2 . For most people, having things stolen feels like an offence. Robbie Pruitt admitted that he got ________ when he discovered the theft of his mountain bike last September. But soon enough, his ________ took a turn. After letting go of his anger and frustration, he found himself on a road to sympathy ________.

For Pruitt, a keen bicyclist, the first thing to do was ________ his stolen bike. But when he went bike shopping, he found few available, which got him thinking: What if the ________ of bikes was Covid-19 related, and what if the person who'd taken his bike really needed ________ to get to work?

With that thought in mind, Pruitt ________ a plan and posted it on the community website. He ________ to fix bikes free of charge for anyone who needed it. He also asked for unwanted bikes, which he would repair-again ________. And then he would donate them to folks who could truly use them but didn't have the ________ to buy one.

The day the post went live, Pruitt received thirty ________ bicycles. Then came more than 500 ________ for detailed information. By the end of 2020, Pruitt had repaired more than 140 for donation or to be ________ to their owners.

Pruitt tries to give his donations to families that are ________ struggling. ________ simply satisfying a material need, he has provided an opportunity for kids in his neighborhood to learn how to fix their own bikes.

In addition to ________ skills, Pruitt's lessons teach teamwork, encourage self-worth, and promote feelings of community. ________, the kids have gained a sense of accomplishment.

"It's a really great ________ for kids,“ said a neighbor in an interview with the local newspaper. "Pruitt is certainly providing a ________, but it's not just the bikes. It's the relationships in the community. It's the ________ that he can make on people."

3 . About five weeks ago, I noticed the skin of our pet lizard was growing dusty. It worried me. I reported the strange surface on the skin of the lizard to my husband and children the next morning. Seconds later, our lizard emerged from its tank with its old skin flowing behind it.

I didn't think about it much until a morning last week when I knocked my favorite teapot off the table. It burst into hundreds of pieces. As I swept up the mess, I wondered why we had been breaking so many things over the months.

The destruction started three months ago. It was my husband's birthday. He had just lost his job. The uncertainty was starting to wear on us, so I wanted to do something special.

“Let's make a cake for Dad!” I cried.

My kids screamed with joy. We baked, iced and sprinkled for most of the day. Candles on the cake! Balloons on the walls! Flowers on the table!

Two hours before my husband came back home from another job interview, my daughter climbed up to grab a glass vase from a high shelf. It fell and crashed beside the cake. Tiny pieces of glass were everywhere. She sobbed loudly as I threw the cake away. My husband had banana pudding for his birthday.

Three days ago, the light in our living room suddenly went out. After several frustrating hours of unsuccessful attempts to fix it, my husband suggested watching the Michael Jordan documentary series The Last Dance.

The poignancy of Jordan retiring from his beloved basketball to play baseball and what had pushed him to make such a tough decision took me by surprise. As I watched him take off his basketball uniform and replace it with a baseball uniform, I saw him leaving behind the layer that no longer served him, just as our lizard had. Neither of them chose the moment that had transformed them. But they had to live with who they were after everything was different. Just like us. I realized that we have to learn to leave the past behind.

Humans do not shed skin as easily as other animals. The beginning of change is upsetting. The process is tiring. Damage changes us before we are ready. I see our lizard, raw and nearly new.

Jordan said that no matter how it ends, it starts with hope. With our tender, hopeful skin, that is where we begin.

I’ve always been creative since I was a little girl. My childhood was filled with arts, crafts (手工) and music, and every day was an exciting adventure of creation.

Somewhere along the way, however, I lost touch with my creative self. At 21, I landed a job at a big insurance company out of my business degree. I would go to the office, sit at my desk and repeat the same work five days a week 9 to 5. The days were long and tedious. Working this way for one year was painful enough, let alone a lifetime. Before long I decided to make a change.

One thing I had developed an interest in was sewing, so I took a sewing course at a community college. It was only a five-week course but it awakened my interest and got my confidence up.

As I dreamt bigger, I began looking into college courses for Fashion Design and three months later I signed up for a part-time design course. I attended classes two nights a week. Although exhausting, it gave me energy, enthusiasm and happiness.

As it became clearer that fashion was what I wanted to do full time, the reality of my day-to-day work at the insurance company became harder. I felt bored. No energy, no motivation and zero fulfilment (满足感).

I knew I needed to make a bigger change. After struggling for quite a while, I made a difficult decision—leaving my job and studying my design course full time. Two years later I got my diploma.

The last few years have been exciting because I’ve been following my heart to do what I love. Today I am living a creative life as the designer of my own fashion brand.

Sometimes it’s hard to make a change, but I’m so glad I set the wheels of change in motion with that very small first step because it has led me to where I am today.

