1 . Two sisters have a debate about which life is better: city or country life. The elder sister, who lives in a city, ______ that city life is much better, ______ they don’t have to toil (辛苦工作) in the soil, and can enjoy lots of ______. The younger sister states that, their life in the countryside is rough, but they don’t waste their time on useless things, such as meeting with traffic jams (交通堵塞), and have no other worries.

The younger sister’s husband, Pahom, has the same opinion with her. He thinks that everything is good with their country life, except that he ______ a bigger piece of land, so that he does not have to fear the Devil (恶魔). Pahom luckily ______ to buy more land. ______, with more land, his heart wants even more land. ______ gain more, he travels to the Bashkir land. The Bashkirs have a ______ with him that he can have as much land as he walks during the ______, for a thousand rubles (卢布). Their only ______ is that he must come back to the starting point at the end of the day. Pahom’s ______ to achieve more makes him walk so much that he loses his strength. So when he ______ reaches the starting point, he has no strength to live and dies. The Bashkir chief laughs, and Pahom’s servant states that he now needs only that much land that is enough to ______ him.

Man is never satisfied, and he often becomes greedy in an effort to ______ more. How much is more can’t be defined, and it is up to him to ______ how far he must go simply to achieve something he wants at the expense of others.

2 . Johan and his younger brother, Rahim, had an unforgettable fishing experience. They could not spend the evening _______ their schoolwork with their mother. They had to go out fishing. Their father, a fisherman, was feeling _______ . The brothers had to catch some fish so that their father could _______ them in the market the next morning to support the family.

That evening, Rahim decided to _______ the sea early. He knew that if he and Johan were to set off late, they might not be able to find a good _______ at sea to catch plenty of fish. Rahim urged Johan to hurry and instructed him to _______ the fishing net onto their boat quickly.

While out at sea Rahim helped _______ the boat when Johan cast the net into the waters. Although it was _______ work, they were glad to be able to help their sick father. While waiting to pull the net in, the brothers took out their _______ from their bags to revise. It was not easy as they could not see clearly under the dim light from the oil lamp. Suddenly, their boat ________ hard from left to right. Rahim gasped(喘气)and held his brother’s arm ________ . Although he was ________ , Johan remained calm. He went to the ________ of their boat to take a look. He saw the net shaking.

Excited about the ________ , Johan decided to pull in the net. To his surprise, there were no fishes. Upon taking a ________ look, Johan found that the net had a huge ________ in it.

”A big fish must have damaged the net while trying to escape,“ Johan ________ seeing this.

________ , the brothers returned home. However, their parents were ________ that they had persevered(坚持)and put in their best ________ that night.

3 . I watched a child in the supermarket yesterday, as she was screaming. Her parents were trying their best to ________ her down. Some people passing by ________ their heads and saw the child as a spoiled (宠坏的) child. Others ________ and offered a few kind words to both the ________ and the parents.

“You’re such a beautiful little girl. Such a ________ girl shouldn’t cry,” one lady said.

“Don’t be so sad. We all have ________ days,” added another.

“I think she’s spoiled,” I heard one whisper to a friend.

None of them was ________. The child was neither spoiled nor having a bad day. She was simply ________. The parents told me afterwards that someone walking a ________ had scared her.

She was afraid of dogs. They went on to explain that it was a ________ for them to go to some places.

Friends had dogs, and nearby neighbors ________ their dogs down the street. I can remember the feeling of fear when I was a child. Every time while I was walking up steps at night, I would get the ________ that someone or something was going to grab my feet. I ran most of the time.

________can happen at any time in our life, and sometimes we cannot avoid it. And what we fear most can own us, control us and limit us. However, the truth is that fear can be ________. As we grow up, we can find more ________ and energy to overcome what we fear most in life.

4 . 2020, seeing so many world-changing events, is going to pass, even though it seems as if it has been going on for a _______. Most of us never thought we’d see a pandemic sweep the globe in our lifetime, yet here we are. But when facing the very worst situations, there were common people who remained_______, optimistic and energetic. There was also_______, sacrifice, heroism and hope, making up the touching moments of 2020. Here I will share a_______ story about love of ordinary people.

