4 . I drove 12 miles to the county newspaper office one day. I had to ________ outside and wait. Beside me lay a one-page short novel I had written, and I hoped to get it come out. “What if the publisher didn’t ________ it?” I thought to myself. I was on pin s and needles, and every now and then, I stood up and walked back and forth.

Eventually, I was led to the publisher’s office by his secretary. I still felt ________, but the kind smile he shared with me soon made me eased. I didn’t even own a ________ at the time, so he had to read my handwritten ________. Then he said, “I couldn’t like it enough and I would include it in the next week’s ________.” I jumped with joy and said, “Thanks, Sir.” But I ________ even more.

I asked him if I could keep writing for him each week. He thought for a moment and then ________. He even said he would pay me five dollars for each new thing I ________. I was so ________ that I skipped and danced on the sidewalk when I went outside. Little did I know that moment would ________ my life.

That was almost 40 years ago. Now, I have my own studio and lead a better life. I ________ to write something new for my publisher——my friend each week. As I write, I ________. I’ve become a determined and patient person. Each time I learn something new, I ________ write it to get my friend to publish it. Without my friend, I would never be the ________ I am today.

5 . John Nelson, 92, grew up in Michigan and volunteered for the army in 1945. The 18-year-old managed to get accepted, despite being colourblind. He landed on the island of Iwo Jima in the first days of the American attack to take the island from the Japanese. Nelson fought day and night for 10 days before receiving a serious wound to his right arm. The other seven men in his squadron (中队) all died. American losses included 5,900 dead and 17,400 wounded.

Nelson saw the American flag being raised on Mount Suribachi after the island was taken by the American forces. The arm would continue to trouble him the rest of his life. Suffering from anxiety and flashbacks, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (创伤后应激障碍).

Al Elders was a Grandville farm boy. He joined the Navy and was stationed on Guam when the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and 9,1945, basically ended the war with Japan.

War often develops lasting friendships. But for the two World War II veterans (老兵) living at Sunset Manor in Jenison, their friendship didn’t begin until about a year and a half ago. One day, Elders noticed a man sitting at a cafeteria in the Sunset Village, and that was Nelson. Seeing his Marine cap, Elders thought they would have something to talk about. And they did. The war in the Pacific is a common bond.

The two men later worked together to serve other residents at Sunset Manor. John began detailing cars during good weather and cleaning walkers in winter. Elders became his advertising manager. They donated most of their income to the Wounded Warrior project. John is less mobile now and is in care at Sunset. Elders continues to visit and to encourage his friend. A friend of Elders’ who traveled to Iwo Jima brought back a jar filled with sand from the rock y island. Elders sent the gift, along with his own wartime collections, to the Seabee Museum and Memorial Park.

6 . The sun was beginning to sink as I set off into the Harenna Forest. I was on my way to _________ a unique honey harvest. Here, in south-east Ethiopia, hand-carved beehives (蜂房) are placed in the _________. Reaching them to get the honey is difficult and often _________.

I followed beekeeper Ziyad over a wide stretch of grassland _________ entering a thick jungle. Ziyad began preparations. He gathered _________ of damp tree leaves, wrapped them with string, and _________ the bunch to create a torch (火把). Then, with one end of a rope tied to his waist and the other end around the trunk of a tree, Ziyad began _________. He stopped every few minutes to move the _________ higher up the tree trunk.

_________, Ziyad got close to the hive which was around 20 meters above the ground. Sitting on a branch, he __________ towards it and blew smoke from his torch into a tiny hole in the hive. Suddenly, Ziyad __________ a sharp cry. Within seconds, he’d __________ the trunk and was back on the ground.

It was too __________ to collect the honey. A cool summer had delayed __________. Baby bees were still in the honeycombs (蜂巢). The angry adult bees kept attacking as Ziyad escaped from the tree. He had to wait for the right __________ to go back up.

7 . I was the only kid in college with a reason to go to the mail box, because my mother never believed in email, in Facebook, in texting or cell phones. I was literally waiting by the mailbox to get a letter with a warmest comfort from her.

So when I moved to New York and got depressed, I did the only thing I could think of. I wrote those same kinds of letters like my mother for strangers, and tucked them all over the city: in cafes, in libraries, and even in the subway. I blogged about those letters and promised if asked for a hand-written letter, I would write one.

