2 . It was snowing in the midwinter, in a rural highway outside of town. Pepper and Cooper, a pair of beagles (小猎犬) walked with great difficulty through the ________ night. Cooper, a father-to-be ________ the roadside for a spot, where his struggling companion might rest safely. Her way was made ________ by the new life growing inside her. They needed a ________, dry place safe from the bitter wind.

That December night, Gus Kiebel was driving home from work when he ________ the pair in the flash of his headlights. Feeling curious and ________, he parked his truck and ________ the animals. Gus ________ down and stretched out his hands to the beagles, which made no effort to ________. He ________ the dogs on the passenger seat of his truck. Then he ________ his phone and called the number from the dogs’ tags. A man answered and immediately grew ________ and impatient when Gus told him why he was calling. ________, the man declined to ________ the dog. These beagles were ________, no home at all in this world. Then he called his wife Katie. “You can’t put them back in the ________,” she said. “Bring them home.”

Without enough ________ for two more dogs in their small house, the next day, Katie took them to a shelter nearby. In the days following, Katie phoned the shelter ________ to check up on Pepper and Cooper. Soon after Christmas, the beagles were ________ - as a pair, by a loving family. This touching story speaks to the best of our nature. And when kindness and love overcome ________ and neglect (忽视), it can feel like the greatest miracle of all.

3 . Once we reach the age of 60 or 65, we all look forward to retirement and living a/an ______life. But that is not the plan for David Flucker from Scotland’s Edinburgh, who is 100-year-old. He______works three days a week at the St. Columba’s Hospice Care shop.

David ______ his 100 birthday this June, but went to work the next day______at the shop. David______ four hours traveling roundtrip to the shop, which he does______the weather. David started working in the ______ shop after he was______ with cancer and it took him two weeks to be cared for by the Hospice. He just wanted to pay it forward for the kindness he ______. “It is a ______feeling to be doing something, ” said the ______, who lives in Balgreen, Edinburgh.

“It is two buses and a 20-minute walk to get to the shop, ______two hours. I work three days a week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which are the ______days.” The grandfather-of-seven says the shop in Occan Terminal gets a lot of donations such as toys, books, jigsaw puzzles, and he has to ______them all to sce if they’re OK. But what he loves the most is the ______aspect of his work-when people come in just to chat.

On 22 June, when the senior ______100, the store held a window display on his birthday showing a few glimpses of his life. The store______ a post on the official page of the store where David’s workspace ______. The post shows how David has become an/a ______ for many around the world. Shared on Facebook, the post got many likes and______ and left social media users amazed.

4 . Fritz Sam was driving his Uber car when he picked up Jemimah Wei, who was on her way to LaGuardia Airport. ____Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood, Fritz saw a building on fire.

He asked Jemimah if she’d mind him pulling over to check it out. With Jemimah’s____, he went out to help.

Outside of the building a crowd had ____, and Fritz joined them in calling for the people inside to come out. And when someone said two people were ____inside, he was faced with the ____ of   staying safe out on the sidewalk or running into the ____ building to help those that remained.

Fritz chose the latter. He ____entered the smoke-filled building and went up the stairs. Then, he met one man who said he would ____the instant he picked up something ____ . So Fritz made a mental note that he’d ____the man before heading out of the building. Going up another set of stairs, he ____a woman who was too____ to move. He hurried forward to ____her and headed downstairs. Before heading out himself, Fritz listened for the man he’d ____seen. When he heard movement down the stairs, he ran back and rushed the man to the ____Back inside the car, Fritz got Jemimah to the ____ , and all in time to catch her flight. When landing, she ____photos of the burning building on a social networking website to ____her Uber hero. Jemimah’s thread caught the ____ of millions, making him so popular. Because of his ____Uber has decided to cover his vehicle rental fees for a year.

5 . I’ve been writing now for 34 years. It all started when I was just 18 years old.

As a boy ________, I probably read hundreds of books, including mysteries, science fiction, thrillers, and just about any other ________ of book I could find. I had a ________ for knowledge that never seemed to disappear, no matter how many books I ________.

Then ________, I found that I too had ideas of my own that I wanted to write and share. I wanted to share things that were full of ________, love and joy. I tried to ________ my desire at first, but as any writer will tell you, once ideas ________ inside of you, they don’t leave you ________ until you write them down. I didn’t have a computer, or even a typewriter, but I ________ a pen and a notebook and wrote down everything that was burning ________ of me.

