2 . Rachel had a healthy life both physically and mentally till one unfortunate winter evening. It was raining cats and dogs; everything was wet. Rachel’s cat went outside in this cold weather. She ________ him to bring him back inside. He hid near a utility pole (电线杆). Since it rained heavily the pole was charged and ________ to touch. Rachel, bent down to ________ her cat. She held the pole for support not ________ it was charged. The pole electrocuted her so badly that she was barely ________ seconds before her death. The electrocution resulted in ________ both her arms, which had to be cut off.

Rachel had to face such a (n) ________ accident. People get ________ about losing a finger. What would it be like if you lose both your arms? That’s what Rachel was trying to digest. It wasn’t easy at all. Rachel, slowly and gradually was accepting the ________ that she lost her arms and was ________ dependent on others for basic necessities that ________ the use of her arms. It upset her that she could not ________ her own duties herself.

Many people would lose hope. ________, that was not the case with Rachel. She did not want to ________ her dream. She didn’t let the slightest hopelessness bring her down and make her ________ her motivation. After recovery, Rachel ________ day and night to do most of her work with her feet. She emphasized mostly on ________ since she had no arms to do that with. She tried and tried. After many ________ and failures, she finally could write with her feet. She continued her school, ________ her examination and got a scholarship for law school.

Her optimism paved the way for a bright future. Her hard work ________ all because she never gave up.

3 . Dan Price was the CEO of Gravity Payments, a financial services company. One day, he found out a friend was struggling ________. The cost of living in Washington is ________, and she just couldn’t make ends meet(量入为出) on her salary. However, Dan was already earning $1.1 million a year. He realized how ________ it was that he had so much while the people working under him were struggling.

This point was driven home when he ________ a Mc Donald’s handbook on the desk of employee Rosita Barlow. When asked , Rosita burst into tears and ________ that after she left work at Gravity, she went straight to her shifts (轮班)at McDonald’s . Some nights, she even stood ________ at the local food bank.(赈济处）

That’s when Dan decided to do something to stop income ________ in his company. In 2015, he cut his own pay by 90%, mortgaging(抵押）his two houses, and ________ his stocks and savings so that he could ________ every single employee’s pay to $70,000 a year!

More than a third of his employees saw their ________ double. Some feared productivity would decline(下降）if everyone was earning more, but the ________ turned out to be true. Dan’s employees began to truly thrive (奋发）once the stress of making ends meet was ________ from their everyday lives. Employees like Rosita were finally able to quit their second jobs and ________ their work, actually increasing ________.

When COVID-19 hit the U.S, Dan’s company ________ financial difficulties. But what the employees decided ________ Dan! They chose to take a voluntary pay ________ of between 5% and 100% to keep Gravity going ________. The pay cuts worked! Gravity was able to ________ from the economic downturn, and they recently restored all salaries to their pre-pandemic amount.

As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats! Dan treated his employees well. And when it was their turn to________ him, they didn’t let him down!

5 . Sarah Ramadan had always been a perfectionist to draw more attention from others. “It’s hard to say if I ever did things for myself,” she said. Her drive for perfectionism even influenced her body. “I thought I would be a better person if I lost weight since that meant I cared for my figure,” she said.

Ramadan started to make changes, slowly by cutting food intake (摄入).However, things began to get worse and she developed anorexia (厌食症). “Gradually, I was having greater food fears. I related weight increase with shame,” she said. The extreme weight loss seriously affected her health. She was always freezing, had dry skin and thinning hair, and developed an irregular heartbeat and low blood sugar.

To hide her weight loss, Ramadan wore thick clothes. Then one day her mother walked in her room while she was only in a T-shirt. Her mother began to cry. Only then did them other know her poor condition. Realizing the trouble, her parents placed her in a treatment center. Ramadan’s weight increased, and she looked recovered, but mentally she was still fighting with anorexia. After half a year, her weight went to the lowest again and she could no longer walk without her mother’s support. She left university for that.

Ramadan finally realized she had a choice to make: To beat her anorexia or to die. She turned to her brother, Aladdin, a bodybuilder for help, who set up a meal plan to increase her food intake. “I knew I needed to eat to gain weight, but eating is actually physically exhausting when you’re not used to it. I had to learn how to enjoy food again,” said Ramadan. She started to feel a difference and was motivated to continue. In addition, Ramadan also hit the gym to build herself up physically. She said, “Where there is a will, there is a way. I eventually make it. Not only did I get weight, but most importantly, I got life.”

6 . Cohen Earley had one wish after he lost part of his leg because of cancer. He was ________ to play football—and now after months of ________ he has finally achieved that dream.

Ms Earley was taking him up to bed one evening when she noticed a lump (肿块) in his lower ________, the size of a golf ball, which was shocking. She took him to the doctors ________ and was advised to take more ________.

