1 . 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.

2 . Yesterday, a salesman called me to sell his phone plans. I was at work and as I usually don’t like spending time on those things, I _________ myself that I couldn’t talk yet and _________ that he call me back at 6 pm.

That’s what he did. So we talked about 20 minutes. He _________ to me his different phone plans. While listening to him, sometimes I was_________ in thought. I gave several “hmm hmm” as a sign of agreement and to_________ that I was still there. Sometimes, I felt a bit _________   . But I stayed calm and _________ until the end of the discussion.

Finally, he said the following to me: “Thank you, Olivier. You are the first person in a long time with whom I had an enjoyable conversation. _________, people shout at us and slam down the phone. Today, since 10 am, I haven’t had a phone _________ without arousing anger. I know you had a long day at work and you could have   __________ in front of your TV. But you listened so carefully to me. I am __________ and I sincerely thank you.”

It set me thinking. He had been the __________ of verbal violence (语言暴力) all through his working day. Physical __________ do not exist in this situation but dehumanization (去人性化) seems to happen. __________, he was only doing his job. I felt a sense of   __________ that I hadn’t treated him so rudely.

4 . Peter loved his wife Marion, loved adventure, and loved his camper van (野营车)called Schoen. The pair made numerous unforgettable road trips in Schoen. But after Marion died, the ______ Schoen had fewer and fewer outings. With Schoen’s adventuring days seemingly over, Peter decided to put it up for ______

Elise and her husband, Domenic, had always dreamed of owning their own “happiness bus” and travelling in a camper van. One day, Elise ______ the sales information on Schoen and the couple instantly decided to take a look. Elise fell in love with Schoen______, but Peter asked for $39, 000, well outside their______.

Feeling extremely disappointed, the couple left. “We were______to have met Peter,” said Elise with a smile. “We shared with him our story and dream of owning a van like that.”

A few days later, Peter called to invite them back for a second look. ______the young couple came again, but without much______Peter said he had so far received two offers for Schoen, and both met his asking price. But they were from ______, which would likely mean the van’s______gathering dust in a garage or display. Peter asked how much the couple would be able to______. Domenic told him the most they could spend was around half of what he was ______ . Peter, holding back tears himself, told them he would ______their offer only if they promised to have adventures with Schoen.

Now Schoen is on glorious adventures somewhere, helping Elise and Domenic create wonderful family ______.

“Peter is definitely a hero for us,” says Elise. “Finding Schoen and making that______ to Peter had totally changed our life. ”

5 . One day a famous painter painted a picture. He put it on exhibition with the title “Not for_______”. However, it was so beautiful a painting that whoever_______that exhibition asked the painter to sell that painting for whatever amount he would_______it. But he said, “I'm extremely sorry but I can’t sell this for any amount. I will sell it to only that person who will understand its_______.” Then, an old man came over and said, “I want to buy this painting and here is the_______in this small box for it.” There was a paint brush and colors in it. Then, he gave that painting to the old man.

All the other people asked the painter with_______, “Why did you sell it for a paint brush and a few colors to this old man? We were_______you a huge amount for this painting.” The painter said, “If you_______the painting, there is a man who is teaching a kid to paint with so much_______. So, the man in the picture is this old man and that kid is me. He is my teacher who taught me to paint and made me become what I am today just thanks to his devotion and________. And, the real value of this painting is just a paint brush which is________by my teacher as this paint brush is more________than your wealth. With this paint brush I can paint many more paintings.”All people understood and________the bonding(情谊) of a teacher and his student.

A teacher always gives his best wealth to his student in the form of knowledge, wisdom and art with a(n)________that his student will________make use of it.

6 . At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. She started________out of fear. With a panic stricken face and trembling ________, she started jumping with both her hands ________ trying to get rid of the cockroach. Her reaction was so strong that everyone in her group also got ________. The lady finally________to push the cockroach away but it ________ on another lady in the group.

Now it was the turn of the other lady in the group to become ________. The waiter ________ forward to their rescue. In the relay of ________ , the cockroach next fell upon the waiter. The waiter stood firm, calmed himself down and________the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt. When he was ________ enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.

