1 . When I was invited to an Indian friend’s sister’s wedding, I knew it would be the opportunity of a _________. I was definitely not wrong.

The ceremony _________ in a brightly decorated hotel room. There were hundreds of guests, all dressed up in formal, colourful clothes. According to _________, the bride was wearing an eye-catching red silk sari.

I did not understand all of the traditional customs._________, a few made a deep impression on me. One was the bridegroom’s entrance on a beautiful white horse. I had _________ seen that back home! Another was the part when the father proudly _________ his daughter through the rows of seats to her husband. It _________ me of my sister’s wedding. Although our cultures are so _________, the smiling faces are the same.

The following customs were not _________ at all. The couple joined hands and walked around a small fire four times. Then they took seven steps by the fire, and each step made a different promise about how they were going to __________ each other and live together happily. It was very romantic!

3 . When we seem to have finally obtained things we’ve worked hard for, most of us tend to think that we can relax and enjoy life. ________, life has some rude awakenings for us.

This was the ________ for Stevie. He worked hard and years later, he was able to buy a really nice home on a cliff ________ the ocean. It seemed that all his work ________ and that he had finally realized his dream.

Well, as life would have it, along came the events over which he had no control. Above all, the ________ started to erode (风化) badly from the ________ winds and rains over the years. What was once a one-hundred-foot backyard was rapidly ________ week by week, and to make matters even ________, he became badly ill to the point where he had to take lots of time off from work.

Then the most ________ things happened. The backyard totally disappeared and what was __________ was the back of the house sitting dangerously on the edge of the cliff. What was even more __________ was that he had no house insurance because the family could not get any from insurance companies who knew of the __________. No insurance, and so sick that he couldn’t work—now what? A person who thought he had finally reached the __________ and now only to find almost everything had __________ through no fault of his own.

The good news was that he wasn’t done—friends, neighbors and even those who didn’t know him __________ responded to fund-raisers to help him start over.

Life has a way of turning around and __________ us from behind and even kicking again when we are really down. But life also gives us a way __________ if we don’t give up. There is __________ and comfort as well as—an opportunity to start again if we have a __________ to move forward. Keep focused on new life and move beyond all those things that may __________ us to the present.

4 . In the August sun, it was unbearably hot in my car. I was in Vancouver, ________ the Knight Street Bridge as I tried to get home after work. ________ was already slowing down and then it came to a full stop. I was ________ even before getting on the bridge.

Ahead of me was a heavily jammed road. I stared at the endless rows of ________, depressed. But I stayed     ________. When the cars did move, I moved carefully, making sure not to crash into other vehicles. Finally, I made it onto the ________. The traffic was still moving ________ at a snail’s pace. Tired and hungry, I became very anxious.

Just then, I heard a faint sound ________. The sound gradually became louder, until I could ________ it as an emergency vehicle drawing near from behind. What did we do? The bridge was ________. There was no room for us to move.

But I was wrong. Every single car quickly, yet carefully, moved to the side. Without thinking, I ________. The lane remained open for a few seconds during which the ambulance ________ through.

Afterwards, every car moved back into formation (队形), and we continued our patient ________. I forgot my exhaustion and hunger. My anxiety was gone.

How did we do that? Despite our exhaustion, we collectively decided to help the stranger who needed the time more ________ than we did. We drew on our sympathy and intelligence, requiring no ________. Together we could make the impossible possible.

5 . When I was in third grade, my family moved from a house in the countryside to a house in town. My parents sold the first house before they bought the second, so we were _______ for three months. During that time, a family friend _______ us their very small fishing cabin. The cabin had one bedroom, a small living room, a _______ kitchen, and a lounge where my brother and I slept in a bunk bed(双层床铺). It was a(n)_______ time for my parents. All of our routines were disrupting. But I loved it.

I loved the bunk bed, where I knew my brother was right above me, close enough for me to _______ and grab if need be. I loved that there were no other _______ anywhere nearby, so my brother had to play with me. I loved that as I went to sleep at night, the light from the living room and the_______ of my father watching TV were just a few feet away.

In that period of disruption, I loved the closeness that we relied upon our small cabin. In our normal lives, I wouldn’t have dared to ask my brother to play with me instead of his friends. I couldn’t have_______ to share a bedroom with him.

_______, my parents found a new house and we moved into it. It was bigger than our old house and much bigger than the cabin. But I mourned the loss of the cabin and, particularly, the loss of the ____________.

6 . I used to have a “dream job”. At least, that’s how many people saw it. It was a highly   desirable government position that included a guaranteed _______ and a lifetime medical plan. It was also nearly impossible to get fired. But I was _______ every day. As soon as I _______ in work, all my energy—and in turn, all my desire for life—faded away.

Instead, I thought about my side business. For a few years, I’d been _______ an auto shop in my home garage. I _______ in repairing classic cars. At one point, I hung up a picture of my favorite automotive shop as a source of _______. I knew the owner’s story well: He has a _______ work schedule, but his passion for work never faded.

In 2019, one of my clients offered me an actual industrial space to upgrade my shop. I was _______ to say yes. Could I really expand my business and keep my government job? Was it wise to give up something with so much _______?

Then it dawned on me: The “dream job” had a guaranteed retirement plan for people who work there for 30 years—but after 30 year, would elderly me look back and ________ not seizing the opportunity to do things on my own terms? I had my ________ .

In 2020, I left the dream job to run my business full time. In 2021, I somehow kept the business afloat, and we________ into a shop that’s double the size. The print that meant much to me back then deserved a place at my new location.

It is now proudly ________ in my humble shop. It serves as a reminder to hold myself to my passion. ________, this path has not been easy. Since starting my own business, never in my life have I been so tired and frustrated. But I live on my own terms and ________ every second of life.