1 . J. K. Rowling frequently shows there is magic every day. Her Harry Potter series has helped people through times of stress and depression and she is always there to deliver wise words of encouragement.

She is one celebrity who is very active on Twitter. So when a single dad named Matt Burke sent her a message thanking her for the series, she noticed. Her series had helped strengthen his relationship with his 9­year­old daughter Bailey.

He included a link to his article titled Being a Broke Parent. He explained how he hadn’t found a level of financial stability that allowed him to pay bills on time and take his daughter on more activities and events. The family also doesn’t have the Internet or TV, which means there’s no “digital babysitter” and he has to rely on his own creative ways to bond with his daughter. Since he received the series, the main thing that has occupied them these days is reading books together.

Burke admits that he thought he was “too cool” for the books when they first came out and he was in his twenties, but he’s loving reading them now. “We switch off chapter by chapter reading them out loud，“Burke explains.” This not only allows her to get more used to reading aloud in front of someone, but it gets me directly involved in something she loves, and it gives me the chance to be very dramatic when I read my chapters and bring myself into the characters in the book, which has proven to be a ton of fun.”

After hearing Burke’s story, Rowling said how honored she was when Harry Potter was a part of his family’s life and offered Burke more books. Besides, people are also offering to send Burke more books as gifts. For Burke, this experience, far more than gifts, will be what he treasures.

The old man turned away sadly with his eyes filled with tears. Poor Mr. Dev! Indra thought sympathetically. Another day went past and there was still no sign of his family. Indra wondered how children could be so heartless as to abandon a parent like this.

Indra recalled the day when the old man was admitted to her ward (病房). He was thin and delicate. He could not produce his identity card but he could remember the number. The hospital tried to contact his family using the phone number he gave them but it was in vain. He was treated for a lung infection and was now recovering. Soon, it would be time for him to be discharged (出院). Where would he go then? He did not look strong enough to look after himself. Indra threw down the file she was holding as anger rose within her.

“What’s the matter?” asked Poh, Indra’s colleague.

“I’m just upset about old Mr. Dev,” she replied. Poh nodded with understanding. She had been a nurse much longer than Indra. She had seen many cases of abandoned old people and she had learned to control her feelings.

“Don’t worry too much. The hospital will contact the welfare department. Mr. Dev will be placed in an old folks’ home,” Poh said and patted Indra’s arm comfortingly.

Indra sighed. “I know. It’s just that the old man really longs for his family to visit him. He cleans and tidies himself every morning and sits up to wait expectantly. You can see the eagerness in his eyes whenever the door opens. At the end of the day, he goes to sleep with tears in his eyes. You can feel the disappointment as he does. It makes me cry inside. I just could not bear it.”

Poh shook her head sadly, “He needs a miracle (奇迹).”

6 . Running for a Dream

I will never forget that November day. It was hotter than normal. This was the ______ my father and I had waited so long for, because we had been working towards this race for three years. Dozens of familiar faces from church and school flashed across my view. They had come for me. I saw worry and ______ on my father’s face. Then the race began!

For the first two and a half miles, I felt great. I had never before been so ready for something. The weeks leading up to the race were filled with controlled ______ and a strict diet. My friends hadn’t seen me in weeks, but they ______ the sacrifice (牺牲) required to make my dream a reality. As in all of my races, I didn’t ______ out in the front. I loved the pleasure of passing people as my strength overtook their premature (过早的) speed.

Then without warning, my strength began to decrease. Neck and neck with one of my greatest competitors, I could see the finish line. I had begun the final dash into ______ when my knees became weak and my legs gave way. Nothing I could do would make them ______ my weight.

I watched as runners rushed by me. Although I knew my dreams of victory were destroyed, I had to finish the race. However, my legs hurt badly. With all of the ______ left in me, I got on my hands and knees and crawled (爬), inch by inch, across the finish line. Voices, both foreign and_____ cheered me on. They gave me the courage to keep going until the very end.

