2 . People often drop into a gloomy life and are unable to get rid of the mood.

There once was a poor and discouraged salesman, _________ every day that there was no platform for him to display his ability and the fate was often pulling his legs.

On Christmas Eve, every family decorated their houses _________ lanterns. But he was alone sitting on a bench in a park and _________ the past. It was on the same day last year when he was also drinking his Christmas day away _________, without new clothes, new shoes, _________a new car and a new house.

“Damn! I have to spend this Christmas day with these old shoes again.” he _________ and began to _________ the old shoes. Suddenly, he found a young man in a wheelchair passing by him with his hands painfully pushing the _________ forward. It _________ him that he was so lucky to have shoes to wear while that man did not even have the __________. Afterwards, the salesman did everything with a calm mood and cherished every opportunity to __________ himself. He worked hard and tried his best to make progress every day. Several years later, he __________ changed his life totally and became a millionaire.

If you look all around, you will __________ there are so many people who were born disabled in the society but they are __________ in life and never complain about the unfair destiny. They are also not to beg others’ alms(施舍). __________, they constantly strive to make themselves stronger and more __________to serve the society. __________, we should feel ashamed. We are born __________, but we complain about our colleagues and — dissatisfied with our jobs.

Maybe all of us would feel afraid when we __________ we have fallen into such discouraging state of life, but worse is that you even do not realize you have fallen into such a __________ situation.

3 . Last Sunday, our family went to a nice restaurant. The meal was ____ and we all had a good time just being together. When the waitress ____ the check I looked down at it. The gift card (代金券) covered almost all of it. I reached into my wallet to get enough cash to cover the rest. I saw two ____ in the front of it. The first would cover the rest of the bill and give the ____ a nice tip. The second bill was much larger so I reached down to ____ the first one.

At that moment my ____ flashed back to 30 years before. I was working in a restaurant. It was long hours of hard work for low ____. I went home just barely making enough to feed my young family. I also ____ how more than once I saw the waitresses ____ about how they were going to pay the rent and buy their kids the things they needed. I saw the ____ in their eyes and the sadness in their faces at the end of the day.

I was back in the present ____ my fingers touching the smaller bill in my ____. I smiled, pushed it back down, and ____ the much larger bill. I ____ it around the gift card (代金券) and covered both of them with the ____. As we all got up from the table I ____ them to the hard working waitress. “You keep the ____”, I said with a smile and a ____ heart.

We are all one family in this world. We live together, rejoice (庆祝) together, and suffer together. Do your best to be ____ then. Do your best to be a good person. Do your best to replace the ____ with joy.

5 . Six weeks before his 97th birthday, Giuseppe Paternò realized the dream of a lifetime. That is, he got a university _______.

Mr. Paternò’s graduation has _______ news coverage around the world, _______ because of his age. But he has also drawn _______ because his life story _______ commitment. It’s a theme that has been _______ to what people think as millions of schoolchildren in Italy and elsewhere face extraordinary _______ during the coronavirus pandemic (新冠疫情).

Born in a very _______ family in Palermo in 1923, Mr. Paternò was the first of seven children. He began to _______ soon after finishing elementary school. It was only after he retired, in the mid-1980s, that he returned to his ________.

“His story is a ________ that dreams can come true and that you can remain ________, if not in age at least in spirit, if you develop ________,” said Rossella Cancila, his adviser and a professor of history at the University of Palermo.

Italy’s university system is based on a three-year degree, followed by a two-year master’s ________. University officials are hoping that Mr. Paternò will ________ his studies.

Mr. Paternò isn’t so ________. “I have to admit that in this moment, I don’t know whether I would ________ it with the same spirit,” Mr. Paternò said, ________ that all the attention had been a bit tiring. ________, Mr. Paternò said, he would probably register ________. “I want to keep my options open.”

7 . I woke up to rain loudly hitting my window. It was the most __ alarm I’ve had this school year. Weekends are my only chance to sleep in, but I couldn’t. My brain was __ and full of ideas, so I finally decided to get up and finish my English __ homework.

I drove to a nearby coffee shop and began my observation process, __ notes on what was happening. When I __ over at the parking lot, an elderly couple in a car caught my __. After parking in the handicapped space, an old woman __ on the passenger side and slowly walked over to help her __ husband out of the car. They entered the shop holding hands together.

Immediately they sat down at the table by me, another car __ in the parking lot, with all four windows rolled down. The __ driving it had turned their speakers up so high that I could __ their music inside the coffee shop. But they were not bad kids.

