1 . In the early 19th century, New England farmers, tired of wrestling with their poor land, journeyed to the Midwest. In states like Illinois and Iowa, they found rich, black soil. Unfortunately, many soon felt like thirsty sailors in the middle of the ocean—water everywhere but not a drop to drink. They were surrounded by fertile soil, but had to stop every few seconds to remove the sticky dirt off their iron plows (犁) with large wooden paddles. This dilemma caught the attention of John Deere, a blacksmith who moved to Illinois in 1836.

Deere decided to look into the problem. From his previous work on plows, he knew that dirt was less likely to stick to highly polished metal. That thought was in the back of his mind when he visited a sawmill (锯木厂) in 1837 and noticed a broken saw made of steel. Deere brought it home and began making a better plow. The plow he wanted would have to cut deep into the soil at a sharp angle so that dirt would fall off, yet it could not put too much burden on the horses pulling it. After several experiments, Deere constructed a new plow that featured wood handles. It proved a success. Unlike the old iron plows, Deere’s not only had a blade from which dirt fell away cleanly, but it also turned the soil more efficiently and quickly.

Demand for Deere’s plows increased sharply, but production was limited by the shortage of polished steel. Initially, Deere could only produce a few plows each year. However, Deere’s persistence paid off as he sourced cheaper steel from Pittsburgh. Amazingly, in 1857, his company manufactured and sold 10, 000 plows!

Deere, a perfectionist, continually improved his plows, introducing multiple new versions in a single year. While this slowed down his production ability, it ensured Deere a solid reputation among his customers. Deere plows became world famous in the 1870s when they outshone the competition in a demonstration in France. That same decade, his company built its first riding plow and designed the leaping deer as its trademark.

2 . Kwane Stewart, a devoted vet (兽医) in San Diego, had reached a point of burnout in his career. The animal ______ where he worked was full of abandoned pets as people ______ to deal with the ongoing economic decline. In those days, animals would be euthanized (安乐死) if they weren’t ______ in seven days. The cruel reality deeply troubled Stewart, even leading him to consider ______ his profession.

One fateful day, outside a convenience store, he ______ a homeless man with a dog suffering from a visible skin issue. The man, ______ for a solution, shared his dog’s suffering. Stewart examined the dog and then ______ some medicine to him. In tears, the man thanked Stewart, saying “Thank you for not ______ me”. The very words served as a wakeup call to Steward and inspired his next ______ .

Stewart began working as a street vet during his free time, determined to ______ on his own. Over a nine-year period, he provided ______ medical care for over 1,000 homeless people and their pets and in 2020, he created a nonprofit organization Project Street Vet.

For Stewart, the most rewarding aspect of his work lies in the one-on-one ______ with the homeless. By ______ helping their cherished companion, Stewart helps ______ their faith in humanity. Their gratitude fuels him to continue his mission, offering ______ to those facing awful circumstances.

3 . Hannah, an adventurous girl, lived on a small village in a land far away. All of the villagers were used to their ________ tasks and very few had the will to try something new. Unlike them, Hannah loved to ________ and would spend hours in the woods looking for new things.

One afternoon, she ________ an abandoned cottage. With curiosity she slowly opened the door and was left ________. In front of her was a room full of books glittering in the dust! She gasped as she ________ that she had found a hidden treasure. She ________ two and decided to read them at her home.

From that day on, Hannah ________ read the books, which took her to a world of talking animals, mystical creatures, and daring knights. She read about characters who faced ________ with their determination and characters who bravely ________ for good. She learned the power of love and friendship, and that the true strength lies within one’s own ________!

With the good in heart, Hannah started to ________ the gold from the tales with the people of her village. Soon, the ________ of Hannah’s storytelling spread. People traveled from different places to listen to her stories.________, Hannah started writing stories of her own too!

Hannah’s passion and ________ blew life into the tales and her words breathed new life into countless souls. She became a signal of ________, a reminder for everyone that even in the dustiest comers, there can be a hidden treasure.

Sunlight flooded through the window when Tomas was sitting at the kitchen table, struggling with a literary classic. Streamers of clouds drifted by high above in the sky. Not far away, the huge new tower blocks lined the road. The faint sound of cars was dimly heard.