The doctors were there in seconds, but my eyes searched the crowd for him. There was only one person I wanted to ______ to. I whispered, “I’m so sorry, Dad. I’m so sorry I ______ you.” He looked at me, saying, “You could never disappoint me. Sometimes these things just ______. All that matters is that you did your best.”

“But we worked so ______. What about our dream?” He reached over for my hand and said, “Don’t you know that you are my dream and it has come true?”

It wasn’t long before my running shoes were back on, marking a ______ path for my journey. I learned that all of the miles, the tears, the sweat, and the pain my dad and I experienced together were not for a ______. What I realized, though, was that to him, I was the greatest prize he had ever won.

8 . On my third birthday, we moved to this neighborhood. Arlene and her husband, Bill, lived next door, who had no children. There weren't any_______my age nearby, so I mostly played in the yard alone. Arlene and Bill spent a lot of time working in the _______, and I was always talking to them from our yard. They were never tired of listening to me. I think what _______ me to them is that I also think they saw a lot of themselves in me — we were all lonely kids. It was a wonderful _______.

When I was about five, I had an idea _______ I took Bill and Arlene into our family as my grandparents. My parents made the _______ that I should ask them directly and so I did. They started crying and _______ accepted. It is truly wonderful for a child _______ her love and adults being so overjoyed to accept it. Every child in this world _______ enthusiastically repaid love.

From the day I accepted them, I called Bill and Arlene Grandpa and Grandma and my parents called them Mom and Dad. Over the years, Bill and Arlene ________ me in all my dreams. They encouraged me to ________ college, even though I didn't have the money to go. And when I was ________ to a university, they presented me with their savings. They told me they’d been ________ money since the day I called them grandparents. Four years later, I ________ and now work as an official.

Arlene passed away in 2013. Bill told me that Arlene thought the greatest ________ of her life was me, her granddaughter.

The driver, Zhang Sai, hesitated outside     1     apartment building in Wuhan, the central Chinese city at the heart of the coronavirus outbreak. He     2     (order) not to take food to customers’ doors in order to minimize the risk of     3     (infect).

But the woman on the phone was begging, he recalled. The food was for her mother,     4     couldn’t go down to meet him. Mr. Zhang finally agreed. He would drop off the order and rush away.     5     he placed the bag on the floor, Mr. Zhang said, the door opened.     6     (Frighten), he rushed away. Without thinking, he pressed the elevator button with his finger, touching a surface he feared could transmit the virus.

That was how Mr. Zhang, 32, found     7     (he) speeding back to his delivery station with one finger     8     (hold) high in the air, careful not to touch the rest of his hand.

For many people in China, delivery drivers like Mr. Zhang     9     (be) the only connection to the outside world. Once a common but invisible presence on the streets of nearly every Chinese city, the drivers are now being praised     10     heroes.

10 . It was a painful time for me, for I suffered from an illness and might never be able to have a child. As my 40th birthday approached, I began, for the first time, to notice babies and their happy, smiling mothers wherever I went.

One night, I came to a cafe to kill the boring time. An elegantly dressed, sightly older woman was seated next to me.

“Would you like to see a picture of my daughter?” she asked me, handing me a photo of a smiling Chinese girl. The child was about seven years old and was wearing a Snow White costume. That's Melanie, now in the first grade," she said. I could hear the motherly pride in her voice. “She's pretty,” I said. "I love her costume." The woman explained that she felt strongly about teaching her daughter about Chinese customs and maintaining ties to her shoes. “What made you decide to adopt her?" I asked. "I didn't want work to be my whole life," she said.

I'm not sure if she saw the tears in my eyes as I replied, I don't either, but I'm afraid it's too late." I was 51 when I adopted Melanie, she said. "And it's the most rewarding, exciting thing I've ever done."

When my husband and I returned from China with our nine-month-old daughter, Madeline, in November 2017, Jill was one of the first people I e-mailed. I did it!" I wrote. “I’m a mother and she's beautiful"

“Congratulations,” she wrote back. We recently reconnected on Facebook, and I told her, “You changed my life.”