1 . The Boy Made it!

One Sunday, Nicholas, a teenager, went skiing at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine. In the early afternoon, when he was planning to go home, a fierce snowstorm swept in to the area. Unable to see far, he accidentally turned off the path. Before he knew it, Nicholas was lost, all alone! He didn’t have food, water, a phone, or other supplies. He was getting colder by the minute.

Nicholas had no idea where he was. He tried not to panic. He thought about all of the survival shows he had watched on TV. It was time to put the tips he had learned to use.

He decided to stop skiing. There was a better chance of someone finding him if he stayed put. The first thing he did was to find shelter from the freezing wind and snow. If he didn’t, his body temperature would get very low, which could quickly kill him.

Using his skis, Nicholas built a snow cave. He gathered a huge mass of snow and dug out a hole in the middle. Then he piled branches on top of himself, like a blanket, to stay as warm as he could.

By that evening, Nicholas was really hungry. He ate snow and drank water from a nearby stream so that his body wouldn’t lose too much water. Not knowing how much longer he could last, Nicholas did the only thing he could — he huddled (蜷缩) in his cave and slept.

The next day, Nicholas went out to look for help, but he couldn’t find anyone. He followed his tracks and returned to the snow cave, because without shelter, he could die that night. On Tuesday, Nicholas went out again to find help. He had walked for about a mile when a volunteer searcher found him. After two days stuck in the snow, Nicholas was saved.

Nicholas might not have survived this snowstorm had it not been for TV. He had often watched Grylls’ survival show Man vs. Wild. That’s where he learned the tips that saved his life, In each episode (一期节目) of Man vs. Wild, Grylls is abandoned in a wild area and has to find his way out.

When Grylls heard about Nichola’s amazing deeds, he was super impressed that Nicholas had made it since he knew better than anyone how hard Nicholas had to work to stay alive.

2 . Sarah, a Girl Guide (女童子军) from Wagga Wagga, dreams of being a medical scientist, inspired by Florence Nightingale’s ________ work in the field of nursing. “I want to make a positive ________ on the world by learning first aid to help people ________,” explains Sarah, who has a vision of seeing more girls in science.

Meanwhile, Olivia, from Coogee, has taken ________ from a famed Australian obstetrician (产科医师). “I want to be a biomedical engineer or something else in the medical field, to make money from some great inventions and then use that money to ________ houses to the homeless,” she says. “This is just like Catherine Hamlin, a gynaecologist, who used her wealth to ________ to the women of Ethiopia by providing them with more healthcare.”

Girl Guides Australia promotes the ________ of girls, whether they dream of working in forensic science or engineering, or ________ want to learn first aid. It also ________ a conference about what they could achieve, where some schoolmates who have gone on to success in STEM ________ a vital experience as members of Girl Guides.

Natasha Hendrick is principal geophysicist at Santos Ltd and a Rhodes Scholar. She said that her time as a Guide showed girls could do anything. She ________ for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and donates her time to Women Who Code, ________ young women who want to succeed in the tech industry. “A great many activities I was ________ in as a Guide provided a safe, supportive space in which I learned to try new things, like effective communication skills, be brave, and grow,” says Natasha. “I became a young woman who ________ to be different through my choice of career. And today I can look back and say my Guiding experiences made me one of those sought-after scientists who are also skilled managers, ________ communicators and good leaders.”

3 . 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.

4 . One day, Lisa’s mother drove her to make a donation to Hope House, a shelter for the homeless. A 3-year-old boy there ______ thought they were gifts for his birth-day. At that moment, Lisa ______ something had to be done.

Lisa, who was 9 at the time, said she hadn’t really thought about families who couldn’t ______ birthday parties for their kids before meeting the boy. That day she asked the director of the Hope House whether birthday parties had been hosted there before. The answer was apparently no.

“The ______ of giving birthday parties for homeless kids at Hope House was already ______ in her mind on the car ride home,” Lisa’s mother, Tania, said.

Lisa ______ that the little boy was wearing a blue shirt, blue shorts and blue socks, so she decided to ______ him a blue- themed party. For the child’s ______, she and her mom brought balloons, a cake and a gift back to Hope House.

This was the ______ of the Hopeful Hearts Club, Lisa’s non--profit group that hosts birthday parties for kids ______ at Hope House. Each child gets a cake, a gift and party decorations ______.