His mother was chopping tomatoes for their dinner as usual. Suddenly she said, ”You know, the thing I miss most is cooking a really hot salsa (辣番茄酱), with fresh peppers straight from the garden.” She sighed. “That’s what I miss most about Merida.”

Tomas looked up from his book in surprise. His mother had never talked like this about their old life before. He studied her now. She looked a little sad, but then she smiled at him and swept the pile of chopped tomatoes into the cooking pot.

“But I’ve already learned a lot about this new country, Tomas,“ she said. ”For a start, I’ve learned that there’s more than one way to make a salsa!" She waved a packet of chili spice powder at him, and they both laughed.

Watching his mother busy in the kitchen preparing dinner, Tomas thought about the insight his mother had given him into her feelings, and he realized that he felt the same way about leaving.

Sure, it had been great for his father to get this good job, but it had also been hard. Tomas missed his old home-especially the sun and the beach. And his mother missed Merida, too. She had loved working in her market garden, selling the fresh vegetables that she had grown herself and then coming home to cook up huge, tasty meals for her family. Tomas’s stomach rumbled at the memories.

He thought about how different things were for them now, living in this large, gray apartment block where there was no garden and no friends dropping by to share their delicious meals.

He sighed. At least they were still able to speak regularly every night after dinner with his grandmother back in Mexico over the computer-Grandmother! Abuela!

Suddenly Tomas had an idea.

A week later, a box arrived from Mexico.

It was a cold yet sunny Saturday morning in February. Dad’s New Year’s resolution had been to get fit. Mum pushed him out of bed and told him to go jogging by the river. Later, after a nice lie-in, she went downstairs in her dressing gown and found the kids watching TV. She turned it off and said she was going to do something really special for Dad’s birthday. If they overheard anything, just promised to keep it secret.

Jenny looked at Mum with a puzzled expression on her forehead and promised they wouldn’t say anything whatever happened. But Jenny reminded Dad’s birthday was in June and it might be a little too early to get all steamed up about it.

Silent for a moment, Mum said she was not getting everything ready but just wanted to spare enough time for preparation as this year it’s a bigger deal than usual. Dad was going to be 50.

“50! Gosh, that’s half a century,” spluttered Gerry. “I knew he was old, but I didn’t realize he was ancient!”

Indeed, that was why Mum started planning a special party for him. Mum talked with grandma about the plan because her house was the only one in the family that is spacious enough for all friends and relatives. Grandma quite agreed and also started preparing.

“But you know how Dad feels guilty to bother others. You’ve got to admit,” reminded Jenny. Thinking over the special occasion, Mum was continuing with her secret when one evening, Dad was sitting at the dinner table and he suddenly slapped his forehead, “I just realized that I am going to be 50 in June. Let’s just quietly forget about it. I want to mourn (哀悼) the passing of my youth in private.”

“Oh, come on Dad, don’t be such a spoil-sport!” begged the kids, hoping to give mum a hand.

Realizing no more chance to hide the secret, Mum carefully worded her thought and shared her plan of having a little party at grandma’s house. Dad was stunned (震惊的) to no reply.

Frustrated, Mum made a call to grandma.

They got everything ready as planned when June finally came.

6 . The engineer’s motto is: “Keep it simple and serious.” But Dr. Arnold, though the fifth woman engineer in history to win the Nobel Prize, is somewhat ________. She always seems to meet something unexpected or have the talent to make things ________.

Here’s a picture of a beaming President Obama, ________ her for winning the National Medal. That should have been a moment of ________. But you can never imagine what happened to her. The minibus that ________ the medal receivers should catch fire at the White House door. The bus filled with smoke, passengers within were gasping and crying and staggering toward the ________, the younger ones carrying the older ones — and all were greeted by a team of Secret Service agents, ________ aimed at the medalists’ heads. They were amusingly ________ as terrorists. What a joke!

Another ________ story! When Dr. Arnold and her little son, landed in London, the border agent asked what brought them to the UK. Feeling very proud and hot-stuff, Dr. Arnold ________ she was going to a reception to meet the Queen. She then ________ shot her mouth off about her next award ceremony at the palace in Italy. The agent skeptically ________ her slightly disheveled (凌乱的) clothes and demanded the invitation letter. But she said it was in her suitcase. Without more ________, she, along with her son, was grabbed to the detention room (拘留室). They spent the next two and a half hours there ________ their story was verified (证实), and ________ made it to meet the Queen. Once again, the should-be ________ engineer was mistaken. Afterwards, she ________, “We should have been simple, sensed the environment and then respond.” Her son replied, “Mom, next time why don’t you keep your mouth ________.”

