3 . “I can’t decide!” Carter told his mom. He had a big ________ to make, and he was ________.

“You have to.” Mom took a sip of her coffee. “It’s not ________ for both boys to think you are coming to their parties. I think you should go to Tyler’s party. He invited you ________ and you told him that you were going. ________, it will be at the lake! You love to ________.”

“I know. But, Josh is having a go-kart (赛车) party! That would be ________!”

Four days later, Carter was riding a bike for Josh’s party. He ________ told Josh or Tyler that he would not be ________ their party. They were both ________ him to attend. He ________ to tell Tyler that he wasn’t coming, but he felt so ________ about it. Tyler was his best friend. But go-karts! How could he possibly ________ this golden chance? As he arrived, Josh’s sister, Kayla told him they had already left for the party.

Carter stood at the door, stunned. He ________ the party! It started one hour earlier than he thought. No go-karts! How could he have made that kind of ________? Maybe he could still ________ it to Tyler’s party. Sweat trickled down his sides as he pedaled home. His T-shirt clung to his back. He would have to ________ clothes before he left for Tyler’s house. When he pedaled home, the door was locked. “Mom!” he yelled outside. No ________.

Weary, he dragged his feet over to the porch (门廊) and plopped down. Right now, his friends were ________ racing around a go-kart track or swimming at the lake. He had to wait for his family to ________ home.

5 . Yesterday, a salesman called me to sell his phone plans. I was at work and as I usually don’t like spending time on those things, I _________ myself that I couldn’t talk yet and _________ that he call me back at 6 pm.

That’s what he did. So we talked about 20 minutes. He _________ to me his different phone plans. While listening to him, sometimes I was_________ in thought. I gave several “hmm hmm” as a sign of agreement and to_________ that I was still there. Sometimes, I felt a bit _________   . But I stayed calm and _________ until the end of the discussion.

Finally, he said the following to me: “Thank you, Olivier. You are the first person in a long time with whom I had an enjoyable conversation. _________, people shout at us and slam down the phone. Today, since 10 am, I haven’t had a phone _________ without arousing anger. I know you had a long day at work and you could have   __________ in front of your TV. But you listened so carefully to me. I am __________ and I sincerely thank you.”

It set me thinking. He had been the __________ of verbal violence (语言暴力) all through his working day. Physical __________ do not exist in this situation but dehumanization (去人性化) seems to happen. __________, he was only doing his job. I felt a sense of   __________ that I hadn’t treated him so rudely.

6 . One day a famous painter painted a picture. He put it on exhibition with the title “Not for_______”. However, it was so beautiful a painting that whoever_______that exhibition asked the painter to sell that painting for whatever amount he would_______it. But he said, “I'm extremely sorry but I can’t sell this for any amount. I will sell it to only that person who will understand its_______.” Then, an old man came over and said, “I want to buy this painting and here is the_______in this small box for it.” There was a paint brush and colors in it. Then, he gave that painting to the old man.

All the other people asked the painter with_______, “Why did you sell it for a paint brush and a few colors to this old man? We were_______you a huge amount for this painting.” The painter said, “If you_______the painting, there is a man who is teaching a kid to paint with so much_______. So, the man in the picture is this old man and that kid is me. He is my teacher who taught me to paint and made me become what I am today just thanks to his devotion and________. And, the real value of this painting is just a paint brush which is________by my teacher as this paint brush is more________than your wealth. With this paint brush I can paint many more paintings.”All people understood and________the bonding(情谊) of a teacher and his student.

A teacher always gives his best wealth to his student in the form of knowledge, wisdom and art with a(n)________that his student will________make use of it.

7 . It was 2002. It was suggested that I should learn to drive, so my father decided to teach me. Easier said than done. The driving plan was quietly ________ after I almost crashed his car into a stone wall. My next ________ was in 2006. This time, the ________ was a very nice friend. But after three sessions, he ________. “I can’t teach you,” he said. “You have no ________ at all.” To be honest, that was ________ to me. Actually, I thought I was afraid of many things—thunderstorms, forest fires, bears, but these were not the ________ kind for driving.

