When I was in middle school, my family moved to Seattle, where my parents started their new business — a small grocery store downstairs my house. As a girl of shy and reserved nature, I had to take a fresh start to fit into the challenging city life.

One sunny day, my school announced an exciting event, a talent show for the local food bank. Students were encouraged to show their unique talents in front of the public in the city hall on National Day. A sense of excitement filled the school as everyone began preparing for the big day. Deep down, I felt a spark of curiosity and a desire to participate. However, my self-doubt held me back, “I don’t have any special skills to share.”

Days turned into weeks, and the talent show drew closer. I couldn’t shake the upsetting feeling until one day Emma, one of the most popular girls in my class, came to me while I was helping in the grocery store after class. “How about singing together in the talent show?” She grinned, “I heard you singing a tune, along the way back home. I can’t help following you here.” Gosh, I couldn’t believe my ears. Emma, with personality and popularity, acknowledged my little talent. Since Emma had the world’s prettiest voice, I felt like being favoured by fortune.

“You two? The talent show for the food bank?” My mum bent towards us and her face lit up. “A big occasion.” Then a bright idea seemed to occur to her. “Why not practise right now upstairs? I bet you’ll be a perfect match.” Winking at (眨眼示意) us, she seemed to know we were thinking alike.

Emma and I practised almost every single day after school. As the days rolled by, I was feeling pretty good about our act. But the day before the performance, Emma called that she had a serious stomachache and was not in any shape to perform.

I was completely knocked out by the news. Without Emma’s voice to guide me, I would definitely mess up and this was not how everything was supposed to go!

As I stood there, feeling at a loss, my mum came in.

Finally came the big moment of my solo (独唱) show.

A boy named Andrew lived with his parents in a poor community. One day, he saw a beautiful brooch (胸针) in a shop window that set his heart racing. Thinking that his mother’s birthday was coming, he wanted to give her a present. But the price - five dollars - was too high for him. Five dollars would purchase almost a week’s food for his family.

Well aware of his family’s financial situation, Andrew could not ask his father for the money. Every penny his father earned through driving went to his mother, Dara. Slim and beautiful, she was the center of the home and the glue that held it together. She struggled to feed and clothe their three children, thinking about how to make ends meet every month, but she was happy as her family and their well-being were all she truly cared about.

Nevertheless, he stepped inside. Standing proudly and straight in his ragged shirt and washed-out trousers, he told the shopkeeper what he wanted, adding, “But I don’t have the money right now. Could you please hold it for me for some time?”

“I’ll try,” the shopkeeper smiled. “People around here don’t usually have that kind of money to spend on things. It should keep for a while.”

Andrew respectfully touched his worn cap and walked out. He would raise the money and not tell anybody, for he thought his mom would get surprised when she saw that brooch. But how to raise the money? An idea struck him when he saw the scene of workers painting external walls of buildings in the city. The paint was bought in buckets from a local factory. Sometimes the useless buckets were thrown away at the construction site, and Andrew knew he could raise money by selling them back to the factory for five cents apiece. That day he sold two paint buckets and hid the money in a rusty soda tin.

Every day after school, Andrew stuck to his plan.

Eventually, the moment came!

4 . Christy was helping Mum sort through boxes they’d found in their new home. “Look,” she held up an old photo. “It says Mabel beside Dream Lake, summer 1910.” It looked so _________. Christy asked if she could _________ it. Mum agreed, adding that Mabel was once the owner of the house, but she didn’t know about the _________.

Now Christy had a puzzle to _________. Where was Dream Lake? The next morning, Christy went to the local _________, where she looked through _________ of the town. They showed streets, businesses, but no lakes. Back home, while she was staring out of her bedroom window, a(n) _________ scene hit her. Christy quickly _________ Mabel’s photo and ran outside. In its _________, a steeple (尖塔) rose above a border of short trees. It looked much like the one now visible above the line of trees of her backyard. “Mum!” shouted Christy. “It’s the same steeple. This picture was taken in our __________!”

Mum hurried outside to look. “Yeah, the trees have __________ grown, but it’s the same steeple. But where’s the lake?” They finally turned to the historical society. But no one there had ever heard of such a lake. And all the __________ proved useless.

“I don’t __________ it,” said Christy in confusion.

That night, __________ came down and cooled the air. Early the next morning, Christ y woke up and looked out of her window. “Dream Lake!” yelled Christy. “We __________ the puzzle, Mum!”

I’ve always thought of my mother Lee-Ann as a superhero. Not that she can fly or shoot lasers (激光) out of her eyes, but because she never runs out of room in her heart for anyone or anything.