7 . “They tell me that you’d like to make a statue(塑像) of me-is that correct, Miss Vinnie Ream?”

The deep, gentle voice helped calm the nervous girl. Asking a favor of the President of the United States was no casual matter, especially for a seventeen-year-old girl.

“Yes, sir,” she replied, her dark eyes meeting his. “I wouldn’t have duo ask you, but my teacher, Mr. Mills, says I am ready. I plan to make it in an admirable manner. “

President Lincoln smiled. “Painters, sculptors-they’ve all tried to make the best of this ordinary face, but I’m afraid there’s not much hope. What did you have in mind, Miss Ream? A bust(半身像)?”

Before Vinnie could say yes, the President hurried on, a shade of apology in his voice.

“Of course-I shouldn’t have asked. A full-length pose would be much too big a project for a young woman your size. “

Vinnie’s face turned red. She realized she looked like a child, with her tiny figure. “Small does not mean weak, sir,” she defended herself. “I was born in the country of Wisconsin. I’ve driven teams of horses and carried water. Making a full-length clay(粘土) figure would not exhaust my strength-and that is what I intend to do!”

The President’s eyes, brightened at her show of spirit. “Sorry, madam, I have underestimated you as I didn’t know your background.”

But his smile faded as he rubbed his beard with bony fingers, in thought. “Miss Ream,” he sighed, “I’d like to let you do it, but as you know, we are in the middle of a war. How could I possibly take the time to pose for a sculpture now? I hardly have a minute to myself.”

Vinnie glanced around and noted the size of his office. “I work quickly,” she said. Her voice was soft but confident as she pointed to the corner near the windows. “If I were to bring my clay here and work for three hours every afternoon, I could complete most of the project while you are at your desk.”

The President seemed to consider her idea seriously. He got up and shook Vinnie’s hand warmly, “I’ve heard that you are a talented young woman, and I have found you charming and intelligent as well. I cannot make my decision immediately, but you will hear from me soon.”

The very next day, Vinnie received an invitation from the President.

8 . No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own _________

I learned this lesson from a(n) _________ many years ago. I took the head _________ job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football program.

It was a tradition for the school’s old team to play against the _________ team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they didn’t even practice to ___________ the game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to win, but to my disappointment we were defeated. I couldn’t _________ I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I came to _________ that my team might not be the number one team in Georgia, but they were ___________ me. I had to change my _________ about their ability and potential.

I started doing anything I could to help them build a little ____________. Most important, I began to treat them like ____________. That summer, when the other teams enjoyed their ____________, we met every day and ______________ passing and kicking the football.

Six months after suffering our ______________ on the spring practice field, we won our first game and our second, and continued to ____________. Finally, we faced the number one team in the state. I felt that it would be a ____________ for us even if we lost the game. But that wasn’t what happened. My boys beat the best team in Georgia, giving me one of the greatest ____________ of my life！

From the experience I learnt a lot about how the attitude of the leader can ____________ the members of a team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and ______________ them. I helped them to see themselves ____________, and they built themselves into winners.

Winners are made, but born.

10 . My faith in human nature has never been so great as it was last weekend after our family get-together in the town of Vail.

On Saturday, we all went to the market right in the middle of the town. Near the end, we all_________at the fountain near the bridge, and the kids waded（蹚水）around in the fountain until we_________. This is one of the busiest walking streets.

After we returned to the hotel late in the afternoon, my 7-year-old son Ponder_________that nowhere could he find his backpack, which_________his Gameboy and his watch. After a thorough_________we determined that he must have left it at the fountain.

Ponder has never_________anything. So we just take for granted that he needs no supervision（指导）for managing his_________.

He was upset, not about the Gameboy, but about the watch. "But Dad," he said, through massive_________, "they don't make that kind of watch anymore." We were all very_________.

Our dinner reservation was at a restaurant just on the other side of the bridge, so I__________him that we would not only search the area around the fountain when we went back for dinner, but we would also find the police and ask them if the backpack had been__________.

As we exited from the parking garage, we could see the fountain as we walked down the long staircase. I saw something black__________there, but it was right next to a woman standing by the fountain, so I could not__________what it was or if it was hers.

"See it, Dad?" Ponder shouted. "Don't get too__________because that may not be it," I said. But that was it. It had been five or six hours since we left the fountain, and it was__________there. There was no ID in it, and it looked like someone had looked through it and then set it right out where all could__________it.

I literally__________when we reached it and it was his！Everyone in our party was blown away by this "miracle（奇迹）". In my wildest__________, I would never have imagined that this could happen nowadays.

What a charmed life, eh? I believe this was a perfect__________for a child in losing something important…to lose it and feel the full__________of that loss, and then to miraculously get it back.