1 . It was just a typical morning of an ordinary workday. I was at the _______, on my way to the lab where I was a postdoctoral fellow (博士后研究员). But something began to _______ inside me as I watched the people around me-headphones hanging from their ears, eyes cast down, _______ faces. They looked unhappy. And I realized that I was one of them. Suddenly, I could no longer _______ my work life and booked a one-way ticket to fly home.

Over the years. I had grown more competitive due to the _______ of finishing my Ph.D. Those who could have been partners became competitors I disliked and the effect of this competition was exactly the _______ of what I had hoped for. I began to feel lonely and lost. I became less and less _______ in my scientific work. I hit my _______ point that day at the bus station. I had to end this before it is too late. I emailed my professors, explaining that l had put the _______ first and myself second for too long.

Shortly after I got back home, I started to receive some emails from my workmates — I guessed they expected me to join them again soon. After a few ________ asking how I was, in the emails many expressed their stress of academic life. Vulnerable (脆弱的) researchers were sticking their heads out of their shells (壳), seeking ________. It occurred to me that we all ________ sometimes, and our vulnerability seemed so much alike that I ________ myself from all that had bothered me for days. ________ it can be win-win game, instead of one where one side gains while the other side loses. Working with others and asking for help doesn’t make my contributions ________; it means we can all succeed.

2 . Climbing, I once thought, was a very manly activity, but as I found my way into this activity, I came to see that something quite different happens on the rock.

Like wild swimming, rock climbing involves you into the landscape. On the rock, I am fully focused. Eyes pay close attention, ears are alert, and hands move across the surface. Unlike walking, where I could happily wander about absent-mindedly, in climbing, attentive observation is essential.

As an arts student studying English literature, I discovered a new type of reading from outdoor climbing. Going out on to the crags (悬崖), I saw how you could learn to read the rocks and develop a vocabulary of physical movements. Good climbers knew how to adjust their bodies on to the stone. Watching them, I wanted to possess that skillful “language”.

My progress happened when I worked for the Caingorms National Park Authority. Guiding my explorations into this strange new landscape was Nan Shepherd, a lady too. Unlike the goal-directed mindset of many mountaineers, she is not concerned with peaks or personal achievement. Shepherd sees the mountain as a total environment and she celebrates the Caingorms as a place alive with plants, rocks, animals and elements. Through her generous spirit and my own curiosity, I saw that rock climbing need not be a process of testing oneself against anything. Rather, the intensity of focus could develop a person into another way of being.

Spending so much time in high and stony places has transformed my view on the world and our place in it. I have come into physical contact with processes that go way beyond the everyday. Working with gravity, geology (地质学), rhythms of weather and deep time, I gain an actual relationship with the earth. This bond lies at the heart of my passion for rock climbing. I return to the rocks, because this is where I feel in contact with our land.

4 . I was in the back seat of a yellow taxi grabbing my mother’s hand like a 5-year-old. But in fact, I was 28 years old, still ________, and hoping my mom would make it all right.

We were coming home from the ________, and I was in a full-body brace, having survived spinal (脊柱的) surgery exactly a week earlier and headed to my tiny apartment in San Francisco. Each time the taxi ________ over the steep hills, I felt as if my bones were ________. I doubted that I would get hurt again during the journey.

I was about to open my mouth to shout at the driver or at least ________, when my mom leaned forward and said cheerfully, “Thank you!” The driver glanced at us ________ from his mirror. “You’re just the best driver I’ve ever seen,” my mom continued. “These hills must be so ________ to drive on. And I am so ________. My daughter had surgery on her back and is so ________. Because of you, she’s going to get home safe. Thank you. You’re wonderful.”

In the mirror, I could see the driver ________ proudly. I felt a flash of ________, but before I had a chance to ________ my mother’s words, a miracle happened. The driver slowed down. He stretched his neck left and right to ________ a smooth ride before making each turn. Indeed, he drove us home like the best driver I’d ever seen.

In that moment of ________, what my wise mom had instinctively done was only obvious to me: ________ is powerful.

7 . As a businesswoman, I care deeply about my customers. But like anyone for whom you feel affection, _________ can also drive you mad. They’ll come rushing in, _________ their handbag’s been stolen. They’ll _________ that they left it in the changing room, create chaos （混乱）and then _________ it had been in their car all the time. I do know how upset the shop staff can get, but I try to persuade them to keep _________.

I remember the first really _________ customer we had at Covent Garden. She was _________ absolutely everything, nothing was right and I was rather surprised that she became a “regular”. After a while, she _________ for the way she behaved at the beginning. She had split up with her husband the week before, was living in a flat by herself, and since she’d found it too much to cope with（应对）, she’d taken it out on other people.

That taught me a valuable _________ and I pass it on to the people who ____________ in the market. Don’t take it ____________. If a customer is rude or difficult, just think "Maybe she’s had a row with her husband. Maybe her child’s not __________.” Always water it down and don’t let your ego（自我）get ____________. If you do, you won’ be able to __________ it and the whole thing develops into an unpleasant scene and that ____________everyone’s day.

8 . I’ll never forget a ride 20 years ago. Back then, I drove a taxi. One time, I was called at midnight to pick a _________. When I arrived, the building was dark except or one light in a window.

I walked to the door and knocked. A small woman in her eighties stood before me. By her side was a _________, I took it and we walked slowly to the street. She kept thanking me.

“It’s nothing,” I tried to treat my passengers how I want my mother to be _________.”

When we got into the taxi, she gave me the _________, and then asked me to drive through the downtown. But I told her it was not the shortest way.

“Oh, I’m in no hurry,” she said. “I’m on my way to a hospice (临终安养院). The doctor says I don’t have much time _________.”

I quietly _________ the meter (计价器). For the next two hours, she showed me the building where she had once worked, the _________ where she had lived, and the furniture shop where she had gone _________ as a girl. In the early morning, she suddenly said, “I’m tired. Let’s go now.”

We drove in _________ to the hospice. As I __________ two nurses were waiting for us. They helped her into a wheelchair.

“How much do I __________ you?” she asked, reaching for her purse.

I said nothing, leaned down and gave her a __________. She said, “You gave me a little moment of joy. Thank you.”

I squeezed her hand and then walked back, __________ believing I had never done anything more important in my life. We usually think that our lives are __________ by great moments. But I now realize that great moments catch us by surprise, because they often seem quite __________.

9 . Stephen Glenn is a famous scientist who has made many important medical breakthroughs. He once was interviewed by a reporter asking him why he was able to be more _______ than average people. What set him apart from others?

He responded that it all came from a(n) _______ with his mother when he was about two years old. He had been trying to remove a bottle of milk from the refrigerator when he _______ his control of the slippery bottle and it fell, spilling the _______ all over the kitchen floor, making a sea of milk!

When his mother came into the kitchen, instead of _______ him, she said, “What a huge pool of milk! Well, the _______ has already been done. Would you like to play in the milk for a few minutes before we clean it up?”

He did. After a few minutes, his mother said, “You know, Robert, whenever you make a mess like this, you have to clean it up and _______ everything to its proper order. So, how would you like to do that?” He took a sponge and together they cleaned up the _______ milk.

His mother then said, “Here is a failed experiment in how to _______ carry a big milk bottle with two ________ hands. Let’s go out in the back yard and fill the bottle with water and see if you can discover a successful way to carry it.” The little boy learned that if he ________ the bottle at the top near the lip with both hands, he could carry it without ________ it.

This ________ scientist remarked that it was at that moment that he knew ________ were just opportunities for learning something new, which is, what scientific experiments are all about. ________ the experiment “doesn’t work,” we usually learn something valuable from it.