I was a boy of nine in 1960. At school, I     1     (intent) did my lessons. At the expense of my studying time, I used to mow the lawn for Mrs. Long,     2     occupation was an architect. She was one of the     3     (specialist) in the field of architecture. Her family was comprised     4     four people. The motivation of the mission was to make the lawn tidy and elegant. Sometimes, the work took     5     about two hours a day. She paid me little for the job, but that she promised to give me a Christmas present filled me with hope.

I spent much time wondering what it would be. Many boys had baseball gloves or ice skates bought for them and I was eager to have any of these. “As I can imagine, it will hardly be baseball gloves,” I reasoned with myself.   “She doesn’t know much about baseball.” So according to my rough     6     (analyze), I was convinced that she might give me ice skates.

As Christmas approached, it was with difficulty that I stopped myself from reporting to Mrs. Long and demanding my present. On December 20, I told my parents, “At 9 o’clock on December 22, I will be appearing at the door of Mrs. Long’s house.” That Mrs. Long handed me a small box which under no circumstances could hold a pair of skates was     7     made me feel disappointed.     8     (lift) from her, the present seemed so light, about which I was curious. It weighed almost nothing. When the present was being held by me at the moment, I asked, “What is it?” “A kind of magic,” she said.

On Christmas morning, I had this box on my knees. It was with great excitement that I opened the box to find inside ten sheets of black paper, each labeled in colorful letters, Carbon Paper Regal Premium. In view of this, I asked, “What is it?” Mum took two pieces of white paper, placed between them one of the black paper, and     9     (write) my name on the upper sheet. Then she handed me the second sheet, which her pencil had in no way touched. There was my name! In that one moment, I remembered the ideas about the duplication (复制) of words and the printing and the mystery of spreading ideas. This was one of the most     10     (influence) experiences in my life.

Knowing me, knowing you

One night, a married couple got into a fight. The reason     1     they had a fight was that the woman had bought too expensive a dress. It was common for them to stay in a war of silence after such a fight. And this time was not different. For most of the night, the couple     2    (ignore) each other and even when preparing for bed, they didn’t say a word.

However, her husband started getting anxious because he would catch a flight at 5:00 am the next morning. He always devoted     3    (he) to his work.     4    (give) a promotion(晋升) in his company recently, he made more efforts to do his work. The man was a heavy sleeper and     5    (absolute) depended on his wife to wake him up. Otherwise, there was a good chance that he would sleep right through the alarm.

In order not to lose face, he didn’t speak with her directly although he wanted to, but he wrote something on a piece of paper, reading, “Please wake me up when it’s 5:00 am.” He put the note on his wife’s pillow,     6    (believe) that his wife would for sure see it there. He then fell asleep with satisfaction.

The next morning when he woke up, it was already 7:00 am! He took     7     deep breath because he couldn’t take his journey to meet their customers that day. He thought     8     some extent, his boss as well as their customers was sure to get annoyed with him. To his     9    (embarrass), he was preparing to blame his wife when he noticed a handwritten note beside his pillow, saying, “It’s 5:00 am. You     10     get up right now, needn’t you? A note has been put beside your pillow already.”

Most of the time, how you say something is more important than what you actually say. When you need something, do not let pride get in the way of asking for help in the right way!

A young girl who was diagnosed (诊断) with cerebral palsy (大脑性瘫痪) and once considered unable to ever stand was admitted to Yucui Experimental School in Chongqing this autumn.     1     (make) life easier for the girl, named Dou Dou, the school changed a ground-floor boys’ restroom into a girls’ restroom and added helpful equipment like handrails (扶手). All of these efforts have won Dou Dou’s parents’     2     (recognize).

Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age 2, Dou Dou faced challenges due to lack of oxygen,     3     damaged her brain. Doctors once said she would spend her life in a wheelchair.     4     (start) in October 2018, her parents enrolled her in rehabilitation training (康复训练) . By age 5, she learned to walk on her own     5     started attending preschool. When Dou Dou found out she could go to primary school this June, her family was joyful.

Both Dou Dou and her mom were concerned about difficulties due to     6     (she)condition. On September 12, Dou Dou’s mom shared a video showing how the school redesigned a ground-floor boys’ restroom, adding handrails at the entrance to help her. In     7     video, Dou Dou exclaimed, “Mom, why is there an extra handrail here? Soon you won’t have to accompany me anymore!” “Dou Dou says she wants to be a teacher someday, like the good teachers at her school,” her mom said. “For children like ours, the greatest joy     8     (come) from being recognized, seen, and cared for. We     9     (genuine) thank the school and all the teachers     10     their love and support for Dou Dou.”

A few years ago, Lauren Bath was a chef but then she fell in love with travel and started to post pictures on her blog. In less than 18 months, there were over 200,000 people     1     (read) her blog and companies started paying her to take     2     (photo) and publish them. She determined     3     (become) Australia’s first     4     (profession) photo blogger, which was a     5     (challenge) job. She first visited Western Australia for work in 2013 and fell in love with northern WA. Some of her favourite photographs     6     (take) there. It is     7     (extreme) beautiful, and the Kimberley region,     8     particular, is unique and untouched. She tries to take every opportunity to get outside and admire the natural world. She wants to use her photography to make     9     impact on people     10     haven’t any sense of environmental protection.

It was at least two months before Christmas when nine-year-old Almie Rose told her father,     1     profession was an artist, and me that she wanted a new bicycle. We were     2     favour of her request. She cracked     3     smile. Her dream was to be a geologist when she grew up and her hobby was watching     4     (cartoon). With Christmas drawing nearer, her desire for a bicycle seemed to die, or we thought so. She didn’t constantly ask for one. The next day we bought some lovely dolls, and a doll house. Then, much to our surprise on December 23rd, she said that     5     (get) a bike was her real     6    (prefer). It was just too late to take the time to select the “right bike” for our little girl. It was Christmas Eve around 9:00 pm. Almie and her six-year-old brother, Dylan, lay comfortably in their beds. Now we could only think of the bicycle and the disappointment of our child. “I am     7     (make) a little bicycle out of clay (黏土) and I will write a note that she could trade the clay model for a real bike.” her dad said. “This is an expensive item and she is ‘such a big girl.’” Then her dad began to make one. After some time I said to my husband. “You     8     (work) with clay to make a tiny bike for three hours. I wonder when you can finish it.” He said he could complete it in one hour.

On Christmas morning, we were excited for Almie to open the little heart-shaped package with the beautiful red and white clay bike and the note. She asked, “Does this mean that I can trade this bike that Daddy made me for a real one?” I said, “Yes.” Almie had tears in her eyes when she     9     (mere) replied, “I could never trade this beautiful bicycle that Daddy made for me. I’m very     10     (appreciation) of the clay model.”