2 . Some years ago, when a factory with 75,000 workers closed in our city, there was a feeling of sadness. Higher gas prices and disastrous floods added to such _______.

Our church youth group _______ to bring our city back to life by doing something nice. One of our _______ was to buy $25 gas cards and bouquets (花束) of roses, and randomly give them out to people who might need some _______.

One day, one of our members and I watched a young woman in her mid-twenties _______ to the gas pump. She didn’t get out of her car. _______, she looked through her purse and then began to _______. We approached politely to knock on the window and _______ a free gas card to her.

Upon hearing the knock, the young lady wiped away her tears, tried to _______ herself and then rolled down the window. We said to her. “Here is a free twenty-five dollar gas card for you, and we just want to be helpful.” ________, she slowly reached out to take the gas card and then told us her story.

She had been ________ for a long time and was ________ to support herself. She had trouble making ends meet but was ________ about a job interview she would have that day. In fact, she was singing on her way to it when her gas gauge (仪表) showed “________”. She’d ________ she had one last ten-dollar bill in her purse, but she couldn’t find it. Thinking she would ________ her interview, she broke down and cried.

She ________ us and said. “You have no idea what you’ve done for me. Thank you so much!” We watched tears of ________ stream down her face as she began pumping her gas.

We’ve continued the ________ of handing out roses and gas cards over the past years. It has made a ________ in those receivers’ lives as well as ours.

3 . Top World Record Breakers

Arham Om Talsania

At age two, the Indian boy started using tablets, developing his interest in computer programming through video games and solving puzzles. He even started to create his own computer games once his father taught him programming basics. His father also taught him how to code (编码). It was with this newfound knowledge and skill that he earned his world record title by completing the Python programming language exam. Arham broke the record a day before his 7th birthday.

Montannah Kenney

Montannah Kenney became the youngest female to summit (登顶) Mount Kilimanjaro in March. 2018 — she was just shy of her eighth birthday. She and her mother, Hollie Kenney, reached the top of Uhuru Peak while going through tough weather conditions like nonstop rain and snow. When asked about her motivation, Kenney responded that, for her, reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro meant being closer to her father in heaven, who died when she was three.

Ritaj Alharmi

As a young girl in Saudi Arabia, Ritaj Alhazmi was hooked on the creativity of making any idea possible through imaginative writing. She decided to give it a shot herself and wrote a three novel series called Treasure of the Lost Sea, for which she signed a publishing contract in 2020. She has received awards for the books: Treasure of the Lost Sea, Portal of the Hidden World and Beyond the Future World. The first two were released when Ritaj was only eleven.

Aashman Taneja

Aashman Taneja is a devoted student of Taekwondo (跆拳道). This first-grader at Oakridge in Hyderabad, India, broke the Guinness World record for the most full contact knee strikes nonstop for an hour at just five years old. While earning achievements in his favorite sport, he’s still able to get good grades in school and do well in other sports like rock climbing.

When Gloria Estefan started primary school, she could not read, write nor speak English. She felt lost, unhappy and completely frightened. However, someone changed her life—her English teacher, Mrs Collins. Her family had left Cuba in 1959 when she was only a year old in the hope of finding a better life in America. Initially they moved to Miami where the family settled in a set of apartments with other Cuban women and children who had immigrated.

The women were close-knit and supportive. While she felt safe, she was also isolated. They all spoke Spanish, and she rarely heard English. On her very first day in school, which she was looking forward to, she was completely shocked. She came home and told her mother that she had learnt her first English word “stupid”. It was the nickname a boy had given her.

In every way possible, she was set apart from her classmates. She was the only panic and non-white student. She also found it difficult to grasp the English language as it was her second language. The culture, her school friends and the food they ate were different from hers. As such, she was set apart from her classmates.

One person made that year bearable for her, Mrs Collins. She was young and African American, so she understood how Gloria felt as she was the only non-white student in class. Mrs Collins never doubted that Gloria could catch up with the other students in time.

Still, the teasing continued. The boy who called her stupid would not stop laughing at her for her accent. He was a good student and the proud holder of the class’s reading award. It was an honour given periodically to a student, based on excellence in schoolwork, participation and homework. Gloria wanted that long-waited award.

Mrs Collins encouraged her to compete for the reading award.

The award ceremony was coming up.

