1 . When I left my job as a psychologist and went on a round-the-world trip, I was hoping to become a different version of myself. But I was soon ______. Away from the familiar life, I felt lonely and miserable despite visiting ______ beautiful places. And somehow, in the quick ______ for the trip, I’d forgotten that the thing you don’t choose to bring, but can’t ______ , is yourself.

However, as the weeks went on, something started to ______. It was during a stay on an island in Thailand, when a woman I’d encountered previously approached me and asked if I was ______ to join them for dinner that evening. I ______. At the meal she told us six women that it was her birthday and, as she was travelling alone, she’d decided to celebrate by ______ a group of women she’d enjoyed meeting during the week. While listening to their stories, I felt genuinely ______ by the honesty of these ______ , and was surprised, too, by the ______ with which I felt able to share things about myself.

At the end of the evening, we ______. Till now, none of us have seen each other again. I don’t remember their names, but I do remember the magic of that ______. For all of us, the anonymity (匿名) was liberating; we had no ______ past or future and, as a consequence, we could talk freely without any ______.

2 . In the summer of 2018, I decided to do a solo expedition (独自探险) across Antarctica. To get some ________, I did a two-week training course. I learned all the ________: how to camp in the snow, how to pull a sled and what clothing to wear. In October, I flew to Antarctica from Punta Arenas. I’d allowed 70 days, which would make it the longest ________ one-way expedition across Antarctica

I only took ________. I didn’t even take a hairbrush. The first few days were ________. The winds were about 60 mph, and my sled weighed 120 kg. Even if the visibility is good, you can’t ________ much — it’s a white horizon. I was on the move for 13 to 15 hours a day.

Then, I found the conditions to be much worse. There was more sastrugi (雪脊) and it felt colder. The last 40 hours were really hard. I ________ about 14 times every two hours. As a result, I fell behind ________. In the end, I ________ 922 miles and fell more than 100 miles short of my goal. Towards the end of my trip, a helicopter flew to pick me up. The ________ I felt when I saw the dot in the distance was unbelievable.

It took me a while to be ________ of what I’d achieved, because I had failed to reach my ________ goal, but I’ve learned it’s ________to move the goalposts. I don’t agree with the idea of conquering (征服) somewhere. You treat places with ________ and hope they’ll allow you ________ passage.

3 . Once President Roosevelt's house was broken into and lots of things were stolen. Hearing this, one of Roosevelt's friends wrote to him and _______ him not to take it to his heart so much. President Roosevelt _______ immediately, saying, "Dear friend, thank you for your letter to _______ me. I'm all right now. I think I should thank God. This is because of the following three reasons: firstly, the thief only stole things from me but did not _______ me at all; secondly, the thief has stolen some of my things _______ all my things; thirdly, most luckily for me, it was the man _______ me who became a thief…"

Being _______ is an important philosophy of life and a great _______ . It is impossible for anyone to be lucky and successful all the time _______ he lives in the world. We should learn how to face failure or ________ bravely and generously and to try to deal with it. If so, should we ________ about our life and become frustrated and disappointed ever since then or should we be grateful for our life, and ________ again by ourselves after a fall? William Thackeray, a famous British writer, said, "Life is a ________ . When you smile in front of it, it will also smile and so will it when you cry to it. "

If you are grateful to life, it will bring you shining sunlight. If you always complain about everything, you may own ________ in the end. When we are successful, we can surely have many reasons for being grateful, ________ we have only one excuse to show ungratefulness if we fail.

4 . A senior has been reunited with his long lost brother and sister after more than 20 years, which is incredible. It was owing to the ________ he received when his dog and he picked up litter. 80-year-old Alfie Kitson and his five-year-old Spanish Podenco ________ in a video just before Christmas with the dog Millie tidying up ________ and putting it into the bin.

Kitson and Millie was a ________ sight on the streets of Hereford, because they had that for a few years. It was after the filming that Alfie was ________ by his sister’s husband as Millie was helping ________ the streets. The family was then ________ to track down Alfie to the village of Ulingswick, where he lives with his wife Judy.

________, Alfie has reunited with brother Dave, who’s 84, and 71-year-old sister Anne for the first time in more than two decades. Alfie had ________ from his siblings after moving to Coin in Málaga two decades ago. Alfie said, “My brother ________ to London years ago and my sister went elsewhere too.”

