2 . Agnes Lloyd’s 70th birthday came, but the day went normally. Her husband _______ many years ago. She had not heard from her children for a long time, which was _______.

The last bell of the day rang. She picked up her _______ and walked towards her car planning to buy herself a chocolate dessert although her doctors don’t _______ it for her age. But who cares? It was her birthday, and she _______ it.

The thought made her smile as she _______ her car when a sudden “MRS. LLOYD!” _______ her. Agnes dropped her purse onto the ground. She looked around and was _______ by what she saw.

Her students were standing there carrying birthday signs. She hadn’t _______ they had prepared such a surprise for her. Her student Christian came over, picking up her purse, and ________ her to the rest as they all started singing Happy Birthday.

As the song continued, tears ________ in her eyes. As they finished the song, small pieces of coloured paper began flying all over the place ________. But that wasn’t the best part.

Some of the students parted and her three children stepped out holding a birthday cake with two ________ that formed the number 70. “Happy birthday. Mom!” They exclaimed together, and that’s when Agnes lost her ________ for the first time.

Don’t forget your parents, ________ your life gets busy. We need to act and remind them that they are loved.

3 . Whether it is a relaxing walk or a power one, taking a walk usually only lasts a small duration of time. This was not the _________ for Tom Turcich, though.

On April 2, 2015, Tom decided to walk around the world by himself. It wasn’t a _________thought. His childhood friend died _________ at the age of 17 due to a jet ski accident. _________by how short life was, he was fueled by a strong _________ to live every day to its fullest.

Tom’s walk _________ as a lone journey. But quickly, he found himself missing _________ on the road. And so, while making a stop in Austin, Texas, he _________ Savannah, a rescue dog. Since then, the pair have been making their way across borders, continents and seas, _________ 25, 000 miles in all.

Traveling always has some ups and downs. Tom __________ numerous unexpected delays along the way. He was __________ due to severe weather in Panama and became very ill in Scotland. Also, he had no __________ but to wait out pandemic lockdowns in many countries. But on the __________side, he met many kind people and __________ the beauty of nature in different parts of the world.

Tom __________ something few people have succeeded in, which helped him gain a much larger understanding of the world.

5 . My history with music was not good. I still remembered when I took my short-lived piano lessons, my grandfather said _______   to my grandmother, “Why didn’t   he make any progress with much practice?” I_______ to make my piano performance attractive. However, my efforts were_______ .

So I gave up playing any musical instrument until my old friend Leroy _______   me to play the violin with him when I was 57. It made me enjoy the joy of playing music again. On day, Leroy sent a text_______ me that there was a music performance and he wanted me to join him. Thinking of my past, I _______ his invitation. I expected to hear his words that I would become_______ with practice on stage. But he said,   “OK, only   play if you want to.” I was totally_______ by the unexpected answer and made no reply except to tell him goodbye.

No one was_______ me to participate, but I faced a special ________ . Should I play on stage or just watch a movie? I had chosen the “movie route” too many times and this time I was________ to grasp the opportunity. After a long and careful________ , I played my violin with Leroy.________ I didn’t lose all my nervousness, it was enough for me to overcome my fear. Finally, I________ a full performance in front of the audience.

A short time later, my friend Leroy passed away,   but his ________ stayed. It helped   me not only in music, but in all aspects of life. When I focused on what I wanted to do, fear will be replaced with joy.

6 . The whole school was talking about the coming trip at a winter camp. And everyone was ______ , except me.

“I’ll hate it,’’ I told my parents. “I’ll get homesick. I’ll look stupid at winter sports, and everyone will ______ me.”

“You might be surprised, Bree,” said Mom. “The only way to find out is to ______ .”

“It，s what growing up is all about,” Dad added.

When ______ the camp, we were asked to share one ______ .

“I’m afraid I'll be homesick,” someone said.

I wasn’t the only one?! I began to ______ . After lunch,

we were asked to ski (滑雪）down to the field. I skied   ______ , but I still hit a piece of ice and ______ .

“Ha! Ha! ” Behind me, somebody started laughing. I ______ to see who was making fun of me. To my _______, I saw a girl in the same awkward position as I was in. “I thought I’d be bad at this, ______ I’m worse than I expected!” she said.

______ , I started laughing too. After being so ______ of falling, it was a comfort not to fear it anymore.

At dinner time, I was so happy to be talking about interesting things that I ______ to feel homesick.

The next day, I was ______ to try ski jumping first, even though I didn't want to. But when my feet left the ground, I felt I was ______ and it was wonderful.

Maybe Dad was right when he said, “You might ______ it if you give it a chance!’’

Maybe the kind of ______ Mom and Dad were talking about had more to do with my outlook than my looks. We all ______ not fitting in and failing when we try ______ things. Sometimes you’ve got to fall on your face to discover how much you’ve got in common.

7 . The Fitting-in of Suzy Khan

The first time I saw Suzy Khan, I knew I had to help her. She was really small for her age of 12. The boys in my class often   _______ about her and laughed their heads off. She would open a book, pretending to read, with tears dropping on the open page.

