1 . My father was a strong fisherman. He loved the sea and would stay out until he caught enough to ______ the family.

When we met ______ weather, he would drive me to school with his old track. And after we arrived, he would bend over and give me a ______ on the face and then tell me to be a good boy. I always felt very shy in front of so many other ______. I was already a twelve-year-old young man, but my father still kissed me goodbye!

Then on a rainy day I ______ to tell him my feeling. When we stopped at the school gate, the ______ big smile appeared on my father’s face. I ______ what would happen next. I ______ put my hand up and for the first time said “No” to him. The smile on his face immediately changed into a ______ look. He looked at me for a long time, and tears began to appear in his eyes. I was shocked. I had never ______ him cry! Then he said, “You’re right. You are a big boy... a man. I won’t kiss you anymore.”

Not long after that, my dad went to the sea on a bad day. Most of the ______ stayed at home, but not Dad, because he had a big family to feed. But after that day, be ______ came back. Later his boat was found with its nets half in and half out. He must have ______ a strong wind and was trying to save the nets.

How I wished I hadn’t ______ my father’s kiss! And from this I have learnt that we should take every chance with our family and friends as the last one in our lives. We can have ______ regrets(遗憾)by doing this.

2 . My wife and I moved into our home two years ago. We had a yard with a lot of ________. Very often when we have flowers, Denise or I would plant some between the rocks, just to add some ________ to the area.

Last summer, I found a tiny little plant in the yard that I could not immediately identify. I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise said she didn’t either.

We decided to let it ________ growing until we could find out what it was.

Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the ________ plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. I decided to ________ the weeds (杂草) around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something ________.The sunflower had not ________ where I saw it begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the ________.

That’s when I ________ that if a tiny little sunflower didn’t let a big rock stand in its way of developing, we too have the ability of doing the same thing. If we ________ ourselves like that little sunflower, we can reach where we ________ to go and get what we need for growth.

We need to believe in ourselves knowing we have the ________ to achieve our goals. Like the sunflower, it knew it had the ability to get over the rocks because it had ________ in itself that it would succeed. Stand tall like the sunflower and be ________ of who and what we are, and then the environment will begin to ________ us. We will find a way to go under or around any “rocks” in order to reach our goals.

3 . It is getting hot. It’s time to put on ______clothes and open up the windows.

Yesterday brought a(n) ______visit to the kitchen during the brief time we were out. Two daring sparrows(麻雀) had ______our kitchen.

When you come across such sudden visitors, you are ______to sense it as an action of intruding (入侵) into your comfort zone, or you might ______it as a lovely shining moment of life. We ________ the second option, without thinking twice. After all, we’ve never stopped feeling eager to strengthen the relationship with our sparrow each day.

We can’t stop ______and celebrating their dance from our window. We fed them with the ______ on our tablecloth after every meal. And we have ______ them with every kind of bases and stands on our terrace (露台).

______, they feel at ease in our backyard. And that has led them to ______courage to slip into our house. Perhaps because they have the feeling that we ______them as friendly neighbors who only leave some wastes from time to time.

The presence of our dear sparrow holds magical consistency(一致性) with real life. And we’ve been having lovely sparrows coming over lately, whose presence ______ us out of our boring daily routines and shows us the hidden beauty and charm.

Like different human beings, these sparrows often take different forms. We’ve met sparrows like those, of all shapes and colors. And they’re everywhere. Perhaps all of them are willing to call our _______, making us know they are there. They only ask from us not to be afraid of them or feel uncomfortable with their ______.

5 . One day, I was preparing for an important exam in the library and people kept disturbing me. I was getting more and more _______ and of course, the more upset I got, the less I was able to _______. The last straw (稻草) was when I heard someone singing _______ me. I turned around and saw a girl who seemed very interested in what she was reading. The fact that she looked like a friendly girl didn’t _______. However, it made me even angrier. I _______ my books, glared at her and whispered angrily, “because of your noise, I’ve been unable to study. You’re so _______!”

I left the library _______ hurriedly that I left my most important textbook behind. It was only when I got home two hours later _______ I realized it. I was so _______ that I almost cried. Just then, the phone rang. A gentle __________ introduced the speaker as Jenny. Jenny said that she had __________ I’d left my book in the library and, as my name was in it, she’d asked a __________ to get my phone number from their files (档案). She said that she could bring it around for me.

Of course you’ve guessed who Jenny was. She was the girl I had shouted at for singing. When I recognized her in the street, I was filled with __________ and apologized several times for my rude behavior. Jenny just laughed and told me she was glad to see that I’d __________ left my glare in the library! I couldn’t help __________ at this and invited her back to my apartment for a cup of tea.

We got along really well and ever since then we’ve been best friends.

6 . Around twenty years ago I was living in New York. ______   I had a lot of experience and a Master’s degree (硕士学位), I could not find ______ work.

I was ______   a school bus to make ends meet and ______ with a friend of mine, for I had lost my flat. I had ______   five interviews with a company and one day between bus runs they called to say I did not ______   the job. “Why has my life become so ______ ?” I thought painfully.