All of them were __ moving their hands and bodies to the __. They were so young and __, with easily-spread smiles.

A series of __ flied from my mind, ranging from photos with my family to the most recent dinner with my host dad. I could not stop __ people who have been by my side from my earliest memories. I watched raindrops slide down the window and __ with each other to form bigger drops of water.

__ to life in the real world, everyone is different, but whether friends or __, we are all still part of the same group: mankind. When having a conflict (冲突) or hold a stereotype (刻板印象) against a person or a group of people, we should take a step back, look __ and try to understand others before making a judgment.

8 . I love and enjoy playing the piano. So when the recital (音乐演奏会) was ______, I was disappointed. I had expected it for long and already ______ my best songs.

However, Mom turned this ______ into something worthwhile. “You should ______ at Carriage House Manor. I’m sure the ______ there would really appreciate the music.” To me, this was a win-win situation because not only would I play more songs, but I have the chance to ______ the residents, some of whom tragically didn’t have families.

The much-anticipated day ______ arrived. Stepping into the dining area, I saw several gray-haired people seemingly enjoying a dinner and the ______. Despite on-going conversations at tables, ______ still hung like a dark cloud in the room. After introductions, I sat down in front of the piano, butterflies in my stomach. But my ______ melted away as I played on.

The dinner hour flew by. One woman got up and began to cheerfully ______ about the room to the beat of the ______ while others snapped their fingers (打响指). I was ______ to see how music brought big smiles to their faces.

Calling off the recital was a blessing because it led to us ______ the gift of music with those who needed it most. Go spread ______ whenever possible.

9 . After one night of partying in college, drinking and taking pills prescribed for my arthritis (关节炎) and migraines (偏头痛), I woke up the next morning and remembered nothing. I started hiccupping (打嗝), and it wouldn’t ________. After a week, I went to the campus hospital, but they said ________ was wrong. How much I would hiccup ________. They would get worse if my stress levels were up, or if I hadn’t had much sleep.

When I first spoke to my family, they thought I was ________ it. It was only when I saw them in person that they started to believe me. They could hear me hiccupping all night, so they knew it was ________. The doctors thought it was all in my head. It made no ________ that I would lie about such a thing — it was painful and annoying.

I got kicked out of class because I was ________ others. I wouldn’t go to the movies because I thought I would ________ everyone. The problem was physically and mentally ________.

Then I stopped taking pills and drinking. My life got back on track, but the hiccups didn’t ________. Over the years, I’ve been given lots of different ________. I thought things might never get better. After eight years, my hiccups never stopped completely, but the medication eventually made them less ________. I’ve now been living with hiccups for 12 years. I feel mentally ________ for going through this, as well as a more patient person. I’m so ________ to having them that it’s like blinking to me, ________ my daughter does still laugh when she hears me hiccup.

10 . “Just sign here, sir,” the deliveryman said as he handed Oscar Reyna a package.

The package consisted of a long, narrow box ____ wrapped in brown paper. ____ the box, Oscar saw an umbrella inside—a very old one with a beautifully carved wooden handle. ____ he had not seen it in more than 20 years, he recognised it immediately.

Oscar was 16 when he first saw the____ umbrella. He had gone to a concert with his grandparents. As they were leaving, he noticed an umbrella on an empty seat. Impressed by its beauty, Oscar felt a strong desire to find its ____.

Oscar ____ the manager to look in the record of advance ticket sales. Just as he thought, a name matched the seat ____ Oscar had found the umbrella. The name was Mrs. Katie O’Brien.

Oscar talked his grandparents into going by Mrs. O’Brien’s house on their way home. He rang the bell, the door opened, and an elderly woman appeared. “May I ____ you?” she asked.

“I’d like to return it if it’s yours,” Oscar said, ____ the umbrella as if presenting a gift that had long been wished for.

“Why, yes! It’s mine,” replied Mrs. O’Brien with a ____ smile and shining eyes. “It was given to me by my father years ago. Thank you so much for returning it. May I offer you a reward for your ____?”

“No, ma’am,” he said. “My grandmother says that a good deed is its own reward.”

“Well, that’s ____ what my father used to say. What is your name, young man?”

Years later Oscar was staring at the finely carved handle of the umbrella as he remembered Mrs. O’Brien. It was in perfect condition, considering how ____ it was. Why had it arrived here today?

As if ____, a note fell from the paper. It read: Mrs. O’Brien wanted you to accept this umbrella as a present for a kind, ____ gesture long ago.