3 . MacArthur’s love for sailing started when she was just 4 years old, when she first got the opportunity to have a try on a boat. “It kind of _____ me that this boat had everything we needed to take us anywhere in the world. And as a child, that opened up everything and made me feel the greatest sense of _____,” she explained.

This experience _____ a passion within MacArthur that she wanted to sail around the world. Growing up in the countryside, she had no idea how to _____ it. However, she knew that was what she wanted to do at some stage. So she acquired knowledge and _____ for years to seek her dream in sailing. Having merely potatoes and beans every day for eight years, she _____ could afford the right equipment. By reaching such _____ goals and asking technical questions about _____ MacArthur felt as though she was getting _____ to her ambition.

“The impossible could be possible and _____ high is not necessarily such a crazy thing to do,” she said. And it seemed that MacArthur’s _____ to become a navigator went beyond her expectations. At the age of 28, she started to _____ media attention after winning the second place in the Vendee Globe, a single-handed non-stop yacht (帆船) race that goes around the world.

Four years later, MacArthur chose to sail for 71 days and 14 hours, _____ more than 40,000 miles. This led to her setting a new record. _____ this record has since been surpassed, MacArthur is still considered as Britain’s most successful offshore racer.

So when you know where you’re going, you can actually get there — even if it seems _____ !

4 . Margaret Thompson and her husband, Kenneth, stretched their legs together on walking holidays in Switzerland. In Interlaken, they would head up the mountain and watch the paragliders (滑翔伞运动员) ______ themselves into the sky. Back in town, in a large park, they watched them return to the ______ . “Some day I’d love to do that,” Thompson told Kenneth.

But there was always so much to do in Interlaken. _______, Thompson didn’t know if Kenneth would have ______ it. “He was not so keen on heights as I was,” she said. So she ______ to watch the gliders take flight and land.

Kenneth died in 2005. Eleven years later, Thompson ______ took to the skies herself, in a paraglider at the age of 80. Although some people get scared while flying, she said she just feels ______ . Thompson did her second paraglide when she turned 85.

Thompson asked the organizers about the age ______ for paragliding. They said: “Any age, as long as you’re ______.” Thompson, now 86, plans her third flight for when she is 90.

Thompson______ living above her parents’ shop in Belfast. At 18, she helped in the shop while ______ for her music diplomas (文凭) in Stranmillis, south Belfast. She started to ______ piano to local children, and at the height of her teaching she gave 70 ______ a week. She still has 15 pupils on her books.

Is she scared of getting older? “Fear? No. People say: ‘Isn’t getting old ______ ?’ I say: ‘No. You are free to do more things that you want to do,’” Thompson said.

“People might worry about falling, it being the end of them. But that doesn’t ______ me at all. When it’s your time, it’s your time. No matter where you are,” Thompson added.

It was a cold March day in High Point, North Carolina. The girls on the Wesleyan Academy softball were waiting for their next turns at bat during practice. stamping their feet to stay warm. Eighth-grader Taylor Bisbee shivered (发抖) a little as she watched her teammate Paris White play. The two didn’t know each other well—Taylor had just moved to town a month or so before.

Paris was the queen of the softball court. with super skills of playing softball and strong leadership—almost all the players respected and followed her. Seemingly, Taylor’s coming challenged the current situation as Taylor was said to be one of the best softball players in her former school. Feelings of professional jealousy overwhelmed Paris, so most of the time, Paris just led the team to win the match, leaving Taylor alone on the bench.

The girls wore training hard. Emma tried her best to make a good throw, which might seem foreign to someone just starting to learn the game. Anna kept her are over her shoulder when she was throwing the softball. Suddenly. Paris fell to the ground and started shaking, with-her eyes-rolling back. Taylor realized it was an emergency.

It certainly was—Paris had suffered a sudden heart failure. Without immediate medical care, Paris would die. At first no one moved. The girls were in shock Then one shouted out, “Docs anyone know CPR?”

CPR is a life-saving technique. To do CPR, you press on the sick person’s chest so that blood moves through the body and takes oxygen to organs. Without oxygen the brain-is damaging quickly.

Amazingly, Taylor had just taken a CPR course the day before. Still, she hesitated. She didn’t think she knew it well enough. But no one else came forward. They were all at a loss. Taylor was scared, too. But she knew it was the difference between life and death.