As I pulled the bus over to ______   a little girl, she handed me an earring ______   I should keep it ______   somebody claimed (认领) it. The earring was painted black and said “BE HAPPY”.

At first I got angry. Then it ______   me – I had been giving all of my ______   to what was going wrong with my ______   rather than what was right! I decided then and there to make a ______ of fifty things I was happy with. Later, I decided to ______   more things to the list. That night there was a phone call for ______   from a lady who was a director at a large ______ . She asked me if I would ______   a one-day speech on stress management to 200 medical workers. I said yes.

My ______   there went very well, and before long I got a well-paid job. To this day I know it was because I changed my way of ______   that I completely changed my life.

7 . Music is something I could never live without. Without music, I was ______ and would only talk when I was asked to. Music allowed me to ______ myself and be as loud as I wanted to. Singing my ______ out during choir (合唱) class, auditioning for choir concert solos, and ______ the school play, I felt the most like myself. There was nothing that could keep me away from my ______, until high school.

Everyone who wanted to be in show choir auditioned for the ______, including me. In the audition room, there was a piano, notes and different lyrics ______ on the chalkboard. I hit every note, and the ______ was amazing. When my audition was over, I took a breath of ______. Weeks passed and the list of who had made it into show choir was ______. I found my ______. “Angelica H. –– alternate (候补者)”. After I saw this, my ______ disappeared. My outside showed I wasn’t sad, but on the inside, my whole world had ______.

A year passed, I was at a ______ that also held karaoke to the customers. My parents let me go up and ______. Finally, I got enough courage to ______ a song by Sam Smith and started off. While I hit the high notes, people eating   ______ for me. I realized, I did not get into one program but that did not mean that I had to give up all ______. I still had that passion. The lesson learned was that if you are ______ or do not get what you want, and it is something you’re in ______ with, don’t give up.

8 . When 19-year-old Chloe Mitchell’ s senior trip was canceled because of the pandemic, she knew she couldn’t just lie around the house. Not only is she an ______ volleyball player with a healthy lifestyle, but she’s also a teenager. Being ______ in the house all day with your parents isn’t ideal — no matter how much you love them.

“I was bored. I was really depressed because quarantine (隔离) had taken away my senior year,” she explained. “I needed something to ______ worries in my mind. I needed ______ . labor I needed space ______ my family.”

As a self-described DIY obsessive (痴迷者), Mitchell saw the shabby shed (破旧小屋) in the yard, a relaxing space to call her own. Unfortunately, as she set about ______ the forgotten shed into a stylish vacation home — “She Shed”, Mitchell was upset that social-distancing rules meant she couldn’t invite her friends over. So she decided to share the ______ with her 34 followers on TikTok, ______ close friends, letting them know every step she did during the following days.

Over the next 10 days, Mitchell began to ______ the contents of her small shed first so that it could be cleaned easily. After that, she wiped down the original wooden beams (梁) before giving them a fresh layer of white ______ . Once the paint had dried, she hung fairy lights, ______ the space with plants and added a television and refrigerator donated by neighbors. She ______ built herself a daybed (躺椅) and bought a little bed for her dog, Lilly.

Happy to be out in the sun, putting her DIY skills to good ______ and sharing the experience with her friends, Mitchell could never have ______ what happened next. Known as “She Shed Girl”, Mitchell now has a(an) ______ 2.7 million followers on TikTok, ______ she shares DIY tips and moments of her life as a freshman at Aquinas College in Michigan. ______ by the success of her first work, Mitchell turned her attention to the family’s pool house, imagining it as a charming pub shed.

Commenting on Mitchell’s ______ shed renovation (翻新), the experts at Му Tool Shed DIY said, “Pressure levels have ______ rapidly in the last year due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now more than ever people need time to do something they love. Having a ______ space like a ‘She Shed’ can be perfect for this.”

10 . I was taking part in a meeting on business. And then I was catching an early _________ back home. I hadn’t got much _________ but thought I’d get some rest on the airplane. By the time I got on the plane, the best seat I could _________ was a back-row window seat. It _________ I was going to get my wish of a _________ flight home and get some rest. Right before the plane was _________, a young mother and her 6-month-old daughter got on the plane. The only two _________ seats were the ones next to me. I _________ thought my restful night would now be filled with the _________ of a baby.

In spite of this, I __________ and let her have the window and middle seats. As we started __________, she told me that ever since having children she was __________ of flying. I spent the next hour __________ the company (陪伴) of this lady and her baby girl.

__________ we were getting off the plane, I realized that it was nearly __________ for her to carry her baby and the __________ she needed to get. I __________ to carry her baby for her and helped her get her luggage at baggage claim (行李取件处). I __________with her until her brother came to pick her up.

I had __________ that day hoping to get some sleep on the plane. I ended the day with a great sense of __________ and joy. Then I had no intention (想法) of sleeping at all.