1 . We might look different and speak different languages, but most of us, especially the young ones, love sweets! One day we _________ one of the 15,000 orphan(孤儿)-led houses in Swaziland. Inside the _________ we found a beautiful little girl with huge brown eyes, Tanzile. I gave her a sweet from my bag and she said something in the _________ language. The nurse next to me _________: “She wants another one, doctor, to give to her little sister.” I said “_________” and gave her another.

Later that day, we passed by Tanzile’s house to say goodbye. To our _________ she seemed to be holding on to that _________ sweet I had given her. I thought she was _________ and had taken two for herself. But after the _________ had asked her some more questions, this is what we learned:

Tanzile is 7 now. Two years ago her parents __________ in the disaster. At the time of her parents’ death, she __________ her baby sister, who was three at the time, and has never seen her. But ever since that time, whenever Tanzile __________ anything from anyone, she refuses to accept it, __________ they give her two. In fact, in the little mud hut where she lives, we found a pile of old things which she has been __________to give to her sister one day.

I can still remember the nurse trying to __________ her that “ Tanzile, if someone gives you food, you must accept it, __________ it is only one piece and not two - for your own __________ and safety.” And it was so __________ for us to keep the tears from our eyes as she shook her head __________

On the way back, I thought of that old Eagles’ song — “When we’re hungry, __________ will keep us alive.”

2 . My Grandma’s Mug (马克杯)

When I was growing up, one of my favorite traditions was Sunday-morning breakfast with my grandparents. They lived up the street in our tiny river town and welcomed any mass-goers from our large _________ family to their home after.

As soon as we walked in the door, Grandma got busy making a fresh pot of coffee, while Grandpa took _________ at the stove. The rest of us _________ the table before gathering around it in _________ of the meal.

Once her family had finally had their _________ , Grandma would _________ in her chair in the living room, leaving the _________ in the kitchen for cleanup later. Her coffee mug on the table next to her, Grandma joined in on the various _________ that were happening around that comfortable room.

Both of my grandparents have _________ in recent years. As the holidays __________ , I find myself __________ to see Grandma and Grandpa in that kitchen just one more time.

The sights, sounds, and smells of those cherished mornings __________ over me recently when I went to pour my own morning coffee. As I __________   a certain mug, the memory of my grandma in her kitchen — coffee in hand, making sure we were all taken care of — brought __________ to my eyes. Knowing her hands once held the coffee mug helps me feel __________ to her and the love we will always share.

3 . I had not hugged a friend or a family member for more than two years.

I hadn’t had that ______ until recently when my sister-in-law came for a brief visit. For everyone’s safety, we met outside. Despite the ______ weather in January, her hug warmed me from the inside out. I realized how much I ______ embracing loved ones — the warmth that ______ long after our arms untwined (松开).

There was war in my home town in Bosnia, so I found every moment was full of ______. On one peaceful morning, I begged my mom to let me go outside after weeks wilting (蔫) indoors. She ______ agreed. I was outside for only 10 minutes ______ I was caught in an explosion. I ______ to my neighbor’s house for safety and threw my arms around her neck while my legs were ______ underneath me. She hugged me with both arms and ______ me into her house. I was still in her arms when the ambulance arrived.

______, I made a full physical recovery, but the emotional ______ never left me. Years later there was another explosion near my house, when my father was away to buy a loaf of bread. When he came back inside, I gave him the biggest hug ______, choked in tears as I held him tight.

That same night my parents managed to arrange my escape from our war-torn city. They desperately wanted at least some of my childhood to be ______. I was 16 and came to America on my own. A generous host family took me ______. Over next several months, I suffered ______.   The only way I shared my feelings was by giving Oscar, their dog, a big ______.

Now, due to our pandemic lives, hugging a stranger is the ______ thing on our minds. For many of us, ______ hugging a relative or a friend comes with stress and anxiety because of risks and precautions (防范). I ______ that in the not-so-distant future we can safely hold one another again, a friend, relative, or a stranger.

4 . Armed with sunscreen and locking my bike, I was ready. With a ______ heart, I was ready to ______ my life. It had been a tough year. I lost my parents. After a year of sadness, something had to change.

I make my living onstage as a motivational speaker. I teach people how to be ______. Thoughts are very ______, and you will prove what your mind expects, good or bad. I believed it all, because it always ______. Until it didn’t.

I ______ that, if it lasted any longer, the ______ that had been around me would never leave. The idea came to me on a Sunday: I would______ Pinellas County’s gulf(海湾) coastline, all of it. Spending endless hours walking where the water meets the sky would heal my hurt. I knew it. This was my Forrest Gump moment.

On my first day, the first thing I saw was the Skyway Bridge in the distance. I’d ______ that bridge every week for the last 15 years to visit my parents. A pang(一阵剧痛) of sadness shot through me, but it didn’t ______. Instead, I thought about what I’d survived.

On my second day, I was not sad, but not really happy. I slept straight through the night and ______ excited. For the first time in a very long time, I was more interested in what was in front of me than what was ______.

The final part of my exploration was the islands. When I got there, I needed to do something to mark the ______, so I got on my knees to write in the sand: “DONE”.

Looking back, it was the ______ word. Sure, I was done walking. But I was also done feeling like a ______. I was done with the darkness. I’d turned the corner.

5 . “BARBARA,” my husband, Bill, announced, “your birthday present is in the freezer.” _________ , I went to the freezer—and broke out _________ . Inside was a well-wrapped ice cream container. My _________ of ice cream is well-known in our home.

