1 . The management of a software company decided to teach its employees (雇员) about finding real ________ to solve problems. When called to play a ________ in a hall, the team of 30 employees was quite ________. As they entered the hall, they found a huge box of balloons (气球) at the centre. They were ________ to pick a balloon and blow it up. And the team leader asked them to ________ their names on their balloons. All tried to do that, but not everyone ________ it. A few balloons burst (爆裂) due to pressure and yet they were given another chance. Those who ________ even after the second chance were ruled out of the game. In all, 25 employees were left for the next ________. All the balloons were collected and the team leader asked the employees to ________ the balloon with their names marked. Also, he told them no balloon should be ________. It was almost 15 minutes and no one was able to find his own balloon.

Now it was the third and final level. The employees were asked to pick any balloon in the room and give it to the person ________ on the balloon. Within a couple of minutes all the balloons reached ________ employee.

The team leader said that this was the real way to solve problems. Often everyone is crazily ________ ways to solve problems without recognizing the ________ way. Most of the time, ________ and helping others can give you the tools you need to deal with all problems.

3 . I was never very neat, while my roommate Kate was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but mine always hid somewhere. She even labelled (贴标签) everything. I always looked for everything. Over time, Kate got neater and I got messier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other.

The war broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming, “Take your shoes away! Why under my bed!” Deafened, I saw my shoes flying at me. I jumped to my feet and started yelling. She yelled back louder.

The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it.

From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled (爬) under her covers, sobbing.

Obviously, that was something she should not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy rose up in my heart.

Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bed, cleaned the socks and swept the floor, even on her side. I was so buried in my work that I even didn’t noticed Kate had sat up.

She was watching, her tears dried and her expression showed her disbelief. Then, she reached out her hands to grasp mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me, “Thanks.”

Kate and I stayed roommates for the rest of the year. We didn’t always agree, but we learned the key to living together, giving in, cleaning up and holding on.

4 . One day we were on our way to a family event. As we pulled into the local gas station I noticed a woman sitting ______ at a picnic table. It was around 30℃ and she was dressed in a ______ coat and long pants.

As we left the gas station, I told my husband I needed to go home and take care of something first. As we returned to our home, I went and ______ some items. I had just bought a new backpack and I knew it was ______ for her because it ______ her coat.

As I was back into the gas station, I got out of the car with the new backpack full of goodies. I walked up to the woman, ______ myself and asked if it was okay that I sat down with her. I offered her the ______ and she accepted it. She then asked me if I would like to ______ a snack with her, as she had not had anything to ______ today. I agreed and for over an hour and a half I ______ there with her, a proud mother and wife who lost her entire family a few years ago.

She was once a school teacher, but she was unable to mentally return to work after the accident. She told me the reason why she wore that ______ coat-it was the last thing she bought with her daughter. She explained that she sat with her family at that very ______. We shared smiles and ______. This woman helped me to realize that every moment is such a ______ gift and in the blink of an eye, everything can ______. Make sure that you hug your loved ones extra tight today.

5 . In 1990, Hal Donaldson was 23 years old, fresh out of college and found himself in Calcutta, India, where he was asked to interview Mother Teresa.

Donaldson says about the great woman famed for feeding the hungry, “She wasn’t wearing shoes and her ankles were swollen. She sat down with me and was very polite.” After the interview, Mother Teresa asked him, “What are you doing to help the poor?” Donaldson admitted that he was young and wasn’t focused on helping others. With a smile on her face, Mother Teresa said, “Everyone can do something.”

Those words deeply struck Donaldson and forced him to face hard truths about himself.

Hal Donaldson grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. When he was 12 years old, his parents were hit by a drunk driver; his father died, and his mother was seriously injured. To make ends meet, they went on welfare. Donaldson says, “I had holes in my shoes and clothes. When you’re teased at school for that, you just want to escape.”

He managed to do just that. Donaldson got into college and turned his focus to making money for himself. He says, “I was just trying to find my way out of insignificance.” However, it’s easy to overlook others along the way. I was the guy that would see a homeless person and cross the street, so I didn’t have to confront (面对) him. My focus was on climbing to the top instead of helping those trying to climb with me.

Donaldson returned home from India with a different thought. He traveled to eight cities in America and stayed on the streets and listened to stories of the homeless. “My heart broke,” he says. “I knew I could no longer just live for myself.”

Inspired by Mother Teresa’s words and the stories he’d heard across America, Donaldson loaded a pick up truck with $300 worth of groceries and handed them out to anyone who needed help. In 1994, Donaldson created the nonprofit organization, Convoy for Hope, which works with communities across America and around the world. Their work focuses on feeding children, women’s empowerment, helping farmers and disaster services.

6 . When Ariel Cordova-Rojas rode her bike to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, New York, last November, she planned to go hiking and bird-watching. A mile into her walk, she ________ a gorgeous female mute swan near the water’s edge. Cordova-Rojas, 30, who had worked at the Wild Bird Fund rehabilitation (康复) center in Manhattan, knew that mute swans can be ________. But as she approached this one, it didn’t move.

