1 . Thanksgiving Day was near. The first grade teacher gave her class fun homework—to draw a picture of something for which they were_______.

Most of the class might be_______economically disadvantaged; but still many would celebrate the holiday with turkey and other traditional goodies of the season. The teacher thought these would be the subjects of most of her students’_______. And they were.

But Douglas made a_______kind of picture. Douglas was a different kind of boy. He was the teacher’s true child of misery (不幸), weak and unhappy. As other children played in the playground, _______, Douglas was likely to stand close by her side. One could only guess at the pain Douglas felt behind those_______eyes.

Yes, his_______was different. When_______to draw a picture of something for which he was thankful, he drew a hand. Nothing else. Just an ordinary hand.

His strange image captured the_______of his classmates. Whose hand could it be? One child guessed it was the hand of a________because farmers raise turkeys. Another suggested a police officer’s because the police protect and________people. Still others guessed it was the hand of God for God feeds us. And so the________went on—until the teacher almost forgot the young artist himself.

When the children had gone on to other pictures, she walked up to Douglas’ desk, bent down, and asked him whose hand it was.

The little boy looked away and muttered (低声说出),“ It’s yours.”

She________the times she had taken his hand and________with him here and there, although she had the other students. How often had she said, “Take my hand, Douglas. We’ll go outside.” Or “Let me show you how to________your pencil.” Or “ Let’s do this together.” Douglas was most thankful for his teacher’s hand.

2 . Agnes Lloyd’s 70th birthday came, but the day went normally. Her husband _______ many years ago. She had not heard from her children for a long time, which was _______.

The last bell of the day rang. She picked up her _______ and walked towards her car planning to buy herself a chocolate dessert although her doctors don’t _______ it for her age. But who cares? It was her birthday, and she _______ it.

The thought made her smile as she _______ her car when a sudden “MRS. LLOYD!” _______ her. Agnes dropped her purse onto the ground. She looked around and was _______ by what she saw.

Her students were standing there carrying birthday signs. She hadn’t _______ they had prepared such a surprise for her. Her student Christian came over, picking up her purse, and ________ her to the rest as they all started singing Happy Birthday.

As the song continued, tears ________ in her eyes. As they finished the song, small pieces of coloured paper began flying all over the place ________. But that wasn’t the best part.

Some of the students parted and her three children stepped out holding a birthday cake with two ________ that formed the number 70. “Happy birthday. Mom!” They exclaimed together, and that’s when Agnes lost her ________ for the first time.

Don’t forget your parents, ________ your life gets busy. We need to act and remind them that they are loved.

3 . Pumpkin carving at Halloween is a family tradition. We visit a local farm every October. In the pumpkin field, I ________ with my three brothers and sister to seek out the biggest pumpkin. My dad has a ________ that we have to carry our pumpkins back home, and as the eldest child I have an advantage—I carried an 85-pounder back last year.

This year, it was hard to tell whether my prize or the one chosen by my 14-year-old brother, Jason, was the winner. ________ , we forgot to weigh them before taking out their insides, but I was determined to prove my ________ . All of us were hard at work at the kitchen table, with my mom filming the ________ event. I’m still unsure now why I forced my head inside the pumpkin, but it seemed to make perfect sense at the time. With the pumpkin resting on the table, hole uppermost, I bent over and ________ my head against the opening. At first I got jammed just above my eyes and then, as I went on with my task, unwilling to quit, my nose ________ prevented entry. Finally I managed to put my whole head into it, like a cork forced into a bottle. To my surprise, I was able to straighten up with the huge pumpkin resting on my shoulders. ________ , my excitement was short-lived. The pumpkin was too heavy for me to carry on for a long time. With Jason helping to ________ its weight, I bent back over the table to give it somewhere to rest, but in vain. When I pulled ________ , my nose got in the way. I got into a ________ as I pressed firmly against the table and moved my head around trying to find the right angle, but it was ________ . “I can’t get it out!” I shouted, my voice sounding unnaturally loud in the ________ space.

Eventually, Dad ________ to break the pumpkin with a knife; meanwhile, I realized the camera had been rolling the whole time! My family had an ________ moment that we would always treasure, and my father broke the rule, announcing that both my brother and I were winners!

6 . The COVID-19 pandemic (大流行病) put a lot of celebrations on hold. During what seemed like an end to the pandemic, Dawn planned a birthday party _________ for her son JJ at a park with plenty of space to social _________. For one reason or another, kids and their parents _________ to stay at home. No guest _________ on the celebration.

After throwing the birthday party at a park for her son that _________ went to, this mom _________ her heartbreak online. All parents just want _________for their kids. Imagine watching your young kid’s excitement _________ sadness when none of his friends go to his_________.

Dawn’s video quickly __________ hundreds of thousands of views. Other moms talked about their understanding and a bunch of viewers wished JJ a happy birthday.__________, people offered to send gifts to the birthday boy to make his __________ day a little bit better.

Dawn even took it one step further for her boy. She __________ a virtual birthday party for JJ by going live online, and almost 30, 000 viewers ___________in. Hundreds of thousands of __________ getting together just to make a kid feel special on his birthday!

JJ’s mom posted a follow-up video,__________ that both she and her son were incredibly __________ for those wishing him a happy birthday and wanting to __________ toys. She said that JJ didn’t want or need toys, but he just wanted to have fun with his__________. JJ even __________ that people send toys to their closest Children’s Hospital instead of to him.

7 . I was six years old. It was Halloween. The school was having its annual Halloween parade (游行) to _______ it. All the kids would march a few _______ through the neighborhood.

“Just buy him a costume,” my father said. “ It doesn’t cost much.”

But no, my mother decided, _______ it was my first parade, she would _______ me a costume: the mummy (木乃伊), my favorite scary character.

She _______ white rags (布片) and old towels and wound them _______ me, holding them in place with safety pins. Then she arranged the rags with toilet paper and tape. It took a long time, but I was still _______ enough to see the result. When she finished, I could _______ wait to look in the _______. I was a mummy! I moved back and forth in front of it ________.

“Oh, you’re very scary.” my mother said.

She drove me to school. We started our parade. The more I walked, the ________ the rags got. Then, about two blocks out, it began to ________. The next thing I knew was that the toilet paper was beginning to dissolve (溶解). ________, the rags became even looser and fell to my ankles, wrists, and neck and you could see my undershirt and under pants, which made me extremely ________.

“Look at Charley!” the other kids screamed. They were ________. I was burning red. I wanted to escape, but where did you go in the middle of a parade?

When we ________ reached the schoolyard, I was all wet, with a mess of rags and toilet paper pieces. The parents were waiting there with ________, starting to take photos of us. I saw my mother first. As she spotted me, she ________ her hand to her mouth. I burst into ________.

“You ________ my life!” I cried.