2 . My parents announced I was getting my own room. I was so excited. ________, my new bedroom was down in the dark basement, and basements are scary places when you’re only five years old. So I was a little________until I knew my grandmother would live next to me. She________ completely and offered to let me sleep with her.

It worked out well for both of us for a while. I could even ________ that her snoring (打鼾) was lovely. But soon my parents________, and they were not happy. They wanted me to learn to________by myself. Of course, I screamed and threw temper tantrums (使性子). It didn’t ________. At last, I went back to my own room. However, I was fearful. So when I ________my parents had fallen asleep, I got up and walked as quietly as I could into Grandma’s bedroom.

In the morning, Grandma shook me awake and said ________ that I needed to get back to my room before my parents got up. I ran back to my room just in time as I heard ________upstairs. My wonderful grandmother ________ me while we lived there. She________to patiently wake me up every morning to go back to my own bed. Because of her, I never had to sleep by myself.

A year later, we moved to a different house. My mom told me that I would ________ a room with my grandmother. I was ________! Mom said I didn’t have to go to sleep________ with Grandma anymore.

3 . When I was in middle school, I was on a family vacation in Washington DC. I found there was a homeless man down the street.

On our final day in the city, when my parents went for an evening walk, I went out of our hotel room and ran down the street to the homeless man.

He looked at me, surely not expecting anything from a middle school girl. I asked him what he wanted to have for dinner. He replied “Bread and water”. I ran into the store and bought a big bag of bread and a bottle of water. I ran back with a smile on my face and handed the bag and the bottle to him. His smile has been in my mind ever since.

I came back to the hotel room and when my parents returned, my dad told me he had a story for me. He asked if I remembered the homeless man down the street from our hotel and I shyly nodded. He then told me a story. As they were returning from their walk, they saw the homeless man was sharing a bag full of food with other homeless people around. They were all smiling and laughing as they ate.

I smiled at my dad but I have never told him to this day the other half of the story. Till today, I still haven't forgotten that man's smile but I wish I had the courage to do this more often. One small kind action can begin a ripple effect (连锁反应) of kindness. So please, share a smile and do something kind for the people in need.

4 . Exercise and I had never had a good relationship due to my fear of sports. From a young age, my dad _______ me into a dozen sports. I didn’t like any of them, _______.

When I entered the University of Regina, my dad _______ telling me “You have to find a way to stay _______.” or “You don’t want to get the Freshman 15, do you?” So I _______ to give swimming a shot, but I _______ managed to go to the pool twice during the fall semester (学期). Worse still, I was _______ to convince myself that’s OK.

The spring semester came. A friend of mine _______ me if I wanted to try Zumba (尊巴) with her. All I knew about Zumba was that it was basically a kind of exercise: dancing to Latin pop songs. It didn’t sound too bad, but I couldn’t be _______.

I went, and that was it. Zumba became my ________ of tea. The instructor would always say, “Don’t worry about the steps. Have fun. Do your own thing.” That removed my ________ of sports. I didn’t have to be ________. I didn’t even have to be good. I just needed to ________ the music and move. Zumba did ________ me from the Freshman 15, and it also did so much more. It let me make ________ with my unpleasant past about physical exercise, and enjoy staying healthy.

6 . Growing up in the 1960s, I was taught from an early age to send a handwritten thank-you note expressing _________ for kindness. My mother used to buy me a box of paper and _________ me in the art and value of saying “thank you”. She _________ to be right.

A study showed that it took most volunteers less than 5 minutes to write the thank-you notes. Just 5 minutes to make another person feel “overjoyed”! _________, in our “instant” world, the idea of getting an actual pen and writing an actual note seems to never come to mind. We tend to do what is _________ for us — a quick text or an email.

It’s easy to use the _________ of being busy, but even very busy and successful businessmen find time to _________ thank-you notes. For example, when Doug Conant became CEO of Campbell’s Soup, the company had _________ half of its market value and morale (士气) was at an all-time low. He _________ fixing that by doing some simple things that are probably not taught in any MBA class. For one thing, Conant wrote to every __________. He gained their confidence and __________, turned the company around.

In his ten years as CEO, Conant wrote over 30,000 notes to employees. It’s __________ not to ask how he did it. __________, he had many other things to do __________ writing a thank-you note. Conant made time for it because he knew the impact each one would have. An expression of __________ in this fast-paced world still makes a difference.

My best friend had a seriously car accident last week. Although she has some major bones broken, but she is alive. The other three passenger, one being her 11-year-old sister, all managed to escape unharmed.

Many friends are offered support now. Some are cooking for her. Others have been taking care her sister, or picking up supplies she need. When I visited herself yesterday, we locked eyes. We both cried as she told me everything it had happened after the accident. It was the great release for both of us. We were both moved by what her friends have done for her.

10 . I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch (养马场). He introduced himself to me by saying, “I want to tell you a story. It all ______ back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant (流动的) horse trainer. When he was a senior, he was______to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do ______he grew up.

“That night he wrote a seven-page paper______ his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a ______of a 200-acre ranch, showing the _______of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house.

“He put a great deal of his______ into the project and the next day he______ it in to his teacher. Two days later he______his paper back. On the front page was a large red “F” with a note that read, ‘See me after class.’”

“The boy______the dream went to see the teacher after class. The teacher said, ‘This is a(n) ______dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You ______ an itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch ______a lot of money. There’s no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher ______, ‘If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will______ your grade.’”

“The boy went home and thought about it______and hard. However, he thought it was a very important ______for him. Finally, after a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all.”

“The boy is me. Now, my dream has come______. That teacher said to me, ‘Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was______of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams.______, you had enough determination not to give up on yours.’”