She was certain that the bird needed medical attention. Cordova-Rojas put her jacket over the bird’s head to keep it calm, ________ picked it up, and held it in her arms. And then a thought ________ her: What do I do now?

Her best bet was the rehab center, but that was across the East River and clear on the other side of town. How was she going to ________ a 17-pound swan on her bike all that way? ________, some puzzled strangers driving by offered her, her bike, and the swan a ________ to a nearby subway station.

On the subway, no one seemed particularly annoyed by the ________ passenger. Cordova-Rojas says: “One guy was sitting right in front of me on his phone. I don’t know if he ________ there was a swan in front of him”.

Cordova-Rojas called the rehab center on the way, and Tristan Higgin, an/a ________ manager, picked her up at the subway station and drove the bird, bike, and ________ to the facility. There, staff members determined that the swan might have lead poisoning, caused by swallowing ________ used on fishing lines.

The staff got the swan back up on her webbed feet. She even made a ________ at the center—another injured swan. Sadly, even with all that TLC, the swan was diagnosed with a bacterial infection. Two months after Cordova-Rojas came to her rescue, she ________.

It’s a disappointing ending, but the real story is just how far some people are willing to go to save a swan in the big city. ________, Cordova-Rojas traveled two hours by foot, car, and subway (while dragging her bike). “That’s the perfect summary of who she is.” says Higginbotham.

8 . Alice is a student who came to my class last year. Though she has already turned 60, Alice looks so fit and______with a bright smile and an enthusiastic attitude. I am Alice’s teacher in class, but I feel she is my teacher in life.

For my 2-hour class every Saturday morning, Alice has to take a 3-hour round-trip on the road. But she is never ______for class. Alice is very passionate about learning English. She often says, “Don’t ______ me as a 60-year-old. I am just a new beginner who wants to learn anything ______ . You know, I am very excited to come to the class!” So I feel a strong sense of______ to make sure what I teach makes sense to her.

Alice came to me with very______ English skills, but she turns out to be a very fast learner because she always puts English______ on a daily basis. I______ her homework before every class. Her homework is usually not what I ______ for the class, rather it is something that she______ to put together. She makes various sentences using the important words and phrases she learned from our______ class. I am always______ by the quality of her work.

I feel fortunate to have a student like Alice. She has______ me so much. Our______ is a great learning experience for both of us. Though I have no idea why she learns English, I hope I can help her ______ her dream, whatever it is.

In the back of my closet is a small box that has followed me to every new address. It’s the first thing I find a place for as the moving truck pulls away. The only remaining contents in it are dozens of notes in my mother’s tidy writing. My mother, who put her business degree to use running a small company with my father, while raising me, was always prepared and always gave me abundant love. By day she made marketing slogans and distribution strategies. By night: bubble baths and bedtime stories. She and I had the same February birthday. Each year my parents arranged wonderful parties.

When I was 3, she learned she had advanced breast cancer and immediately began to prepare by rescarching every available treatment. Each day, she would sit for hours at our dining table, her straight dark hair tied back, surrounded by piles of paper, studying, technical paragraphs.

When I was 7, the materials on the dining table began to change. Wrapping (包装) paper and ribbons (丝带) took the place of her highlighted pages. Paper creased (折) under her fingers. Knots (蝴蝶结) came together with a tiny creak. She had begun making a gift box for me.

Inside, she packed presents and letters for the milestones of my life she would miss—graduation, wedding, and every birthday until the age of 30. My mother died 10 days before our shared birthday. That morning, when I turned 12 and she would have turned 49, I woke up early and opened the box as my mother had shown me.

Neat rows of brightly wrapped presents glowed like the spring tulips (郁金香) that were just coming up in the front yard. In the package marked “12th Birthday”, I found a little ring with an amethyst (紫水晶) at its center. A white card curling around the present read: “I always wanted a birthstone ring when I was a little girl. I hope you like it, too. Happy birthday, darling girl! Love, your Mommy.”

On the morning of my high school graduation, I walked to the box.

Today I hit 31, and I sat in my room, holding the nearly empty box.

10 . Last month, Koch went to make breakfast and found a(n) ________ guest using his pool. A large moose (驼鹿) was swimming in the deep end, ________ in the solar cover (太阳能覆盖膜).

“I looked out in the backyard and there’s the moose absolutely panicked and ________,” Koch told The Dodo. “She stepped on the solar cover and put her ________ through it and she was ________ trying to get free.”

Koch has noticed more wildlife around his home in Ottawa, ________ he had never seen an animal________impressive before. He rushed outside and pulled the solar cover off the ________ moose, who continued paddling ________ the pool, proving to be a surprisingly skilled swimmer.

The wild moose seemed to be having trouble finding her way out of the pool, so Koch called the police and wildlife services to see if they could ________ a hand. “She looked so pitifully sad out there that my wife said, ‘I want to give her a ________.’”

Workers from wildlife services intended that they would get her to a safer spot, but they couldn’t ________ it until she was out of the water. “The best thing that happened was that after 3.5 hours she climbed out of the shallow end and ________ the fence,” Koch said.

The moose ________ unscratched, but the same can’t be said for Koch’s pool — which now has two hoof-sized ________in the bottom.