1 . I grew up in the countryside of Poland. It’s an area where skiing is popular, but my family was poor. I couldn’t afford to ride the ski lift, so I used to hike up with the skis on my back.     1    

K2(乔戈里峰)is called “death mountain”. You may hear sad stories: For every four people who reach the top, one dies. I was too afraid to even think about skiing down it.     2    

But that changed after a training exploration to Broad Peak. I got a clear look at K2’s massive face, and it inspired me. Over time, my skills improved and, by 2017, I didn’t feel the fear anymore. I began preparations.

    3     I love nature, and I love setting goals. To be the first to do it just adds to the challenge. Fear is an important part of life, but to ski down K2, I had to stop being afraid. At the base camp, I felt cam and prepared. There were doubts-I just knew I could do it. But there were challenges. At the third base camp, 7, 000 meters up, my safety guide suffered serious back pain. We waited for 36 hours before he got better, and we decided to continue. In total, it took about 3 days to reach the top.

For many climbers, getting to the top of K2 would be the defining moment of their lives.     4     Skiing down a mountain demands patience and endurance(耐力).

The most dangerous part was the Messner Traverse. It’s pure ice, up to a 75-degree angle in places, with drops on either side. You need to keep your tums and movements smooth with confidence. No one had attempted it before, so it was a relief(宽慰)to cross it.     5     When I eventually skied into camp, I simply lay in the snow, emotionally and physically tired out.

I’m so proud of what I achieved. No one thought it could be done. It taught me the value of patience and that nobody else can make your dreams come true.

2 . About one year ago, a couple with three children moved into the apartment next door to me. I never heard any noise from the children. Instead, I often heard he parents yelling angrily at the kids, not in a nice tone, but in a ________ one.

We often ________ in the hallway. I always greeted them, but the only ________ I ever got was a “hello” from the eight-year-old girl. I usually went out to see my doctor and one day when-I returned, they were just ________ their apartment and the little girl was ________ the outside door open for the others. I remained in the car doing ________ things because I wasn’t eager to be snubbed(冷落) again. Finally, I got out of my car and walked towards the door. The parents were telling their daughter to hurry and get into the car, but the little girl was holding the door, ________ me! I hurried although I was still in pain from my injury.

I forgot to tell her how grateful I was for her kindness. Later I wrote a note saying how much her act of kindness had ________ an old man’s heart.

The next day there was a/an ________ on my door and it was the little girl and her father. She said she was grateful to me for my note. Then I ________ her mother standing there, too. Her parents ________ me. From then on when we met in the hallway we always greeted each other, in a friendly ________.

Last night there was a heavy snow. I looked out at my car and ________ how I was going to keep my doctor’s appointment because I could not walk for a short time. This morning when I opened the front door, all the snow was ________. Isn’t it ________ that the small kind act of an 8-year-old girl can change so many things for the better? It is said that good things come from small acts.

4 . Several months ago, I moved into my mother’s house to look after her following an illness. Then I found myself thinking about my _______—I needed to find something that would help me _______the house more often.

I found my answer while standing in line at the store checkout one day. Red words on the cover of a magazine caught my_______, “Walk Off Weight!”

After reading about the advantages of walking, I knew I had found the perfect _______that would not only make me spend more time outdoors, but also help me keep_______

At first, I walked slowly. After a few weeks, I _______from walking two miles to six miles every day. My _______increased from three miles per hour to four. It wasn’t long before I began to notice the many _______in both my physical and emotional health.

I lost_______. The extra fat around my stomach disappeared. My body was ________up and I was in better shape. Even my back pain had________!

The changes in my emotional health were also great. My spirits lifted day by day and I could hardly________to get up each morning. With more confidence, I also found myself to be more sociable and that I began to ________meeting new people.

________for my mother became less of a tiring task. Feeling lively, I was able to look after her with great enthusiasm. I ________her to try to become as healthy and happy as I was.

6 . When the host announced that my choir (合唱队) won the second place of the World Choir Game, I couldn’t believe what I heard. All the_________that we made was worthwhile. Through this unforgotten experience, I _________much.

