1 . In March 2022, I was recovering from an operation for breast cancer and going through a terrible time. I spent my days at home ________ everything to myself. Then one of my colleagues suggested ________, “Why don’t you pick a couple of days and go to Ireland and escape?” I ________ the tip.

The trip was fun, but when I got on the ________ to go home, I wasn’t feeling well. My plan was to sleep for the ________ journey, but the guy next to me looked ________, eager for a conversation because he had kind eyes.

“I had an operation,” I said ________. “I had breast cancer.” He paused for a moment and said, “What’s wrong with that? Breast cancer is just a small ________ of your life, like going to college or getting married.”

I could feel my eyes ________ up with tears.

“Don’t think too much of your problem,” he said. “Instead, think about how many people you could help.”

I had tears coming down my face, and said, “I can’t ________ I’m crying in front of you. I don’t ________ know you.”

“Look, you have a ________ in life,” he said. “You can either ________ your things deep in your pockets and take them to your grave (坟墓), or you can help someone.”

I’ve not been a very outgoing person, and except the few people who needed to know, I’d kept my illness ________. I didn’t want to be ________ as a defective (有缺陷的) person.

But this man, whose name was Ken Duane, showed me that my illness gave me ________, because it gave me the ability to ________ someone else’s load. I decided at that moment that I was going to try to help others by sharing my story ________, in the hope of inspiring those who were in the same or similar situation. Later that year, I talked about my illness and my ________ with Ken on air.

I am forever ________ that I never took a nap on the flight over the Atlantic.

2 . A farmer owned an old mule(骡子) One day the mule _________ into the farmer’s well(井)unluckily   The farmer heard the mule _________ He tried every possible way to save the mule, but _________ .

After carefully thinking about the situation, the farmer _________ that neither the mule nor the well was worth greater efforts _________ , he called his neighbors together, told them what had happened, and asked them to help carry dirt to cover the old mule in the _________ and put him out of his _________ .

At first, the old mule was mad! But as the farmer and the neighbors _________ shoveling(铲土) and the dirt hit his back, an idea _________ to him.   Every time a shovelful of ____________ landed on his back, he would shake it off and step up!

This he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up!” He repeated to ____________ himself.   No matter how painful the blows, or how ____________ the situation seemed, the old mule overcame his fear and just kept right on shaking it off and stepping up!

It wasn’t long before the old mule, tired out, stepped ____________ over the wall of that well! What seemed to have destroyed him actually ____________ him all because of the way in which he dealt with his adversity(逆境)

That’s life! We should face our problems and respond to them ____________ , and refuse to give in to fear, bitterness, or self-pity.

3 . The mission of Faces of Santa Ana is to lovingly engage the homeless through art. In July 2015, Brian Peterson and his wife had just moved to Santa Ana, California with a burning desire in their hearts to love their neighbors. Outside the couple’s fourth-floor apartment, a(n)____ man was often yelling on the street corner, sometimes keeping them ______ at night. Peterson, 28, would pass the guy on his way to work as a car designer, but they never _____ .

One day, Peterson was relaxing in his living room, reading the book Love Does, about the power of love in action, when his ____ disturbed by the homeless man. _____ by the book’s compassionate (有同情心的) message, Peterson made a(n)_____ decision: He was going outside to introduce himself.

In that first _____, Peterson learned that the man’s name was Matt Faris. He’d moved to Southern California to pursue a career _____, but he soon fell on hard times and _____ living on the street for more than a decade.

“It was a strange thing to me,” Peterson recalled later. “I saw ______ on the face of a man who hadn’t shaved in probably a year. And the ______ inside of him inspired me. ”______ Peterson, a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art, hadn’t picked up a paintbrush in about eight years, he found himself asking if he could ______ Faris’s portrait. And Faris said yes.

Peterson’s _____ with Faris led him to form Faces of Santa Ana, a nonprofit organization focused on _____ and painting portraits of members of the community who are unhoused. Peterson sells the 30-by-40-inch canvas(画布) — signed by both subject and artist—for a few thousand dollars, and put half into what he calls a “love account” for his _____.