I could write about all of the wonderful things she has done, but I want to focus on the one project she does every year that has shaped my whole family and everyone around us: She collects the money she finds in the washer and dryer, and she puts it in a little jar that we refer to as “The Charity Jar”. Every year, she takes this money and puts it toward something — a cause, an act of kindness, anything that can help someone. Sometimes, she buys coffee for the next people in line at a coffee shop. Other times, she buys something for an organization that needs it.

If you ask her about this tradition, she will tell you that she is carrying on something that her mother used to do around the holidays. If you ask anyone else who knows her, however, they will tell you that she has a huge heart. She manages to get our whole family involved in this movement every year.

Last year, for example, my younger brother Bob and I volunteered in a shelter for the homeless. Once, when we helped with delivering daily supplies there, he noticed the wish list on the wall: comforters, a DVD player, a coffee maker and supplies. We told Mum, and she quickly organized a family meeting to discuss how to help the shelter. We all agreed that the coffee maker would be the best thing for our family to work on together. We found a coffee maker online and decided to buy one.

Bob opened “The Charity Jar” and we counted the money Mum collected. Unfortunately, it was 50 dollars short. “Any way to make it up?” Mum asked me and Bob.

“I’ve learned that Mr. Smith needs someone to tidy his big garden,” I told Bob.

The next weekend, we went to the shelter with the new coffee maker excitedly.

7 . It was the most destructive wildfire in California history. It started in Paradise (天堂镇) and caused $16.5 billion in _______, destroying nearly 19,000 buildings and killing 85 in all. The beauty of this _______ named place was gone.

Grammer, working in Los Angeles, grew up there. When his friend Edwards posted pictures of his white chimney — the only part of his house to survive — he felt _______. And then he had an idea.

“I’ve got to _______ that chimney,” he says, “I’m not trying to say anything. I’m an artist. It was an opportunity for me to _______.”

Grammer spent three hours painting an image of a woman on the _______ — a reminder of the chimney, of the beauty of life, or even just of _______ itself.

Grammer posted the image on Instagram. Those who were affected by the fire, _______, could not calm down. Someone _______, “You bring beauty and hope.”

Greatly inspired, Grammer returned eight times. Outside one house, he found a photo of a girl, Eleanor. He painted a picture of her on the wall of her home left __________. It was a stamp that life was here and that life can __________ to be here. The painting has __________ meaning for the homeowner. Eleanor’s father, recalls how she used to play just feet away. Eleanor herself returned once to __________ the painting.

Ironically (讽刺的是) that first painting, on the chimney in Paradise, __________ only a few months — the bulldozer (推土机) is a cruel art critic. However, Grammer couldn’t be more delighted. It means that the __________ of Paradise is rising again.

All over the world there are people who have achieved great things. Yet many of these people have done so with one     1     (amaze) difference: They have physical disabilities. Take Jim Abbott for example, he succeeded     2     becoming a pitcher (投球手) for the USA at 1988 Summer Olympics.

    3     (bear) without his right hand, Jim Abbott was a talented athlete and wanted to be a baseball pitcher, even though being able to use two hands is     4     (extreme) important in playing baseball. A pitcher needs to throw the ball with one hand and wear a baseball glove on the other—something     5     Jim couldn't do.

From the time he was four years old, Jim worked at overcoming this challenge. He practised quickly     6     (move) the glove to his good hand after he had pitched the ball to his father. He was always forcing     7     (he) to get that glove on faster and faster.

Jim made up his mind     8     (play). He loved the game     9     much that he invented his own method to do it with excellence. He went on to be a Major League pitcher for the New York Yankees, and today young athletes everywhere     10     (inspire) by him.

10 . An old man lived in a nice village with a large garden. People often saw him looking after his _________ all the time. One day, a young painter passed by this garden. He was deeply _________ by the beautiful flowers. Then, to his surprise, he found the old gardener was_________. The painter asked_________, “Why are you busy looking after these flowers which you can’t see?” The gardener _________, “I can tell you the reasons. First, I was a _________ when I was young, and I like this job. Second, although I can’t see these flowers, I can _________ them. Third, I can smell the _________ of them. As to the last one, it’s you.”

“Me? But you don’t know me.”

“Yeah, it’s true that I don’t know you. I _________ many people who love life would stop by, and the beauty of my garden will get them into a good __________. At the same time, it also gives me a chance to have a word with them here, and to __________ the happiness these flowers have brought us.”

“I believe every flower has eyes with which they can see the __________ of the old man’s heart. He __________ flowers in his heart. Although he can’t see the beauty of flowers, he   __________ can hear the voice of them,” the painter picked up his pen and wrote. “This is the most __________ picture in the world!”