Drinking my coffee and ________ the amusement, my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering if the cockroach had the ________ for their acting behavior? If so, then why was the waiter not ________? He handled it near to perfection in a calm state.

It is not the cockroach, but the ________ of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies.

8 . Standing in front of the bike shop, Dave stared at the shiny red bicycle in the window. He could _______ himself riding the bike in Saturday’s race and winning the first-place medal and prize money. “With that bike, I could even beat Adam,” Dave thought.

He rode on and stopped at Peck’s clothing store. The coat he planned to buy his mother for her birthday was still on sale. Dave knew she would _______ buy it for herself. She worked hard just to make _______ meet. But the prize money would be enough for him to buy that coat and surprise her.

Dave looked at his old bike. Two years ago, he found some old bicycles at the _______ and used the parts to make one bike. He called it his recycled bike. “I’ll never _______ the race on this old bike,” Dave sighed.

As Dave passed the junkyard, he noticed a newer-looking bike tire. He started _______ the huge junk pile. Finally, he found what he was looking for. “These two tires and the handgrips (手把) are just _______ for my bike.”

Arriving home, Dave put the used tires and the handgrips on his _______ bike, and oiled the chained. He stood back and admired the _______ he had made. “I might win that race after all,” he said to himself.

The next morning, when Dave and his mom got to the park, about thirty kids had already __________. Dave headed for the start line __________ Mom found a seat at the finish line.

Bang! The riders rushed off. Dave __________ Adam, who was in the lead. He __________ to pass one rider after another and was approaching Adam. Leaning forward, Dave pedaled harder and faster. __________ he sped by Adam and crossed the finish line.

As the announcer awarded Dave the medal and the check for fifty dollars, he asked, “What are you going to do with the prize money, Dave?”

“It’s a __________ ,” Dave said and waved to his mom.

9 . A young man was walking by the lakeside when he suddenly saw a piece of gold glittering in the lake. He was so happy that he jumped into the _________ to look for it. But he couldn’t _________ it however hard he tried. Being wet, dirty and tired, he had to go ashore (上岸) for a _________.

Unexpectedly, after the water became _________, the gold appeared again.

He jumped into it again,_________ once again the gold disappeared. So he had to go ashore again to sit beside the _________. He thought, “Where on earth is the gold coin in the water? I have seen it _________, but how come it is that all the attempts were made without any success?” Driven by the _________ to get the gold, he searched the water again and again, but _________, which made him really unwilling to ______________.

At that moment, his father came to ______________ him. Seeing his son wet and dirty, he asked, “What ______________? Why do you look so ______________?”

His son answered, “I see a piece of gold coin in the water clearly, but I can't get it ______________!”

His father looked into the water and it seemed that a gold coin was on the peaceful water. Then he looked up at the tree nearby and said to his son, “You are ______________. Look! It's not a gold coin but the reflection of the metal ______________ on the tree.”

Ordinary people are always busy ______________ illusory (虚幻的) things and all these just result from hoping for ______________, which weakens our ability to ______________ right from wrong. So we should choose the right ______________ of life and learn to understand and thank everything, which will help us live a happy life.

10 . On our way home from school my kid and I shared each other our high and low part of the day. My 12-year-old, Karington, told me her _________ for a classmate with special need. This _________ action brought my tears flowing.

Her story started with, “Mommy, I made a teacher _________ today.” I didn’t know why my first thought was a _________ one. I definitely shouldn’t have _________ her. The rest of her story went like this...

“There’s a boy in my class with hyperactivity (多动症). Everyone _________ him because he does strange things. Today he fell to the _________ I looked around and all these kids were laughing, so I walked up to him and _________ with him. The class stopped laughing. A _________ was walking by the open door and saw my __________. She walked into the room towards me, bursting into __________. She held me up and gave me the tightest __________ ever and kept saying what a __________ girl I was.”

My voice was __________ by a lump (梗) in my throat. Tears flooded my eyes; I __________ them so I could see the road. I couldn’t __________. How could I find the right words to __________ just how proud I was? She looked at me, saw the tears flowing and knew. I didn’t need __________.

There is not a thing my child could do that would make me much __________! Nothing is better than standing up for what is __________ and showing compassion towards others.