See what the engineer has ________ ! Yes, indeed we can never tell one’s experiences from their ________.

Do you know what “noodling” is? It has nothing to do with the noodles that you like to eat. In the    1     (south) United States, noodling is a kind of fishing where you just use your hands. Most of the fish     2     (catch) by noodlers are catfish, which like to hide under overhanging banks. They think their     3     (enemy) can’t see them, so they’re safe. But they’re not! Noodlers feel around under the stream bank, size resting catfish,     4     pull them out of the water.

I learned about noodling when I lived     5     the State of Ohio. Later I moved to Colorado,    6    trout (鳟鱼) swim in mountain streams. I wondered     7     noodling would work on trout, but my friends told me they were too smart and too fast.

Well, I thought it would be worth     8    (try). In the fall, big, beautiful brown trout move into the shallow parts of the Cache la Poudre River. I found a place and, luckily, there were two big trout. When I tried to get close to them, they     9     (hide) themselves under the overhanging bank. I went over and “snacked” my hands under the bank. I felt one! And it didn’t   move.         10       (care), I slid both hands the fish, and then quickly lifted it out of the water onto the bank. Success! I could really noodle trout.

9 . My first year in Los Angeles, I was a birthday-party clown (小丑). I struggled a lot with my identity because, _______I viewed myself as a filmmaker, everyone in my life viewed me as this _______ day job.

For certain parties, I’d have to go as a _______ character. One night, I was _______ to be Batman for a birthday party. At the time I had a moustache but I didn’t want to _______ my physical appearance for that job, because that would be me _______ I was more of a clown than an artist.

The next day, I want to the _______ , and everyone was all high-fiving me, _______ . I saw the birthday boy with his dad, and the dad took me over to a birthday cake with a Batman drawn on it, and the Batman had a _______ .

That’s why they were laughing so ____________ when I first arrived, because when the dad ____________ the cake, all the kids said, “Batman doesn’t have a moustache.” ____________ admitting that the cake was ____________, the parents tried to save face. “ Batman ____________ has a moustache. In fact, he just ____________ it for his movies and TV plays.” ____________ , the children were skeptical until moustache became the ____________ that confirmed what the parents had said and ____________ the kids that I was actually Batman.

That year, I struggled a lot with my identity. But that day, ____________ there was no doubt in my mind what I was-I was the hero that they ____________ .

10 . Doug Falter returned home on the evening of February 3, 2018, exhausted. The 33-year-old had just _______ Hawaii's Waimea Bay crazily. Back home, Falter took his search online “I was surfing tonight and _______ my baby,” he wrote on Facebook. That “baby” was a blue surfboard custom-made for him. Hours earlier, the crash of a big wave had _______ Falter from this prized possession.

“I caught the biggest waves of my life on that board," Falter later said “That's why it _______ so much to me. ” He hoped it would be washed to shore and that whoever _______ it would have also seen his post. But_______ pushing Falter's Surfboard ashore, the waves swept it out to sea, away from Hawaiian Islands.

Weeks passed with no_______ of the surfboard. Then months, Falter bought a new surfboard for $1,500. But he _______ completely forget about the board, which floated to Philippines six months after it disappeared. The local fisherman who found it_______   the board to Giovanne Branzuela, a teacher who hoped to learn to surf and share skills with ________.

The once-blue board had ________ during its journey, but its typical ________ were still there: two elephants in a diamond ring. Underneat the ring were the ________ “Doug Falter's Surfboard, Hawaii. ”

“I couldn't ________ it,” Branzuela said on realizing how far the surfboard had traveled. He________   Falter online last July and sent him a________   of the board. Falter immediately asked for more photos. Those ________ pictures confirmed the board was his. Falter was ________ to learn that his “baby” had traveled across the world's largest ocean and ________

He was excited to hear this guy bought it for his students. “I think this is the________ way I could have ever lost $1,500. I couldn't imagine a better ending. ”