During winter, Leo noticed that of all the houses on the block, there was one with a messy, dirty yard that looked unattended. One day, after all the snow had melted and the trees were starting to bloom (开花) just in time for spring, Leo couldn’t help but stare at his neighbor’s messy yard a little longer. The melted snow showed all the buried leaves and other trash.

He went back home and brought the tools he needed. It took Leo the entire afternoon to clear the yard. He moved the melting snow out of the pathway and swept the leaves from the ground. He also trimmed (修剪) the bushes and left them as neat as he could.

The following morning, the old woman, Abigail, opened her door with joy. She had quietly watched the young man clean up the yard the day before, much to her relief.

Abigail had not left her house in months. She relied totally on her caregiver for her basic needs and was eager to get fresh air. After sitting in her wheelchair in her front yard for a couple of minutes, her neighbors started to notice her. They walked toward her to say hi, and soon, the crowd grew.

“It’s so lovely to see you outdoors, Abigail! How have you been?” one of them asked.

“I’m so happy to be breathing some fresh air for a change. I couldn’t leave the house for months because of the snow. It was too deep, and I couldn’t afford to hi re someone to help me with it,” Abigail admitted.

“But yesterday, I saw a kind young man cleaning my yard the entire afternoon. I wanted to thank him, but I had no food to offer him because my caregiver had not arrived yet,” she shared. “He is such a blessing. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw him!”

When Abigail praised the “kind young man” who helped her, they immediately knew it was Leo. The neighbors looked at each other, with guilty all over their faces. They realized they had been so blind to Abigail’s problems that no one thought to help her by cleaning her yard.

They decided to thank Leo by visiting his house.

When he opened his front door, Leo was surprised to see his neighbors bearing gifts.

2 . Putting down the book I was reading, I turned to my mum. “Next year, when I go to high school…,” I started, thinking of all the novels I’d soon finish. But before I could finish my sentence, Mum ________ my words. “There will be no high school,” she said. “We don’t have ________ for uniforms or school shoes or books.”

My family were very poor and the kids all ________ school, including me. Years later, I met George and got married. Life went on,________ the desire to study never left me. “When we retire, I want to go to university,” I told George. I wanted to ________ to myself that I could do it.

In 2015, we ________ and I seized my chance. At the age of 66, I was ________ to a program with the University of the Sunshine Coast which helped ________ students prepare for university.

Walking onto campus that first day in February 2017, it was clear I was the ________ student there. My biggest challenge wasn’t the course work; it was the ________.

Before ________ my first paper, I turned to two girls next to me. “How do I send this in?” I asked. They kindly showed me, but as I clicked “send” I was ________ all that work had disappeared into the black hole of cyberspace never to be seen again.

I loved campus life and ________ all my subjects. When I was invited to ________, I cried. I couldn’t believe I’d done it. My family all came to my graduation ceremony in April 2023 and sat in the front row.

If you’re thinking of getting a ________, just do it. I have three great grandchildren now and if I can get a degree aged 73, so can you.

The sea was shining across the horizon as my husband, Michael, and I looked out over the rocky cliff（悬崖） of Gleesons Landing in Yorke Peninsula. "Careful Abby doesn't fall down the rocks here," Michael warned as he pulled out his fishing rod（鱼竿）. Abby was our two-year-old rescue dog（搜救犬）we'd adopted one year earlier.

Leaving Michael to his fishing, Abby and I wandered off. We'd been walking for a while when we saw a small path that led down the side of the cliff towards the beach. Abby raced off and as I followed, my leg caught on a rock and I fell down the cliff. Landing three meters down, my left leg cracked violently. Shocked, I tried to keep myself calm. I couldn't feel any pain but when I tried to get up, my body just fell back down. "Go and get Daddy," I signaled to Abby as she paced nervously beside me. At first she refused to leave my side. But somehow she realized I needed her and raced off.

Alone and staring out to sea, my world faded to black. Staying awake some time later, I discovered Abby hadn't returned. Suddenly, I heard movement coming from above. "Sue?" Michael called out. Relief flooded through me as I looked up and saw Michael and Abby. "I think I broke my leg," I shouted back. "I'll go get help," he promised. "If I try to reach you myself, they'll be rescuing two of us."

Faint and tired, I held on to consciousness. Abbey came down to me and kept me company until the rescuers arrived. They carried me on a stretcher（担架） to a helicopter, where I was flown to hospital in Adelaide while Michael and Abby drove.

At the hospital, the pain caused by the fall finally hit me.

“She led me to the exact spot where you were,” Michael explained.

4 . A woman’s 16-year-old dog went on a little adventure of his own, leaving his owner both ______ and pleasure.

When Jenny Hazard discovered that her old dog, Bear, had ______, her world broke down at once. ______ the worst thing would happen due to Bear’s age and heart condition, Hazard searched for him like crazy. It didn’t take long for her to notice the gate was ______, and Bear was nowhere to be found.

