An elderly lady     1     lives near me keeps her garden very beautiful. It has plenty of flowers and colours. The weather is not very good here at the moment, and     2    (actual) it’s always raining. Two days ago when I     3    (drive) past this elderly lady’s house, the garden was showing signs of winter with fewer flowers. After     4    (knock) on her door, I told her I had flowers for her.

She said she couldn’t imagine she would     5    (give) flowers. I told her I was giving them to her because she worked so hard in her garden and we all got to enjoy     6    (it) beauty. She was totally     7    (surprise) . All she could say was “I don’t know     8     I should say to you.” Her name is Elizabeth. She was so excited     9    tears ran down her face as if she had won a prize.

Elizabeth told me she loved flowers, and I burst into     10    (laugh), telling her I already knew that! I also gave her a little thank-you card that reads: All your hard work in your garden brings joy to others.

As the monitor as well as one of the top students in my class, I am always a proud boy. Sometimes I rely so much on     1    (me) that I won’t follow others’ suggestions. And it was because of my blind pride that I made     2     stupid mistake in a physics competition     3     needed not only personal ability     4     also teamwork.

During the competition, I thought I performed     5    (well) than my partners and it was I that won the applause of the audience. So I forgot     6    (work) together with them. When our group were preparing for the last question, one of my     7    (partner) told me that there was something wrong with our last question’s answer and suggested     8    (check) it out. But I was so proud that I didn’t take his advice.     9     my surprise, our answer was wrong and we     10    (fail). If I had taken his advice at that moment, we would not have failed.

Having experienced the failure, I realize that it is important to listen to others’ opinions.

My name is Wil Wheaton—and I am a nerd (怪人). It’s awesome to be     1     nerd. When I was a little boy, people really teased me about that and     2     (make) me feel like there was something wrong with me for loving strange things. Now that I’m an adult, I’m a     3     (profession) nerd, and the world has changed. I think we     4     (realize) that being a nerd is not about what you love     5     about how you love.

So there’s going to be a thing in your life that you love. I don’t know what it’s going to be. It might be sports or science or reading or     6     (tell) stories — it doesn’t matter what it is. Some of us love Game of Thrones, while others love Star Wars. But we all love those things so much that we travel     7     (thousand) of miles — which is     8     (probable) easy for you, but we’re still using fossil fuels, so it’s difficult — to be around people who love the things that we love the way that we love them. That’s     9     being a nerd is awesome.

I want you to work hard because everything worth     10     (do) is hard. I want you to be awesome, and I will do my very best to leave you a planet that you can still live on.