Tests were carried out at the hospital and the doctors broke the ________ news to the family that Cohen had cancer. Ms Earley said, “We had never ________ it would be anything as serious as cancer. He was only four.”

Cohen had an operation to ________ a quarter of his lower leg in November that year. ________ chemotherapy treatment (化疗) from June until December, Cohen also underwent a month of radiotherapy treatment (放疗). He had painful mouths in this ________. It was a long and hard ________. The only thing to keep him going was to play football again, which gave him a(n) ________ to work for.

Cohen had ________ it all and finally ________ the end-of treatment bell in January this year and doctors have now given him the all-clear. ________, the cancer is dangerous and there is a chance of it ________, so Cohen has to have ________ every three months.

“Now he is back on the football field with his friends. He must be overjoyed when he could finally put on his football shoes and ________ a football again.” Ms Earley ________, “Now he’s back enjoying life again, which is the most important thing. The doctors will keep a close eye on him, but at the moment there has been no ________ of it coming back.”

7 . Recently, I had one unpleasant but lucky day. My morning started with a (an) _________ kid who couldn’t be satisfied whatever I tried to do for him. When I got in my car to take him to _________, I realized my gas tank was close to _________. To make matters worse, the traffic was _________. I felt terrible.

After I filled up my tank and _________ the little one off to daycare, I headed to my favorite restaurant, ordered my favorite meal, went to the _________, and then something happened — my debit card (借记卡) was declined (拒绝). How _________! I told the cashier that she must have run my card wrong and to _________ it again, only for the screen to read DECLINED again. My heart _________. People were staring at me, and I didn’t know _________ to do next since I never carry _________ with me.

It _________ me that I should call the bank. Then I _________ grabbed my phone. Out of _________, an amazing woman came up behind me, smiled at me and paid for my lunch. I was about to _________ to her that I did have money when she stopped me and said, “You can pay me back _________ paying it forward. Have a good day”.

I was amazed that I've _________ seen anyone do anything like this in real life, which really made my day. Still I couldn’t _________ how someone who didn’t even know me could do such a thing for a _________. Right then and there, I told myself that I was going to pay it forward. I was going to create in my child a spirit of _________— gratitude, and show him what paying it forward was all about.

8 . A nurse took a tired serviceman to the bedside. “Your son is here,” she said to the old man. She had to ______ the words several times before the patient’s eyes opened. ______ sedated(服镇静剂) because of the pain of his heart attack, he couldn’t see ______ the young uniformed Marine outside the oxygen tent. He ______ his hand. The Marine ______ his toughened fingers around the old man’s ______ ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.

All night the young Marine sat in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man’s hand and ______ him words of love and ______. The nurse suggested·______ that the Marine rest a while but he refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was ______ of her. Now and then she heard him say a few ______ words. The dying man said nothing, only held ______ to his son all through the night. Along towards ______, the old man died. The Marine ______ the lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse.

She started to offer words of ______, but the Marine interrupted her.

“Who was that man?” he asked. The nurse was slightly ______.

“He was your father,” she answered.

“No, he wasn’t,” the Marine replied. “I never saw him before in my life.”

“Then why didn’t you say something when I took you to him?”

“I knew immediately there had been a ______, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn’t here. When I ______ that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I ______.” Indeed, what the Marine did ______ the identity of “son” to some extent.

9 . “Can I buy an ice cream with my blue rock?” I smiled down at the little girl. She couldn’t be _______ than five years old. I had seen her several times _______ here. Children usually _______ their ice cream with cash money. She looked so _______, worrying that her rock might not be enough. I made a(n) _______ of examining it carefully. I _______ it to the light. I bit it with my teeth. I tapped it with a pencil.

“Yes. What kind of ice cream would you like?” The little girl, still serious but with a _______ smile of thanks on her face, looked _______ at me: “I would like a popsicle (棒冰) that comes with two halves,”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t want a bigger ice cream cone (蛋卷筒)?” She _______ her head. “No. I can’t share those very ________. They melt too quickly.” “Share it? With whom?” I looked around and there didn’t seem to be ________ near her, and I never ________ any of the other children playing with her either. She turned and ________ to a young woman sitting quiet y at a picnic table. “For my Mommy. She doesn’t have any ________. She gave me that blue rock for my birthday.”

I ________ a tear from my eye and handed the girl her popsicle. She thanked me and ________ to her mother. I saw the Mom look up and mouth a “Thank you so much” to me.

I closed up my ________. I got a sundae for me and the little girl’s mother to share. I ________ a cone for the little girl. I put them in a carrier and went over to the picnic table. ________, we had supper together.

Our story came to a happy end. You may know us from some of the things written in the ________, or maybe you saw us on the evening News. We are “Blue Rock Ice Cream”. I still have that blue rock. Plus a wife and a little girl.