When I was done, I didn’t know how to ________ my work with the world without Internet then. Finally I sought out the ________ of my local newspaper and asked if he would like to ________ what I’d written. He was a man full of both wisdom and kindness. He not only printed my first story but agreed to publish anything else I was ________ to write.

After that, nothing could stop me. Years later, I even self-published two ________ of my stories in book form.

Through my writing, I slowly became a ________ person. Writing allowed me to ________ the goodness and light that exist in us all. I also found that we are all ________, whether we put pen to paper or not.

With every choice we make, with every thought we think, and with every ________ we take, we are writing our own life story.

7 . Spring Festival means a lot for Chinese people. However, given the sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks in different places, many cities ________ residents in any city with confirmed COVID-19 cases not to travel during the holiday in order to prevent any more outbreaks. ________, I stayed in Beijing during the Spring Festival of 2022. It was my first Spring Festival in China. I ________ it with my Chinese friends.

Several of Ralph’s coworkers came to our apartment to have ________ with me. They brought the meat and dough (面团) to make the ________ dumplings. While I was not ________ in making them, I certainly did enjoy eating them. As soon as all the food was ready, we ________ to enjoy the delicious foods.

Linda brought me Spring Festival couplets ________ good wishes and asked me to paste them on the door. Scott ________ me with many firecrackers. Some students gave me paper cuts to ________ my windows.

Eric invited me to ________ his family to spend New Year’s Eve together. Among the many ________ at dinner, they served a ________ fish. However, I was told we would only be eating half the fish that night because the ________ of it would be eaten the next day. This was done to ________ the good fortune over into the following year since leftovers are thought to be a ________ of prosperity. After dinner, we watched the Spring Festival Gala together. A martial art performance ________ me deeply. The show entitled “Walking Clouds, Flowing Water” starred three tai chi ________ practicing their moves on top of landmark buildings in three cities: Shanghai, Chongqing and Guangzhou of Guangdong province, which was amazing. I went to my ________ at midnight.

It was a very happy time and we have many good ________ of this festival holiday.

8 . The young couple looked dusty, tired and worn out. _______down the window, I asked, “Where are you_______? ” The woman replied, “We were supposed to meet our mate there, with the car, at the crossroads.” My husband and I_______each other and nodded our agreement in giving them a_______. We opened the trunk and they put their packs inside.

Although talking was difficult with the steep and_______road, we discovered that the wife came from Edmonton, Canada and her_________was from the Netherlands. They had been out on the_______ for four nights, seen about 12 bears, not much_______because of the smoke from the big wildfire in Glacier National Park. We were having_______problems with the poor air quality. We________how my husband and I had backpacked along that same trail many years ago and our own________of searching for bears.

I asked them if they wanted any more help from us, ________ they said they could manage themselves. They had__________ to go back to her mom’s in Canada, regroup, and then__________ round the world for a year, maybe Bali, New Zealand, but they weren’t________ sure yet. For now, they were looking forward to________ their friend and getting a special pizza because they had________ a lot before about how good the pizza was.

I gave them each a big “bear” hug, with blessings (祝福) for a________ journey. I put some cash into the young woman’s hand,__________ her “Get some pizza! Our treats.” I smiled, thinking of them ________pizza and good wishes from kind strangers—my husband and me.

9 . Long ago, people happily lived under the rule of a king. The people of the kingdom were very _________, as they were wealthy and had no problems.

The king decided to travel and visit faraway places of great historical importance. He chose to travel by foot _________ he could talk to his people. People from these areas were very happy to have a _________ with their king.

After several weeks, he _________ to the palace. He was quite happy to have visited many places and seen his people. _________, he felt a lot of pain in his _________ because it was his first long-distance trip on foot. He _________ to his ministers that the roads were covered in stones and weren’t _________. He said he was very _________ about the people who walked along them.

He made an order to __________ the roads of the whole country with __________ so that people would feel happier and more comfortable. His ministers were very __________ to hear his order as , thousands of cows would have to be __________ for leather and it would also cost a lot of money.

A wise man from the ministry came to the king and said he had another __________. The minister asked the king:“Why do you want to kill so many cows to cover the road with leather? Why not cut a piece of leather in the right __________ to cover your feet?”

The king was __________ by this idea and praised the minister. He ordered that a pair of leather shoes were to be made for himself and for each of his countrymen.

Many of us __________ our surroundings and never understand that we can make a __________ourselves. Changes are unavoidable, and they should __________ us. We cannot or should not __________ others to make them.