1 . We always celebrated my Dad’s November birthday on Thanksgiving Day, even after he entered a nursing home. As years went on, these events took on a(n) ______ meaning — a traditional birthday party for Dad, and a personal deep sense of ______ for all that he had done for me in my life.

When we knew that it might be Dad’s ______ birthday, the whole family decided to come together for a huge birthday celebration at the nursing home. It was a crowded party ______ all of us sitting around him.

Dad was a wonderful ______, and here was the biggest audience he’d ever had.

During a quiet moment, I announced that it was now Dad’s turn to ______ stories from us. I wanted everyone to tell Dad ______ we loved about him. One after another, we told stories from our hearts, while Dad listened with wet, ______ blue eyes. However, we ______ all kinds of lost details of the memories — stories about when we were little, stories about when Dad was young and stories that are shared as family ______ . Even the littlest grandchildren couldn’t ______ to tell their grandfather why they loved him. For a man who had been kind to so many people in his life, here was our ______ to honor him.

A few months later, at Dad’s memorial service, we fully realized what we had given Dad that night. Those were the stories people normally tell at a ______. They are told, then, full of tears with the hope that the departed will somehow hear the outpouring of love. ______ we had given those loving ______ to Dad when he was ______, told through laughter, accompanied by hugs and joy. I’m sure the stories and memories ______ over in his mind during his last months and days.

Words do ______, and they are enough. We need to say them, to speak them ______ to the ones we love, for everyone else to hear. That’s the way to ______ love and our chance to honor a person in life.

2 . We may have heard that it’s never too late to pursue your dreams. Now, a man _________ that to be true by achieving his lifelong _________ after 84 years. Earlier this year, 101-year-old Merrill Pittman Cooper _________ his high school diploma during a surprise graduation _________. His family worked with local school officials to _________ the celebration.

Cooper attended Storer College from 1934 to 1938, but life condition _________ him from finishing school and earning his _________. Without his father around, his mother worked as a live-in housekeeper in order to _________ his school tuition and board, but that wasn’t _________. After realizing his mother couldn’t __________ to make the final tuition payment for his senior year, the teen __________ her to move them to Philadelphia to be closer to her family.

In Philadelphia, Cooper worked to help his mother pay the bills and he was __________ as a city trolley (有轨电车) car operator in 1945. That job led him to a long and __________ career in transportation where he __________ became president of the local union in Pennsylvania and later vice president of the International Transport Workers Union in New York City. But despite such a successful __________, he always regretted not graduating and getting his high school diploma.

But now, after 84 years, Cooper was __________ able to see his lifelong dream come true. His family got the idea to __________ him with the honorary high school diploma. Cooper could hardly __________ his tears when he discovered their plan.

The whole thing was a dream come true for Cooper, who now __________ his diploma proudly from its perch (栖息处) on his bedroom dresser. “I can’t think of a __________ day,” says the inspiring 101-year-old man. “I’m really happy to have it.”

3 . When I was a little boy, my parents and I lived in my grandma’s old house. It was ______ by four huge vegetable gardens. In the spring and summer, it was so______ there with some colorful flowers. That wasn’t all, though.

On the back porch Grandma had dozens of potted plants. She watered them, talked to them and ______ them. And in the winter she would ______ them all inside and set them on shelves near the ______ to get some light. There with a lot of love she kept them growing even during the ______ months.

As a boy I was ______ by all the hard work she put into them. I ______ the vegetables she grew, as they helped to ______ the family all winter long. However, I couldn’t understand why she put so much ______ into looking after those potted plants. They didn’t ______ us any food and they rarely had any flowers. It ______ a mystery (奥秘) to me for a long time.

Now as a(n) ______, I can finally understand why Grandma had those potted plants. It is the ______ reason I have so many pictures of sunrises and forests hanging in my house. They tell me that light, love, and growth still ______ during the dark winter. They make me know that spring will come again and that’s what I always say to my son.

Today I ______ Grandma’s potted plants in a new light. Every bit of her ______ for them is worth it. But my greatest ______ of light and love is Grandma herself. She is light to my soul ______ in the darkest times. And her love will live ______ though she passed away years ago.

4 . British Marathon runner Luke Grenfell-Shaw realized his dream of cycling from Bristol to Beijing. When he was 24, he felt a ________ ache in his left shoulder and was ________ with cancer, a very rare and ________ sarcoma (肿瘤). Born in a loving and supportive family, the young athlete ________ picked himself up and found the strength to continue his adventures. Luke accepted the painful ________ and was determined to live to the fullest while ________ chemotherapy (化疗). Halfway through the chemotherapy, he ________ the Bristol Half-Marathon in one hour 20 minutes and 8 seconds, and he ________ his eyes farther away.

He ________ a cycling campaign from Bristol England and all the way to Beijing China to raise the ________ about cancer. The ________ was round 30,000 kilometers and across approximately 30 countries and regions through all kinds of landscape and weather, from snowfield to grassland, attracting over 800 ________. During this journey, cancer patients from other countries ________ him, telling the world that they can live with the ________. It was a school of hard knocks, but Luke has learned to live for today and let the ________ take care of itself. At that time, the dream remained ________ due to COVID-19. But this year with no ________ on travelling, Luke could finally continue his schedule. Before, China was the endpoint and the destination. Now, China has become his real focus of the trip.