Hopeful Hearts Club ______ with Lisa and two of her friends. Today it has ______ to more than 1,000 members--people who have contributed their time or things to Lisa’s projects.

______ birthday parties at Hope House, the club hosts events such as collection drives, holiday meals and family activities. Meantime, Lisa hopes to inspire others to reach out and help their community. “If you see a need, try to ______ it,” Lisa said.

6 . My mother worked as a housekeeper, and she often brought many leftover things home, including used ______ as well as many other things.

One December day, an old-model toy car ______ among a load of other things. It was as long as my forearm and took both hands to lift. I immediately began ______ it and polishing (抛光) it to a bright candy-apple red. It was a thing of ______, and I glowed (容光焕发) as much as it did from the pride of          ____.

Our relatives from France came to visit that Christmas, and my young French cousin ______ that wonderful, shiny red automobile. He’d been ______ so far in life, suffering severe illnesses as a child and ______ himself badly earlier in the year when his bicycle hit a plate-glass window.

By now, everyone ______ how I felt about the car, so nobody dared suggest that I give it to him. But, deep down, I knew it was the ______ thing to do. So, when they ______, my red car went with him. Though I was sad to see it go, my heart ______ when I saw the pleasant smile on his face as he tightly held it.

I still ______ that car and miss it to this day. But with that beloved ______ Christmas gift, I bonded (建立亲密关系) with my cousin for life.

Giving that gift away showed me that it is better to give than to receive. It was the first gift that I gave that keeps me ______.

7 . I was at a new school in a new state and needed something solid to stand on: a place to feel grounded. I also needed to do laundry, so I walked to a nearby self-service laundry and stuffed a machine with my clothes. As I struggled to close the washer door, the woman working behind the counter told me to give it a good hit with my hand. The washer did its job, yet even after an hour, the dryer seemed to have barely warmed my clothes. I left, having decided to air-dry them on my car in the August heat.

A month later, I learned her name was Sandy, which she told me after I’d helped her stop a washing machine from moving across the floor. I was grading poems at a table when one of the washers broke loose and skipped an inch into the air. I jumped to the machine and held on while she unplugged it. The next week, Sandy told me dryer No. 8 was the fastest.

It went on like this. I’d do laundry once a week, usually Thursday or Friday. Sandy worked Tuesday through Saturday and we’d talk small while I folded clothes. She told me about her son and his grades, as well as the new dog they’d just adopted. She was fascinated that I was studying poetry. She teased (开玩笑) that it was harder making a living as a poet than as a laundry attendant. Even then I knew she was probably right.

I began to recognize others there: workers taking breaks by the door, a mother and her baby, and even some delivery drivers. But Sandy was the center of my community. For nearly three years and almost every week, I’d do laundry and talk with her. We checked on each other, expecting the other to be there. We asked where the other had gone when we missed a week. There was a note of concern for the other’s absence, a note of joy at their return.

I’d found a place to stand on solid ground.

The boy sat on his chair, with his hand above the keyboard. He thought about what to write.

He recalled that the competition deadline was merely a week away. But he still had not even started on his piece. He looked at the brochure again. “WRITING COMPETITION!” the title read. His mom had encouraged him to enter the writing competition, and now he was taking it on as his personal task for the holidays.        

As the boy reflected on his previous writing efforts, he realized how hopeless his task of winning was. Every story he ever wrote was based on other stories. He had little imagination, and unfortunately, imagination was the key to writing.       

Suddenly, he had a brainwave. This time, he came up with an original and imaginative story.     

The words shot towards him like a storm of leaves. Words were coming easily, flowing through him, faster than he could type. He typed faster than he ever had before. He continued to type, amazed at how easy writing this story was. The boy could not stop writing. He looked at the word count and saw the number “248” staring right back at him. He was not even halfway yet.

Then he heard the call of his mother saying time for bed. He continued writing the piece, ignoring her. He had to make up for the time he had lost thinking about a topic to write. Finally, he finished. The word count now read “498”.        

“Perfect,” he thought, “just under the word limit.” He knew this was the story that would win.

He went onto Google and searched for the competition. He found the page but there was no “Enter” button.

Confused, he then re-read the page again. It read COMPETITION CLOSED.

After a few seconds, the boy eagerly checked the deadline of the COMPETITION on the website.

His mother came up and comforted him.