3 . A famous scientist made several important medical breakthroughs. Some people _________ why he was able to be so much more creative than an _________ person.

He owed it to a(an) _________ with his mother that occurred when he was three years old. He had been trying to remove a bottle of _________ from the refrigerator when he lost his grip on the _________ bottle and it fell, spilling its contents all over the kitchen floor. Instead of _________ at him, his mother said, “Robert, what a _________ mess you have made! I have rarely seen such a huge pond of milk. Well, would you like to _________ in the milk for a few minutes before we clean it up?”

Indeed, he did. Later his mother said, “Now it is time to clean it up and _________ everything to its proper order. We could use a sponge, a towel or a mop. Which do you prefer?” He chose the sponge and __________ they cleaned up the spilled milk.

Then his mother __________ him to go out in the back yard and fill a bottle with water to see if he could discover a(n) __________ way to carry it without dropping it. The result proved to be a success! What a wonderful __________! Mistakes were just opportunities to learn something new, which is, after all, __________ scientific experiments are all about.

Wouldn’t it be great if all parents would __________ the way Robert’s mother treated him?

5 . It all started with a simple question: “Can I paint your portrait?” Outside the Brian Peterson’s fourth-floor _________ in Santa Ana, California, a homeless man was often yelling on the street corner, sometimes keeping him _________ at night. Peterson would _________ the guy on his way to his job as a car designer, but they never spoke.

One day, Peterson was _________ in his living room, reading the book Love Does, about the power of love in action, when his quiet was _________ by the homeless man. Inspired by the book’s compassionate (有同情心的) message, Peterson made a(n)_________ decision: He was going to go outside and introduce himself.

In that first _________, Peterson learned that the man’s name was Matt Faris. He’d moved from Kentucky to _________ a career in music in Santa Ana, but he soon fell on hard times and _________ living on the street for more than a decade.

Maybe the life inside of Faris inspired him. And even though Peterson, a __________ of the Cleveland Institute of Art, hadn’t picked up a __________ in about eight years, he found himself asking if he could paint Faris’s portrait. Faris said yes.

Peterson’s connection with Faris led him to __________ Faces of Santa Ana, a nonprofit organization focused on __________ and painting portraits of members of the community who are __________. He sells his portraits signed by both him and the subject. The money he gets will go toa “love account” for his __________. Faris used the funds from his portrait to record an album, fulfilling his musical dreams.

6 . I was 68 when I first stepped on stage as a standup comedian in 2003. I’d never set foot in a comedy _______ before. I’ve always been a(n) _______ — I’ve worked as a singer, actor and musician — but all that came to an end after 9/11. I live in New York, and we watched the _______ towers fall from my apartment building. For a year afterwards, nobody wanted to go out or be _______.

It was then that I started to think about comedy. I realised people needed to laugh, to enjoy themselves again, and thought that with a little _______ I could do it. I took a few classes, tried to work out a routine, and finally _______ the courage to get up on stage. That first time was terrifying. I had no idea what the audience would _______ of me.

In New York, comedians are _______ young men with beards. It’s hard enough to _______ through as a woman, even harder as someone old enough to be their grandmother. As I stepped on stage that first time, people laughed nervously. They were clearly ________ to see me. I introduced myself, stated my age and tried my first joke. There was ________. But by the time I got to the third line, people were properly laughing. I was ________.

Now my sets differ. I might be on stage for 10 minutes in front of a dozen people, or my one-woman show is a full hour in front of a crowd of 100.

After a show, people young and old come up to me, saying what a(n) ________ I am. They say they want to be as active as me when they ________ my age. I’m pleased I can show that as an older person you don’t need to take a ________ seat in life.”

7 . Recently, video clips of Zhang Jianna, a sanitation (环卫) worker, directing foreigners have gone viral online. Her _________ English and confident _________ in the clips have deeply impressed the viewers, _________ curiosity about how an ordinary-looking sanitation worker _________ such impressive English skills.

Behind the sensation _________ a decade-long journey of persistence. In 2012, Zhang Jianna took on the role of a sanitation worker in the embassy area of Sanlitun in Beijing’s Chaoyang district. A special _________ while working has motivated Zhang to learn English by herself, a pursuit she continues with determination to this day.

“My goal is quite simple. I just want to help whenever someone is in need, whether asking for directions, inquiring about visa _________, or telling them about the embassy area I am responsible for,” said Zhang.

Thus, at the age of 40, Zhang has embarked on a personal _________. Without a tutor, she began learning English from her children’s textbooks, starting with basic words and phrases commonly used for giving _________.

With no fixed study hours, she utilized every __________ moment. While others rested, she memorized vocabulary and practiced speaking. Upon arriving home after work, she would write down new knowledge points and __________ them until she thoroughly understood them. Over the years, she filled over a dozen notebooks with her notes. Her __________ posed her biggest challenge. “__________ is key to learning English. Learn step by step, learn every day,” Zhang said.

When asked about the greatest __________ of learning English, Zhang emphasizes self-confidence. “Growing up in a rural area without a college education, I sometimes feared being looked down upon. But every time I help a __________ in English, I feel incredibly accomplished.”

9 . I used to hate being called upon in class mainly because I didn’t like attention drawn to myself. And unless otherwise ________ a seat by the teacher, I always chose to sit at the back of the classroom.

All this________ after I joined a sports team. It began when a teacher suggested I ________ the basketball team. At first I thought it was a crazy ________ because I didn’t have a good sense of balance, nor did I have the ability to keep pace with the others on the team and they would tease me. But for the teacher who kept insisting on my “________ for it”, I wouldn’t have decided to give a try.

Getting up the courage to go to the tryouts was only the half of it! When I first started ________the practice sessions, I didn’t even know the rules of the game, much worse what I was doing. Sometimes I’d get ________and take a shot at the wrong direction, which made me feel really stupid. ________ I wasn’t the only one "new” at the game, so I decided to focus on learning the game, do my best at each practice session, and not be too hard on myself for the things I didn’t ________ “just yet”.

I practiced and practiced. Soon I knew the rules and the “moves”. Being part of a team was fun and motivating. Very soon the competitive________ in me was winning over my lack of   ________.

With time, I learned how to play and made friends in the process-friends who respected my efforts to work hard and be a team player. I never had so much ________!

With my improved self-confidence comes more ________ from teachers and classmates. I have-gone from “________” in the back of the classroom and not wanting to call attention to myself, to raising my hand-even when I sometimes wasn’t and not 100 percent   _________ I had the rightanswer. Now I have more self-confidence in myself.