1 . There is a tree full of ripe plums (李子) with branches hanging over our house. Every single morning when I see plums on the ground, I am ________. “Wow, plums!” I say to myself and look up at the ________, and sure enough there are plums there.

I ________ the tree saying, “If I put the plum here, exactly where you walk, maybe you will see it.” I ________ over the plum on the way out and see it on my way back, thinking how often I ________ it and step over it. Every time I stop and see a plum, I feel as though someone has given me a ________.

“For me?” I said to the plum tree one morning as I ________ some plums. “You could have.” Maybe we’re supposed to ________ our gifts to the world with generosity and love.

It seems that I have a hard time accepting that fruit falls freely from the sky. Is the tree ________ with me on purpose? Is there part of me that doesn’t feel worthy of receiving free plums from the sky? Is life ________ to have moments that are so sweet and easy?

Sometimes it feels as though the tree were ________ to me and she were saying, “For you. For you. For you.” When I listen to her, I feel the ________ of her offering, and this is when my heart breaks. Despite the ________ of a day, there can be tender, ________ moments in nature that feel to me like there’s a force out there that ________ me refreshed (振奋的).

2 . British Cycling had recently hired Dave Brailsford as its new director. At the time, professional cyclists in Great Britain had ________ nearly one hundred years of mediocrity(平庸). In fact, their________   had been so poor that one of the top bike companies in Europe ________ to sell bikes to the team because they were afraid that it would hurt sales if other professionals saw the British people using their bikes.

What made Brailsford different from previous coaches was his________ of searching for a tiny improvement in everything they do. The whole principle came from the idea that if you________   everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, improve it by 1 percent and you will get a________ increase when you put them all together.

Brailsford and his coaches began by making small________. They redesigned the bike seats to make them more________. They asked riders to wear electrically heated over-shorts to ________ ideal muscle temperature while riding and used biofeedback sensors to ________how each athlete responded to a particular workout.

But they didn’t stop there.They________ to find 1 percent improvements in overlooked areas. They hired a(n)________ to teach each rider the best way to wash their hands to reduce the ________ of catching a cold. They even painted the ________ of the team truck white, which helped them ________little bits of dust that would normally slip by ________ but could affect the performance of the________tuned bikes.

As these and hundreds of other small improvements were ________, the results came faster than anyone could have ________. Just five years after Brailsford took over, they________ the road and track cycling events in all the important Games.

3 . My parents and I visited our relatives in Princeton Junction, New Jersey. Everyday I enjoyed walking a circular way starting from their house. One evening I decided to be adventurous and changed from my _________ way - I was looking forward to a longer walk, _________ that I would be able to find my way back. My walk took me beyond the living area and into a beautiful place with an expanse of fields on both sides of the road. With the sun beginning to _________, it was really a wonderful sight. After about thirty minutes, I noticed that I was not _________ back in the direction I had come - in fact I seemed to be moving further away. I searched my pocket for the mobile phone to get help, but it wasn't there. I had left it at home.

However, I remained _________. Although there weren't any people about, there was some _________ and I was sure that someone would stop and point me in the right direction. As each car or truck came, I stopped and _________, but time after time each one passed me by. No one seemed to feel any sympathy for me. About forty minutes, I was beginning to feel _________. There was no one in sight and my family was completely in the dark as to my _________.

When I just gave up all hope, a black SUV __________ me and stopped. A mother and daughter wanted to know how they could help. I told them I was lost and gave them my address. The mother pointed to a turning a little further down the road and promised me I was pretty close to home. Expressing my thanks, I started off at a fast __________. I had been walking for about five minutes when I heard a car drive up behind me and stop. It was the mother and daughter again. They realized that they had not given me the correct __________ and my destination was much further away.

They offered to __________ me home, and I was so grateful for their help. During our brief conversation I got the __________ that the teenage daughter was going to a school party and would now arrive late. We didn't __________ names but I will never forget their act of kindness.

4 . On my first trip to Ireland, I was drawn by its wonderful scenery and the hospitality (好客) of the people. More than that, I also felt a sense of _________. When leaving Ireland, I made a prayer: Please show me a way to live here.

Once home, I made a vision _________ with the title “Irish love”, which included pictures of the Irish countryside along with a handsome Irishman. I also chose an _________of a butterfly as my personal symbol and placed it in the center.

Back then, I was in my mid-thirties still _________ with a nice career. I had never lived outside of a five-mile distance from where I was born, so this _________ to live in Ireland was pretty big. Whenever I saw the images, I would _________ myself living in Ireland with the lover of my life.