“I received a ________ recently from my granddaughter. On the phone she said my sister Anne was ________ to find me, I was only eight miles away.” I came back home one day and ________ there was my sister. She then got in touch with my brother Dave. “We all ________ up in Hereford, and now we have all been reunited,” Alfie says. “It has been ________.”

5 . I had been eating and cooking typical Midwest meals for years, and I have to say there weren’t many different kinds of food at dinner. After I married, my husband told me it was time I _________ my comfort-food comfort zone.

When he _________ to take me to dinner at a nearby restaurant that served a grand buffet (豪华自助餐), I accepted happily. I thought I couldn’t go wrong, and _________ yards and yards of comfort foods.

We gave the server our drink order and then _________ the other hungry people choosing the buffet. I turned left, and he went right. I filled my dish with salad, topped with my _________ dressing (调料) and returned to our table. Then my husband returned with a dish filled with crab (蟹) legs.

He smiled across the table at me. “Let’s eat the crab legs,” he said.

I _________ my head. I had _________ crab legs before. On crabs. In pictures. However, I wasn’t _________ the crab legs before me. This was not comfort food.

“Come on. Just have a taste. It’ll be good for you to try something new.”

I lifted a crab leg, and then _________ it. It smelt strange. I looked around, __________ someone would save me, but no one __________. They were too busy with their own crab legs.

Again, my husband told me that trying something new was a good thing. He __________ me how to crack the shell, and then reach inside with the tiny fork to get the crabmeat.

At last, I took the courage to give the crab legs a try. I managed to break the shell and cut my finger on the shell. I painfully __________ using the tip of my knife to dig bits of meat out of the shell. I’d never had to work so __________ for a meal. __________, it tasted good. I enjoyed the rich, sweet taste.

6 . "Stocking up for Winter?" said the cashier with a smile, looking at my shopping cart (推车) which was full of toaster pastries and big boxes of cereal. I knew that _________ was coming.

Earlier I had _________ by at the local food pantry (食物分发处) to see if there was any small thing that I might _________. The shelves _________ canned vegetables, canned tuna fish, cheese, and many other things. They were short of _________ foods, though, so I thought I would give what I could.

I walked into a local store and started to _________ my cart with toaster pastries and cereal. I _________ loving them for breakfast when I was _________ as a little boy growing up and I hoped what I bought might _________ a few little guys today.

I ____________ back at the cashier and said, "It's for the food pantry."

In fact, I ____________ tried to get out of the ____________ without mentioning it, because an anonymous (匿名的) act of kindness is the ____________ kind. I didn't want any ____________ or praise for what I did. I had needed to use the food pantries myself when I was an ____________ and struggling young father with a family to feed. And it felt so ____________ to complete this circle of love and give back to others in need.

Love is in every act of kindness no matter how ____________. It is a glorious tapestry (织锦、挂毯) of which we all are a part. It is so big that it is beyond comprehension. Still, we should take our ____________ in that tapestry, we should ____________ into the circle of love that never ends and become ____________ of something big while doing something small.

7 . My mother is 92. Unless I have to be out of town, each week I take my mother to do her _______ and visit the doctor, providing _______ and transportation. During the week, however, she likes to go to a nearby store to _______ some small things she needs.

Last week she walked up to the store, but when she went to pay for her groceries, she was _______ about three dollars. The only _______ to pay for the groceries was to take off the _______ she could do without: a bottle of rubbing alcohol (医用酒精) and a bar of soap. By taking off these, she was able to _______ the new total to the amount of cash she had with her.

At this store, people _______ and then go off to the side to _______ their own groceries. My mother was putting her groceries into shopping bags when a ________ came up to her and said, “Here are the things that you ________ .” handing her the rubbing alcohol and the ________ . My mother, who is never speechless, was speechless. She ________ for the woman’s name and address so that she could ________ her. The woman told her it was her ________ .

My mother was so ________ by her gesture that she decided to go back to the store and give the cashier (收银员) a five-dollar bill to keep on hand ________ the same happened to someone else if they didn’t have enough ________ for all of their groceries.

So, whoever you are, thank you for the random act of ________ that not only helped my mother out, but ________ too.