1 . The whole school was talking about the coming trip at a winter camp. And everyone was ______ , except me.

“I’ll hate it,’’ I told my parents. “I’ll get homesick. I’ll look stupid at winter sports, and everyone will ______ me.”

“You might be surprised, Bree,” said Mom. “The only way to find out is to ______ .”

“It，s what growing up is all about,” Dad added.

When ______ the camp, we were asked to share one ______ .

“I’m afraid I'll be homesick,” someone said.

I wasn’t the only one?! I began to ______ . After lunch,

we were asked to ski (滑雪）down to the field. I skied   ______ , but I still hit a piece of ice and ______ .

“Ha! Ha! ” Behind me, somebody started laughing. I ______ to see who was making fun of me. To my _______, I saw a girl in the same awkward position as I was in. “I thought I’d be bad at this, ______ I’m worse than I expected!” she said.

______ , I started laughing too. After being so ______ of falling, it was a comfort not to fear it anymore.

At dinner time, I was so happy to be talking about interesting things that I ______ to feel homesick.

The next day, I was ______ to try ski jumping first, even though I didn't want to. But when my feet left the ground, I felt I was ______ and it was wonderful.

Maybe Dad was right when he said, “You might ______ it if you give it a chance!’’

Maybe the kind of ______ Mom and Dad were talking about had more to do with my outlook than my looks. We all ______ not fitting in and failing when we try ______ things. Sometimes you’ve got to fall on your face to discover how much you’ve got in common.

2 . Her nickname was Fort. At first, life seemed great for her. _______, when she was in her late twenties, she had cancer. If there was ever a case to be put into the "Life isn't_______" folder, this was it.

As Melissa(her real name) battled cancer, her nickname seemed most _______. She was a fort(堡垒)_______. During her battle to overcome cancer, she seemed _______ and she held up. She was a little battered(受到重创的) after the_______, but somehow she remained standing. She fought that cancer for five years _______ it finally beat her.

Those around Fort felt _______ her. No one seemed to _______ Melissa's cancer or death very well, except Melissa herself.

Melissa "Fort" dealt both her cancer and death with an amazing attitude. She________ each day she had in her last five years. Though she________ that her life could be ________, she lived it to the fullest. Each day, she was________ and kept a sense of humor. Fort started a daily blog to record her battle with cancer and encourage others never to ________. And that blog worked.

Fort________ the pain of cancer. She also showed everyone how________ life could be. The________of her blog seemed to be simple, which is "live each day to the fullest, because it can be your last."

Fort's blog ________ me. I realized if I kept putting my dreams off until tomorrow, my tomorrow might ________ come. So six months before turning fifty, I told myself to________ writing. I wrote story after story. Now, three years later, I've had articles published in national magazines.

3 . I took my son to a popular restaurant for a lunchtime treat. And it seems everyone else had the same_______. The place was full of_______!

I drove around the small parking lot(停车场) for10 minutes_______a spot (位置). Finally I_______ one. A lady was returning to her car so I_______ her and waited patiently. As I did this I looked in my rear vision mirror (后视镜) and_______ a young man quickly pull up behind me. As soon as he saw my indicator (转向灯) on for the spot，he seemed very_______ and began hitting his steering wheel(方向盘). I knew this wasn’t directed at me but at the disappointment that he had_______ a spot. I felt his_______. I too had been__________ the place for ages.

As the lady left I__________ something that surprised even me. I turned off my indicator and drove straight past. I let the man__________the spot.

The man behind me was__________, unsure what to do.__________ I lowered my window and gave him a(n)__________ to take it, calling out at the same time "It’s yours.”

I__________ driving further down the road to another car park, where although I had to walk quite a bit further, I was__________ I could. Perhaps the man couldn’t walk easily as his__________ wasn't as good as mine? I will__________ know. But I knew the spot__________more to him than it did to me, when I saw him react the way he did.

4 . I learned how to accept life as it is from my father. _______, he didn’t teach me acceptance when he was strong and healthy, but rather when he was _______ and ill.

My father was _______ a strong man who loved being active, but a terrible illness _______ all that away. Now he can no longer walk, and he must sit quietly in a chair all day. Even talking is _______. One night, I went to visit him with my sisters. We started _______ about life, and I told them about one of my _______. I said that we must very often give things up _______ we grow — our health, our beauty, our friends — but it always _______ that after we give something up, we gain something new in its place. Then suddenly my father ________ up. He said, “But, Peter, I gave up ________! What did I gain?” I thought and thought, but I couldn’t think of anything to say. ________, he answered his own question, “I ________ the love of my family.” I looked at my sisters and saw tears in their eyes, along with hope and thankfulness.

