1 . The Afrikaner culture that I grew up in has a delicious tradition-baking lots of different types of cookies at Christmas. We bake for days on end to fill our cookie tins, and prepare cookie baskets and boxes to _________ to friends and neighbors.

I have a friend from a different _________ background. She also loves cooking and baking. When she heard that I was planning a baking day, she was _________ She talked me into promising to teach her how to bake my Christmas cookies.

A week before Christmas, it was _________ baking day, We both envisioned (想象) the beautiful and tasty _________ that we would make for our families, friends and neighbors.

The baking got off to a slow but determined start. The techniques and skills that had used countless times were new to my friend. And some of them would be _________ to an experienced baker, let alone a first-timer. On my own, I’d have done it quickly and correctly. But by midday, I could feel my _________ rising. Teaching my friend had put us well behind _________ .

There was, of course, any easy solution I could _________ and just let her watch. But I had promised that I would teach her. So we decided to __________ the variety of cookies bake more of the simpler versions and get creative with the icing. At the end of the second day, we had 20 beautiful gift boxes, each displaying a mouth-watering selection of cookies.

My friend couldn’t wait to get home and share the __________ of her labors with her family. Seeing how proud she was, I was doubly __________ that l didn’t act on my thought to do everything myself just because it would be __________ . Not only would I have robbed her of an opportunity to __________ but I would have robbed her of that new-found __________ and the pride she felt at having achieved something new.

2 . One day, Howard Kelly, a poor boy who was trying to make his living by selling newspapers door to door ______   suddenly he found that he only had one dollar left on him. He was_______ hungry that he decided to beg for a meal at the next house. However, his face was ______ when a lovely young girl opened the door.   Instead of a meal, he just asked for a drink of water. But the girl knew that he was _____, so she brought him a large glass of   ___. He drank it quickly.

“_____ does it cost?” asked the boy.

“No penny,” answered the girl, “Mother told me never to receive anything for a kindness.”

“Then I am very ____ to you.” said the boy, leaving that house with many thanks. After a while, when he turned back, he was surprised to see the girl still standing there, smiling at him. ______he went, he would never forget her!

_____later, the young woman became seriously ill and she was sent to the hospital where Dr. Howard Kelly works. At the first______of her, he recognized her at once. ________he wish to tell her that he was the boy she gave milk years ago! From that day_______ he was determined to do his best to save her life. Every minute _____, the woman was quickly operated on.

After a long struggle, Dr. Kelly never gave up and in the end he made_______ in the operation. The woman recovered. Dr. Kelly asked to pass the final ____ to him for approval (批准). When the bill arrived at her, she was afraid to open it because she knew it would take the rest of her life to pay it _____. Finally to her_____, she tearfully read these words... “Congratulations______you! No Money! _____in full with a glass of milk!” _____by Dr. Howard Kelly.

3 . As the late afternoon sun beat down, Brandon finished feeding his cows and decided to call it a day. His two sons, Louie, 6, and Everette, 3, had tagged along.

As they ________ the house, the two boys ran ahead of their father. Unfortunately, Louie fell into a well for the board covering it had, over time, grown ________.

When Brandon realized what had happened, he ran to the well, and instinctively, he jumped in. With several desperate ________ he grabbed Louie, who was ________. However, there was no way they could climb out.

Looking up to see Everette, who was looking down at them from the ________ of the well, Brandon shouted, “Everette, you’re going to have to be a big boy and save us. Run to the road and ________ the mailbox until someone stops. Tell them we need help.” Everette did as he was told.

Minutes passed like hours as Brandon and his trembling son waited for ________. Finally, Everette’s face appeared ________ the well. “Daddy, are you still down that hole?”

“Yes. Did you get some help?”

“No.”

Brandon’s heart ________. “That’s OK, honey. But you have to go back out to the road and get someone to stop. OK, Everette?”

“Ok, Daddy.”

About 15 minutes later, Christi and Mark Mckenney were driving by ________ they noticed Everette. They ________ and asked if he was OK. “My daddy’s in a hole,” he told them.

The couple piled Everette into their pickup and drove onto the ________, and the boy pointed them to the well. Forty—some minutes after he’d jumped into the well, Brandon and his son were eventually saved. Other than some slight ________, Brandon was fine, but Louie suffered hypothermia (体温过低). ________, he was healthy enough to return to school a week later.

While the rescuers have been hailed as heroes, Mark isn’t ________ it. “We’re just neighbors helping neighbors. If there is a hero in this story, it’s three-year-old Everette. He’s a real lifesaver.”

6 . I still remember the first time I told my then-six-year-old son, Lev, that a clam(蚌) makes calls with its “shell phone”. The laugh of _______ when he first got the joke was a moment I won’t ever forget. When I told it a second time in front of his friends Henry and Amir, I could see how _______ he was that I had made his friends laugh.

By Lev’s ninth birthday party, things had begun to change. After the seventh or eighth time I asked him “What do you call some with no body and no _______?” he simply _______ his eyes. “I get it, Dad…”

“…Nobody knows!”

“Stop it, Dad!”

I’m pretty sure I heard him say “Sorry about my dad” to his friends as they all ran _______ to play on their phones together.

I used to be the life of every party. When I was only an uncle, all the kids loved my jokes. Sure, there were other dads with theirs, but I felt as if _______ ever stole my honour. My wife long ago turned a blind eye to me, but she knew that my never-ending _______ for laughter from kids, no matter how _______ , was in my blood.

I tell you all this because after a lot of soul-searching, I’ve come to realize that I’ll never be able to _______ my past success. I need our relationship to grow. I need to be able to talk to my children, about topics ________ how a witch’s car goes “broom, broom”.

Thus, I’m offering my entire ________ of jokes for sale on the open market. I’m ________ with them all and it feels like the right time to sell my legacy(遗产) to some ________ new dad. As with all great works of art, my jokes are ________. But I can tell you that the first time you get your kid to laugh at the line “l don’t trust lifts because they always ________ you down, you’ll feel its worth any price.”

7 . “Never give up! Never give up!” chanted (反复唱) my two young kids, Max and Charley, as they _________     barefoot behind their grandmother Mimi. Mimi was leading them on yet another _________, straight off the beach where they had played before. This time, they were _________ the ice-cream truck.

Over the years, Mom taught me just how much one could achieve with a _________ attitude. She has taken the same _________ in her relationship with her grandchildren. Max and Charley were disappointed at missing the ice-cream man that day. That was until Mimi’s eyes _________ and she said, “Never give up!”. She explained that the truck might be gone, but they could hurry to find it at its next _________.

They walked block after block. Not knowing which direction the truck had taken, they had to make a(an)_________ guess about where to search. My kids’ tiny legs were tired, but they moved on, continuing to chant, “Never give up!”.

After about twenty minutes of walking, Max began to _________ his faith in the mission. He wondered out loud, “Maybe we should give up. We have been walking pretty far and haven’t seen the truck yet.” Charley yelled, “No __________ ! Never give up!” and continued her chant with Mimi. Somewhat doubtful Max __________ without protest.

Just two blocks later, they found it. Mimi threw a triumphant(展示胜利的) fist in the air, and Max and Chariey screamed with __________, “Never give up!” At that moment, my mom had done for my children what she had done for me countless times. __________ though it was, that phrase has become our battle cry for the challenges we face. Whatever setbacks they __________, I know I can always look at Max and Charley and say, ^“Never give up!” Upon hearing those words, they are instantly __________ to a positive state of mind—where the next ice-cream truck is just around the corner.