1 . Cycling becomes more popular nowadays. Some may argue that it brings tiredness but it’s nothing, ________with the joy of climbing huge mountains or seeing splendid sights. My cycling career of 13 years ended when I was 75. Though I am now no longer________enough to bear the long days and big climbs, I have my ________   .

It was easy to meet different people with ________during the trips, where I got to ________ the very best in people. In 2007, a stranger stopped her car alongside me to make me a most welcome cup of tea. In 2014, a couple ________ me their place to spend the night.

The support and comfort they gave was a(n)________ change from the long hours I had spent alone on the bike. As each trip ________ its end, I gradually forgot the long hours of riding. Happy memories of the trip________ took the place of the pain and failure I experienced.

Meanwhile, cycling gave me much time to ________ sufferings I went through in my life. Time ________ everything. Cycling also taught me to like who I am. I finally realized that I had more courage than I ever imagined, which was ________ in these trips. No matter how far the________was, I could get there without any support.

These were the adventures of my life, and they were ________ memories. With cycling, the success or failure________ not on luck or conditions but on me alone.

3 . Teaching is always a challenge. Each student has his own needs and difficulties. A student called Billy _______ me with his behavior. He struggled daily with his uncontrollable emotions and often became angry. To make _______ progress, his emotions needed controlling.

One _______ I tried to help Billy was to have him come directly into the classroom when he reached school. Billy’s mom would _______ me to inform me of a particularly emotional morning at home. Then, I would _______ calming him down.

One week our class was studying _______. I thought one way to bring learning into the classroom was to bring my dog Rocky to school.

That day I was preparing activities focusing on dog themes when I was told that Billy had a _______ morning at home and I might need to get him settled. As I was talking to his mom, Billy _______ into the classroom. To Billy’s surprise, Rocky immediately ran to his new _______ wagging his tail and rubbing against Billy’s leg. Billy was __________ by Rocky and began laughing.

Throughout the day, Billy never left Rocky’s side, being gentle with him and even __________ the other students while Rocky was sleeping.

Billy was known for doing anything he could to avoid __________, but on this day he found a story about dogs and read it to Rocky. How __________ I was at the sight of Billy reading happily! My little dog was able to change Billy’s day from one of anger to one of laughter, gentleness and __________.

That day Rocky more than helped me with my __________. He helped to change the life of a child!

4 . In 1945, Sergeant (中士) John Gonsalves was sent back to Germany soon after the Second World War ended. On the way back home he decided to send a letter to his ______, but the letter never arrived. ______ , it never arrived on time. Somehow, this lost letter from 1945 was ______ in 2021. ______ workers did everything they could to deliver it to the ______ of John’s family as soon as possible.

Although John ______ in 2015 at the age of 92, he was ______ by his wife, Angelina Gonsalves and their five sons.

“The mailman came and said, ‘Was your husband once in the ______ ?’ And I said, ‘Yes, he was,’ ‘Well, I think I have a letter for you,’” Angelina ______ . “I couldn’t believe it. And then I ______ that it was his ______ , you know? It was just so ______ .”

In the two-page letter, John gave his mom a(n) ______ on what life had been like at the station in Bad Orb, Germany. Most ______, John expressed his love for his ______ , wishing them well and letting them know he was looking forward to returning home. He ended the letter with, “Love and ______ , your son, John.”

Although the letter is 76 years late, it couldn’t have arrived at a ______ time. It reached John’s family during the Christmas season, one of his favorite holidays.

“It was a joy to see her ______ light up as she was reading his ______ ,” Brian Gonsalves, one of their sons, said. “He was a good man.” Angelina said, “Everybody loved him. That was ______ — It seemed that he came back to me.”

5 . Luke is a cute dog, living together with me for five years. We get lots of_______in our area during the summer season. Many forests are badly_________by fires each year. That hot summer, not far from our shelter, a forest______________fire. It was July, and there had been a heat wave going on for three days.

Somehow, Luke rushed towards the forest. There was no longer any hope at that moment to wait for Luke to come back to the____________. In fact, I was waiting for firefighters to tell me that he had____________in the forest. Suddenly, a fireman burst into my office and____________me that Luke had succeeded in saving four cats who had been__________by the flames (火焰). I____________accompanied (陪伴) the fireman to the forest to get him back.___________we got to the scene of the event, we didn’t see Luke. Then we heard the________of a dog barking (吠) in the forest. I______________the barks was Luke’s. The firemen______________the tracks of the dog until they found him barking loudly by the side of an injured________. Thanks to Luke, four cats and a fireman were saved. This true story shows us that pets are loving and caring. We should love and__________them. Little animals can do__________things for humans.

6 . Brianna was just 12 when her mother became severely ill, allowing her to know what it was like to care for someone else. Although many members of her family were nurses, taking care of her mum was what influenced her the most and helped her decide to become a nurse.

After she didn’t get into UW-Eau Claire’s nursing programme the first two times she applied, Brianna began exploring potential careers. She took several business classes, but quickly realized that business wasn’t the right choice for her and her real passion was in nursing. She applied for nursing again and finally started the nursing programme in the fall of 2019.

She was just months into her first semester as a nursing major when she hit the next bump in the road. Brianna became extremely ill, with symptoms ranging from difficulty breathing to a high fever. Eventually, breathing became so difficult that she had to go to the emergency room. Therefore, Brianna could not attend classes for the rest of that semester, focusing instead on regaining her mental and physical health.