7 . With the successful launch of the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft, astronaut Chen Dong once again came into people’s view. But this is not his ________ space travel. As early as 2016, Chen Dong took the Shenzhou 11 spacecraft and realized his flying dream.

Chen Dong used to cause ________ from time to time as a child and was often told off by his parents. However, a little thing ________ him. One day, when playing with a group of friends, he destroyed the head teacher’s ________ that were handed out by the school. With butterflies in his stomach, Chen Dong knew that he was in trouble. To his very ________, instead of criticizing him, the teacher ________ said to him: “I know you didn’t do it ________, but in this way, I have no vegetables to eat. No matter what you do in the future, you must think more about others.” For the first time, Chen Dong realized what ________ and tolerance are. From then on, he worked hard, helped others, and thus grew better and better.

Flying higher has always been the ________ of Chen Dong for far too long. During the training program for astronauts, no matter how difficult, the idea of giving up never ________ in his mind. In order to fully prepare for the space mission, Chen Dong almost ________ contact with the outside world. He ________ almost all his energy and time to the training program. Even his twin sons could ________ meet their father. Although he can’t ________ them all the time, Chen Dong uses other ways to express his love. He takes pictures of the stars that can only be seen from space and imagine how ________ and proud the children will be when they receive them.

9 . David and Jessica Burnett were at the Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport about to board a flight with their two small children when they saw their son, Ezekiel, 5, throw his beloved stuffed (填充的) bear high above his head. David Burnett warned his son not to throw Teddy too high. Ezekiel kept playing his catch game and threw Teddy more than 20 feet. This time the bear didn’t come down. It was stuck in the rafters (椽子) at the Milwaukee airport, and there wasn’t time to ask anyone for help because it was time to board their flight home to Dallas.

The couple did their best to comfort Ezekiel and his concerned sister, Zaria, on the flight home and were relieved when Ezekiel seemed content to sleep with a favorite stuffed dog that night. “We didn’t call the airport because Ezekiel has lost a lot of toys over the years,” said Jessica Burnett, 39. “I did feel some mom guilt, so later I bought him a bear online that looked similar to Teddy.”

Then on the evening of Feb. 8, Jessica said she spotted a familiar face on Facebook. Somebody at the airport noticed Teddy in the lost lockup area and posted about him a: couple of times on Facebook, Some of the photos showed him hanging out with a purple monkey named Violet the airport’s longest lost stuffed animal. Airport workers regularly post about missing toys and stuffed animals and they had tried unsuccessfully to find Violet’s owner for two years. They hoped to have better luck with Teddy.

The big moment finally happened when the family caught a plane back to Dallas about a year later. When Ezekiel saw his lost bear, he hugged Teddy and told airport workers that he was happy to see him again. “I think they took good care of him. But I’m glad he’s home,” he said. “I won’t be throwing my favorite bear into the air again anytime.”

10 . As a fifth grader, I loved my school. But since May Jordan, who was the tallest in our class and even in the school, transferred (转学) in, the school had become an ________ place. Although her ________ was frightening, it wasn’t a problem—her ________ was: She routinely bullied (欺凌) other students who were too afraid to defend themselves.

I had ________ to stay out of May’s sight and I wanted to keep it that way. But all that ________ when I showed up for school one morning with a new ________. It all started when my best friend said my hair was ________. I noticed May’s ________ but quickly looked away from her eyes. Then May said, “Somebody might cut off your beautiful braid (辫子)!” I got ________.

After getting home after school, I ________ what had happened with my mother. “Don’t be afraid of her. If she can see you’re not afraid, she’ll ________,” my mother said. “I bet she’s like everybody else—she just wants to ________ and make friends. Perhaps she just doesn’t know how as she is new here.

1 rolled my mother’s ________ around in my head. She did have a point—May wasn’t good at making friends. Maybe underneath her ________ was a regular fifth grader who ________ wanted to be liked. Did I have what it’d take to befriend May? I was unsure, but I wanted to find out.

The next day, after lunch, I ________ May and invited her to my house after school. “We could walk home together, if you like. Maybe watch TV?” I ________. Unexpectedly, May smiled and then said ________.

I don’t remember what we watched on television. But we became good ________. I’ve since learned that someone who looks ________ on the outside can really be just like everybody else.