1 . When I was a kid, if someone told me that I would grow up to become a________author and founder of a youth ________foundation, I would have laughed and kept walking. ________now when I see the title of my latest picture book, My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World, I shake my head, not quite believing that book has my name on it. But the truth is, this story comes from my own personal experience.

It took me a very long time to find my personal reading voice. In Valdosta, Ga., where I grew up, my community ________two pathways to a better life for little boys like me: being an athlete and being an entertainer. I was no different than the other kids, so I did what felt ________: Play football and overlook school. School presented challenges every day and so did football practice, but overcoming ________adversity(逆境) was ________my neighborhood’s culture. Reading books not so much.

Fortunately, I went to college. That’s where my reading difficulties really________. Trips to the grocery store were stressful because there was so much reading ________in the simple act of buying food. I would misread labels and grab the wrong________. Once, I________apple sauce thinking it was apple slices. I didn’t notice my mistake until I got home and realized that it was my________to understand the differences in the wording on the labels that caused the mistake. I realized that I needed to make an important________. If I wanted to be a better version of me, I had to become a stronger reader.

I joined a book club and read every free moment I had. My journey with reading also created a desire in me to inspire others who_________reading. So I started a nonprofit, Share the Magic Foundation, trying to ________the lives of children living in under served communities through literacy.

2 . I met Mrs. Neidl in the ninth grade on a stage-design team for a play and she was one of the directors. Almost instantly I loved her. She had an unpleasant voice and a direct way of speaking, _________ she was encouraging and inspiring. For some reason, she was impressed with my work and.

Mrs.Neidl would ask me for my _________. She wanted to know how I thought we should _________ things. At first I had no idea how to answer because I knew _________ about stage design! But I slowly began to reply to her _________. It was cause and effect; She believed I had opinions, so I began to _________ them. She trusted me to complete things, so I completed them perfectly. She loved how _________ I was, so I began to show up to paint more and more. She believed in me, so I began to believe in myself.

Mrs.Neidl’s _________ that year was, “Try it. We can always paint over it _________” I began to take __________. I had been so afraid of failing but suddenly there was no failing — only things to be __________ I learned to dip my brush into the paint and __________ create something.

The shy, quiet freshman achieved success that year. I was __________ as “Student Art Assistant”in the program because of the time and effort I'd put in. It was that year that I __________ I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing stage design.

Being on that stage-design team __________ Mrs. Neidl changed me completely. Not only was I stronger and more able than I had thought, but I also __________ a strong interest and a word I hadn’t known existed. She taught me not to __________ what people think I should do. She taught me to take chances and not be __________ Mrs.Neidl was my comforter when I was upset. Her trust in me has __________ me to do things that I never imagined __________.

3 . Twelve years ago, Danny called me from a dark, damp subway station. “A baby!” he shouted. “Get down here, and flag down a police car or something.” By nature, Danny is a very calm person, so when I could almost feel his heartbeat through the phone line, I ran.

When I got to the subway station, Danny was holding a light-brown-skinned baby, about a day old. The baby had been wrapped (被包裹) in an oversize black sweatshirt and left on the ground in a corner behind the gate.

What neither of us knew, or could have assumed, was that Danny had not just saved an abandoned infant; he had found our son.

Three months later, Danny appeared in family court to tell the story of finding the baby. Suddenly, the judge asked, “Would you be interested in adopting this baby?” The question surprised everyone in the courtroom, except Danny, who answered, simply, “Yes.”

“But I know it’s not that easy,” he said.

“Well, it can be,” said the judge before giving orders to allow me to be a parent-to-be.

My first reaction, when I heard, went something like, “Are you crazy? How could you say yes without asking me?

In three years as a couple, we had never discussed adopting a child: I was an devoted playwright (剧作家) working as a part-time word clerk. Danny was a respected yet wildly under-paid social worker. We had a roommate, who slept in our living room, to help pay the rent.

We knew how many challenges couples usually faced when they want to have a baby. And while Danny had patience and selflessness, I didn’t know how to change a diaper (尿布), let alone nurse a child. I didn’t trust the social system and was sure there would be difficulties. Also, I couldn’t handle parenthood. So I promised myself I wouldn’t devote to it.

The caretaker held the baby and then placed him in my arms. But when the baby stared up at me, with all the innocence and hope he showed to me, I, like Danny, completely fell for him.

5 . I became the youngest person in the world to climb Broad Peak in 2018. Then I set my _________ on Mount Qomolangma.

Even highly _________ mountaineers face barriers like extreme altitude, avalanches (雪崩), and freezing temperatures. Still, I was _________.

I turned 19 on March 11, 2021. On the 24th day of the month, I landed in Nepal to summit (登顶) Mount Qomolangma—the _________ point on Earth at 8,848.86 meters. I spent close to two months at Base Camp and took shorter hikes up the mountain to _________ the conditions and the low-oxygen environment.

Base Camp sits at an elevation of 5,364 meters, tall enough to cause _________ emergencies. The route is mostly a long, slow, technically _________, oxygen-starved journey. I was nervous at first, but I didn’t rush as I moved around layers of _________ shifting, huge ice blocks.

I witnessed fellow climbers _________ and heard some screaming for help at the top of their lungs. Sometimes, I stopped dead in my __________. I gasped for air, but I had no choice but to keep __________.

I was in Qomolangma’s Death Zone for 24 hours. Oxygen is so __________ in the Death Zone and the body’s cells begin to die. Hikers have to __________ oxygen tanks. Most deaths from climbing Qomolangma __________ in the Death Zone.

