1 . Hey! You have a hairless spot on the back of your head! " Mom’s alarmed cry hit me like a shock.

I tried to shrug it off. “It’ll grow back.” I worked to sound________.

At first, the loss was minimal. ________the spot with my fingers became the top priority every day. No new hair, smooth as an egg. Weeks later, the spot was a little larger and there was still no________ of any hair poking through the skin. I began to________but continued to try to be cool about it.

As days went by, my hair started to fall faster and more. ________my fingers through it, I would stare at the alarming quantity of hair in my hands, wiling this to________happening to me.

We went to see a doctor, who diagnosed my condition as alopecia (脱发症) . He recommended an injection to try, which would be________to the head skin. I underwent several costly injections over a few months, but in vain.

________the injection began to trouble my sleep, and we finally had to stop the________My hair still didn’t grow back.

I had to wear a wig to school every day, worried it might slip one day and that everything would________Though aware that I should________the fact to my friends, I was scared, not knowing how they would handle the information. ________ hesitantly, I told them what was happening after days of struggle. To my surprise, they all thought nothing of it. This was a(n) ________for me.

I came to realize that what had happened was not my fault, and not something I should feel________of. I am learning that being bald doesn’t change who I am, and if I don’t let it affect my self ________then other people are much more likely to accept me as I am, too.

2 . I believe that we get out of this world what we put into it. Usually, the rewards are indirect and sometimes hard to _________，but usually what you _________ comes back to you there and then!

A couple of days ago my step-son, Josh, was preparing for an event. Children from his primary school were going for their first trial day at the secondary school，so that they could know what they would meet after the summer holidays. A big _________ for a student!

I was in the middle of softie stuff when I noticed him _________ in a pot where we keep pens and pencils. In primary school they use pencils, _________ secondary kids get to write with pens. And Josh was looking for a pen. He came out with a(n) _________ pen that was missing a piece off the end. His _________ day deserved a pen better than that. So I _________ what I was doing and went to the drawer where my _________ pen lived. I would __________ that pen, but this was a special occasion.

“Josh,” I said in a deep，serious voice. “I __________ my pen which I like best to you, the next generation. Protect it well and cherish it. ” He smiled and said thanks. And I went back to go on __________. Coincidentally, that day was __________ my birthday, but we were just back from a weekend away and I wasn’t expecting any more gifts. Moments after the pen ceremony, Josh walked to me with a smile on his face and gave me a prettily packed box. __________, I opened it—and was even more surprised! Inside the box was a beautiful, brand new pen!

Almost like someone had planned it! It is so __________.Give and you will receive!

4 . Seba Stephens is only 10 years old, but he’s a very talented musician. Seba and his family live in Memphis, Tennessee — a place famous for _________. He grew up with music all around, but he _________ loved the drumming of Stewart Copeland from the band The Police.

Before he turned three, he wanted drums for his birthday. His parents weren’t _________, but after seeing him play the drums at a local music store, they _________ he was serious. They bought him a(n) _________ drum kit. “He didn’t stop playing — ever,” says his dad, Everett.

But soon Seba grew _________. He couldn’t get his drum kit to make the sounds he heard Mr. Copeland making. It was a _________ for the family: Good instruments were worth _________. His parents bought him a professional drum kit and _________ him up for lessons. He faced __________ — some related to his size. “I couldn’t see over my drum set.” he says. __________ , Seba learned extremely quickly and needed a higher level of training.

In 2020, Everett got special __________ for Seba to join a summer music program at Berklee as an 8-year-old. After the intense summer, Seba asked his parents to home-school him so that he could __________ going to Berklee during the school year. Through Seba’s __________, last May, Seba became the youngest person ever to receive a professional __________ from Berklee. The certificate is equal to about four college-level classes.

