1 . When you left us, it was the end of a long, painful road. Since then, I was_______my favorite memories of you.

I remember us taking our family dog for walks together on the _______ sand dunes (沙丘). I remember sitting on your knee, watching candlelight _______ inside. Once I bought you a gift — a _______ printed on a glass board, titled “Walking With Grandpa.” _______, you wrote me your own poem, too. I imagine how you must have taken time finding the right words, how you printed it out and cut the paper to _______ before placing it in the frame.

However, Alzheimer began its _______ through your life. In your last few days of life, I was _______ when sitting by your bedside silently, feeling very worried and afraid. I didn’t know what to do or how to _______.

Now, I am an adult, I wish I had been ________ — that I had come close to you and told you how deeply I loved you, how you filled the ________ which was the absence of my father in those 10 years of my life, so that I didn’t realize anything was ________. It’s only now that I am aware that when I ________ a relationship with my father, the reason why he fell short of ________ is that he wasn’t you. I really hope you know how much you ________ to me.

2 . Every year on my birthday, a white gardenia (栀子花) was _________to my house. But no card or note came with it. Calls to the flower shop were always _________— it was a cash purchase. After a while I stopped trying to discover the sender’s identity and just _________in the beauty and heady perfume of that one magical, perfect white flower lying in soft pink paper.

But I never stopped _________who the giver might be. My mother _________to these imaginations. She asked me if there was someone for whom I had done a special kindness who might be showing _________. I had more fun imagining that it might be a boy I fell in love with or one who had a _________on me even though I didn’t know him.

One month before my high-school graduation, my father died. My feelings _________from sorrow to fear and anger: my dad was _________some of the most important events in my life. I became completely __________in my coming graduation, the senior-class play and the ball. But my mother would not hear of my losing any of those things. Mother and I had gone shopping and found an impressive dress, but it was the __________size. When my father died, I forgot about the dress.

The day before my ball, I found that dress — in the right size — hanging over the living room sofa. It was __________to me so lovingly. I didn’t __________if I had a new dress or not. But my mother did. She wanted her children to feel __________, filled with a sense that there was a beauty even in the face of __________.

My mother died ten days after I was married. The following year the gardenia stopped coming.

3 . 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 __________.

4 . Everything changed when I entered high school. Among all the freshmen, I never saw an acquaintance. At home I was just as ___________.

Mom was shouting again. “Karole, your bedroom is a disaster. Why can’t you keep it_________?”

The last thing, I needed was, mother’s_________. Clean your room. Finish your dinner. What happened to the mother who___________ me with complete acceptance? However, instead of explaining my _________, I just holed up in my bedroom.

Clearing off some space, I pulled out my math textbook, turned to a fresh page and started___________the first problem. Almost immediately, I made a_______! “Wrong again” I thought. “You can’t do anything___________!”   I tore the paper from my notebook, balled it up and_________it on the floor.

When I finished my homework, the floor was__________with crumpled(皱的) papers. It gave me a kind of satisfaction to see the___________ I’d made. Like it was proof of all my flaws(缺点). I kicked the papers under the   ___________.

One day, when I came home and entered my room, I___________. It was neat as a new pin. Mom had___________cleaned it. All the papers under my bed had___________, except one. I picked it up and unfolded it.

I___________Mom’s handwriting immediately: “Dear Karole, I’ve been too___________with you lately. Sorry. Now I only_____________you are to be your same, sweet self. Love, Mom.”

At that moment, a weight seemed to lift from me. It was_____________with something as soft as an angel’s wing. After that, everything changed in high school. But that heartfelt note remained ____________for the rest of my teenage years.

5 . My 23-year-old son Dan packed, ready for the journey to work abroad for a year. It was a milestone, _________ the transition from his school days to adulthood.

I looked _________ at his face when we were to say goodbye, trying to remember every feature, meanwhile, _________ to say something that had long buried deep in my heart. However, not a sound came over my lips.

This wasn’t the first time I had let such an opportunity _________. On his first day in preschool, I accompanied him to the bus stop. His _________ and curiosity filled all the way. But even still, he boarded the bus and disappeared, I was _________. There still were many other _________ like this.

Now I stood in front of him, trying to recall all the times I had let go of. How often has that not happened to us all? A son graduates or a daughter is married. But at those ceremonies, we don’t seize the _________, telling them what they _________ to us.

Here and now, I knew it really mattered; but I still found myself nervous and uncomfortable. Why does it have to be so __________?

I gathered all my courage. “Dan,” I __________ stammered out (结巴地说出), “If I had the choice myself I would have chosen you.”

I was not sure whether he __________ what I meant. But then he stepped __________ me and put his arms around me. For a short while the world and everything was gone, there were only Dan and me.

What I told Dan was clumsy and commonplace. Yet it was __________.

Then he __________ the airport with his girlfriend in a taxi.

6 . The Healing Power of Music

Since Mom died and Dad lived alone, he was often angry, and lately he was getting more and more confusing. Today _______ to be worse than usual. He had a new aid named Linda, from our home country of Lithuania. The _______ of a stranger was bound to make Dad even more _______ .

Sure enough, Dad started _______ as soon as I got in the door. “This new girl doesn’t know anything,” he whispered with dissatisfaction.

