1 . What will we be doing in ten years’ time? Can we become the person we aim to be? Will we get into the school of our _________? Clearly, having plans for the future doesn’t mean they will become _________. For us, it is how we live that matters.

The young Arthur Conan Doyle, born in Scotland in 1859, had _________ worked as a doctor in London. But Doyle’ main _________ was to writing historical novels and get _________ in the academic field. However, _________, it was not his published historical novels but the Sherlock Holmes detective stories, which Doyle wrote as a doctor, that became a _________ of the time.

After Sherlock Holmes made him a(n) _________ name, Doyle gave up medicine and entirely turned to writing historical novels, which was his early _________. The public, however, couldn’t get enough of Sherlock Holmes, so Doyle had no __________ but to kill off the famous detective in a novel in 1893 to __________ his “serious” writing. Later, requested by __________ fans of Holmes, Doyle was forced to bring Holmes back to life. Doyle’s published historical novels have remained largely __________, but Sherlock Holmes has been entertaining readers for years.

Extremely successful and known, Doyle’s career failed to turn out as __________, though. However, it still shows us a(n) __________ that whatever the future unfolds for us, just live the life to the full.

2 . Happiness can be difficult to find. But even when happiness seems almost impossible, it can be obtained with a shift in ways of thinking or simply a _______.

I volunteered at an elderly care home this past summer. _______, I didn’t think much about the visits to the residents. There couldn’t be anything _______ to talk about with old people, right? But as I got to know them my outlook — and life — completely _______.

One resident I remember vividly was a woman with a friendly smile. I _______ a collection of porcelain (瓷制的) shoes, in varying sizes, beside her window. “Those are really pretty,” I said. The woman’s face instantly lit up. “Ah yes! I used to _______ them when I was younger,” she said, carefully _______ a shoe with a beautiful design. “My daughter bought it for me. I saw it in an antique store and just knew I had to have it.” I could feel the _______ in her voice.

I visited another resident who kept her wedding photograph next to her bed. The photograph, though _______ and black-and-white, showed the pure joy on the bride’s and groom’s faces. Along with the photograph, she ________ postcards and letters from her family. Looking at the pictures on the postcards, she could ________ she was traveling around the world with them.

These stories — so familiar, yet so distant from my ________ — made me see what truly defines happiness. Despite their old ________, the residents had happy memories of friends and family, and a great deal of experiences to ________. All these little details turn into their own ________ of happiness. I must make the most of life so that one day I can unearth my own tiny pieces of happiness.

3 . When Halloween arrives, you know there is bound to be some mischief (恶作剧). So I wasn’t entirely surprised when I opened my front door that night to see my candy bowl completely—and very suddenly—_________. To be fair, this was after some light rain had _________ the street of most trick-or-treaters and the youngest had already made the rounds. I never saw who took it, but I did shout “Happy Halloween!” into the night air.

Was a candy theft ideal? Nope. But, hey, we all make _________—especially as kids. What did _________ me was what appeared in front of my door the next evening: a plastic bag filled with the lost candy. Stuck to it was the following handwritten note:

“Hello, I am the kid that took all of your candy. After thinking it over I want to _________. Because it was late and no one else was out, I thought it was OK. It was not. I took the candy before you said it was _________. So, I am sorry, and I’d like to give the candy back. Maybe you can give it to a kid who is more _________.”

A tiny Halloween miracle! I have never been prouder of a kid who wasn’t mine. I assume a parent had something to do with this sudden reflective _________, but I’ll never know for sure.

What I do hope is that this kid knows how good it can feel to _________ a wrong. I hope they don’t think they’re bad—simply that they made a not-so-great choice. They do deserve to get their fill and have fun and run wild. __________, next year they’ll come back for more.

4 . People always tell me I was brave to apply to medical school in my 30s. But for me, the bravest thing was to ________ from being a doctor 10 years later.

I’d always wanted to study medicine to help release the world from sufferings but, believing I was not bright enough, I left school at 15 and didn’t return to education until my 30s. ________ the fact that the commute (通勤) was tough and the money was ________, I kept going this time. I dreamed of becoming a doctor who made a(n) ________.

I spent five years at medical school learning how to fix things, but after graduation, when I worked in a hospital, I soon discovered there were many things in life I was unable to ________. It wasn’t the workload I struggled with, though. What I found really ________ was the emotional load. As a doctor, I knew I would ________ upsetting things. I knew I would watch people die and I knew I would see the most awful things. However, being always present at all these moments became a ________ for me.

I knew I needed a solution to it, and I finally ________ writing. Writing allowed me an escape, a door into another world, and it also helped to ________ my anxieties. Writing, something I had started as a form of treatment, now gave me success, an exit card, and a chance of self-protection. ________ I was wondering whether I was a doctor or a writer. Having thought thick and thin, I ________ my job and took the writing. It was not a decision I made ________. I knew if I didn’t put myself first, I would eventually disappear.

I still work on the wards (病房) now, but as a(n) ________. There are times when you need to focus on yourself. If you have walked so far down a rough road, you may find it ________ to head back because walking away is often the safest route of all.

5 . I feared it was going to be a terrible firework season this year. The bangs (巨响)_________   before the first of July and lasted three more days. I have never been a big fan of fireworks since I was a boy. It was then that a local fair _________   a huge firework show near our house and I saw how the huge _________   terrified our dogs. I sat on the_________ in the house with them during the whole show, holding their_________ bodies.

I know a lot of people enjoy the_________ light shows the fireworks can put on at times. They can be bright and beautiful. Still, I find that I_________ the gentler lights of summers to these noisy ones. I love seeing the moon rising _________ above the hills in the evening. The shining stars always look so wonderful when you take the time to_________ into the sky and watch them shine.