Overnight, my inbox became this harbor of heartbreak — a single mother in Sacramento, a girl being bullied in Kansas, a 22-year-old immigrant, all asking me to write them and give them a reason to wait by the mailbox. And this is how I initiated the act The World Needs More Love Letters.

Today I run a global organization fueled by those trips to the mailbox. It is a miracle. But the thing about these letters is that most of them have been written by people brought up in a paperless world where some best conversations happen on a screen. We have learned to diary our pain onto Facebook, and we speak swiftly in twitter.

Therefore, I’ve been carrying this mail crate (大木箱) with me these days, which is a magical icebreaker. So I get to tell total strangers about a woman whose husband was traumatized (受精神创伤) from war, and how she left love letters throughout the house saying, “Come back to me.” And a man, who had decided to take his life, slept safely with a stack of letters just beneath his pillow, handwritten by strangers who were there for him.

These stories convince me that letter-writing will never need to be about efficiency, because it is an art now, all of it: the signing, the scripting, the mailing.

8 . This was the big game. The boys were ________ and excited. It was a clear night, and my son Andy’s baseball team, which had ________ all year, had shocked the better teams by making it to this championship game. The atmosphere was ________: the other team’s slugger (强击手),a big kid, was like a snake, dangerous and ready to ________.

Nervously, I looked out Andy’s way. I was ________ to see Andy looking straight up at the night sky! Obviously he wasn’t ________ on the game. I was horrified that he wouldn’t even know the ball was coming.

“Come on, Andy. ________ out there,” I said to myself.

Thank goodness the big kid made a mistake. We (Andy and I) had been ________, and our team still led by one run.

Andy ran up to me at the ________. I was about to ________ him when he said loudly, “Did you see that shooting star?”

Andy’s eyes were glowing (发光) with ________. I paused.

“Yes,” I said. “Well, one inning (局) to go. Hit a home run (全垒打)!”

“Okay!” said Andy, and he ran back to his ________.

I suddenly realized it was nice my son would take time out to ________ the wonder and beauty in life. You might be surprised by the beauty you can find when you least ________ it. Andy hit a triple in that last inning. But I still wish I had ________ that shooting star, too.

Michael saw the trouble coming. There standing in the hallway was Frank, the boy who enjoyed making fun of anyone at any given moment. Frank was tall and strong, so few of his victims stood up to him. Michael hated the idea that Frank always got away with his wrongdoing. Yet like most kids who were picked on, he just took it quietly and waited for the unpleasant to pass.

Frank walked up, his eyes locked on the books in Michael’s arms. When they met, Frank stopped unexpectedly, “Hey, let me see those books!” Some students watched as Michael held out the books he was carrying, trying not to give away his nervousness.

Frank took a book, looked inside for a second, and then threw the book at Michael, who dropped all the other books. “Hey, those are school property,” Frank barked, “Be careful!” Then he walked away, laughing loudly.

Michael, his cheeks turning red, half kicked the fallen books. Suddenly a hand picked up one book. “You look like you could use a p ally (盟友),” a friendly voice said. It was Ramon, the most athletic boy in the high school. Michael couldn’t believe Ramon was stopping to help him as they barely spoke.

“Thanks,” Michael sighed with relief. “It’s confusing. I don’t know what his problems is.”

“Well, as I see it,” Ramon said, “you need to find a way to end this.” Michael nodded, stuck for what to say. Ramon continued, “You know my grandmother used to tell me whenever I had a problem with someone. She’d say, ‘You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar (醋).’”

Looking puzzled, Michael asked, “What does that mean?”

“It means kindness may be more effective than anger,” Ramon explained.

“Can you just tell Frank to stop picking on me?” Michael suggested.

“That’s vinegar,” Ramon laughed as he walked away. “Try honey instead.”

Ramon’s words left Michael thinking.

The next school day brought Michael’s usual pain. There stood Frank, and Michael knew it would be just seconds before he had to face him in the middle of the hall. Frank came nearer.

Then, suddenly, the unexpected happened.

Michael bent down and quickly picked up Frank’s books on the floor.