The spot of red was what first caught Randy Heiss’s attention on December 16, 2018.

He was hiking behind his ranch (牧场) in Patagonia, Arizona, a town near the US-Mexico border, when he found a balloon on the grass. Heiss walked towards it with his dog, thinking he would pick up something useless and throw it away.

That’s when he noticed the balloon was connected to a piece of paper. ‘Dayami’, it read on one side, in a child’s writing. Turning the paper over, he saw a numbered list, all in Spanish. “My Spanish isn’t very good, but I could see it was a Christmas,” he said.

Heiss was attracted. He thought that maybe a child had tried to send Santa Claus a Christmas wish list by balloon, something he used to do himself when he was a kid. Nobody had ever returned the letters Heiss had sent, but he wondered whether he could find the kid who had sent this one.

It would be difficult, but he believed he could work it out. About 32 kilometers to the southwest, just across the border, was the city of Nogales, Mexico. “Based on the prevailing wind (盛行风), I was pretty sure that’s where it came from,” he said.

Heiss brought the note home to his wife, who is good at Spanish and helped him translate the list. The elderly couple figured out that Dayami, probably a girl, had asked for a doll, a dollhouse, clothes and some art supplies.

Heiss then posted on social media along with some photos, hoping some of his friends in Nogales might know the girl’s family. A few days passed with no useful information provided; Heiss worried that time was running out before Christmas. On December 19, 2018, he decided to send a message to Radio XENY, a radio station based in Nogales.

To his surprise, someone from the station called him back right away.

Arriving at the Radio XENY offices with presents, the elderly couple finally met the excited little girl.

3 . I was 40, with two adorable children and a caring husband. And I’m enjoying a challenging but _________ career. Although this is “success”, sometimes I feel my heart asking if this is who I truly am.

The chaos of the family kitchen was _________: the noise of the kettle, pots and dishes, and the conversation _________ while I’m making breakfast. I escaped _________ to my bedroom. Only in silence do I bear the self that is _________ from the children and wonder who that person might be.

So, I journeyed, for the first time in a decade, without my husband or kids. I went with a friend to _________ in Iceland. I hoped the consideration of walking would help me better _________ who I wanted to be. For 6 days, I was absorbed in wild scenery and real weather. The mountains in Iceland rise black and tall into the heavens against the white snow. Looking outside at wild wind and rain and knowing there’s no decision to make _________ the soul. Climbing a mountain against sheets of rain and returning to a tent for a simple meal _________ me how little I actually needed and how strong I felt __________ uncomfortable.

I found __________ in Iceland, and time to consider “the me” outside career and kids as I shared stories with strangers with no __________ past and no expected future. When I stopped talking and just listened, I was surprised at how my __________ changed—I became more generous. I learned generosity can __________ more space and more warmth __________ when there may not seem enough to go around at first glance.

I came home to __________, chaos and love. I know the answer isn’t waiting out there on the top of a mountain or inside my head, however __________ I try to hear; and it isn’t in conversations with other seeking souls. The answer is in front of me with every step on my own life’s __________.

I’m not finding myself, but I’m creating myself. I need the storm as much as I need the quietness. __________ is built under a heavy load. I’m expecting to pick up all of my loads and travel __________.

6 . I wrote my first poem at the age of seven and showed it to my mother. She read and cried, “Buddy, you really wrote a beautiful poem!” Shyly but_________,   I said yes. She poured out her_______ . “It was nothing short of talent!”

“What time will Father be home?” I asked. I could hardly wait to_______my work to him. I spent quite some time_______for his arrival. I wrote the poem out in my finest handwriting, drew a fancy border around it and_________I placed it right on my father’s plate on the dining table. My father had begun his motion-picture career as a writer. I was sure he would be able to_______my poem.

At almost 7 o'clock my father burst in. He seemed_______. He circled the dining-room table, complaining about his employees. Suddenly he paused and glared at his plate. “What is this?” He was reaching for my poem.

“Ben, Buddy has written his first poem!” my mother began. “And it’s beautiful, absolutely amazing…”

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to decide for myself.” Father said.

I_______my head as he read that poem. It was only ten lines. But it seemed to take hours. Then I heard him dropping the poem back on the table. Now came the moment of decision.

“I think it’s _______ ,” he said. I couldn’t look up. My eyes were getting________.

“Ben, these are the first lines of poetry he’s ever written,” my mother was saying. “He needs________.”

“I don’t know why.” My father held his ground. “Isn’t there enough awful poetry in the world already?” I couldn’t____________it another second. I ran from the dining room crying. Up in my room   I________myself on the bed and cried the worst of the________out of me.

That may have been the end of the story, but not of its________for me. I realized how fortunate I had been. I had a mother who said, “I think it’s wonderful!” and a father who drove me to hear with “I think it’s________.”

