more _________ my generous father.

His door was always _________. Drop-in visitors were welcomed with a drink. He would not ____________ to give money to a family member in need. In the community, he ____________ his time to preserve the historical buildings.

Time, advice, money. There were many ways he ____________.

And he gives, still. The ____________ has taken much from my father. What’s ____________ are his words. It’s ____________ for him to find the right word and say it out loud. Yet he keeps going.

3 . On the morning of September 11th, my closest friend, Kevin Bowser, died in the World Trade Center. The sorrow was so awful, but I was determined to channel it into something with_________.

The next summer, I set off on a two-month bicycle tour to Philadelphia to _________ him. The whole nation was in deep sorrow and, as I travelled and _________ new people, we would inevitably (不可避免地) hug. I didn’t notice the _________ they brought at the time, but when I returned, a friend said that I often spoke about the hugs I shared with _________. The bike ride and the _________ I made enriched me, so I planned a second. I call it “Big Dave’s hug” .

Between 2002 and 2015, I _________ the stretches of North America three times. My Big Dave’s hug banner (横幅) introduced me and my _________. Some people were _________ about hugging me when they didn’t know the first thing about me. But when they saw my intention was__________ and I wasn’t asking for anything, they __________. Young people would reveal their childhood secrets and affairs, while elders always had great stories to __________. Every city would warn me that the next was less __________, but they never were.

It generated enormous joy. It was not just a hug, but also __________ and moments. People ask why I’m doing it and I say it __________ me, makes me smile and provides perspective.

4 . In the dining room of my grandfather’s house stood a large clock. When I was a child, the old clock_________me very much. I was surprised at how the clock would chime (敲) three times, six times or more, with a wonderful clear_________. I often paid attention to it instead of the foods when I had_________. And always the clock stood like an old family friend,_________the family. I found the clock comforting and familiar. Year after year, the clock became a part of my memories.

It was even more_________to me when my grandfather carefully wound up (上发条) that clock with a special_________each day. The key was_________to me. It kept the clock_________. It kept the clock chiming. How did it do that? I watched as my grandfather took the key from his pocket and_________the door in the old clock and used the key to wind it up. He never let that clock wind down and__________. When I got a little older, he taught me how to open the door, __________let me wind up the clock myself. I remember the__________time I did, I felt so excited…

After my grandfather__________, every time I saw the clock, I couldn’t help crying. Never could I see him again. The__________ on the clock were frozen. It stopped. I took the key with my__________hand and opened the door. All of a __________, I was a child again, watching my grandfather. He was there, smiling at me. I stood there,__________in the memories. Then slowly and__________, I wound up the clock. Tick-tock, tick-tock…The dining room and the house seemed to be filled with__________. In the image of the clock, my grandfather also__________again.

5 . In the back of my closet, there is a small cardboard chest that has followed me to every one of my new addresses. Until now, the only _________ contents in it are three wrapped _________ marked in my mother’s tidy handwriting: “Engagement”, “Wedding” and “First Baby”.

When I was three, my mother learned that she had advanced breast cancer. When I was seven, she had begun _________ a gift box for me. Inside, she packed presents and letters for the _________ of my life she was going to be missing — driver’s license, graduation, and every birthday until the age of 30.

My mother died ten days before our _________ birthday. That morning, when I turned 12 and she would have turned 49, I woke up early and opened the package _________ “12th Birthday”. A white card curling around the present _________: “I always _________ a birthstone ring when I was a little girl. Your Granny finally bought me one and I loved it more than I can say. I hope you like it, too.” I put on the ring and _________ her writing with my fingertip.

On the morning of my high school graduation, a __________ of pearls appeared as I opened the wrapped present. Her note read: “There seemed to be a __________ in my family that when girls graduated from high school, they received pearls.” I wore the pearls that afternoon as I took the stage to accept my diploma.

Year after year, my mother __________ forward in time to meet me. When I was a child, opening the next package felt like a treasure __________. As I grew older, her message met me like guideposts in a dark forest. If her words couldn’t point the way, at least they offered the __________ of knowing that someone had been there before and that I have been __________, wildly loved.