Dejan Velimirovic, a 35-year-old programmer, was one of Serbia’s first-known COVID-19 patients. He believes he got_______at a farewell(告别)party on February 29, 2020. Despite being young and having no history of_______   illnesses, his condition _______quickly. “He was lying in the bed for about a week_______he went to the hospital; he didn’t_______at all,” his partner Valentina recalls.

Velimirovic went into a coma and on a ventilator(呼吸机) for eight days as doctors tried to________him and return health to his lungs.________, he spent almost six weeks in hospital without seeing his loved ones.

________ the team of doctors and nurses, Velimirovic was eventually________and reunited with Valentina. He was shaking as he greeted his________, as they could finally be with each other again.

The couple planned to hold a church wedding and invite the medical staff who ________Velimirovic.________, as the pandemic hasn’t ended, they have had to postpone it. 

But by the end of 2020, they have their________ and they have each other. “I will remember this year for everything that has________me,” said Velimirovic. “ when I came back home and talked to Valentina ________, that moment was the most ________for me.”

5 . I’m a single mom. Unluckily, I was________earlier in the year so times was really________. My son had been in and out of the________for six years because of a severe disease. He was 8 years old and his brother was 7.

My sons knew we had________troubles, but they didn’t know how hard we were because my parents________for them. I was grateful that I had helpful parents.

One day, we were at a grocery store(食品杂货店) and I was________about grocery money and gas money because the day I had to pay for bills was________. Meanwhile, my 8-year-old son saw a homeless man outside the store. It was really cold and the man asked if we could give him some_______. My elder son walked to the man and gave him a dollar, and his brother did the________thing. I saw my sons talking to him and ________them say “be right back”.

They came over and asked me if we could get the man some hot coffee because it’s ________and the man had stayed there for four hours. So, we went inside, buying the man some________. Suddenly, I was not thinking about my________, or my worries at all. Instead, I was happy to see my sons do something kind, which was so________.

I hugged both my kids, because they had________me the great value of kindness.

6 . One Saturday afternoon in a small town, Emma came out of a shoe shop with some new shoes. They were _________ shoes, but Emma was very _________ with them. She was seventy-three years old and did not have much money. She began to _________ home.

It was a _________ town and there was nobody in the street. _________, Emma heard something behind her. She did not have time to look, because just then somebody ran up behind her, hit her on the _________, and snatched(抢夺)her bag out of her hands. Emma _________.

“Help! Help!” Emma cried. But nobody came. Emma _________ got up and went to the nearest house. The people there were very _________ and gave Emma a cup of tea. Soon an ambulance came and took her to a __________.

At the hospital a doctor looked at Emma’s head and back and told her to stay in hospital for a few days. Emma thanked the __________.

Later, a policeman __________ the hospital and Emma told him about the bag-snatcher. The policeman __________ a small bag. In it there were a lot of pictures of eyes and ears, hair and mouths. Carefully Emma took the small pictures and __________ a big picture of the young man’s face.

After two days, in a morning a policeman came to the hospital with Emma’s new shoes and an empty bag. “A little girl __________ them in the street and took them to the police station,” he said. “How kind she is! Thank you very much,” Emma said and felt happy, though she lost some money.

7 . Sometimes simple words can arouse great sentiments (情感). If a(n) _________ tells you “I’m so proud of you,” you can bet it will _________ your heart. Or in the _________ of Jensen Weiss, millions of them.

In a video his mom Christina Weiss posted to TikTok late last year and then _________ recently, the 2-year-old tells his mom he’s “so proud” of her. Why?

“You cleaned my room. You’re so _________,” he says. The original video was _________ more than 6million times.

Weiss told Fox News Digital she had cleaned her son’s room while he was out _________ with his dad. “I heard him run into his room and say ‘wooo0oooow’and then heard his little feet running to find me and I knew it was going to be _________ !”

She said she reposted it at the request of her followers in late March “to _________ joy whenever and wherever we can.”

Weiss said she’s had many __________ in her life, including mental health issues. Her recovery journey has __________ influenced the way she raises her kids.

“I __________ in an intensive recovery program that many of my bad choices were __________ my lack of self-love and the tough environment I grew up in,” the Moorefield, West Virginia mom told Fox News Digital. “I hope to raise children who love themselves more than anything and won’t ever let __________ factors change how they feel about themselves.”

