1 . One Saturday morning, an old man went into the market to buy something. He was dressed _________, his coat worn and his hat old. On his arm he carried a small _________.

“I wish to get a _________ for tomorrow’s dinner,” he said. The market man showed him a fat one. “Ah! That is _________ what I want,” said the old man. “My wife will be _________ with it.” He asked the price and paid for it. The market man packed it and put it in his basket.

Just then a young gentleman _________ the market. He also bought a turkey. When he asked the market man to send it to his _________ at once, the market man _________, “My errand (跑腿) boy is sick today, and there’s no one else. _________, it is not our __________ to deliver goods. It is not __________, so you can carry it yourself.” The young gentleman began to grow __________.

“Carry it myself! Who do you think I am?” said the young gentleman.

Hearing all that was said, the old man said, “Well, that is lucky. I __________ to be going that way. I’ll carry your turkey, if you will __________ me.” The young gentleman agreed happily.

__________ reaching the gentleman’s home, the old man politely handed him the turkey and turned to go. The young gentleman __________ the old man.

“Oh, it’s nothing, sir,” replied the old man. “It was no __________ to me, and you are welcome.” He bowed and went on. The young gentleman stared after him and __________. Then he walked hurriedly back to the market.

“Who is that __________ old gentleman?” he asked the market man. “John Marshall, Chief Justice (首席大法官) of the USA,” the market man answered. The young gentleman was surprised and __________.

In fact, Mr Marshall taught us a lesson that no man should feel himself too fine to carry his own goods.

2 . Instead of being a pacing-up time, winter is a locking-down time. Winter frees us in all sorts of ways.

I once had a neighbor named Earl. An old-timer and a self-made man, he _________ told me stories about Maine winters in the past. He suggested he had _________ the ice age. He backed up his old stories with _________ of old black-and-white photographs of heavy snowstorms that piled up to second-floor windows and completely _________ cars.

And I’ll never _________ what he said as an end to one of his stories, “A man couldn’t get much done once the snow came.” So what did he do once the snow came? He spent a great deal of time _________ to home and hearth, where he _________ the wood stove, sat with his wife, made pots of coffee, and read by the fire.

As I write these words I occasionally raise my head to _________ the window at the woodpile stacked (堆), the garden harvested, the apple tree _________, the lawn mowed, and the bicycle shed newly roofed.

As I tended to all those things, when did I have time to __________?

Some years ago a friend sent me a quote by Socrates that I try to be mindful of: Beware the fruitlessness of a __________ life.

The advice __________ me to look forward to the coming of winter, because I’ve finally learned that it is a slowing-down time, a gift of rest, a (n) __________ to acknowledge that most of the outdoor work that could be done has been done.

A friend of mine who lives in the Southeast recently called. In the course of our __________ he celebrated the climate where he lives, which __________ him to work outside year-round. “I’m always on the go.” he told me.

But I think I need a good time of winter.

A middle-aged man took his eighty-year-old father, who used a stick for walking, to the park to take a walk every morning.

One day, while the old man stepped out from the car, his stick fell down, and he lost his balance.

However, his son caught his hand tightly     1     (immediate), and saved him. The old man smiled at his son gratefully. The son said, “Father, pleased put that stick aside. I     2     (support)you for walking.”

    3     (hold) his son’s hand, the old man walked slowly.

After walking     4     half an hour, they felt tired and sat on a bench. Taking     5     deep breath, the old man said: “Dear, this is life!”

The son asked,“ What do you mean, Father?” The man said,“ When you were a kid, I was holding your hand to support you for walking.     6    now, you are holding my hand to help me!Years ago, you were identified as my son; now I am in your care!This is what     7    (call) the rule of life!”

“What?” the son questioned his dad. The old man replied,

“We all want to be ‘young’ forever! Ageless! Young age is always full of     8     (excite) when you keep on doing sports, When you are a child, everything is so     9    (enjoy); that never happens again    10     you catch ages. Life is short. So, live it to the fullest and make every second court!”

4 . The Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo is a ________ for tree-climbers. It is home to some of the world’s tallest tropical trees. It has also proved to be the treasure for scientist as they have already ________ lots of towering yellow meranti trees (a kind of tree), finding a tree with a record ________ each year.

Just recently, scientists ________ a golden find-the world’s tallest tropical tree to date. It was found, ________ on the island of Borneo, in a grove of yellow meranti trees. The method that scientists used to ________ this tree to prove its height was surprisingly ________ .

In 2018, scientists used laser imagery from airplane to ________ the cluster of huge trees, by creating 3-D images of the forest canopy and spotting any extremely tall growth. Subsequently, drones (遥控飞机) were flown over the site of the yellow meranti trees to double ________ the presence of the probably tallest tree. However, after finding the tree, they go ________ !

Bringing just a tape measure (卷尺) and climbing equipment, an ________ climber is sent up to the very top of the 100-meter tree to accurately ________ the height of the tree, nicknamed “Menara” which is Malay for “tower” . This Malaysian climber Unding Jami ________ one of the world’s tallest standing trees on January 6, 2019. Slowly, but ________ ,Unding Jami and his fellow climbers ________ the highest point of the tree and assured the tree to be about 100.8 meters!

In an interview, Jami talked about his ________ to the top of the tree. When asked about how he felt at the ________ , Jim replied, “I was scared but honestly the ________ from the top was unbelievable. I don’t know what to say other than it was very, very, very amazing! After we had measured it, I couldn’t ________ for the whole night.” Let’s hope we will continue to preserve the ________ of this world for as long as we can.

5 . My friend North is a manager in a large business company. She often ______ in the office that her mother has become particularly ______ since she learned to use WeChat. She ______ spreads rumors or junk information like “get red package if registered” in the family crowd.

She told her mother several times to stop it. But the next second, another ______ message by her occurs in the group. North was angry to ______ with her mother many times for this.

I once saw a ______ on the Internet, saying “Why is it that every time our parents make a very ______ mistake, we always can’t ______ our temper to these old babies?” One reply that ______ me most was that we were angry with our parents, not because ______ they did is wrong, but because they shouldn’t be the “wrong people”.

When we were young, they told us not to talk to strangers. But now they regard the person who sells insurance on the street ______ someone more important than us; when we were young, they told us not to spend money on some useless. But now, they rush to the supermarket to carry ______ at a discount home, no matter ______ it can be used or not. We’re not happy because we find too many ______ in them and we’re not quite willing to ______ their shortcomings. ______, a lot of pity and conflicts that could have been avoided ______.

The most ______ thing in the world is that you ______ a long face at your parents, telling them they’re wrong, and they’re stupid. Sometimes, ______ to be silly in front of our parents is a kind of filial piety(孝顺).

There are successes and failures, which can hardly be avoided in people’s lives. Faced with failure, ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________