1 . In 2016, Lorna challenged her 12-year-old son Sivert to distance himself from social media until he was 18. If he ________ the challenge, she’d award him $1,800 on his 18th birthday. On February 19, 2022, Sivert claimed (索取) his ________.

Lorna was inspired by a ________ she heard on the radio called the “16 for 16”, where a mother gave her daughter $1,600 when she turned 16 if she ________ social media.

Sivert said it wasn’t too ________ to live without social media, and he didn’t think about it much during the six years. As a 12 year old, Sivert said he wasn’t using social media much ________. Before the ________, the only app was Snapchat—which he deleted a day after ________ it out.

“I wouldn’t say there was ever a time where I thought I was about to ________,” he said. “As it went on, it was more of a ________ thing.”

He also had his friends to ________ him up to date on the latest ________ or trends (趋势). “I got to ________ all the unnecessary drama that was on there,” Sivert added.

Lorna said she never had to ________ for any sneakily downloaded apps. “He’s so ________. It was definitely more for proving a point,” she said. It also meant he had more time to focus on his grades and sports instead.

2 . I was never very neat, while my roommate Kate was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but mine always hid somewhere. She even labeled (给贴标签) everything. I always looked for everything. Over time, Kate got neater and I got messier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. So we both got tired of each other.

War broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming, “Take your shoes away! Why under my bed!” Deafened,I saw my shoes flying at me.I jumped to my feet and started yelling (叫喊). She yelled back louder.

The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled (爬行) under her covers (被子), sobbing (哭啼). Obviously, that was something she should not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy rose up in my heart. Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bed, cleaned the socks and swept the floor, even on her side. I got so into my work that I even didn’t notice Kate had sat up. She was watching, her tears dried and her expression was such disbelief. Then, she reached out her hands to grasp mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me, “Thanks.”

Kate and I stayed roommates for the rest of the year. We didn’t always agree, but we learned the meaning of living together: giving in, cleaning up and holding on.

3 . My great-grandfather, my grandfather and my father are all farmers. My father expects me to become a farmer and _______ them all but I don’t agree with my father.

Three years ago, my father took me to an airport to visit one of his friends. His friend _______ a small airline. It was the first time I had seen a _______ airplane. After my father’s friend discovered I had never been in an airplane, he _______ me to fly with them. When we took off, I felt excited. While we were in the air, I almost forgot I had to _______ the ground. All I could think of was flying would be my _______ in life and how I wanted to fly again and again.

Since then, if I had time, my father’s friend would teach me how to fly. He _______ let me fly alone once. I wanted to become a pilot but I would have to go _______ my father.

At the age of 18, I had to tell my father what I wanted to do but I didn’t want to make him _______. As he walked ahead of me and I ________, I didn’t know what I could say to help him understand my ________ for flying. I took my courage and said, “Father, I have something ________ to tell you. I want to go to college and become a pilot. I have talked to the schools and they agreed to give me financial (金融的) help. “I felt nervous in his ________. Then he spoke,” I was wondering when you would tell me. I have been ________ money for you. ” When I heard this, I couldn’t help crying. For the first time, I really understand his ________ love for me.

5 . Five years ago, I was a trail ride leader at a holiday farm in Victoria. My favourite horse was a warmblood called Holly, a chestnut mare. Aged seven, she was _________ sweet-natured and well-trained; the only_________ with Holly was her vivid imagination. I was constantly surprised by Holly’s ability to be _________ by rabbits, the wind or even shadows——sometimes her own shadow!

One day, as we headed back from a ride on the beach, Holly and I were _________ the way over the hilly area. When we got to one particularly long, steep hill, Holly began to twitch(抽动) her ears and step in place. So, when she_________ to sniff(嗅) and give all the _________ that she believed the ‘horse-eating monsters’ were close, I became a little worried.

At the bottom of the hill as we rounded a corner, Holly _________ with caution, and so I followed her gaze to the path ahead. There, sunny itself in the middle of the track, was a brown _________. This time it was my _________ to get scared; I was on a nervous horse, leading a group of eight inexperienced pre-teen riders. Unexpectedly, Holly firmly__________   ears forward. With the snake in her sight, she was no longer frightened.

I have heard that horses have a better sense of__________ than dogs. I hadn’t seen it __________ before that moment. __________ , while we waited in reality for just a second or two but for what felt like a century—the snake awoke and glided calmly off into the bush.

Holly then __________ ,leading the horses with caution and care. She had been alert to danger and had been __________ for the safety of us all. Following in the footsteps of their lead mare, not one of the other horses showed any fear.

6 . While attending a communication course several years ago, I experienced a most ________ process. The instructor asked us to list anything in our past that we felt regretted. He then ________ that we find ways to make an apology to people we have hurt before.