Nine years later, I had a life partner — Graeme Gibson — and a baby. One day, Graeme got his ________ seriously bitten when he helped ________ a dog trapped in the wire fence. Even so, he had to drive himself to the hospital ________ thanks to my inability to drive.

This accident ________ me and awoke my desire for learning. “That’s it,” I said, “I’m learning to drive.” I must qualify myself to ________ and protect my family. This time, I ________ a professional instructor. Despite various   ________, I got my license finally. I was pleased with myself: it seemed I now had the appropriate kind of fears. Learning to drive makes me a more grown-up and ________ adult.

8 . At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. She started________out of fear. With a panic stricken face and trembling ________, she started jumping with both her hands ________ trying to get rid of the cockroach. Her reaction was so strong that everyone in her group also got ________. The lady finally________to push the cockroach away but it ________ on another lady in the group.

Now it was the turn of the other lady in the group to become ________. The waiter ________ forward to their rescue. In the relay of ________ , the cockroach next fell upon the waiter. The waiter stood firm, calmed himself down and________the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt. When he was ________ enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.

Drinking my coffee and ________ the amusement, my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering if the cockroach had the ________ for their acting behavior? If so, then why was the waiter not ________? He handled it near to perfection in a calm state.

It is not the cockroach, but the ________ of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies.

9 . Standing in front of the bike shop, Dave stared at the shiny red bicycle in the window. He could _______ himself riding the bike in Saturday’s race and winning the first-place medal and prize money. “With that bike, I could even beat Adam,” Dave thought.

He rode on and stopped at Peck’s clothing store. The coat he planned to buy his mother for her birthday was still on sale. Dave knew she would _______ buy it for herself. She worked hard just to make _______ meet. But the prize money would be enough for him to buy that coat and surprise her.

Dave looked at his old bike. Two years ago, he found some old bicycles at the _______ and used the parts to make one bike. He called it his recycled bike. “I’ll never _______ the race on this old bike,” Dave sighed.

As Dave passed the junkyard, he noticed a newer-looking bike tire. He started _______ the huge junk pile. Finally, he found what he was looking for. “These two tires and the handgrips (手把) are just _______ for my bike.”

Arriving home, Dave put the used tires and the handgrips on his _______ bike, and oiled the chained. He stood back and admired the _______ he had made. “I might win that race after all,” he said to himself.

The next morning, when Dave and his mom got to the park, about thirty kids had already __________. Dave headed for the start line __________ Mom found a seat at the finish line.

Bang! The riders rushed off. Dave __________ Adam, who was in the lead. He __________ to pass one rider after another and was approaching Adam. Leaning forward, Dave pedaled harder and faster. __________ he sped by Adam and crossed the finish line.

As the announcer awarded Dave the medal and the check for fifty dollars, he asked, “What are you going to do with the prize money, Dave?”

“It’s a __________ ,” Dave said and waved to his mom.

10 . Daniel lived on top of the hill. From his house, he could see the sea and the _________ below. One day, the villagers _________ something different about the sea. The sea seemed to be moving from the land. _________ of the villagers knew what was happening.

Daniel understood what was going on. He had seen such a(n) _________ when he was young. A tsunami (海啸) was approaching and the villagers had to be _________, but there was no time to send a message to the whole village.

“Jack!” he _________ to his grandson. “ _________ a torch quickly!” The boy did what he was told. Daniel took the torch and set his _________ on fire. Immediately, red _________ shot upwards and thick smoke rose into the sky.

Jack cried out, “Grandfather! Why are you setting our house on fire?” Daniel did not answer. __________, he stood quietly and watched the village. Suddenly, some villagers noticed the __________ and shouted at everyone to run up the hill to help put out the fire. When Daniel saw everyone running towards him, he was so __________. The villagers did their best but they __________ to control the fire. Daniel’s house was completely burned down but he stood on the hill __________. They thought Daniel had gone __________. They stared at him in disbelief.

Finally, Daniel said, “__________ towards the sea.” The villagers turned and saw a huge __________ of water rushing towards the village. They were __________ to see the water swallowing the whole village and __________ everything in its path.

Nothing was left of their homes __________ everyone was safe on the hill. The villagers realized why Daniel had set fire to his house.