In the semi-finals (半决赛), we were supposed to sing four songs. When we played the third song, I suddenly heard an unexpected _________— a girl in the alto (女低音) got quick. The other students in the alto were _________ by the girl and were getting quicker and quicker. Our choir’s leader, Mrs Li noticed it and_________used her hand to keep time, but she _________. After the song, the smile on Mrs Li’s face froze and some of our members turned and tried to find the person who first got_________. My mind was blank, but quickly I realized the only thing we could do was to _________the performance. Then with a smile, Mrs Li became a _________again, who seemed to have totally forgot what we had done. We sang the____________song as usual.

After the competition, I was disappointed. Just because of one person’s fault, the whole choir must afford the fact that we might lose the game. I cried, but then I found nothing would change no matter how hard we____________ the girl who played poorly.____________, I came to her, encouraged her, and practiced the whole melody with her. In the finals, we got the medal because of our____________performance.

Never blame a person when she makes a mistake, but help her to solve the problem when you are struggling____________the same goal. No matter what you will experience with others in the future, successes or failures,____________or tears, these will surely become your precious treasure and memory.

7 . Kieron Graham always knew he had an older brother named Vincent. Though Kieron spent years thinking about him, he could never track him down.

That changed in December 2017, when Kieron’s adoptive parents gave him an Ancestry DNA test as a Christmas gift. Kieron, now 21, sent his saliva (唾液) sample in for analysis. When his results came back, he was stunned to find he had a lot of DNA matches for relatives who had also taken the test. Most were distant connections, but one match was so strong that it was labeled “close family.” His name was Vincent Ghant. Kieron looked for him on Facebook and soon made a possible connection.

“This is going to sound so wild...but I think you’re my brother,” Kieron wrote on Facebook’s Messenger app. “I was given up for adoption in 1997 and it says on my paperwork that my mother has a son with your name and your birth date. Her name is Shawn.”

“This is crazy,” said Vincent.

The craziness was just beginning. As they talked, the brothers realized they lived about 20 minutes from each other. More surprisingly, they attended the same university and majored and minored in the same subjects : political science and legal studies.

Vincent was nine when Kieron was born and remembers caring for his baby brother. But times were tough, and Shawn, who worked 15-plus hours a day as a nurse, decided that placing Kieron for adoption would give him the best chance to succeed.

“She was very emotional about that time, to the point where it was hard for her to put into words anything about what happened,” Vincent says.

Now the brothers had the chance to make up for lost time. They decided to meet at a local tea shop that week.

One of Vincent’s concerns was that Kieron might resent his birth family for placing him for adoption. He was relieved Kieron didn’t, and that he’d grown up in a loving family.

Since that first meeting, the brothers have bonded even more. They play football together and celebrated Christmas with their families. “We’ll keep growing our relationship until it’s time to leave this planet,” says Vincent. That shouldn’t be hard. As Kieron says, “We’ve got years and years to catch up on.”

One day when we were playing the basketball, I saw Tim wearing a pair sneaker of my style. I thought they were my shoes, so I shouted angry and blamed him for using my personal possessions without permit. Then I went back to the dorm after he could say anything. I opened the door only to find mine own sneakers just under my bed. For a while, I stood there still, shocking and guilty. When realizing my act must have hurt him, immediately I rush to the court to apology to him sincerely. Fortunately, though he was angry and sad, he pardoned me. With my relief, the conflict ended happily.

9 . My kids and I were heading into the supermarket over the weekend. On the way, we spotted a man holding a piece of paper that said, “_______ my job. Family to Feed.”

At this store, a _______ like this is not normal. My 10-year-old noticed him and make a _______ on how bad it must be to have to stand outside in the cold wind.

In the store, I asked each of my kids to _______ something they thought our “friend” there would appreciate. They got apples, a sandwich and a bottle of juice. Then my 17-year-old suggested giving him a _______. I thought about it. We were low on cash ourselves, but..., well, sometimes _______ from our need instead of our abundance (大量;丰富) is _______ what we need to do! All the kids declared something they could do away with for the week.

When we handed him the bag of _______, he lit up and thanked us with _______ eyes. When I handed him the gift card, saying he could use it for ________ his family might need, he burst into tears.

This has been a wonderful ________ for our family. For days the kids have been looking for others we can ________! Things would have played out so ________ if I had simply said, “No, we really don’t have money to give more.” Stepping out not only helped a brother in ________, it also gave my kids the ________ taste of helping others. It’ll go a long way with them.