Every one of us needs that mother force, from which all________flows;and yet the mother force alone is incomplete. It needs the balance of the force that________, “Watch. Listen. Review. Improve.” Those________voices of my childhood ring in my ears through the years, like two opposing winds blowing me. Between the two poles of________and doubt, both in the name of love, I try to follow my true course.

8 . Paswan and his teen daughter Jyoti Kumari recently completed the 750-mile journey from their former apartment on the outskirts of New Dehli all the way to their home village. What's remarkable is that they rode the entire distance on a bicycle they purchased with their last $20, with Jyoti pedaling(脚蹬）as her father rode on the seat with his heavy bag.

The story of their determination has inspired millions of migrant workers across the country, where the novel coronavirus lockdowns has resulted in severe work shortages. Many of these laborers have needed to take similar journeys from major cities back to their home villages where they can be supported by their family-but financial problems have left many of them stranded（使搁浅）and wondering what's next.

Things had not been going well for Paswan,even before the pandemic(大流行病）. In January, he was involved in a traffic accident while working as a rickshaw driver. His daughter, who had dropped out of school a year earlier because of the family's financial troubles, decided to make the trip to New Dehli to care for her injured father. When the lockdown hit and Paswan was unable to earn a living, their landlord cut off their electricity and threatened to kick them out of their apartment. It was then that Jyoti suggested that they head home to their village in Bihar.

Jyoti had cycled a lot in their village, and they had just enough money to purchase a bicycle. She insisted that she would get her dad home safely.

That being said, it was not a bewitching journey for Jyoti and Paswan-they often found themselves without enough to eat; they slept at gas stations, and often relied on the generosity of strangers. The pair traveled nearly 100 miles per day. On borrowed cell phones, Jyoti would reassure her worried mother:"Don't worry, I'll get Papa home good.”

True to her word, Jyoti and her father made it home. Additionally, since the Indian media has dubbed(把......称为）her “Jyoti the lionhearted",the teenage girl has been contacted by Onkar Singh, the chairman of the Cycling Federation of India, urging her to try out for the national team.

9 . The science teacher, Mr. Black, had asked his students to study a particular animal. They were asked to write a short report and then make a ___________ in class. Some talked about dogs, others about horses, and some chose fish. But the most ___________ discovery of all was made by little Sophie.

“I found that _________ are terribly bad-tempered” she said for certain.

Everyone smiled, waiting for her to ___________. Then Sophie explained. “I spent hours _________ flies. When they flew normally, everything was okay, but when they found a window they would make a noisy sound. I had always thought they make that noise _________ their wings, but they don’t. With my daddy’s binoculars(双筒望远镜), I watched the flies really ___________, and saw that what   they were doing was shouting. They were angry because they ___________ fly out of the window. Later, a butterfly passing by the window tried to ___________ them the top of the window was open, but it had no effect at all. The flies just ____________ shouting.”

Mr. Black laughed and explained to the class that the flies’ behaviour had nothing to do with ______________. Instead, it was an example of animals having different levels of intelligence(智力). At the ______________ of the class, Mr. Black asked the students to bring a list of animals in order of their intelligence.

What surprised Mr. Black was that many parents came to the school to ____________ the next day, because their children had listed their parents among the least ______________ animals! This, said the children, was because their parents did nothing but complain.

Mr. Black had to do a lot of explaining to calm the parents down. However, it also helped some of the parents ​__________ that although they weren’t stupid, they didn’t often behave very intelligently.

10 . The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.- Eleanor Roosevelt.

My home is a place of great beauty and agricultural richness, as well as of war and natural disasters. When I was only fourteen years old, I was filled with ____ in spite of the terrible surroundings. The families living here, who tried to make their living from the land,____ great losses.

I felt sorry especially for the children , but I ____ to be hopeless, I decided that where I was, I could do ____ to help them. I began knocking on every door and saying to each person who ____ my knock, "I know that you are ____ and give the birds that come to your yard a little ____. Please consider me your bird. Give me only a handful of rice each week when I come to your ____ . I will take it to the temple where it can be given to the   ___ children."

No one seemed to mind giving me a handful of rice, even ____ they had little themselves. On Sunday, I would go to the ____ and give my handfuls of rice to the monks to give away to the children.

One day, I came to a house that had ____ kinds to give. I told my story and asked if I could be their bird. The woman called her daughters, and ____ gave me fifty cents, as well as the handful of rice! I began to ask for change and rice from the other "bird feeders", and they gave them to me. Everyone was happy to help those who were suffering, even ___ only this small way. The temple was soon able to help everyone who came to them for food and clothing. "Consider me your bird." My childish idea had not stopped the war, but anyway, it was ____ some peace.