“After about 15 or 20 minutes, I was just in tears,” Hazard said, ______ her concern for Bear’s health.

Feeling hopeless, she ______ social media, sharing a photo of her dear dog and ______ the community to take notice.

Then the dog’s story took an ______ turn when Hazard received a text message that not only reduced her worries but made her ______. It turned out that Bear wasn’t in any danger — he was at the ______, about a mile away, having the time of his life.

“Great, he’s fine, so I’m not worried — but what’s he ______ there?” Hazard told the media, laughing ______ .

As more was ______ about the story, Bear was found hanging out with a group of girls. The owner of the dance hall reported that the two ladies had obviously ______ Bear on the street and that their first stop was indeed the dance hall.

Jenny Hazard thanked the ladies and then posted the ______ story online.

6 . He Cuiying lives on a mountain peak in Yunnan province, at an altitude of 3,000 meters. Every morning, the 91-year-old woman is _______ by floating fog, which creates a fairy-tale landscape.

Four years ago, He Cuiying opened a homestay (民宿) in her yard with the help of her granddaughter, He Qingmei. Ever since, she has _______ her stories, the beautiful scenery and the _______ culture of her village with visitors from across China and other parts of the world.

He Cuiying is a member of the Naxi ethnic group, while her husband is from the Tibetan ethnic group and he is a _______ in Tibetan Buddhism. In Qibie village, He Cuiying’s home, eight ethnic minorities live _______ in the same village, where local people _______ 102 homestays.

The villagers say they have turned “houses into homestays and people into _______”. They speak the Naxi language, _______ Tibetan customs and warmly welcome tourists from all over the world. In just eight years, they have developed a _______ multiethnic (多民族的) homestay village, becoming a key demonstration project for cultural ________ in Yunnan.

He Cuiying loves ________. Whenever guests visit her home, she sings songs and offers blessings continuously. Her favorite song is Chairman Mao Is Like the Sun. She remembers how the remote village was liberated and ________ poverty under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, so she has a sincere ________ for Beijing as the capital city.

Now, as He Cuiying gets older, He Qingmei and her cousins are gradually ________ the homestay. They hope to share the beautiful scenery and stories of Grandma’s home with more people through the ________ of guests from all over the world.

It all started after a routine doctor visit. I’d been planning on getting healthy, but the number s showed that my vague efforts weren’t working at all. Weijing 325pounds, I found my blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure were all way over target. Things had to change. Dradically.

But I was definitely not doing another diet of cramming (塞满) denial and shame down my throat until I hit some number on a scale. I was tired of watching the weight return again and again. bringing with it more guilt and shame. Clearly, I needed to make lifestyle changes.

It occurred to me that I knew a lot about what didn’t work, since all my previous attempts had led me to this sorry state. I needed to get healthy, but in a slow, steady, rest-d-my-life kind of way.

I’ve been a software developer for twenty-five years, so naturally I went to that skill set. I thought. “What if the system I need to redesign is me?” I decided to reboot (重启) my own system. Could I make it easy? Make it fun?

That idea seems radical (过激的). It goes against diet culture and the advertising messages we’ve been bombarded with our entire lives. We’re told over and over that getting health y is difficult. No pain, no gain, right?

But I found out it doesn’t have to be that way. I started upgrading my system by reviewing all the times I tried to get healthy in the past. I made a list of what didn’t work. Then I wrote down what did work, or at least worked for a while, and why it stopped working. There were some surprises. My membership at 15-Minute Fitness, for example, was a huge success. I worked out with a trainer for an intense fifteen minutes twice a week and saw huge gains.

One by one, I went through every failed attempt. I realized that the consistent elements across all of them were guilt, shame and internal bullying.

Then I came up with new rules.

After my first 100 days, I sat e big improvements.

Quan Peng, a man in a wheelchair, set off from Beijing in August 2014, and     1    (visit) 43 cities and towns in five provinces so far. In the next six months, he hopes to make    2     to China’s southern tip — his final destination.

“I see it as a battle.” Quan said, “I’m not just battling against my disability,     3     also against discrimination (歧视).”

Quan has traveled on a tight budget. He has slept in a tent or in his chair, and camped out in hospitals, banks and public toilets. The few times he tried to stay in hotels, but he     4    (turn) away. “Restaurant owners would refuse     5    (take) me in because they see me as a beggar; I go to a hotel and they would tell me they are     6    (full) booked.”

Quan,     7     was housebound for eight years, wants to use his wheelchair trip to raise     8    (aware) of the need of disabled people around the country. Even in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, which are     9    (well) equipped for the disabled, Quan says he was not able to take a bus. “I would like to try my best to let people know that we are able to create value. We are not useless people    10    (stay) in bed all day long,” said Quan.