“It’ll take some time for her to learn how to help you,” I _______ him.

The three of us sat _______ in the living room. I wished I could think of something to say. Lord, please help us feel more comfortable with this arrangement.

Linda _______ to her feet. Walking over to Dad’s record player, she _______ a Lithuanian folk record onto the turntable (转盘). The familiar accordion (手风琴) music played. Dad started _______ along to it. Liuda smiled.

The music seemed to drive all the ________ from the room. We chatted about Lithuania. It was one of the ________ visits Dad and I had ever had.

When I left, he hugged me good-bye and asked me to ________ old photos with him and Linda next time. ________ , I had a look at the old Dad, the man I’d always loved ________ time with.

I’d come to Dad’s house expecting the ________ . But with Linda’s help and a little music from the old country, I’d found what I would always love.

7 . Like many people, public speaking once filled me with fear As a writer, I felt much more ________ expressing myself on the page, rather than on the ________. Strangely, I found that the feelings of ________ to be perfectly tolerable; ________, I was concerned with the ways that others would perceive my nervous energy. A slight change of ________, the unconscious biting of my lip — I assured that I’d be ________ for any nom-verbal signal that showed my lack of ________. I was experiencing anxiety about my anxiety—consequences that made the whole task feel much more ________.

You might have ________ this yourself before a job interview or important work meeting in front of senior colleagues. And the more you try to ________ your feelings, the more obvious they appear to others.

According to a striking new study, however, these concerns may be ________. Jamie Whitehouse, a research fellow at Nottingham Trent University in the UK, has shown that visible signs of stress are often ________, leaving others more likely to like us and treat us ________. If so, then we need not try so hard to ________ a calm-and-collected poker face, safe in the knowledge that people will relate well to our ________.

8 . Anger is the most destructive (破坏性的) emotion. When you are ___, you make hurried decisions that you will probably regret. You will also regret careless language ____ without thought. What can be done to control anger and prevent it ruining our lives? Here are five ways that you can fight the cause of anger.

Firstly, you need to change your attitude to the way the world ____. You have to admit that sometimes things do go wrong and that people are always lovely. Try to ____ that ____ people do behave in ways that will make you both frustrated and angry. Secondly, don’t regard anger as a bad emotion. There are occasions ____ anger can be directed in such a way as to achieve great things. Thirdly, it is beneficial to stop trying to manage your anger. A good way of ____ anger is to identify (识别) the root cause. Taking ____ steps towards solving the underlying (根本的) problem will help you overcome feelings of anger. Fourthly, reacting angrily is a hard habit to break. But it is a habit, and habits can be ____. You need to learn not to respond at all. This way, your anger will not get the emotional ____ it needs to survive. Fifthly, don’t take the easy way when you get angry. You might say you feel better after an angry outburst, ____ that   is just the after-effect of the adrenalin (肾上腺素) your body released while you were angry. If so, it is much harder to stay calm, to walk away from conflict (冲突), or to take a deep breath and act ____. That, however, is ____ you must do if you are to stop anger from becoming your master.

____, you must recognize that anger is ____ you can control. Make changes to your lifestyle and attitudes, and you will find that you will turn angry much less often, if at all.

9 . A couple of weeks back, my darling wife had been asking me to come over to my son’s school (where she teaches) and teach the pupils “Origami”, a Japanese art of ________paper into different objects. My 7-year-old son had no ________of my coming and that makes it ________for me.

We were about to take the ________when I got my first “starring moment”. “Who is this daddy? Why is he walking in a funny way? How is he going to climb the stairs?” ________these, my wife helped me with one of my crutches(拐杖).

Little did I know that the first class she’s taking me to ________to be my son’s. On opening the door, with no warning, and to the ________of his classmates, came that unique but ________ scream “Daada!!!”and he practically ran out of his classroom to give me a bear hug. His mates couldn’t help staring with envy and ________!

I sat down, made my introduction and gave   ________on paper-folding. They all clapped and ________their thanks even as I made my way to the next class.

I left that school feeling ________.What more do I want but to continually be ________to God for everything? My wife has always seen me as a physically fit person who can ________any task and now I find my 7-year old boy is actually ________ of me!

10 . My father and I have always had a difficult relationship. He thought I wasn’t what a good daughter should be. Whatever I did was never good enough in his eyes. So when I tried to look for approval, I was _______ disappointed.

My mother was gentler and when my father would _______ me, she’d have my back. Five years ago, she died from a disease and, _______ her there, my relationship with my father became _______. I felt like he was trying to control me and this caused _______ and panic in me. I realized that I couldn’t continue the _______ with him, so I left home eventually and _______ contact with him.

About a year later, I was out campaigning and I saw him alone. I _______ him and asked how he was. He was hesitant, but I could see in his eyes that he was _______ I’d come over. He said he was proud that he had a daughter who went to the House of Lords to talk about women’s rights. I realized that, having decided I didn’t need his ________, I finally had it.

Our relationship isn’t ________ now, but we see each other every few months and I value the time we have together. Last year, on his birthday, I sent him a card and he ________ phoned me to say thank you. I’ve realized that if you want to have somebody in your life, you have to ________ them as who they are. And I’m proud of myself. I don’t need anybody else to give me that sense of ________. And because of that, our relationship is no longer a ________.