1 . Any visitor to the local library in our town would catch sight of a teenage boy reading books carefully. He would _______ to linger(流连) in the library reading not only a wide range of literary works but also articles in famous periodicals(期刊）till closing time. The librarian had to share his _______ to satisfy the teenager’s desire for books when he happened to_______ into the boy’s father.

The boy was called Tarun Kanti, who also took a(n) _______ interest in sports, dancing and drama. His talent had earned him a lot of _______ in the town despite his young age. But things _______ obviously after his father’s untimely death. Kanti _______ his responsibilities as the eldest son. He began to devote his part time to working to _______ his family and insisted on(坚持) studying _______ and ranked(排列) first in the district during the high school graduation examination. Later, he ________ a master’s degree in Yale University.

After retirement Kanti suffered from a rare heart disease that took away his life at the age of 64. ________ his unhealthy condition couldn’t dim(使暗淡) his love for work. He was still ________ in his research during the last days of his life. Almost everyone who had spent time with him during his last days had no ________ that he was dangerously ill.

When he lay lifeless in the library of his residence, many of his colleagues and friends ________ in to have a last glimpse（一瞥) and pay their final tributes(悼念). In great ________ I prepared to take a last look at my lifelong hero— my elder brother Tarun Kanti.

Meet Hagen, a 6-year-old boy who recently celebrated his sixth birthday. Hagen is traveling with his family to Dallas with his amazing Buzz Lightyear(巴斯光年) toy. Traveling with kids is always busy, and the family had other things on their minds, so the tiny toy was unfortunately left behind.

Hagen’s mother said that when they landed, they thought they had gathered all their things and they headed to the taxi. It wasn’t until they were in the taxi that Hagen started crazily asking for his Buzz and his mother quickly realized that they did not have Buzz and he was still on the plane. Hagen was upset because he saw the toy as his best friend.

When the family understood this, it was too late to turn around their car heading for the family gathering as the plane had already departed(启程) for Little Rock, Arkansas. Hagen’s mother knows that losing a toy is never a pleasant feeling, especially for a 6-year-old and the toy is a big talking Buzz Lightyear action figure. So she had to lie that Buzz was on an awesome space task, and Hagen would get reunited with Buzz some day.

Well, LIT Ramp Agent Jason noticed Buzz all alone on the plane and his first idea was that he was probably here on a mission—and a mission did actually happen. Together with another colleague, Beth, Jason found out whose Buzz this was—there was a name on the foot and the airline’s contact information, so it wasn’t too hard—and they took Buzz on an adventure before sending him back.

Jason located Hagen according to name printed on the bottom of Buzz’s boot, ‘Hagen’. Only one passenger had flown on the plane with that name. That allowed them to locate the email of Hagen’s mother from their reservations. Then they posted the amazing pictures that Jason had taken with Buzz on his personal Facebook. The address of Hagen’s mother was given to Jason and he let Hagen’s mother know he’d be mailing him back to them.

6 . In 1955, at age 12, I became obsessed (着迷) with the idea of recording an album for our parents to do something in celebration of their wedding day. My sister, brother, and I would sing our favourite songs for them.

The recording was to be kept a secret from our parents. I found a local studio, Dunford Recordings, not too far from where we lived in Christchurch. I rang and asked the cost of making a record.

To pay for the recording, I saved the money I earned from helping my aunty Mae in the school holidays. I called a family friend and persuaded her to accompany us on the piano. We couldn’t practise with her for fear of being found out, so I got my sister and brother together and we worked out a routine.

I arranged with Aunty Mae, in strictest secrecy, to take us to the studio at the appointed time. We sang our first two songs a couple of times so they could select the best version, but by the time we got to the third song we were rather tired, so only recorded it once.

Outside the studio door, I had been holding the record very carefully but my sister snatched it from me and it rolled out of its jacket, down the stairs, bouncing onto the pavement and then onto the road. Gasp! Horror! Mercifully, it was undamaged.

The day came and we excitedly gave our precious present to our parents. They were surprised indeed. However, it never occurred to me that my parents bought a brand-new radiogram to play the record on.

My parents had been secretly warned by my aunt about our surprise, and unknown to us, they were downstairs in the appliance shop buying the radiogram while we were upstairs recording. They actually saw the record roll out onto the street.

Our recording has become a wonderful memory of the past.