One year later, I returned to Ireland. _________ and perhaps a little bit of hope led me to the small town of Lisdoonvarna County Clare, where the traditional matchmaking (相亲) festival was taking place. Early Sunday evening, _________, I found myself in a small pub. I was standing against the wall _________ I noticed a man entering the pub. It was just like in a movie: He was tall and dark-haired with the golden light of the setting sun __________ around him. It wasn’t long before I felt a __________ on my shoulder and came face-to-face with the man himself—Mike. Eventually, we kept __________ for hours, laughing heartily. This was the beginning of our relationship.

After getting married, we moved to the western Ireland and __________ there. The first day I stepped into the hallway of my new home, I was __________ by three butterflies flying around, which immediately reminded me of the vision board from years ago __________ my dream to live in Ireland.

5 . I have to make a confession: I’ve shed tears at every job I’ve had. I always find it difficult to _________ my emotions. And each time I’ve _________ exactly why these emotional moments are considered so taboo (禁忌). Is it a universal truth that you just can’t cry  _________?

As someone puts it on the internet, as professional women, we’re dealing with the great expectation to “be _________ in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire” while also making enough money to pay rent. _________ , my eyes get a little watery just thinking about it. So if crying at work is unavoidable — yet taboo — what is an ambitious young woman to do to _________ after one of these embarrassing incidents?

My usual routine after an in-office _________ is to remove my contact lenses, have a massive iced-coffee, and _________ it never happened (until it happens again). Clearly, I’m no expert on the _________  professional response. So I spoke with my personal finance coach, Ashley Feinstein Gerstley, to see if she had any  __________  for reducing the humiliation (丢脸).

“It’s so __________ , but telling yourself not to cry usually  __________ making you cry more,” she says. “You’re using all your energy to hold it together, trying to  __________  an awkward situation, but there’s so much pressure that the __________  will almost unavoidably come.  Women __________ to over-apologize, especially at work. If you do end up getting upset, it can be helpful to __________ yourself from the situation. Take a minute to get it together, and come back ready to have a more composed (镇静的) exchange.”

Maybe there’s some __________ in crying. I’ve definitely found that __________ the taboo can lead to greater relationships with __________ . I’ve noticed how tears have helped solve a disconnection or problem that might __________ have gone unsolved. To be honest, I’m hoping to recognize, if not celebrate, the rare office cry as a hidden skill for greater future.

6 . Rosa liked making up stories. She was so _______ that her classmates believed her from time to time. In fact, the whole class believed her! At first she supposed it was _______. Now, as she got up to _______ before the class, she knew that make­believe stories had some way of coming back to make you sad.

Rosa's parents were separated. Nine months out of the year, Rosa lived with her mother in an apartment on Anderson Street. But when summer _______, she went to her father's farm in Arizona.

The farm was great! Rosa rode horses and _______ with some farm work. Her father, however, was so _______ that he couldn't find time to go places with her. When she arrived each summer, her father would _______ her at the airport and take her out to eat. And the day she went back to the _______ he would always buy her a present.

When summer came to a close, Rosa _______ to her mother. At school she heard lots of stories her friends told about their family trips. Rosa wished she had a ________ to talk about.

Not long after ________ began, Rosa was looking through travel magazines in the school library. They talked about many exciting ________, like England and Germany. When Rosa's friends asked what she had done that summer, she made up something that was not ________. Remembering the travel magazines she had looked at, she told her classmates that she and her father had gone to ________.

When the class began studying England, Mr. Thomas asked Rosa to tell all the things she could ________ about her trip to England!

7 . It was my first time traveling to Asia and I had misjudged everything about my arrival. I had planned to spend my Indonesia trip in Lombok; but I booked a________to the Bali airport, not knowing there is an airport in Lombok.

So, I flew into Bali and arrived at 1 pm. I was________as I had read online that the last ferry (摆渡船) left at 4 pm and I still had to take a 1.5-hour________journey to the ferry port to take the ferry over to Lombok.

As soon as I got in the taxi, I told my driver the situation and he immediately________his friend at the port. He told me the waters were________this day and the last ferry was leaving in an hour and we probably wouldn’t________it.

I started to panic about where I would spend the________But, despite being told we wouldn’t make it in time, my driver was________to make it work.