I was also ________ by his words. After that, when I began to feel angry at someone, I ________   remember his words and become ________. If he could replace his great pain with a feeling of love for others, then I should be ________ to give up my small anger. In this ________, I learned the power of acceptance from my father.

Sometimes I ________ what other things I could have learned from him if I had listened more carefully when I was a boy. For now, though, I am grateful for this ________.

5 . Born in America, I spoke English, not Chinese, the language of my ancestors. When I was three, my parents flashed cards with Chinese ________ at my face, but I pushed them ________. My mom believed I would learn ________ I was ready. But the ________ never came.

On a Chinese New Year’s Eve, my uncle spoke to me in Chinese, but all I could do was ________ at him, confused, shaking my head. “Still can’t speak Chinese?” He ________ me, “You can’t even buy a fish in Chinatown.”

“Hey, this is America, not China. I’ll get some ________ with or without Chinese.” I replied and turned to my mom for ________.

“Remember to ask for fresh fish, Xin Xian Yu,” she said, handing over a $20 bill. I ________ the words, running downstairs into the streets of Chinatown.

I found the fish ________ surrounded in a sea of customers. “I’d like to buy some fresh fish,” I shouted to the fisherman. But he ________ my English words and turned to serve the next customer. The laugh of the people behind increased ________ their impatience. With every ________, the breath of the dragons on my back grew stronger—my blood boiling—________ me to cry out, “Xian Sheng Yu, please.” “Very Xian Sheng,” I repeated. The crowd burst into laughter. My face turned ________ and I ran back home ________, except for the $20 bill I held tightly in my hand.

Should I laugh or cry? They’re Chinese. I’m Chinese. I should feel right at ________. Instead, I was the joke, a disgrace (丢脸) to the language.

Sometimes, I laugh at my fish ________, but, in the end, the joke is on ________. Every laugh is a culture ________; every laugh is my heritage (传统) fading away.

6 . Jeremy Locke, 25, has his own roofing company in Bridgeport, Nova Scotia. For a couple of years before he began his_________, he would drive past the home of Jeanette MacDonald, noticing the_________state of her roof. He was_________—not just for the elderly woman but also for the children living with her. So Locke_________to lend a helping hand.

The young man knocked on MacDonald's door and_________to fix her roof for nothing, "I didn't know who the woman was, but I wanted to_________this for her and her grandchildren," he explained to The Chronicle Herald. However, despite his kind_________, the woman politely turned him down.

MacDonald and her_________left an impression on Locke. He saw_________between the woman and his own grandmother, and couldn't bear to see her in this__________. He had also grown up without much and felt that he should use his skills to__________.

A year after Locke set up his own roofing company, seeing that the roof was__________in a state of disrepair, Locke returned to MacDonald's home and asked MacDonald if she wanted to enter a raffle (抽奖) his company was doing for a__________roof. The 70-year-old woman__________the chance, but little did she know that there was no__________.

MacDonald's relief__________Locke's kindness is immeasurable, "I could win $1 million but it wouldn't make me as__________as knowing I'm getting a new roof on. Jeremy is__________something. He's a guardian angel (守护天使) sent from God."

The__________should cost about $ 9,000 in terms of materials and manpower. However, the only thing Locke wants in return is a home-cooked meal for his staff from the woman who__________him of his grandmother.

7 . Four weeks after you were born, I still served in the navy(海军). Had I _______in the navy, I would always be leaving you. So I left the navy and applied to Bowdoin College and was _______----though, at 27, I was considered a very_______student. Your mother was having a _______time. She reached a_______point, so I took you to school with me.

It was very_______at the beginning. I feared Bowdoin knew it, so I didn’t_______you to anyone. For the first_______, I lived off campus and worked at night. I had to take you in sometimes and_______you in the closet(壁橱). Working, studying and taking care of you filled all my life. I________27 pounds just from stress.

I________that I could do it myself, but it was getting very difficult. A woman helped me move to________ housing during the second semester. I was the first single________raising a child on campus.