Running a marathon is an impressive achievement. Running it again is doubly impressive. Completing two marathons on walking sticks while partially paralyzed (瘫痪) is a test to the human spirit. Hannah Gavios decided to participate in the New York City Marathon in 2018 after learning about Amanda Sullivan, who had previously completed marathons after an auto accident left her disabled.

In 2016, Gavios took a vacation in Vietnam. On her way back to her hotel one night, she feared she had gotten lost and asked for directions. But the person led her to a dark, wooded area and attacked her. While running away, she fell off a cliff, falling down 150 feet. She lay paralyzed at the bottom of the cliff for hours, until she was ultimately rescued in the morning. The fall left her with a serious injury that has affected muscles in her lower body. But it hasn’t stopped her from living her life to the fullest.

The road to recovery was difficult at first. Gavios was in the hospital in Thailand for 18 days and after that spent two months in Manhattan before being discharged. At first, she couldn’t even sit up. When she tried to stand up for the first time since being attacked, she felt lightheaded and fell.

Through physical therapy (治疗), Gavios felt herself getting much stronger. Eventually, though, she was doing the exercises without any assistance. Seeing the progress that she was making kept her going. Gavios began challenging herself through activities outside of physical therapy. She went on difficult hiking in the mountains. “It was something that I just started becoming more creative with and always putting myself to the test, pushing boundaries outside of what was normal,” Gavios said. But even while she was pushing her body to constantly do more, she still had a feeling that running, an activity she loved and that once came so easily to her, would no longer be possible.

Then Gavios learned about Amanda, who completed marathons on walking sticks with the help of an organization.

After her first marathon, Gavios started to think about how to help people with paralysis.

Tim Robinson, a former junior officer of the British Army, was on holiday in Bridport, Dorset, a town in England. While enjoying a walk down the beach, Tim slipped on a piece of seaweed lying in the sand and fell, breaking his leg.

Unfortunately, Tim did not bring his cell phone with him when he left for his walk. No one was in site, but as Tim lay helpless he remembered his military training and tried to think about what was around to help him. After struggling around on the beach, the pain became too much to handle. He stopped and thought about what to do.

With no phone and no one around, and with his leg hurting greatly, Tim had a decision to make. He could either continue this way in pain and hope that someone happened to see him, or he could try something else. It didn’t matter that his leg had made him partially immobile, Tim still had the ability to crawl (爬行), and so he did.

The choice was easy, but the crawl was tough. Tim told the Daily Mail, “After I crawled to about a mile-and-a-quarter away from the car park, I started flashing my torch in SOS and spinning it over my head to create a Buzz-Saw signal which is a way of attracting helicopters in the armed forces.”

No one seemed to be around. At least, no one could read Tim’s signals for help. Once again, he had to either stay where he was and wait for help or get moving. In his mind he had no choice. There was no response to begin with, so he crawled for five minutes and covered about 50 meters before making the same signal three times. Most people couldn’t imagine crawling for any distance with a broken leg, but Tim wasn’t about to give up.

Tim finally got a response from the distance.

Tim’s condition was worse than Mrs. Robinson thought.

The 75­-year­-old Joe lived very happily in a village and had a big warm family. His children     1     and moved to different cities. Now he has four grandchildren, and they usually visit him during their holidays.

During one     2     , Joe was preparing his home for the kids: cleaning the house and cooking their favorite foods. After he finished working, he realized his watch was     3     . The watch was from his     4     and he treasured it very much, so he was very upset. He looked for it but could not find it anywhere.

When his grandchildren came, they promised him they would find the watch which was given by their grandma.

One granddaughter asked, “Grandpa, do you remember when you saw it the     5     time?”

“I guess when I was cleaning the     6     ! ” he replied.

The children looked for more than two hours with Joe, but they couldn’t find it. The kids were now also sad, but they tried to comfort their grandpa.

One grandson went back to the garden to look again. He was there for about 15 minutes and rushed back with a(n)     7     look on his face.

Then everyone was very surprised to see the watch in his hand. They asked how he was able to find it. The little boy replied, “I sat there without making a noise. After a few minutes, I heard the ‘tick, tick’ sound and found the watch.”

Joe hugged and     8     the little boy.

This is the power of silence. If we stay calm (冷静), we are more able to find the ways of solving problems.