1 . Ten years ago I adopted my dog Rudy from a shelter just days before they were going to euthanize(使安乐死) him. We’ve had a special______ever since.

I’ve found his______really meaningful. Every night I get in my bed and he gets in his doggy bed right next to mine. But a year ago suddenly Rudy______. Every night when I got in bed he’d jump up on my bed and start licking(舔) my face. I’d get______and make him get off but the next night he’d do it again.

I was considering taking him to obedience(驯服) school when I suddenly______that he was licking the same spot on my jaw over and over again. I felt my jaw and it seemed okay but it was so______for my dog that I decided to just trust him. I made an appointment with the______and felt silly telling her why I came in but she agreed to do some______. It turns out I had a tumor(肿瘤) in my jaw. It couldn’t be felt from the outside but somehow Rudy knew it was there.

I’m feeling much better now but the doctors said if I’d______until the tumor was big enough to be felt, it’s likely I would have______. I saved my dog’s life and now he’s saved mine!

2 . On a beautiful Wednesday morning, I awoke in a shared room in the hospital. Long curtains had been pulled around my bed, ________ me from the other patients. I had broken my right leg the night before. It was still summer, but mine was ________.

On the other side of my bed curtain, I heard a patient cheerfully ________ every nurse as they entered the room, as if welcoming each into his home. He called them by name and asked ________ about their families. I never heard this man whisper a word about his own ________.

That night I wept (哭泣). I thought about how my schoolwork would be ________ and all the things I could, temporarily, no longer do.

I awoke early the next morning, ________ of the uncertain days ahead. The ________ of the room was soon broken by a quiet voice from behind the curtain. “Good morning,” the voice said calmly, clearly ________ at me. “Are you doing okay?”

The man must have heard my ________ the night before. Hesitantly, I responded. From there he drew me into a(n) ________. We talked endlessly through the curtain to pass the time, without seeing each other. Every day he would greet me with cheer, “Good morning, Caroline. You are going to ________ this.”

This stranger became my cheerleader, as if it was his mission to lift me up from my ________. He ________ me to find the best in all difficult circumstances. Life is not always easy, he would say, but you have to ________ and look for the positive.

Days later when the curtain was drawn, I saw this ________ old man for the first time. ________ his own ill health, he continued to coach me from his hospital bed in the days that followed.

My discharge papers (出院证明) were finally signed and I waited ________ to get home. As I was wheeled out of the room, I said my final goodbye to the old man.

I often think of my exceptional roommate and of what a(n) ________ he was to me. The impact he made during those difficult days in hospital still ________.

Thank you for being my ray of sunshine!

Something happened when I_________ hearing my name, though. It became a whole other type of isolation (隔离). Before I became Mama, I was Melissa. “We loved the name, and there were no other Melissas. It was special,” my mom said. Then I_________kindergarten, and there were three Melissas in my class. From that moment until the start of middle school, I was Melissa S.

Even though I didn’t love adding a _________ to my name in school, I never really had a(n)_________with my name. I never thought about changing my name. Even as a grown-up, I have never thought a different name would_________ me better. I am Melissa, and my name is a big part of my identity (身份). Except during the pandemic, when a big part of myself went_________. After a few months at home, I decided to do something just for me. I_________for a writing class that I’d wanted to take for a long time. Before COVID-19, I couldn’t get to the class because of ____________concerns. But now that the course was being offered online, I was so excited I could finally take it while looking after my boys.

On the first day, the teacher began class by ____________us all by name and introducing our first ____________. “I want you to start by writing ‘Right now, I am,’ and then continue with whatever ____________ that,” she said.

Ten minutes later, she asked us to begin ____________“Melissa, we’ll start with you,” my teacher said.

“Right now, I am happy,” I started to read. “I’m happy to be writing, and____________ happy to hear my name.”

4 . Author Peggy Payne says, “Helping others creates a ‘helper’s extreme pleasure’. A good feeling can set off a sharp reduction in ________ and release the body’s natural painkillers, the endorphin (内啡肽), which is ________by a longer period of improved emotional well-being.”

I had such an experience. My neighbor Ingrid didn’t ________ a car. It wasn’t a matter of money, but because she thought that ________ public transportation was better than having thousands of cars crowding the roads and ________ the air. A couple of days before, I had taken Ingrid for her ________ visit to a cancer specialist. She was diagnosed with stomach cancer and needed someone to drive her to the ________ and take notes while the doctor explained ________ plans. I knew what Ingrid was facing and ________ she shouldn’t be going to the grocery store on the bus. I ________ to take her shopping on Saturday mornings. I did so and we became good friends. I ________ felt the life was even happier.

There were ________ Saturday shopping trips and breakfasts together. Every Saturday was another ________ and I longed for its arrival. One Saturday before Ingrid died, she said: “Carrie, maybe, it was destiny that tied us together. I would have died 30 years ago without you.” Her remark ________ me most. I need to thank her ________, because buying groceries has given me endless ________. Other than that, without question, I feel my life is ________; I’m optimistic and full of energy.

I woke up the next day after she ________ full of thankfulness for those1400+ Saturdays. I was rather sad, ________ I couldn’t help thinking of these rich ________ and was amazed at the magical power of our staying together for such a long time.

7 . It was Christmas morning. The ground was white with _________. The birds could not get anything to _________.

Bessie looked out of the window and saw them jumping about the street. They were _________ food. Bessie was a kind little girl. She felt _________ for the poor birds. She wanted to ask them to come into her warm home. _________ she knew that they were afraid to come in. At last she thought of a good idea. She decided to make a Christmas _________ for the birds. Bessie put a little tree outside the window. Then she hung on it little baskets full of _________ and small pieces of bread.

_________ the birds did not come to the tree. But by and by two or three came near and looked at it. They ate some of the seeds and bread. Then they flew _________ to tell the other birds about it. Soon many birds flew here to get their __________. They liked them as much as Bessie liked her Christmas presents. They sang songs to give their __________ to her.

Being __________, Bessie told her parents that she would give some of her bread to the birds every cold day. But her father said that she could not feed all the hungry birds even if she gave __________ of their bread. Thinking for a while, she said that all the birds would be fed __________ other children did the same.