5 . When Marco was a boy, he tried everything to get his father’s love and attention. He studied hard to get good ________ and tried to behave well. He was shy and shorter than the other boys. Besides, his father was ________ and had little time for him. Except for his ________ for housework after school, there was no communication. Marco felt very ________.

One day,his maths teacher called him that some young teenagers were ________ a public speaking contest. She thought he should give it a ________. She firmly believed he could perform on stage (舞台) like other kids. Feeling her strong trust, Marco agreed to ________ the contest.

All winter, he took a bus to ________ twice a week in another city, where the competition would take place. Marco was taken by a strong ________ he never felt before. Finally, the big day arrived. His father, and yes, his maths teacher, were present. When he stepped onto the stage and began to speak, he felt ________ at home. He was funny,and acted very natural. He won! He noticed his father’s eyes were ________— he was so proud. It was then that his father ________ he should pay more attention to the child.

As the winner, his name was ________ in the local papers. He knew this was the ________ of his new life. It all happened because of a phone call, from one who ________ him.

7 . JESSICA WELLS had always wanted to be a nurse. In 2006, she ________ to the Associate Science of Nursing (ASN) program. ________ her GPA wasn’t high enough to make the cut, so she ________ as a general education student, hoping to improve her academic ________.

Eventually, Wells, who is deaf, blossomed, ________ the accommodations (调和) that the college offered to her, such as volunteer note takers and ________ who accompanied her in class.

After college administrators asked an employee whether Wells, a ________ girl, would make it as a nursing student, the employee reported that “the deaf-of-hearing individual can be ________ as both a medical student and a nurse. ” Wells, then in her mid-20s, was accepted into the ASN program in fall 2007.

On January 22, however, just before the spring 2008 semester began, Wells received a letter from the school, ________ her from the program. The college decided that her “hearing loss would ________ limit (and in some cases completely limit) her ability to safely conduct ________ shifts.” On January 21, 2009, Wells made a protest to the Circuit Court of Greene County. She claimed that her failure to stay in the program ________ the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“She’d done just fine in her training,” says Wells’s lawyer, Rita Sanders. "The school’s decision had no ________.”

However, the college replied, arguing that the loss of hearing will ________ a direct threat to the health or safety of patients. Faced with such an injustice, Wells resolved to fight for herself and others facing the same ________.

9 . Nixon, 59 years old, was born and grew up in St. Petersburg. Each morning, he sits on a bench, watches the sunrise, and connects with _________ from all walks of life.

Eight years ago, he decided to begin each day from a bench (a kind of chair) with an impressive view of the St. Petersburg waterfront (圣彼得堡海滨), because it made him feel calm and _________ before starting his day.

About a year later, a woman stopped to say hello, and she said something that _________ Nixon’s view on his daily visit. She said, “Every morning when I see you sitting here, I know everything is going to be OK.” That’s when Nixon _________ he needed to pay attention to the people walking past.

Instead of staring straight ahead at the waterfront, Nixon started _________ at people and talking to them. And pretty soon, some early risers began _________ him on the bench, sometimes sharing their pressure and asking him for advice about personal problems.

No matter what problem a person wants to _________, Nixon lends an ear. One day, a couple came by to talk about their problems. The husband was always working. It was destroying their _________. Nixon told him, “You have to know what’s really important.” The man admitted he’d put everything he had into his _________ for many years instead of focusing on his family. “He started to cry and agreed that he needed to __________,” Nixon says. “We hugged each other and became friends after that.”

Nixon was always happy to listen, and he listens without __________ and without any kind of return expected. “You have to listen with an open heart, because you never know who’s going to walk up,” Nixon says. He is a loving and loyal __________ to many. For those who walked past the bench, they were always __________ with a smile and asked how they were doing. No topic is off limits, but some people don’t want to talk. They simply want to sit next to someone and share the __________. Once a woman stopped and just sat with Nixon for an hour; then she said thanks and walked away. She just wanted a moment of peace and to know she wasn’t __________.

And at that moment, she truly wasn’t.