Weiss added, “I hope they always know they are loved, they are enough, and they will always be amazing humans to their __________, no matter what.”

8 . Shi Huishan is a senior majoring in Microbiology and minoring in Public Health and Music. She was ______ in microbiology in high school after she first learned about the immune（免疫)system.

As a result of her keen interest in biology, she______ the Beck Lab. Her project was to study a ______ that she has been struggling with herself. However, her hard work in the lab has not come ______.Working in research is hard; Sometimes she will do the exact same experiment several times and get ______ different results for each. She will have to ______ doing the experiments until the data becomes ______. From the experiments she learned that solving problems is an extremely crucial step in research. 'That is what ______ science and research exciting and interesting.

As a senior, she talks about her ______ as a researcher. Whenever the data was inconsistent, she always ______ herself. She did a lot when she ______ started research. But now she actively looks for the possible causes and ______ team members in the lab. It is an important ______ for her to learn, to be ______ about herself. She wishes there are more opportunities for students to openly ______ the struggles they have in research. Doing research is not all about ______ data.

After ______ , she plans to take a year off working as a lab technician before applying for her Master's degree. She said, “Facing ______ is what pushes people to grow and do things you might have never ______ you could do. As long as you are ______ and believe in yourself, anything is possible.”

9 . We might look different and speak different languages, but most of us, especially the young ones, love sweets! One day we _________ one of the 15,000 orphan(孤儿)-led houses in Swaziland. Inside the _________ we found a beautiful little girl with huge brown eyes, Tanzile. I gave her a sweet from my bag and she said something in the _________ language. The nurse next to me _________: “She wants another one, doctor, to give to her little sister.” I said “_________” and gave her another.

Later that day, we passed by Tanzile’s house to say goodbye. To our _________ she seemed to be holding on to that _________ sweet I had given her. I thought she was _________ and had taken two for herself. But after the _________ had asked her some more questions, this is what we learned:

Tanzile is 7 now. Two years ago her parents __________ in the disaster. At the time of her parents’ death, she __________ her baby sister, who was three at the time, and has never seen her. But ever since that time, whenever Tanzile __________ anything from anyone, she refuses to accept it, __________ they give her two. In fact, in the little mud hut where she lives, we found a pile of old things which she has been __________to give to her sister one day.

I can still remember the nurse trying to __________ her that “ Tanzile, if someone gives you food, you must accept it, __________ it is only one piece and not two - for your own __________ and safety.” And it was so __________ for us to keep the tears from our eyes as she shook her head __________

On the way back, I thought of that old Eagles’ song — “When we’re hungry, __________ will keep us alive.”

10 . I grew up one of ten children on a farm in Wyoming. After my dad’s service in World War II, he was _________ again to fight during the Korean War, and when he returned home, he couldn’t drink _________ to numb (麻痹) his terrible memories. He struggled to_________ for his growing family.

On our occasional trips to town, I _________ out boxfuls of books from the library. When I opened a book, I could_________ myself in unknown places — where children weren’t hungry and were in _________ of little.

When I wasn’t daydreaming, my _________ was the life I shared with my brothers and sisters. At night I hid under the covers _________ to silence the sounds of life in an alcoholic home. Classmates asked _________ we didn’t have electricity or a telephone. I suppose my explanations were __________ more than lies, but the stories I told improved __________ every book I read.

Starting at a very young age, my siblings (兄弟姐妹) and I sometimes got jobs to earn money — to put more food on the family table. We __________ newspapers, babysat, and cleaned other people’s houses.

Mom grew vegetables, raised chickens, and baked bread, so we seldom went hungry, even when supper was only a pot of beans. __________ my real hunger wasn’t for food - it was a hunger for a better life. It was a hunger for knowledge about the world __________ our simple existence. It was a hunger to prove dad __________ when he told us we would never amount to anything.

Hunger motivated my brothers and sisters to achieve much __________ than our parents expected __________ us. We devoured (如饥似渴地吸取) the offerings of the public schools because we realized that __________ would be our steppingstone into a brighter future.

Now I’m__________ of the accomplishments of my siblings: an art professor; a well—known doctor; plus business owners. And me, I’m the keeper of the family stores. I’ll never know if we would have so many accumulated successes if we had not known __________ as children. But this I do know: I believe it can be a good thing.