Making my ________, I remembered an incident from high school. I grew up in a small town. There was a Sheriff (警长) ________ of us kids liked. One night, my two buddies and I decided to play a ________ on him.

After drinking a few beers, we climbed the tall water tank in the middle of the town, and wrote on the tank in bright red paint: Sheriff Brown is a gorilla. The next day, almost the whole town saw our glorious ________. Within two hours, Sheriff Brown had us in his office. My friends told the truth but I lied. No one ________ found out.

Nearly 20 years later, Sheriff Brown’s name _______ on my list. I didn’t even know if he was still ________. Last weekend, I checked the information in my hometown and found there was a Roger Brown still listed. I tried his number. After a few ________, I heard, “Hello?” I said, “Sheriff Brown?” Paused. “Yes.” “Well, this is Jimmy Calkins.”

“And I want you to know that I did it.” Paused. “I knew it!”he yelled back. We had a good laugh and a ________ discussion. His closing words were: “Jimmy, I always felt bad for you ________ your buddies got it off their chest, but you were carrying it ________ all these years. I want to thank you for calling me for your sake.”

Sheriff Brown inspired me to ________ all 101 items on my list within two years, and I always remember what I learned from the course: It’s never too late to ________ the past wrongdoings.

7 . One day Howard had to go to New York for a meeting. He flew to New York and called a taxi.     1    Then the driver turned around to speak to him.

“Congratulations!” he said. “You’re my first passenger and this is my first day as a taxi driver, but you don’t have to worry. In my old job I had lots of driving experience, and I know the city very well.”

    2    “Thank you,” said the driver. He started driving towards the hotel.

Howard looked at his watch and noticed that he was early for his meeting. He decided to ask the driver to take him to a bookstore. He leaned forward and tapped him on his shoulder.

    3    It almost hit a bus and another car. Then it almost hit a pedestrian (徒步的) crossing the street, who screamed and jumped out of the way.

Howard was afraid. He shouted at the taxi driver. “Be careful!”

The driver screamed again, and the taxi went suddenly to the other side of the road and almost hit a truck. The truck driver shook his fist (拳头) angrily.     4    Then it crashed into a store window with glass falling over it.

The driver looked at Howard. Then slowly he began to laugh. He laughed and laughed.

    5     “I’m sorry,” said the driver when he stopped laughing. “I thought I was still in my old job. When you tapped me on the shoulder and talked to me, I got really scared!”

“What was your old job?” asked Howard. “Didn’t I tell you?” said the driver. “I used to drive a car that carried coffins (棺材) to funerals (葬礼)!”

Recently, I went to a hospital to visit a friend of mine. After I got there, I began to look for a parking spot. But it was not easy to find one. Finally, I managed to park my car near the entrance of the hospital. As I got out to pay for the parking fee, I noticed a man searching his pockets for some change. He searched everywhere but couldn’t find any. “Do you need any help?” I asked. “Yes. I left my house in a hurry and forgot to take any change with me,” he said in an embarrassed voice. I took out some change and handed it to him, saying, “Here, take it.” “Thank you so much,” he said gratefully while taking the change from me. I smiled and left. I loved helping others and didn’t think much about it.

Before returning home, I went to the grocery store first, because there was almost nothing left in the fridge. The store was a twenty-minute drive away from my house, so I wanted to buy food for at least two days. I took a shopping cart and started filling it. Half an hour later, my shopping cart was almost full. I pushed it to the checkout counter and paid for all.

I put the bags in the car and tried to start the car but failed.

9 . Being highly successful in any field is pretty rare. It takes a combination of natural talent, luck, determination, and plenty of outside support for someone to make it big in sports, entertainment, or business. But what if competing is all that matters to you, whether you are likely to succeed or not? This was the goal of Michael Edwards, better known as Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards, and his reaching that goal was an amazing achievement.

Born in the UK in 1963, Edwards was a passionate downhill skier whose dream was to compete for Britain in world-class competitions. He would have liked to represent his country in the 1984 Winter Olympics, but there were a large number of downhill competitors, and Edwards didn’t qualify. Seeing his chance elsewhere, he switched to ski jumping. Ski jumping didn’t cost as much as downhill skiing, and there was almost no competition for a place on the British team.

But a number of hurdles could have meant the end of Edwards’ dream. He weighed more than most competitors. He had no financial support for his training. Poor eyesight meant that he had to wear glasses under his goggles—not a good thing when they steamed up at high altitudes. But he couldn’t let any of these discourage him. He saw himself as a true lover of the sport who simply wanted the chance to compete. Winning wasn’t the point. Having the opportunity to try was all he cared about. And nothing could stop him from trying.

In the end, Edwards took 55th place at the 1987 World Championships. He then went on to the