On May 11, 2021, I became the fourth teenager in the world to climb Mount Qomolangma. I was on top of the world, literally! I felt like I could __________ the sky.

I was lacking in everything needed to start a new friendship in a new town.

My parents had moved to the town when they decided to look for new jobs, but they didn't realize I was really hurt when I had to say goodbye to my old friends. It felt frightful to be a new student in my new school. When my classmates were chatting, I felt left out. I was not good at math or history, nor was I good at drawing or dancing. I was shy and timid (羞怯的). I had a few friends back at my hometown and it seemed that they were the only ones with whom I could be friends for my whole life. I felt there was no room for anyone else on my friends list. I was ashamed of myself, and believed I deserved no notice from others. That is, until Emily came to my world.

Emily was fearless, frank and easy to be around. She was everything I was not and I was too shy to come out of my shell. I met Emily in school almost every day but I never talked to her, even though we were in the same class. How I wished I could be like her, or at least be a friend of hers.

It was another ordinary day. I wandered to the bus stop in the morning and waited for the school bus. Birds were singing with their friends, but who could I sing with? I got on the bus and went straight to my usual seat, complaining in a low voice about getting up early and going to school like every other day, and about how things were going to be the same all over again. Little did I realize something different would happen that day.

When I got up to get off the bus, my schoolbag was stuck on the armrest (扶手).

7 . In Chicago, the USA, there was a girl called Jenny. She was very polite and ready to help everybody. One day she found a brown paper bag on the way to school. She opened it and saw there was a lot of ________ in it. She thought she should hand it in to the teacher, so she ________ it in her schoolbag first.

When she went to the office, her teacher wasn’t ________.As it was time for class, she hurried to the classroom. After class, she told her friend, Linda, about the money that she ________.Then, her greedy (贪婪的) friend ________ away the bag. After school, Jenny wanted to go to the ________ office again, but she found the money was missing.

The next day when the children were playing a game, Linda fell down and was hurt very badly. The other children stood around her and didn’t know ________ to do. Jenny kept calm and did ________ to stop bleeding. She told the others to go to teachers for ________. Soon a teacher took Linda to the ________ and the doctor examined her carefully. Within a week she was all right again. Jenny became very ________ in the school.

Three days ________ , Linda came to Jenny’s house. Her ________ turned red. She was crying. She gave Jenny the ________ paper bag with the money in it and said, “Jenny, I have taken the money away. That day when you helped me, I felt very ashamed and now I decide to tell you the ________.You are such a nice friend! ________ please don’t tell the teachers about this!” Then Jenny said. “You are now ________, but you have done a bad thing. Though I will not tell anyone. I want you not to be greedy and never to do anything wrong. The girl thanked Jenny and ________.

At the end of the term Jenny was given a ________ for being a very helpful girl in the school. Linda became an honest girl and was ________ greedy.

Once wrong, never be wrong forever.

8 . There was a boy who was sent by his parents to a boarding school (寄宿学校)______being sent away, this boy was the______student in his class. He was at the top in every______always with high marks.

But the boy changed after______home and attending the boarding school. His grades started ______ He hated being in a______. He was lonely all the time. And there were especially dark times when he______committing suicide (自杀). All of this was because he felt______and no one loved him.

His parents started______about the boy. But they even did not know what was______with him. So his dad decided to travel to the boarding school and______him.

They sat on the bank of the lake near the school. The father started asking him some casual questions about his classes, teachers and_______After some time his dad said, “Do you know, son, why I am here today?”

“No, no,” his dad replied. “I am here to tell you that you are the most______person for me. I want to see you_______ I don't care about grades. I care about you. I care about your happiness. YOU ARE MY LIFE.”

These words______the boy's eyes to be filled with tears. He______his dad. They didn't say anything to each other for a long time.

Now the boy had______he wanted. He knew there was someone on this earth who cared for him deeply. He______the world to someone. And today this young man is in college at the top of his class and no one has ever seen him______!

10 . In 1974, after filling out fifty applications, going through four interviews, and winning one offer, I took what I could get—a teaching job at a distant wild area: western New Jersey.

I worked hard, taking time off only to eat and sleep. I had a problem long before I knew it. I was struggling to work as an idealistic teacher. But in my class, the students wanted to throw spitballs and whisper dirty words in the back of the room.

In college I had been taught that a successful educator should ignore bad behavior. So I did. I was confident that, as the textbook had said, the bad behavior would disappear as I gave my students positive attention. It sounds reasonable, but the text obviously ignored the fact that humans, particularly teenagers, rarely seem reasonable. By the time my boss, my taskmaster, known to be the strictest, most demanding, most quick to fire inexperienced teachers, came into the classroom to observe me, but the students exhibited very little good behavior to praise.

My boss sat in the back of the room. The boys were making animal noises, hitting each other while the girls filed their nails or read magazines. I just pretended what wasn’t happening, went on lecturing and tried to ask inspiring questions. After twenty minutes he left, silently. Visions of unemployment marched before my eyes.

I wondered if he would let me finish out the day. I walked to his office, took a deep breath, and opened the door. He was sitting in his chair, and he looked at me long and hard.

When he spoke, he said simply, “You had nothing to say to them.” “You had nothing to say to them.” he repeated, “No wonder they’re bored. Why not get to the meat of the literature and stop talking about symbolism? Talk with them, not at them. Still, why do you ignore their bad behavior?” We talked. He named my problems and offered solutions.

As the year progressed, we spent many hours discussing literature and ideas about human beings and their motivation. He helped me identify my weakness and strengths.

In short, he made a teacher of me by teaching me the reality of Emerson’s words：“The secret to education lies in respecting the pupil.”