All I knew was that she was an orphan (孤儿) from Africa. She had just been adopted by a family in town who _______ that the best way for her to learn American ways of life was to be with American kids. I looked down at this _______ girl and promised myself that somehow I would help her.

But how could I help her _______ in with us? There had to be a _______ .

One day, when I went into the classroom, I saw that Suzy had _______ her geography book to a picture of a train, and in her notebook, she had made a(n)   _______ copy.

I was surprised and thought that she could do something in the coming _______ show. So, I took her to see the art teacher, Miss Parker, and showed her what Suzy had   _______ . “why, it’s wonderful,” said Miss Parker, who then showed us a poster she had painted ________the talent show. “I need more of these, but I just don’t have enough   ________. Could you help me, Suzy?”

On the day of the talent show, Suzy’s ________ were everywhere ---- all over the hall and all over the school, each one different.

“And finally,” said Mr Brown, the schoolmaster, at the end of the show, “we have a (n) ________ award. I’m sure you’ve all noticed the wonderful posters.” Everyone nodded. “One of our own students ________ them.”

I could hear everyone whispering. “Who in our school could draw ________ well?”

Mr. Brown waited a while before saying, “ ________ this student worked so hard on the posters, she deserves a ________ ,too. Our mystery(神秘) artist is our new student ---- Suzy Khan!”

Mr. Brown thanked her for all the wonderful posters and gave her a professional artist’s set. “Thank you,” she cried.

I ________ , at that time when I was looking at her excited face, she’d probably never   ________ anything in her whole life.

Everyone started to ________their hands. Suzy Khan gave them a shy smile and the applause was deafening. I knew then Suzy was going to be all right.

When I was 13,my family moved. Mary and I kept in___through letters, and we saw __on special occasions—like my wedding and ___.Soon we were busy___children and moving to new homes, and we wrote less___.One day a card that I ___came back stamped “Address Unknown”.I had no ____how to find Mary.

Over the years, I thought of Mary often. I wanted to 1__stories of my children and then grandchildren. I needed to share my sorrow when my brother and then my mother died. There was an ____place in my heart that only a friend like Mary ____fill.

One day I was reading a newspaper ____I noticed a picture of a young woman 1__looked a lot like Mary and whose last name was Wagman—Mary’s married name.“There must be thousands of Wagmans，” I thought,but I wrote to her ____.

She called as soon as she got my letter.“Mrs Tobin！” she said ____，“Mary Allen Wagman is my mother.” Minutes later I heard a voice that I ____at once, even after 50 years. We laughed and cried and asked about each other’s lives.

Now the empty place in my heart is ___，and there’s one thing that Mary and I know____： we won’t lose each other again!

9 . My 4-year-old son now enjoys posting letters. He has formed the _______of drawing pictures, writing his name on them, and then   ______ the artwork in an envelope. He then insists on ______ his handwork to the neighbors, and a mail box he _______ belongs to the elderly couple who live next door. To be ______, I didn’t think much of it, but I had ______ to warn my neighbors of the drawings ______ appearing in their letterboxes—I just didn’t have the ______ to do so, because I was a little busy recently.

On Tuesday of last week, I was walking down to school to collect my son when I _______ Mary, my elderly neighbor, ______at her mail box. She said, “Jodie, is it your little son that has been posting items in my letterbox to me?” I was at once ______, “Oh yes, Mary, it is. I’m sorry. I meant to tell you…” She cut me off, “Jodie, I just love his mail. I’ve _______ every item he has sent. You don’t know how much _______ the letters has made my day. I just love them.” While I was walking down to school after our _______, many thoughts came to me. Mary doesn’t have a lot to fill her days, ______ she was a mother to a number of children herself who receives fairly regular visitors. The small ______ of getting some mail—pictures drawn by the hand of a young child—has brought ______ to her days, just as my visit to my grandparents does.

I have decided that my son should ________ this practice. He should also start sending some items to his grandparents in Perth as well. It will most ________ make their day.

It’s doing the little, simple things that can often make a big ______ in someone’s life.

10 . No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own _________

I learned this lesson from a(n) _________ many years ago. I took the head _________ job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football program.

It was a tradition for the school’s old team to play against the _________ team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they didn’t even practice to ___________ the game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to win, but to my disappointment we were defeated. I couldn’t _________ I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I came to _________ that my team might not be the number one team in Georgia, but they were ___________ me. I had to change my _________ about their ability and potential.

I started doing anything I could to help them build a little ____________. Most important, I began to treat them like ____________. That summer, when the other teams enjoyed their ____________, we met every day and ______________ passing and kicking the football.

Six months after suffering our ______________ on the spring practice field, we won our first game and our second, and continued to ____________. Finally, we faced the number one team in the state. I felt that it would be a ____________ for us even if we lost the game. But that wasn’t what happened. My boys beat the best team in Georgia, giving me one of the greatest ____________ of my life！

From the experience I learnt a lot about how the attitude of the leader can ____________ the members of a team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and ______________ them. I helped them to see themselves ____________, and they built themselves into winners.

Winners are made, but born.