Landing in China, Luke found it was not the destination but a(n) ________ through life. What Luke was really hoping to do was something a bit different, and ________ as many people as he can to ________ life.

5 . Those in the food industry understand the difficulty that comes from working with people. No matter how much you try, some customers are never _______. If you make one mistake, some people are likely to lose _______. This situation took place at a McDonald’s in suburban Atlanta.

A customer approached the drive-through window _______. He threw a drink back at the pregnant fast food worker who _______ it to him. Most would find that unthinkable. However, he himself felt _______ because the drink was not what he _______.

Bryanna was the _______ in this incident. It was so _______ to her that she couldn’t even _______ what was happening. She was ________ and covered in ice and soda.

The ________ next in line who witnessed what happened was Feroza Syed. She ________ the incident via Facebook after things took place. “I’ve never seen anyone ________ that way, especially to do that to a pregnant worker, which was just ________.”

When Feroza approached the drive-through window, she ________ the fast food worker a cash tip to comfort her. She had yet another ________-set up an online registry for Bryanna’s baby. Feroza ________ maybe she could raise $300 or $400 for Bryanna to buy something nice. But by 24 hours later people had ________ $1,700. Feroza is just obviously going crazy with ________.

Through this, Feroza and Bryanna have become friends. It’s just ________ to see such love and happiness.

7 . When I learned that our community library was hosting a Book Nerd Challenge, I got excited. My granddaughter and I needed a little _______   to increase the quality of the books we read, so I suggested we _______ .

The goal was to read fifty books in a year. I’m an English teacher. This didn’t seem like much of a _______ . Then, I read the small _______   that there were fifty different categories ranging from historical non-fiction to a book with a red cover. Not so _______ after all.

The experience created a _______ between my granddaughter and me. We read a couple of the _______ novels, but we mostly read different titles. However, we had interesting _______ based on the similar themes in our books and we _______ the authors’ styles, different genres, and our favorites. With fifty categories to choose from, I ________ my all-time favorite I read once and several classics.

________ , inspired by a stubborn need to meet the goal, I ________ myself to make time to visit the worlds and characters of the novels. During the Book Nerd Challenge, sometimes I made excuses for ________ when I was unwilling to continue. But after a year, reading became a ________ I desired. My life became more ________ as I grew intellectually. Reading made me uninterested in TV programs. The realistic stories of life ________ the unrealistic dramas on the screen.

Now I find books can provide a better ________ . Perhaps the greatest benefit I ________ through my increased reading is the ________ it has on my writing. Reading improves my vocabulary, models unique styles, provides new insights, inspires new ideas, and stimulates a desire to ________ other authors’ successes.

9 . People always tell me I was brave to apply to medical school in my 30s. But for me, the bravest thing was to ________ from being a doctor 10 years later.

I’d always wanted to study ________ to help release the world from sufferings, but believing I was not bright enough, I left school at 15 and didn’t return to education ________ my 30s. ________ the fact that the commute (通勤) was tough and the money was ________, I kept going this time. I dreamed of becoming a doctor who made a(n) ________.

I spent five years at medical school learning ________ to fix things, but after graduation, when I worked in a hospital, I soon discovered there were many things in life I was unable to ________. It wasn’t the workload I struggled with, though. What I found really ________ was the emotional load. As a doctor, I knew I would ________ upsetting things. I knew I would watch people die and I knew I would see the most awful things. However, being always present at all these moments became a ________ for me.

I knew I needed a solution ________ it, and I finally ________ writing. Writing allowed me an escape, a door into another world, and it also helped to ________ my anxieties. Writing, something I had started as a form of treatment, now gave me success, an exit card, and a chance of self-protection. ________, I was wondering whether I was a doctor or a writer. Having thought thick and thin, I ________ my job and took the writing.

It was not a decision I made ________. I knew if I didn’t put ________ first, I would eventually disappear.

I still work on the wards (病房) now, but as a(an) ________. There are times when you need to focus on yourself. If you have walked so far down a rough road, you may find it ________ to head back because walking away is often the safest route of all.

10 . It’s most people’s nightmare: surviving a plane crash only to be stranded (滞留) in a jungle with no way of contacting the outside world. But this was ________ for four Colombian children.

The children were ________ with their mother from their village in the Amazon to visit their father working overseas. The ________ they were taking experienced engine problems and ________ on May 1, 2023. Bad weather ________ the army from finding the crash site for two weeks, where they later ________ the dead bodies of three adults, including the children’s mother.

How did these children survive conditions that would be a ________ struggle for most adults? They are members of the Huitoto indigenous group (土著群体) and were ________ in the jungle. As such, they have an intimate (深刻的) understanding of the rainforest. They know which fruits are ________ to eat and which plants should be ________. Working with, rather than ________ the Amazon, they survived off of juan soco (a fruit similar to passion fruit) and seeds.

While the children got on with the business of ________, the Colombian army worked with indigenous ________ to find them. After 40 days of ________, the children were found and taken to ________ at a military hospital in Bogota.

Many around the world have taken their survival to be a ________, but others ________ that it is the result of a(n) ________ and intimate knowledge of the rainforest that has been ________ through indigenous communities over the generations. It is their close connection to and understanding of the rainforest that ________ helped the children to survive.