1 . It was Mother’s Day. Our teacher Amelia said each of us would get a mug (马克杯) later and that we would_________mugs for Mother’s Day. They were white, saying “world’s best mom” on the side. I couldn’t read it at first, but I _________the words quickly. Dad had taught me them.

When Amelia_________a mug to me, I told her I didn’t want one. She didn’t seem to have_________my answer and asked me why. I replied, “Mom _________ two years ago. Even if we missed her, Dad said she wouldn’t come back, so I was _________to give her a mug.” Amelia seemed a little_________about my unlucky experience, touching my head_________. And next to me, Amy had already_________sunflowers all over her mug. It__________me that Dad preferred others to secretly prepare gifts for him and that I also could do one for Dad. In these two years, he was more than Dad. He had been making great efforts to learn to be a__________. Even my nice braids (辫子) were all his works. He__________a gift.

So I told Amelia about my__________and took a mug out of her hands, Amelia hugged me and said in a quite__________voice, “You and your dad both are great!” Her eyes looked full of water. Later, after school, I__________the mug at the bottom of my schoolbag__________I knew how much Dad loved a__________and how long he hadn’t had one. When I met him, I__________presented the mug to him and told him it was a Mother’s Day mug. My behavior was obviously beyond his__________. Dad just stood there, opening his mouth but saying nothing. His seven-year-old girl has learnt to give back with__________to Dad.

2 . Jaxon Carter, a 6-year-old boy, lost his mother very early. Her passing away left the little boy and his dad in _________. Soon after that, Jaxon had to move to a new _________ to study, which proved to be a great _________ for him.

Jaxon has been an outstanding and _________ student, despite his sadness over losing his mother. Jaxon recently had his graduation ceremony where he _________ a valedictory (告别的) speech. However, a normal speech everyone expected _________ an emotional and heart-breaking one as the boy paid tribute to (致敬) his late mother.

“When I started kindergarten here in August last year, I was a little 5-year-old boy who had lost my beautiful mother a month before. My kindergarten year helped me grow braver, smarter, more kind-hearted, and more _________,” he said in the _________. He thanked his teacher, who he _________ as someone with a “big heart”. “When I was __________, she used to tell me it would be all right.”

Lastly, he dedicated his speech to the person he __________ missed his mother. “I dedicate my speech, good grades, all school awards, and my kindergarten graduation to my beautiful mommy, who I will always __________ and miss so much,” said Jaxon. “I know she will always be with me in my __________.”

The audience __________ him as they were all brought into tears by the boy’s beautiful and heartfelt __________.

3 . Tiffany Hammond and her son Aidan communicate in some familiar ways, like hand gestures and body language. But when Aidan wants to ______ himself with words, he uses a tablet (平板电脑).

Aidan is autistic (患孤独症的) and does not speak, so when his mom asks ______ , he can press a button on the screen to answer them. The family has designed routines around his autism, but people outside the household don’t ______ .

“Every single time we go outside the house, there’s something bad happening. There’s a______ , and there’s a mean stare,” Hammond said. “And he feels lonely a lot.”   However, that loneliness and those reactions from outsiders ______ Hammond to find a way to ______the ways in which people with autism can express. They just communicate in a(n) ______type of way. The result of this experience is a children’s book from Hammond titled A Day With No Words. The book followed Aidan through a regular day, showing his ______routines.

Hammond also wrote about the ______ of the book to want people to give kindness and the goal she hoped to ______ with the writing.

In an interview, Hammond said,   “I want to ______ all the things that I see in him. He loves being outside and swings, and he loves life. He is ______ like other people. I want to______ the regular life that I have with my son, and it is supposed to ______ a loving letter to him.”

______, a day with no words can be full of meaningful communication.

4 . It was wintertime 30 years ago. I was a young father with 3 little children to support. My college education, however, didn’t ________ me a good job. Now I was working in a sawmill (锯木厂) for just above the minimum ________. Every day before I went to work, I would ________ band-aids around my fingers. Working 8 hours a day in the cold dry air had ________ cuts and scars.

That day was harder than normal. We were ________ of workers and the machines kept breaking down. We could see our ________ as the heaters weren’t working. When the day finally came to an end, I ________ my legs to my car. There I took off my work ________ to see my aching fingers. The cuts were worse than ever and ________ leaked through again. As I made a (n) ________ to fix it, my bad back cramped (抽筋). I had never felt that ________ before. I finally started my car back home and ________ fought back the tears. I wondered why life was so hard and how ________ I could keep doing this.

As I opened the door, I ________ a weak smile on my face. But it soon became ________ as my daughter screamed a sweet “Daddy”. When she threw her little arms around my neck, my heart ________ with love. All my aches and pains disappeared in her ________! In that second I remembered again I was here for ________ and I knew I could move on.

In our lives, we all have ________ fingers and band-aid days. But with love we can survive.________, work may give us a living, but love gives us a life.

5 . I had been saying goodbye to my mom for ten years. That was how ______ she had breast cancer. At first, there was the fear that she would die. But as she ______ series of treatments, life took ______ a new normal. But cancer is an unrelenting (冷酷无情的) foe. It was a journey from ______ to hope again and again, and only painkillers could keep her ______ . At 66, my mom was dying, but we could do nothing. I ______ praying for God to heal her but rather to take her. I learned that dying is the ______ healing. How brokenhearted when a patient or family is ______ a death.

My mother showed me how to fight her foe with knowledge, humor and ______ . And when the time came, she showed me how to die with grace, dignity, humor and wisdom. ______ , while it is hard to escape from the ______ , I want to anticipate the joy of the day when all the pain and hurt of this world will be over. One day, I will die and ______ those I love. One day, those I love will die as well. I don’t want it to envelop me to the point where I cannot enjoy life and make ______ that will last not only in this life, but hopefully into the next.

In those ten years watching my mother die, I learned that we cannot ______ avoid grief in this life. But we can seek out and remind ourselves to anticipate the joy, no matter how ______ things are.

We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.

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 . 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.

8 . 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.

9 . My heart pounded wildly as I saw three missed calls. After a half-dozen rings, my mom called me back. “Daddy had a heart ______ while he was surfing today. He’s dead. I’m so sorry.” I ______ to my knees in the grass, ______with sobs.

That evening, I ______ a one-way ticket to my mom. I emailed my adviser on the way to the airport. His______ brought a wave of relief: “I am so sorry! Please take whatever time you need.” During the next few weeks, my research ______ crossed my mind, and my adviser reminded me with unconditional ______, “Please don’t feel any pressure to ______ back to lab.”

After a month away, I felt the ______ thing for me would be to try to force a ______ to school. But as graduate students and professors offered well-meaning ______, I felt embarrassed and isolated by my sadness. I was ______ and uninterested in my research. I began to doubt whether my fascination for ______ would ever return.

Then a senior graduate student asked me how I was going. I didn’t ______ her well, but something about her made me ______. I broke into tears, and she shared with me her experience of ______ a loved one during graduate school. It was the first time since I returned that I felt somewhat ______.

From then on, I slowly began to feel a bit more ______ each day. I am still learning how to handle my ______. That sadness will never go away. But I also feel proud that I ______.

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.