Then, _________ the wrappings, I laughed even harder. Instead of ice cream, the container _________ four large, hand-crafted wooden numbers. Bill had heard me say months earlier that I’d always wanted easy-to-read house numbers. I was _________ . The fun of his double _________ was what I loved.

The gift _________ me of a conversation I’d overheard at a department store. A woman was _________ a gift from her husband. “Wouldn’t you think that after 20 years George would know I never wear gold?” she joked—but I noted a bit of __________ .

I couldn’t help __________ the two styles of gift giving. George had __________ spent several hundred dollars on jewelry his wife didn’t __________ . Bill had spent perhaps $20, but, thinking carefully, he had chosen a gift that was just __________ for me. This is what gift-giving is all about. The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than its __________ . Choosing a gift needn't be a chore(琐事); it can be fun for both the receiver and the giver.

6 . Just before Christmas, my daughter Katie and I went over to my dad’s place to decorate. I couldn’t help _________ the old glass balls when _________ them on the tree. Later that night before I went to sleep, in the quiet darkness, I recalled some _________ from years ago.

The Christmas after I turned 16, while decorating the _________ with my mom, I accidentally _________ and broke a ball. The old glass ball had been on our tree for as long as I could _________.

Broken-hearted, I knelt to pick up the pieces and was _________ to find a small slip of paper on the floor. Unfolding the note, I _________ my father’s writing. Lifting my eyes, I saw my mother’s _________ expression.

“Your daddy wrote that and put it in that __________ during our first Christmas together, just before you were born,” she said with a smile.

I wouldn’t have __________ it, except for the proof there in my __________. The daddy I knew always seemed a bit __________ around the holidays. And yet, this bit of yellowed paper __________ that long ago, my daddy had done something quite romantic at Christmas.

I cleaned up the pieces, __________ I could put them together. “It’s OK,” Mom said. “Just pick out another of the old ones and put the __________ inside.”

Now, as we __________ the holidays without my mom, who we lost to cancer, my discovery is even more __________. Each year as I decorate my dad’s tree, I remember the moment I __________ with my mom that winter afternoon.

The note inside one of those old glass balls on my dad’s tree holds the heart of my parents’ __________ in three little words: “I love you.”

7 . I was visiting members of my late husband John’s medical team. They had worked hard when he _________ lung cancer. Each time I _________them for all they had done, I felt myself gaining closure.

Then I _________ to John’s favorite Chinese restaurant. We’d gone there after so many of John’s treatments. I wanted to talk to the manager, who knew about our _________ and had always been kind to us. When I pulled over, I could hear John’s voice in my cars. The _________ John told me every time I got behind the wheel. “Drive _________.”

This phrase was one of the ways he showed his _________. I knew when he said it, he was also saying, “I care about you.”

I took the manager aside. “I want you to know that John had _________.”

She _________. I gave her a hug __________ that John and I had so many people who cared. We exchanged some __________ of him and shared a few laughs.

As I was about to leave, I spotted a fortune cookie left by the manager. Should I__________ it? I didn’t need a fortune to tell me that life without John would still be__________. Still, just for fun, I opened the cookie and __________ the small piece of paper inside.

“The __________ ahead is long,” my fortune read. Drive safely.

8 . My father passed away on March 21, 2010 in Calgary after a brief journey with cancer. I loved my father so much, and we were very_______. We traveled together and talked on the phone at least twice a day. His death has_______a forever pain in my heart.

One day_______ I arrived back home from walking outdoors I sat on the front step, thinking about my Dad and feeling quite_______.Within a minute or so, I_______and saw a butterfly on the other side of the fence. It flew over to me, around my head for a bit, then_______near by. I thought maybe it is a sign my Dad is_______. The butterfly then flew up again, and this time it rested on my left side for quite a while on a beautiful_______before flying off.

The_______day I went out for a walk by the lake, a different time and place. I started________Dad again. I called out in my________for him to show a sign he was________here with me. Within moments the same type of butterfly________.

It rested on a rock while I________it. When I got up to continue walking it followed me down the________. I took a picture of it as some people didn’t________me when I said I saw a butterfly at that time of year.

The next day I walked on the path again________to meet the butterfly once more. Within moments of thinking about my Dad the same type appeared.________, this time it joined up with two more before they all flew away.

I feel it might have been a(n)________from my Dad saying he was with his Mom and Dad and he was okay. Those________helped me feel comforted when I needed it the most.

9 . The scars that Pat Rribble carried through life were formed nearly 50 years ago, inflicted (欺负) by fellow students in Woodland, who _______him because he was different.

Pat never _______or had children after graduating. He never had a _______, only a series of jobs. Now 65, Pat appears _______with his long gray hair and beard, whom you might cross the street to _______. But, to talk with him reveals (展现出) a _______side. He speaks quietly, measuring his words to _______his weakness, for which others once seized upon to _______him.

In 2021, when Carey Jim, Pat's classmate, learned Pat _______to attend his high school class's party ________ he'd been hurt in school, he ________. “Pat had it rougher than the rest of us.” Days later, Carey found Pat's ________and called. Pat answered. “We talked about the ________things, and the good things too,” Pat said. “Carey's love and ________caught me unexpectedly.” After that, Carey asked all his ________to call Pat. And so they did. They made a ________that they wouldn't lose track of Pat, and they have ________it for over ten years. Every week, one or more of them call Pat to see how he's doing.

The recovery of the ________from the past has allowed Pat to look to the ________. “I'll be at the next party,” he says. “These guys…” He pauses, stifling (强忍) ________. “Let's just say that everyone needs people like these guys in their lives.”

10 . “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.