Many of Peterson’s new friends use the donations to secure immediate ____ — medical care, hotel rooms, food. Faris used the funds from his portrait to record an album, realizing his ____ dreams.

Peterson has painted 41 of these portraits himself. He’s discovered that the buyers tend to connect to the story of the person in the painting, finding ______ and often friendship with someone they might have otherwise overlooked. “People often tell me, ‘I was the one that would cross the street. But I see homeless people ____ now,” Peterson says. “I didn’t know that would happen. ”

7 . Backpacking (背包旅行) through Africa, I always carried some food with me _________ I couldn’t find something to eat.

I was _______ through a local market one day when I saw a jar of _________ jam (果酱). I could find tins of apple and strawberry in every corner store but this was the _________ time I had seen peach. I took it.

For the next few weeks, when I was feeling the need for a little _________, I would carefully _________ the lid (盖子) and spoon a bit on to a biscuit. Mmm, delicious. I didn’t _________ it with anybody. It was put safely in my _________, taken out on only special _________.

Once cold and cloudy afternoon, while I was waiting for a local bus, it started to rain. Everybody looked for ____________ and so did I. But I was already wet through so I quickly searched through my pack for some ____________ clothes.

In my hurry to ____________ further discomfort (不适). I forgot that the jar of jam was ____________ in my clothing. One forceful yank (猛拉) and my __________ jar of jam crashed (碰撞) to the concrete ground, breaking into pieces.

I was so sad that I almost cried. And then, in the corner of my eye, I noticed an old woman in rags (衣衫褴褛的) ___________. Without hesitation (犹豫), she bent down and picked up the half of the jar that still looked ____________. Still ____________, she stuck two fingers into the jar, scooped out (舀出) the __________ jam and placed it into her toothless mouth. Carefully, like fish bones (鱼刺), she ____________ the pieces of glass. She studied the broken container ____________ she was certain that there was nothing left. Then she left.

My bus arrived shortly after and, as we drove off, I wondered if the jam would taste the same to me.

8 . Benjamin Franklin said, “If you want something done, ask a busy person.” That’s how Abreu practices.

During his years at Kellenberg Memorial High School in the US, Abreu made community service an important part of his life. “I don’t know where he finds the _______to do everything,” said Abreu’s math teacher.

Abreu took part in different _______ activities after school, during weekends and summer holidays. These _______ helping in the public library, doing landscape (景观) work at Kellenberg and serving _______ at a local restaurant.

“My appreciation for service has guided me into _______,” said Abreu. “It’s a feeling of _______ to help someone.”

During his years at high school, Abreu _______ between 40 and 50 hours of his time each year doing volunteer work — more than double the school’s _______ of 20 hours every year. For all his hard work, Abreu was welcomed into a leadership club that _______ students’ volunteer activities.

Abreu thanked his parents for ________ him to do the right thing, saying, “They are the ________ people I know.” He ________ when he was about 6 years old, his mother invited several children from poor families nearby to have dinner. Upon ________ the children’s happiness, Abreu got an idea of how he wanted to live his own life — “I won’t ________ on what I want. I’ll ________ as many people as I can,” he said.

9 . I was sitting on a medical table. Beside me was a woman in scrubs (手术服) talking about the ______ weather recently. I ______ all the other people laying back on their medical tables too. Each one of us had a ______ in our arms with a long tube running down from it ______ a plastic bag below. Each one of us had come to ______ blood to help others, make the world a better place, and perhaps even ______ a life.

It was the local blood drive and I had driven 12 miles across ______ roads to get there. I tried never to ______ one even in the wintertime. ______ all the time and effort it took, I felt ______ to be able to give this gift back to others. I had been ______ with so much in this life: a loving family, ______ friends, adorable pets, a comfy home, and enough money to ______ my needs. The gifts I had been given felt wonderful, ______ the one thing that brought me more ______ than anything else was giving something back. The more you ______ , the more you get in ______.

There are so many ______ you can give in this life too: a smile, a few dollars, a caring letter or e-mail, and even a pint of blood. Each one of them is ______ and precious. May you fill your life with giving then. May you fill your life with ______.