________, you were a healthy child. You were quiet and didn’t________anyone. And you________school right away. I would take you to________and give you things to do, and you would just sit at a desk and do them.

My graduation day was________. I carried you in my arms to get my diploma. All my classmates stood up and________. They gave me the only standing ovation(欢迎) of the day. It________what I had endured(忍耐) for the past four years.

8 . John entered a college and often worked late until 12 at night.He fell into the _______ of smoking a year ago.He smoked so much that he_______had a cigarette on his lips.He_______ while he read，while he watched television and _______ while he drank a cup of coffee or tea.He smoked nearly forty cigarettes a day, but he was _______about it.

John's friend，Frank，_______many times to _______ him not to smoke.“Smoking is bad for your _______!” he said, “You’d better give it up.”But his advice didn’t _______.

Before long，John ________ that he often got a bad cough，________ he went to see a doctor.The doctor________ him carefully and asked whether he often smoked.John told him the ________.Then the doctor told him that his cough was ________ by smoking and he wouldn’t get any better unless he stopped smoking.

“If not,” said the doctor, “you will never ________ from your cough and some other illnesses may also be caused.” John became ________ and made up his mind to give up smoking.At the beginning，it was very ________ for him.Every ________ when he wanted to smoke，he got something to eat.At last，he was not ________ smoking at all.And he no longer had ________ .

9 . I had reached the age of twenty-eight. Still, I _________ whether the letter from my past would make it to me, all these years later. It was a _________ writing task from when I was eighteen. The teacher collected our letters to our _________ selves in self-addressed envelope with stamps and promised to _______ them ten years later. But since so much time had passed, would he even _________?

Thinking back on the _________, I recalled giving my future self some advice. When you’re eighteen Years old, twenty-eight seems like a _________ age, but I wasn’t feeling as mature as I believed my younger self had _________ me to be.

When the letter finally reached me, I opened it _________. It began, “How much do you bet this letter will never get to you?” It continued to greet me casually __________ we were having an IM (instant messaging) chat. As a senior in high school, facing the __________SATS and college application, my eighteen-year-old self was so ________! She was apparently not quite happy and hoped I wouldn’t worry so much in the future, and that I wouldn’t forget to be present and __________ my life!

________ to my belief, my eighteen-year-old self did not have any demands of me, or expectations I might have __________ meet. Instead, she wrote, “I’ll __________whatever you do. Even if you are not the one I’m imagining now, I’ll support you, because maybe__________ I’m imagining is someone else, but you’re not someone else, you’re me.

I was __________, and tears welled up in my eyes at this __________ through time. I had put a lot of pressure on myself to be the best version of myself that I could be. ________, I came to realize what I would have accomplished in ten years would pale in comparison(相形之下) to how I’d feel and who I’d be.

10 . The Parents’ Lifesaving Touch

On March 25, 2010, Kate and David heard the words every parent feels frightened of: Their newborn wasn’t going to make it. Their twins—a girl and a boy—were born two minutes apart and 14 weeks premature(早产的), ______ just over two pounds each. Doctors had tried to save the boy for 20 minutes but saw no ______. His heartbeat was nearly gone, and he’d stopped breathing. The baby had just minutes to ______.

“I saw him gasp(喘息) weakly, but the doctor said it was no ______,” Kate told the Daily Mail five years later. “I know it sounds stupid, ______ if he was still gasping, that was a sign of life. I wasn’t going to give up ______.”

In an effort to cherish(珍惜) her last moments with the tiny boy, Kate asked to ______ him. The couple knew this was likely a ______.

Kate removed the hospital blanket ______ the boy, whom the couple had already ______ Jamie, and ordered David to take his shirt off and ______ her and the boy in bed. The first-time parents wanted their son to be as warm as possible in their arms and hoped the skin-to-skin contact would improve his ______. They also talked to him.

“We were trying to entice(说服) him to stay,” Kate told the Daily Mail. “We explained his name and ______ he had a twin who he had to look out for and how hard we had tried to ______ him.”

Then something completely ______ happened. Jamie started ______ again. Finally, he reached for his father’s finger.

The couple’s lost boy had made it.

“We’re the ______ people in the world,” David said.

Eight years later, Jamie and his sister, Emily, are happy and ______. The parents only recently told the kids the story of their ______. “Emily burst into tears,” Kate told the Daily Mail. “She was really upset, and she kept hugging Jamie. This whole ______ makes you cherish them more.”