2 . As Christmas drew near, Ursula was faced with just that problem. She had come to live in an American home and learn English. _________, she would mind the children and _________ anything she was asked

One of her task was to keep track of _________ Christmas presents. Ursula did this faithfully, but she became increasingly _________. What could she buy for her _________ with the little money she had that would compare with the gifts she was recording daily? _________, even without any of the _________ her employer seems to have everything

Ursula _________ long and hard. On Christmas Eve, she went to a _________. She moved slowly through crowds of shoppers, __________ things in her mind. Finally she bought a baby dress. She immediately called __________. “Excuse me, please, can you help me find a poor family with a baby?” “A poor family?” said the __________ driver. “Yes, a very poor family.” Ursula told the man of what she was trying to do. He __________ in silence, and then said, “I know a family who __________ just about everything.”

When they reached a __________, the driver said, “They live on the third floor.” Ursula shook her head, “Would you take this dress to them and tell them it’s from someone ... someone who has everything.”

Early the next day Ursula __________ everyone for the presents she received. Then, she began to __________ why there seemed to be none __________ her. She told about what she did the night before. When she finished, there was a long   __________. “You see,” she added, “I try to do a kindness in your __________. And this is my Christmas present to you.”

3 . One of my neighbors used to have a beautiful tree in her front yard. Her dad had planted it for her _________ it was nothing more than a little branch and several years later it started to _________ towards the sky at an amazing speed. Soon it blessed her with cooling _________ in the summer and glorious, golden leaves in the fall.

When the two-day snowstorm struck our town, heavy snow _________ the tree’s branches that were still full of leaves. The weight split that lovely tree down the _________. It was so sad seeing half of it _________ on the ground after the storm. When I talked to my neighbor later, she said that the damage had been too much and that the _________ tree would have to be cut down. _________, she had saved a few seedlings from it that she hoped to _________ in the future.

Still, it was a shock to drive by her house the other day and see __________ but a stump (树桩) in her front yard. I missed that tree. I missed its branches, its leaves __________ in the afternoon sun. I missed seeing its limbs (树枝) reach towards the heavens. I thought that the stump would be a sad __________ of its loss for a long time to come.

My wonderful neighbor had another plan, __________. When I drove by her home today I saw a tiny bird feeder sitting on that stump and a colorful songbird having its __________. It was such an affirmation (肯定) of life. It was such a joy to __________. I could feel my heart __________.

Life by its very nature is a __________ bag. It hands us both beauty and tragedy, love and loss, __________ and pain. What we do with it, however, is up to us. We can let it __________ us in two, or we can use even its hardest times to make our __________ stronger and our hearts more loving. We can spend it complaining or we can use it to help others.

5 . I’d always dreamed of exploring Africa, ever since I read my first Tarzan(《人猿泰山》)comic as a child. Finally, in 2004, to celebrate my 60^th birthday, I went to Tanzania to experience a safari(东非游猎)and climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. Seated next to me on the flight was Tanzania’s minister of water and wildlife development. We talked for thousands of miles, and he arranged me to visit a school. When I toured the school, I was shocked. The leaky(漏的)roofs turned the dirt floors into mud during the rainy season, and the walls couldn’t keep out the heat, cold or bugs(小昆虫). The school was in need of all material goods, but the kids possessed great human spirit.

It broke my heart that these children had to struggle to survive, so I asked the headmaster what it would cost to feed them. As little as 20 cents per child per day, he told me. Immediately I got home, I founded Kids of Kilimanjaro. Since then we’ve grown to provide hot lunches for nearly 13,000 schoolchildren every day. The free lunch program has eased a major problem the youngsters face.

I know a good education could really make a difference in these children’s lives. My parents always stressed the importance of education. I paid my own way through college in Tokyo by teaching English to students and business people. After attending university I moved to San Francisco, when I was 25 years old. In 1978 I realized my American dream when I founded my own company. My success all started with a good education.