I also__________   the beautiful, blinking lights of the fireflies (萤火虫) at this__________   of year. Seeing their lovely, little lights as they__________ around always fills my heart with joy and light as well. It feeds my soul and reminds me of what a glorious__________ we live in.

I think we all might do better to develop and grow the gentler__________ within ourselves. They are meant to be__________ with others. They are meant to be shined.

6 . Gardening changed how I see myself as a disabled woman. When I started gardening in 2018, I didn’t know anything about plants, let alone how to grow things we can eat. I thought gardening required a lot of _________tasks. As I have a genetic (遗传的) condition that causes my bones to _________easily, I didn’t believe I could complete them. The thought of taking care of plants in a wheelchair every day made me feel_________ . But just like how I gradually learnt everything else as a disabled person, I had to _________how to garden my way.

That first season, I visited my garden as much as I could. Noticing my interest in gardening, my neighbors in the community_________offered me advice and support. Under their careful_________, I managed to pull up the weeds and watered my plants on my own. Finally, I was so proud to eat the tomatoes I grew and even shared some with neighbors. They tasted like summertime.

Gardening has _________ how I see other parts of my life. As a disabled woman, I fear being seen as a _________ and struggle to ask for the things I need. Gardening helped me normalize the fact that I have needs. I don’t think my plant is a heavy load because it needs more nutrition. I don’t _________ it for getting insects and not being able to fight against them. Gardening also helped me expand my social circle and grow close to people in our community.

7 . Making a difference in someone’s life is a rewarding experience. During my time in college, I landed my first real _________ at a cafe. Out of all the _________ I served, an elderly gentleman named Jeff left a lasting impression on me. Every Saturday afternoon, he would drop in and _________ a medium coffee. Whenever I had a moment, I would _________ a conversation with him and over time, we got to know each other well.

After a year of working every weekend, I decided to leave and _________ my two-week notice. The most _________ part of quitting was not informing my boss, but _________ the news to Jeff. I felt quite _________, as if I was abandoning him. When I finally brought it up, he replied in a _________ voice, “Oh, that’s too bad. I’m sure that the staff will miss you.” I began to think that our visits held no real __________ to him, and that he would be just as content enjoying his food alone. __________, on my last day, Jeff came in with a card that simply read, “Your __________ during our time together is heartwarming. Few things have brought me more __________ than our weekly visits. Thank you.”

The sincere __________ I received for my small gestures was truly astonishing. Giving up my weekends for a year was a small price to __________ the remarkable impact of kindness.

8 . One day, a girl came upon a cocoon, and she could tell that a butterfly was trying to _________. She waited and watched the butterfly struggle for hours to _________ itself from the tiny hole._________, the butterfly stopped moving, it seemed to be _______ . The girl then decided to help get the butterfly out and with a pair of scissors cut open the cocoon. The butterfly was then _______able to escape. However, its body was swollen (肿胀的) and its wings were _________ .

The girl still thought she had done the butterfly a favor as she sat there waiting for its wings to grow in order to _________its body. That wasn’t happening. The butterfly was unable to fly, and for the rest of its life, it could only move by crawling around with little wings and a_______ body. Despite the girl’s good intentions, she didn’t understand that the _______ of the butterfly’s cocoon and the struggle the butterfly had to __________ in order to escape served an important purpose. As butterflies __________ from tight cocoons and stretch wings out, it forces liquid from their body into their wings to prepare them to be able to fly.

The__________ that we face in life help us grow and get stronger. There is often a reason behind the requirement of being ________ and persistent. When bearing difficult times, we will develop the necessary __________ that we’ll need in the future. Without having any struggles, we won’t grow, which means it’s very important to __________ personal challenges ourselves rather than relying on other people to always help us.

9 . Christmastime is generally thought of as joyful. But 40 years ago, it was a ______ time for my wife, Geri, and me. Both of us were about to lose our ______. I was an educator and Geri was a psychologist. To make matters ______, we had loans (贷款) on two houses-at a time when interest rates hovered (徘徊) at 16%. We wanted to ______ one of our houses, but the sale ______ at the last minute.

A place to call ______ looked extremely hopeless for us. Yet we ______ to celebrate Christmas in our new house before we faced the terrible ______ of becoming homeless. So we did something crazy: We ______ a Christmas tree.

It was an artificial tree—the ______ we could find at the local store. I ______ we spent just $11 or $12 on it. It looked ______ with nothing on it, which is only what you would expect from such an inexpensive ______. But it didn’t look half bad when it was fully ______.

Perhaps it gave us good ______. Our job situation turned around, making it ______ for us to keep our new house after all. We ______ put up the tree every year. Friends have advised us to ______ it. But our daughters, who know its ______, insist that we keep it.

Today, the tree is a reminder of our ______ beginnings in our present home-the same one where it first stood up 40 years ago.

10 . My parents went shopping at the supermarket and a complete stranger came up and did something that really touched them. He_________ my mum and dad’s entire grocery, which came to $273!

You can _________ the shock and gratitude my parents felt in that _________. It’s not every day that such a selfless act of kindness comes your way, and it _________ recovers your faith in humanity. They were so touched by this stranger’s generosity.

This excellent gesture has _________ my parents to pay it forward in the most amazing way possible. They’ve decided to _________ the love and kindness they received by doing something _________ for someone else. It’s like a positive chain reaction that will keep on _________!

It’s a beautiful reminder that even the smallest acts of kindness can have a _________ effect on others. Together, we can create a __________ filled with sympathy, love, and generosity.

So, let’s take a moment to __________ the incredible stranger who brightened my parents’ day and inspired them to pay it forward. Let’s also remember that we all have the __________ to make someone’s day a little __________, whether it is through a smile, a kind word, or a small act of __________. Together, we can make this world a __________ place.