Along the way, his phone________repeatedly. He probably talked to his________15 times. When we were about 10 minutes away, his friend informed him that they would hold the________for me-but we had to rush!

From there on it was________

It was________hard and there was no road to get to the port. So we________, the driver grabbed my suitcase and started________in the rain.

He was almost the size of my suitcase but insisted on________it for me as he ran through puddles (水坑), getting his shoes and uniform all________

I arrived just in time to get a________and jump on the last boat. I have never been more________and thankful for someone’s________toward a stranger.

8 . Mike Evans was standing in line, waiting to pay his taxes. Suddenly, he heard a/an_______ sound ahead of him. The elderly woman at the window was crying. Then Evans learned why: he heard the cashier (出纳员)_________ her that her house was headed for auction (拍卖). He also heard the woman tell the cashier that her daughter had recently died.

Evans, who had just _______ his father, knew too well the pain of losing a loved one. He_________the window, saying to the cashier, “If you can get her house back, I’ll pay for her taxes. The amount due: $20,000.”

The elderly woman was_________. Her despair turned to disbelief. The cashier left to _________the amount and Evans_________ to go straight to the bank for the money. And he did.

But when he _______, he asked someone else to hand the money to the cashier. Evans was trying to_________ away quietly. “I didn’t want this attention,” he explains.

Of course, __________ found him — it’s not every day that someone pays a stranger’s large tax bill. That said, Evans often finds himself on the giving end of such situation, ____________ for years he went unrecognized for it.

Evans received a/an ____________for his lifetime of ____________ a few weeks after the tax incident.__________ he didn’t want the attention, but his son thought differently, “So good to see my dad finally get the recognition he __________.”

Mike Evans Sr. will retire soon and he hopes he’ll continue to____________ his local youth football league team — he pays for their equipment and uniforms. His son will ____________the business, with his dad’s love for charity. “I feel __________ of my father. When a man heard a stranger was about to lose her house. He opened his heart — and his __________.”

“I ____________my life after him and I want my children to look at me the way I look at my dad.”

9 . I never thought I would venture （冒险）far from home. For my undergrad degree, I only_______to universities within an hour of my hometown in the UK. When I decided to_______ a Ph. D. , I stayed at the same university. I still wasn't _______ I was a great student, and staying seemed like the _______ option. A few years later, as I was considering a postdoc （博士后）,I was determined to once again stay close to home, in the _______ of my Ph. D. lab.

I heard about a fellowship program in Japan that sounded like a good _______, and the flexibility of the program _______ me. I decided that, if I were accepted, I would stay for 3 months — long enough to experience a new place, but short enough to make the future less _______ .

But when I was accepted, the head of the group wanted me to stay for the full year. I _______I was excited about the research. But the thought of being so far from home for so long made me __________ . I didn't speak any Japanese. I wouldn't know anyone. Would I be __________?

I worked up my ________ after much consideration, and________ up for the year-knowing that, if things went badly, I could come home earlier.

Almost everything was________from what I was used to. In the lab the________and culture were new to me. Talking with my new________about their experiences conducting research helped open my eyes to new ways of doing things. After winning the scholarship, I now feel ________ I can do anything.

Humans are creatures of________. We resist change. However, if I hadn't moved, I would not have experienced many________and wonderful things or met many friends. So the move gave me the________to learn and experience.

10 . I always dreamed of becoming a full-time writer. After two years as a salesman, I _______ my job and made up my mind to realize my _______ .No one could tell me whether I would succeed or not.I rented a basement and _______ to write.I had so many things to write because the enthusiasm（热情） was _______ in my heart.

After a year or so, _______, I began to doubt myself.I found it _______ to earn my living by writing.None of my novels were _______that year.But I _______ to follow my dream--even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of _______.I believed anyone with a dream must learn to struggle for the ________.

During the hardest period of my life, a friend came to see me and tried to________ me, “Come to our company, ________ we will pay you 2,000 dollars a month.” 2,000 dollars was really a big fortune at that time.It would enable me to live a ________ life.As the money was dancing in my ________, something cleared my senses.Hadn’t I dreamed of being a writer, a full-time writer?

“Thanks, but no,” I said ________ , “I’m going to stick to writing.”

Again and again, I said to myself, “I will be ________.People will love my novels.”

________ my first novel was published in 1991.I had the kind of success that few writers ever ________.

Twenty years have passed, but the effect it had on my life has ________.Now I often   ________ the time working in that cold basement.I will say, “Anyone with a dream and persistence will be successful.”