2 . With a two-year-old behind me and fliers in my hand, I knocked on another door in my neighborhood. I had volunteered to spread the _______ about some changes at the local primary school, so I was excited to see a _______ with a baby in her arm and a preschooler tightly wrapped around her leg.

Within seconds, I realized I needed to _______ my rusty Spanish to connect with this mom. That initial conversation explained the lonely, desperate look in her eyes. I wrote my phone number on the flier and told her to _______ if she ever wanted to walk to the park with the kids.

I hadn’t _______ much about Maria until a month later when she called. Many walks around the neighborhood later, I _______ more details about her life that offered me some viewpoints about my own.

One day I sat at Maria’s kitchen table and shared some of my own family’s _______. Her eyes got big, saying “I thought I was the only one with problems.” I thought my stress was _______, but from her viewpoint, my life seemed to be a pretty package from the outside. By _______ the details of my life, I was able to give her the same gift of viewpoints she had been giving me.

Friendship can be discovered in unexpected places, as long as we find common ground with those who ________ might seem different.

3 .

My wife and I usually don’t keep houseplants. Anything in pots gets either overwatered or underwatered. But after my diagnosis with a brain cancer, I loved the idea of having something green and ________ around us.

Last year, my friend Mitch gave me a lucky bamboo plant. Tending to the plant gave me a sense of ________ at a time when I sometimes felt useless because my ability to move was limited. As a physician, I was used to being the one who ________ care. Watering the plant ________ me to a core part of my old identity and taught me I could still be a caregiver.

However, after several weeks growing in perfect condition, the plant ________ began to show signs of stress. No matter what I did, the leaves kept ________ and dropping to the floor.

“I can’t even care for a simple plant!” I yelled. “If my lucky bamboo dies, I might die too!”

Identifying with the green and growing plant had offered me comfort. But when the tree was struggling, I felt increasingly uneasy and ________.

It was several months later when I recovered from surgery that I realized I had wrongly linked my careful nurturing of the plant—something over which I had at least some control—with my own ________—something over which I had no control.

As my ________ lessened, I began to study online tutorials to figure out how to care for the tree. I transplanted it to a larger pot, and when it was back in the sunny window, we both began to thrive (旺盛) again.

Now whenever I look at the tree in its new pot, I make a point to relax and think of the things I can ________.

5 . The Turnaround

Anxiously, I looked through the roster (花名册) posted on the wall. My body _____ as I saw all my friends’ names but did not find mine. I could feel the tears building in my eyes. I felt _____ inside, like nothing mattered.

When I got back home, my father noticed my sullen walk and gloomy face, and asked me what was wrong.

“All my friends _____ the school team. Everyone! Except me…” I stammered.

“Well, what are you going to do about it? Are you just going to sit there?” he asked.

I didn’t know what to say, just shaking my head. I thought hard for thirty minutes about what my dad said, and it started making _____. Nobody was going to give me a _____ on that team. I would have to earn it.

_____, there was a gym near my school, so as soon as school was over, I biked to the gym and trained hard. I ran, dribbled, and shot until I _____ on the floor every single day. There were moments when I didn’t think I could keep on going, but I _____ through it. After all, I thought, hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

After almost a year, I tried out for my seventh-grade team with great confidence. Regardless of the outcome, I knew that I had worked hard and learned something about mental _____. The next day, seeing my name printed in large bold letters, I realized I made it. The greater the effort, the ______ the reward, and I officially made a turnaround.

6 . Online gamers constantly make life and death decisions at their keyboards-but it’s just a game. A Texas gamer was faced with a real-life situation and helped _______ the life of a fellow player - 5, 000 miles away.

Aidan, in England, was playing an online game in his bedroom when he had a seizure. His playing partner, Dia, in Texas, just put her headset on and heard what she could only describe as a seizure, so she started to get _______ and asked what was going on and if he was OK. When he didn’t respond, she _______ started to look up the emergency number in the UK. When that didn’t work, she just had to hope the non-emergency number would work. It had an _______ for talking to a real person.

Someone answered the call and she had to force herself not to _______ and to stay calm. “Hi. I’m _______ in the US and in a call with my friend.” Dia told the operator. “He had a seizure and he’s not responding anymore. I do have his _______. No one’s home with him right now, so I’m just trying to get him some help.”

Actually, Aidan’s parents were watching television downstairs and did not _______ their son was in danger until three police officers knocked at their door.

“We are extremely thankful for what Dia did and _______ that we could be downstairs and not know anything was happening, ” Aidan’s mother said. “Dia had our address but didn’t have any contact numbers, so it was amazing that she ________ to get help from so far away. I’ve spoken to her and expressed our thanks-she’s glad she could help.”

7 . On a cold November morning. Wade MacKinnon hiked around Mermaid Lake. In the _______ on the shoreline, something moved slightly and caught his eye. _______, he approached to find a balloon stuck in the branches of a bayberry bush. When he untied the string, he found a piece of paper at the end of it which read,

I’ve been missing you so much since you passed away. November 29 is my 10th birthday, but I will never receive your greetings...

Daisy”

It finished with a mailing address, almost 3,000 miles away. With tears in his eyes, Wade thought, “Such a young girl having to deal with _______. It’s awful!”

When back home, Wade placed the note in a drawer and _______ the balloon to the window of his room. Every day, the _______ of the balloon reminded him of little Daisy.

As the end of November was drawing nearer, Wade found himself thinking more and more about the poor girl. So he wrote a letter, put it into a birthday card and _______ mailed it with a book.

The _______ arrived just two days before Daisy’s birthday. When she opened it and found the card, “For a Dear Daughter...”, her heart _______.

“Happy birthday! I _______ to read your note, and feel sorry for you. I’m sure your daddy would want you to be happy. He loves you very much and will always be ________ you.” Tears began to roll down Daisy’s cheeks.

9 . Thursday would be huge. But when coach announced the championship game would be a night game on Thursday, Devin's heart _______. The concert was at the same time as the game. And Ms. Poltis had _______ Devin to sing a brief solo (独唱). Thinking the soccer team was on the edge of a title and he was a big reason — he _______ the league in scoring, Devin frowned (皱眉). He couldn't disappoint his team by _______ the game.

That night, Devin lay in bed, staring at the trophies (奖杯) from races, baseball leagues and free-throw contests which _______ his shelves. The solo was only four lines in the middle of a song, but the thought of singing _______ made him shiver (颤抖). He'd never sung a solo before. Now it was a relief to know he didn't have to. The soccer game was a perfect _______. While at the moment Ms. Poltis' words came to his mind "I chose you not because you're the best singer but because you work hard, like the person in the song. And you have a very nice voice. So don't be nervous. Be proud." It was no secret that several other choir members had _______ singing voices than he did. But he liked the song, and he _______ how kind and inspiring Ms. Poltis always was. Finally Devin made a choice and whispered the solo with ________, "no matter how hard the struggle. I will never let you down…"