Taylor got up the courage and ran to do CPR for Paris.

6 . Animal rescue workers often come up with various ways to get their dogs noticed by potential adopters. Happily Forever After Rescue is no different. Their recent idea is so _________ that they’re getting much attention online.

It all started when a 7-year-old dog was discovered _________ in a drainpipe (排水管). The animal was a homeless dog who was taken off the street and _________ for illegal dog fighting. By the time he escaped, his left ear was so badly damaged that it needed to be _________. And this _________ him his new name: Van Gogh.

Van Gogh was brought to the _________, but sadly, no one _________ any applications to adopt him. Then the founder, Jacklyn Gartner, got an idea. She took out some paints and a small canvas (画布), placed them all inside a big plastic bag, and _________ peanut butter on the outside of the plastic bag. The dog started licking off the peanut butter, and his very own _________ artwork appeared!

After Van Gogh completed ten __________, the shelter arranged for a gallery for his artworks. But again, the world just wasn’t __________ for this sweetheart’s work just yet! “Van Gogh was so excited. He was dressed up and waited patiently for his guests to arrive, but only two people __________,” the rescue said. “Van Gogh put many hours and a lot of __________ into creating such beautiful art and we worked so hard to make this a special event”

__________ after Van Gogh’s sad story was shared online, thousands of people lined up to purchase his paintings, and he sold all 30 of his artworks for about $40 each. All the earnings will __________ the shelter and the other dogs that come after him. Most importantly, people are finally sending in adoption applications for this very special boy!

9 . Alvin, 66, was deep in the woods in Grand Cane last December when something like litter on the ground caught his eye. It was a broken _________ with a note attached.

“Dear Santa,” the note _________. “My name is Luna. Four years old. This year I have been _________. I would like candy, Spider-Man ball, My Little Pony. With love, Luna.”

Alvin’s heart hammered in his chest. It reminded him of his childhood wish. He smiled and set out to _________ Luna’s wish. He posted a photo of the balloon and the Christmas wish list on his Facebook page, asking for help to _________ the sender.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez, the mother of four-year old Luna, had no idea that such a(n) _________ was underway. It had been a hard year for her family as COVID-19 spread. On a _________ tough day last December, she _________ the idea of having Luna send a letter to Santa by releasing a balloon. They had a(n) _________ Christmas together, and then the calendar turned to a new year.

One day, Gonzalez received a call saying that someone had found Luna’s balloon. Her jaw __________. She logged on to Facebook and saw Alvin’s __________. She called Alvin and finally agreed to let Alvin fulfill her daughter’s wish list.

“Santa left out your balloon__________,”Gonzalez told Luna, “but one of his elves (精灵) found it.” Not long after that, Luna received three boxes of __________ with a note signed “Alvin the Elf.”

Now, having received so much __________, Gonzalez and Luna intend to pay it forward this year. After all, when Alvin could have just __________ that balloon into the dustbin, he went the extra mile.

10 . Albert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879. He was a quiet child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow to talk and had difficulty learning to read. When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle always pointed in the same direction — to the north. He asked his father and his uncle what caused the needle to move.

Albert did not like school. The German schools of that time were not pleasant. Students could not ask questions. Albert said he felt as if he were in prison.

In 1905, Albert Einstein published some important papers in a German scientific magazine. They included one of the most important scientific documents in history. It explained what came to be called his “Special Theory of Relativity”. Ten years later he expanded it to a “General Theory of Relativity”.

In 1921, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. It was given to him not for his theories of relativity, but for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.

Albert Einstein left Germany in 1933. He moved to the United States to continue his research. Einstein became a citizen of the United States in 1940.

Einstein was a famous man, but you would not have known that by looking at him. His white hair was long and wild. He wore old clothes. He showed an inner joy when he was playing his violin or talking about his work. Students and friends said he had a way of explaining difficult ideas using images that were easy to understand.

Einstein spent the last twenty-five years of his life working on what he called a “unified field theory”. He hoped to find a common mathematical statement that could tie together all the different parts of physics. However, he did not succeed.

Albert Einstein died in 1955 at the age of seventy-six.