2 . In October, I told the eight-year-olds about my plan. “I’d like all of you to do extra jobs to _________ some money. Then we’ll buy food for a Thanksgiving dinner for someone who might not have a nice dinner _________.” I wanted the children to _________ that it’s more blessed to give than to _________. I wanted them to understand that kindness is _________ nice ideas and that people somehow have to make it come _________.

Early in the week, the boys and girls arrived in class seizing their hard-earned money and couldn’t wait to go shopping. I watched _________ they ran up and down the supermarket aisles. _________, we headed toward the checkout. Then someone _________ a “necessity” that sent them racing.

“Flowers!” Kristine cried. The group rushed toward the holiday __________. I pronounced, “You can’t eat flowers.” “But Mrs. Sherlock, we want flowers.” __________, I sighed as the children moved a pot of purple daisies (雏菊) into the cart.

Then we set off for the house of a needy grandmother and finally __________ in front of a small house in the woods. A woman with a tired face came to the door to __________ us. My little group hurried to get the turkey and the trimmings. As each box was carried in, the old woman thanked us — much to children’s __________. When Amy put the daisies on the counter, the woman seemed __________.

We returned to the car. Fastening seat belts, we could see the kitchen window. The woman inside waved goodbye, then turned and walked across the room, past the turkey, past the trimmings, __________ to the daisies. She put her face in the flowers. When she raised her head, there was a __________ on her lips. She was transformed before our eyes. The children were quiet. In that one brief __________ they had seen for themselves the __________ they possessed to make another’s life better. The children had __________ that sometimes a person needs a pot of funny flowers on a dark November day.

3 . Our lives changed tracks the day our daughter was born. My wife and I felt _______in the UK-we'd even bought a house 6 months earlier—but the _______of our daughter forced a moment of _______.We wondered whether we should _______to our native Brazil.I remembered looking down at our newborn baby and thinking about how _______her life would be there.In our native country, we'd be closer to our family and _______.But in the UK, I had the funding and lab resources I needed for my _______and highly specialized research program.Would such a move_______career?

Then, a few weeks later, I received a call from my brother, who told me that our father had passed away.The great_______I had about my daughter's birth suddenly gave way to a deep sadness.I felt that I was ________precious time with my loved ones.After that,we had no ________that it was the right time to move back to Brazil.We applied for the professorships in our hometown and both received________

It wasn't ________to start my research in Brazil, however.I didn't receive any start-up funding for my lab.I was able to perform a few experiments myself ________the expensive reagents(试剂）I had brought with me from my lab in the UK, as well as equipment I__________with other Brazil professors.Eventually, I________Brazilian funding, which allowed me to ________a team of bright undergraduate and graduate students and buy reagents and lab equipment on my own.

Looking back, I'm ________that my wife and I made the ________to move back to our home country.I was able to ________Brazilian jujitsu (柔术）training, which I hadn't been able to do during my years abroad.

4 . My local supermarket is always busy. The first parking space I found was convenient, but I’d noticed a woman in a blue car _________ for a while. As I was _________, I let her have it. On the _________ of the car park I backed into the next available spot — it was a tight fit.

Pretty soon, I’d made my way through the supermarket and was back in the fresh air. Feeling good, I _________ my purse change into the hands of a homeless man and helped a _________ woman reverse park (倒车).

Just as I _________ my car, I saw the woman I’d let have my car space _________. She was giving a mean odd _________— half puzzled, half intent (热切的). I smiled and wished her a pleasant day. As I squeezed back into my car, I _________ the same lady looking in at me. “Hello,” she said, hesitantly. “This might sound crazy but I was on my way to ____________ some of my mother’s things off at the charity bins.” “You are just so much like her. You helped those people, I noticed, and you seemed so happy.” She looked at me meaningfully and passed a box in through the ____________, “I think she would like you to have it.” Shocked, I took it from her ____________. She smiled and walked away.

After a pause, I opened the box. ____________ was a beautiful gold necklace with a large grey pearl. It was the nicest gift I’d ever received, and it was from a complete ____________. The necklace was around my neck, a warm ____________ of human kindness.