6 . 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 __________.

7 . In a class many years ago, the teacher gave us the “unpardonable”—the class homework! The _______ was to go to someone you love and tell them you love them. _______ it doesn’t sound like a very tough assignment, I realized that I was _______ the generation of men who were taught that expressing emotions is not “macho” (男子气概的).

You see, five years ago, my father and I had a _______ disagreement and we _______ seeing each other unless it was Christmas or other family _______. But by the time I got home I had convinced myself I was going to tell my father I loved him. It’s weird, but just making that decision seemed to lift a heavy load _______ my chest. So I rushed home to tell my wife my plan. When I told her, she hugged me, and for the first time in our married life she saw me cry.

The next morning, I went to the office early and _________ more in two hours than I had the whole day before. At 9:00 I called my dad, “Dad, can I _________ tonight?” My dad responded with a(n) __________ tone, “Now what?” At 5:30, I was at my parents’ house ringing the doorbell, __________ that Dad would answer the door. I was ________ if Mom answered that I would chicken out and tell her instead.

But luckily, Dad did answer the door. I took a deep breath to __________ myself and said, “Dad, I just came over to tell you that I love you.” It was as if a transformation came over my dad. His face ________, the wrinkles seemed to disappear and he began to cry. He hugged me tightly and said, “I love you, too, son.”

Two days after that visit, my dad, who had heart problems, but didn’t tell me, had a heart attack and ________ in the hospital, unconscious. I don’t know if he’ll make it. So my message to all of you is this: Don’t wait to go to someone you love and tell them you love them and do it now!

8 . In 1980, Dad was diagnosed(诊断) with a serious disease. The disease _________ his memory and expression. Dad couldn’t think or process information as fast as he _________ to. He grew to repeat the same words, which drove Mom _________. On one of my visits home, Dad was sitting in his deck chair. I reached down to _________ and kiss him. “What’s new? How are you?”

“Oh, you know, dear, the same. They treat me like a mushroom around here. They keep me in the dark.” He laughed, proud of his _________.

As I walked through the kitchen, I stopped to hug Mom. She _________ her head. “I heard your dad and those words! It’s not his will. He just can’t _________ himself.” She stopped for a while before _________. “He always says he’s just like a mushroom…” She took a _________ breath and laughed. “Goodness,” she said, “I’m going to be __________ the adversity(困境) for a long time.”

__________, Dad never became difficult, or had personality changes. I often felt grateful for that. Dad loved and __________ everything Mom ever did for him as well, no matter how big or small.

Care-giving comes at a __________. Mom was annoyed with Dad, but there was lots of love between them. Through the 21 years of care giving for Dad, there was __________ and tears, as well as weddings and babies. Without __________, I’m not sure what would have happened to us.

9 . 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.

10 . Childhood should be full of friends, play, and happiness. But when children are _________ and without their peer group, they may _________ a helping hand to get back on track. That’s why schools in India are teaching _________.

Actually, it is important to _________ kids to be resilient (有弹力的). They needed a(n) _________ that could train students to identify emotions and ways to channel them.

The happiness course was _________ started by the Indian government in 2018. It _________ mental health, well-being. It also encouraged _________ peer connections for elementary school children. The course included storytelling and teamwork activities.

“The happiness course is a(n)_________, and schools should welcome it. The objectives include developing self-awareness, mindfulness, critical thinking, and helping children __________ life skills to deal with stress,” said Shikha Banerjee, the principal of the Seth Anandram Jaipuria School in Kanpur.

“Mindfulness is the cornerstone of the happiness course and its biggest __________ is that every day 1.6 million children in Delhi start their studies in school with mindfulness. It has __________ as a turning point in the lives of students studying in Delhi schools and has relieved (缓解) children from stress and __________ their focus in studies,” deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said during the Mindful Education Awards 2021 program.

The award is an initiative to __________ the efforts of schools in creating a mentally and physically healthy __________ for the development of children through teaching mindfulness.