It’s amazing that something as simple as a nutritious lunch can change and enrich so many lives. Giving young people a better, healthier life can inspire them to go all the way through college and lead a movement that transforms their country.

7 . Backpacking through Africa, I always carried some food with me ________ I couldn’t find something to eat.

I was ________ through a local market one day when I chanced upon a jar of ________ jam. I could find tins of apple and strawberry in every corner store but this was the ________ time I had seen peach. I took it.

For the next few weeks, when I was feeling the need for a little ________ I would carefully ________ the lid and spoon a bit on to a biscuit. Mmm, delicious. I didn’t ________ it with anybody. It sat safely in my ________ taken out on only special ________.

One cold and cloudy afternoon, while I was waiting for a local bus, it started to rain. Everybody spread out for ________ and so did I. But I was already wet through so I quickly searched through my pack for some ________ clothes.

In my hurry to ________ further discomfort, I forgot that the jar of jam was ________ in my clothing. One forceful yank (猛拉) and my ________ jar of jam crashed to the concrete ground, breaking into pieces.

I was so sad that I almost cried. And then, in the corner of my eye, I noticed an old woman in rags ________. Without hesitation, she bent down and picked up the half of the jar that still looked ________.

Still ________ she stuck two fingers into the jar, scooped out the ________ jam and ________ it into her toothless mouth. Carefully, like fishbones, she spat out the pieces of glass. She studied the broken container ________ she was certain that there was nothing left. Then she left.

My bus arrived shortly after and, as we drove off, I wondered if the jam would taste the same to me.

9 . “Cleverness is a gift while kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy-they’re given after all. Choice can be hard.”

I got the idea to _______________Amazon years ago. I _______________the fact that the Internet usage was growing at 2, 300 percent per year. I’d never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an _______________ bookstore with millions of titles was very _______________to me. I had just turned 30, and I’d been married for a year. I told my wife that I wanted to _______________my job and go to do this crazy thing that probably wouldn’t_______________ since most start-ups don’t and I wasn’t sure what to _______________. She told me I should _______________ the idea. As a young boy, I’d always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my_______________.

I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a __________________boss that I admired very much. I went to my boss and __________________ with him that I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened __________________to me, and finally said, “That sounds like a really good idea,____________ it would be an even better idea for someone who didn’t already have a good job.” That logic made some__________________to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours ____________ making a final decision. Seen in that light, it really was a difficult__________________, but finally, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn’t think I’d regret__________________ and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all.

After much__________________, I took the less__________________ path to follow my dream, and I’m__________________of that choice. For all of us, in the end, we are our choices.

10 . The pandemic has greatly changed the landscape of education. But that never ________ one brilliant girl’s resolve to reach for the stars.

While most teens are tackling the challenges of middle school, Alena Wicker, has already ________ her high school diploma at the age of 12. And after learning in a long-term online program, she is ________ to attend Arizona State University this summer. There, she ________ to major in both astronomical science and chemistry to ________ her dream of working at NASA where she hopes to ________ her extraordinary skills to build spacecraft after graduation. ________, she wanted to be an astronomer, but then she switched over to engineering ________ her love of building things.

Alena’s space journey began with her early ________ for Lego (乐高), with which she’s always played around since she was 4. So far, she’s built ________ of everything from the Taj Mahal to NASA rockets.

“She would _______ the Lego pieces by color and size,” her mother McQuater said. “She was always ________ at her Lego pieces, and if you ________ her Lego pieces, it would be easy for her to put them together.” Besides bringing her visions into reality, this genius had remarkable ________ in other aspects of life.

Seeing the ________ of opportunities in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields for women, Alena wanted to make a change. With her mum’s encouragement, Alena ________ a website to encourage other girls with ________ interests to focus on fields which had been ________ inaccessible to women.

Alena hopes to set an example for other girls--never let the long-established concept keep us from ________ the course of our life. “It doesn’t matter what your age is or what you are planning to do,” she said. “Go for it, and then ________ it.”