While Brianna was still in hospital, she already had connected with fellow nursing majors as well as professors, who worked closely with her to make sure she stayed on her courses. Those connections made all the difference when she was trying to stay on track to graduate despite her illness.

In spring, COVID-19 added additional obstacles to her college journey, forcing her to find new ways to manage her time. What’s worse, she was also unemployed when stores were closed, making it more difficult to pay for college.

Despite all those obstacles, Brianna graduated successfully in December 2021 and has already planned for what comes after she earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing.

7 . Mom and I were putting the finishing touches on dinner, and my little niece Jessica came in to set the table. Instead of going to the dish cabinet, she went into the pantry where there was a stack of old, mismatched dinner plates on the bottom shelf.

When she had set all six plates, she stood back and sighed, “Oh, Grandma, your plates are so beautiful. Ours are all alike!” We had a good laugh at her innocent remark, but as I think back to all those years ago, I believe she was right. Those plates were beautiful.

Mom worked for the local Council on Aging as a housekeeper. She did many of the little things that allowed elderly people to stay in their own homes. Most of her clients got Meals on Wheels, a service in the 1970s. They received a hot lunch and a cold snack to have later in the evening. This is really not very much food. Every evening Mom would make to-go meals on these mismatched plates covered with aluminum foil, and then deliver them to the people who she knew didn’t get enough to eat.

This was about ten years before microwave ovens became common, so it was important that the food be on a plate that could be reheated in a regular oven. Instead of a cold sandwich and macaroni salad, Mom’s clients dined on Beef Manhattans, pan-fried chicken or meatloaf, along with veggies and a piece of pie or cake. Mom and Dad did this even after Mom left her job, and Mom continued after Dad’s death until all her former clients had either passed away or moved out.

When I was cleaning our Mom’s house after her death, I kept one as a souvenir. That plate is a sweet reminder of the lessons of generosity and caring for one’s neighbor that were modeled for me by my parents.

8 . I remember my first day to go to a new school in the 2nd grade. My dad accompanied me to the bus stop. As we waited for the bus, I just held his hand________, but it still couldn’t remove my clear sense of fear and anxiety. The moment finally arrived when I had to________this new environment at a school where I had no friends, no________teachers or classmates. It seemed everything would be full of________.

The school bus pulled up. I turned around and________to my father. As I boarded the bus, my________continued to grow and I turned around once again to make a farewell gesture to my dad. When the bus pulled away, I couldn’t help________.

Being lonely, I was a little________in the classroom. I glanced out of the window and I really expected to see his kind figure. To my________, there he was! He stood there, making the shape of a heart to________me and mouthing to me, “Everything will be okay.” It was________to me that my father had seen me crying so he________the school bus. He wanted to make sure that I would get and stay there________and that my first day wouldn’t worry him.

With his________, I’m now studying in Princeton University. Today is Father’s Day, and I want to say that love is not about changing each other but________each other.

9 . It was 80 years ago when I wrote my first letter to Paul and Renee who lived in France. I was keen on learning languages, so I was ________ when my French teacher assigned us pen pals.

It was quite a thing to get a letter from a ________ country, so I looked forward to ________ their reply. They weren’t particularly good at English, so we were all writing in French, which helped me acquire a good ________ of the language.

I decided to go to France on holiday in 1949 to________ them, but Paul was called up by the army, and Renee was away skiing. The family ________ me warmly, and I visited several times in the years that followed. The first time I met Renee, she picked me up at the station, and we hit it off straight away.

I never got to meet Paul. Renee ________ to me and told me that he had died ________ after leaving the army. Renee and I continued writing to each other, and our ________ became deeper. We talked about our families, our favorite pastimes and our ________ in life. Renee never married and worked as a nurse for half her life. As I continued to visit, I got to know her whole family, ________ her aunts and uncles, and distant cousins all over France. I was so ________ into their home life that I never felt like a tourist.

I’m 93 now and I ________ write to Renee. She has difficulty writing now, so she phone me to reply. Most people don’t seem to have the time for letters anymore, but it gives me great________ to write. My correspondence (通信) with Renee has offered me a wider ________ of what’s happening outside the UK. More importantly, this is the most enduring friendship I have ever had.

A Great Monday

Monday started out well. I woke up on time, ate breakfast and did some last minute studying for my math test later that morning. I was confident of getting good grades. I left my house and ten minutes later, I sat with my friends on the school bus. We were busy chatting about how we spent our weekend. At the next stop, a student named Ryan got on the bus. He was in a rush and tripped (绊倒) over someone’s foot. There was a loud noise as he fell to the floor.

Every one of us on the bus laughed. Ryan got up, brushed his jacket and went to an empty seat. He tried to laugh with us, but his face was red with embarrassment. The rest of the morning went by quickly. I did well in my math test. I read two more chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird in English class. Soon we heard the lunch bell. I met my friends from the cheerleading team in the dining hall. I noticed Ryan a few tables away, sitting by himself. He caught me looking at him. I smiled at him quickly and looked away.

When we finished eating, we went to the courtyard to practice a cheer we would do at that night’s football game. After much practice, we finally managed to do the cheer perfectly. We decided to practice it again one last time. Just like the rest of my day so far, the cheer was going great. I raised my leg for one last toe touch. That was when I felt my jeans (牛仔裤) split (裂开) down the middle of my backside.

I froze. I had no idea what to do. I heard people burst out laughing and I saw them pointing at my torn jeans. I tried to cover myself with my hands, I tried to laugh too, but I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes.

Then I saw Ryan running towards me.

That night, after the cheer at the football game, I found Ryan.