1 . Mott hoped to find a lady on an Iowa community Facebook page，but she didn’t even know her name.All she knew is that the ____ woman looked to be in her 30s，had purple hair and was ____ gentle and compassionate.

At 10:25 am on Black Friday Mott was busy shopping ____ she received a(n) ____ phone call，which came in from the nursing home where her mom lived.The nurse on the phone ____ her that her mom passed away.Mott just kind of ____ ，kneeling down and starting to cry uncontrollably.

The lady came across Mott and，instead of passing by，she ____ and asked what was wrong.Then she kept Mott in a tight ____ until Mott was able to regain enough senses to get back on her feet.She even ____ Mott to the checkout line and asked if any shoppers had enough Christmas spirit to let the sad woman ____ in line.The lines immediately parted to let her ____.Mott，still ____，didn’t think to ask the lady her name after paying her bill.

In recent days，Mott’s ____ to the woman had been a comfort so much that she longed to thank her ____.So she reached out and hoped people would help her find the lady.

Stephanie，42，realized that Mott had been looking for her.The most ____ thing she could think to do was to attend Mott’s mother's ____.Once Mott ____ her，the two strangers-turned-friends wrapped each other in another big hug，tears running down.The family and other mourners ____ ，probably feeling what I felt:It was reassuring to see such a warm，visible sign that the ____ meetings and random acts of kindness we often take for granted sometimes ____ a big difference.

2 . It was many years ago.I was a college ___ with a degree but no job.My substitute teaching work had dried up and I was getting ____.I had a family to feed and little money left.____，my oldest brother had been able to get me a ____ at the local lumber mill where he worked.While I was ____ ，my first day there was quite a blow to my ego(自尊).The job   ___ barely above minimum wage.The work was hard and back breaking.It was full of ___ ，lifting，and carrying heavy wood for eight hours a day.Splinters(木屑)were soon my best pals and every day I went home ____ and exhausted.

When winter arrived my gloves tore and my fingers split and ____ in the cold air.I found myself using more band aids(创可贴)and duct tape than I ever ____ I would just to keep my hands working.The turn over rate at the mill became so ____ that at the end of two years only four other people had ____ there longer than I had.Every morning I would ____myself out of bed and go to work knowing it was going to he another ____ day.I tried my best to keep my   __   up but many times during those years I found myself saying，“Why me，God? Why am I having to ____ this? Why has my life not turned out the ____ I dreamed it would?”I never got an ____ .

It is only now many years later that I have a hint of ____ I had to go through those tough times.I think that it is the“Why Me?”times of our lives in which we ____ the most.

3 . Ten years ago I was visiting Costa Rica when I found I was in a bad situation. I only knew basic Spanish, and the only _______ I had was some coins and a return ticket to Guatemala in two weeks.

With the coins, I managed to arrive at Santa Rosa by bus. It was _______ in the middle of the night, but I could see some _______ in the distance, so I _______   toward them.

I went _______ door to door, explaining my situation. “I can _______ and clean and look after your kids, I can do anything, can you give me a _______ ?” Everybody replied saying “Oh my gosh, but we are so _______. We have no extra food. Maybe you can try the next _______.”

Finally, I arrived at a Chinese restaurant, the owner of which was incredibly ______________ . She told me that her son had a(n) ______________ experience. At that time, some other people were very kind to him, and she remembered how ______________ that made her feel. She called the Red Cross to ______________me. With their help, I spent my ______________ days in Costa Rica.

I’ve ______________ all over the world. But this was one of the best trips, the best two ______________ I ever had in my traveling life.

At first, I felt ______________ and stupid for not traveling with a clear plan. But then I realized that when you’re in a position to be able to ______________, it actually makes people feel happier. Being able to receive kindness is a ______________ for other people as well. And kindness ______________ more kindness in small ripples (涟漪).

4 . A new family moved in next door and I got to meet the mother of the family, Lydia.

Lydia is a (an) ______. We started talking, and she was ______ about how bad her English was, but I didn’t care. I knew how hard it was to ______ a second language. I enjoyed chatting with Lydia as we watched our kids play.

It was what came next that ______ me: Lydia asked if I’d be ______ to help her with her English.

Now, I am not a teacher. But I ______ teachers, and I’m grateful for teachers, and it’s because I admire what they do so much that I was very, very ______ that I couldn’t do it myself.

But Lydia was sure that she wanted my help. I was ______. I wasn’t sure my “help” was even ______ being called by that name.

____because she asked me, I said “yes.”

And that was the beginning of our friendship. Lydia and I spent afternoons sitting together. She asked me questions when she had them - questions about ______, but also questions about the new culture she found herself in. ______, I asked my own questions, growing ______ about her home country and culture. We ______ over our shared faith and our struggles as mothers. When I complimented (恭维) her ______, she began to teach me about Korean food, ______ leading to a shared trip to explore the Korean grocery stores in our city.

Because of Lydia, I learned more about my own hometown than I ______ could have learned by myself.

I’m still not sure that I’m any good as a ______. But I’m grateful I said “______” when my neighbor asked me to help her with her English. That meant spending extra time with my neighbor, and that extra time meant she didn’t ______ just my neighbor. She became my friend.

5 . Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are very busy trying to_________in order to pay the high tuition (学费) for my brother and me. They don’t act in the_________waya that I read in books or I see on TV. In their opinion, “I love you” is_________luxurious (奢侈) for them to say. Sending flowers to each other on Valentine’s Day is even more out of the_________.

One day, my mother was sewing a quilt. I sat down beside her. “Mom, I have a question to ask you. Is there_________between you and Dad?” I asked her in a very low voice. She didn’t answer immediately. She_________her head and continued to sew the quilt.

I was very worried because I thought I had hurt her. I was_________and I didn’t know what I should do. But at 1ast I heard my mother say the following words:

“Susan,” she said_________, “Look at this thread. Sometimes it is_________, but most of it disappears in the quilt. The thread really makes the quilt_________. If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread. It can hardly be seen_________, but it’s really there. Love is_________.”

I listened carefully but I_________her until the next spring. At that time, my father suddenly_________seriously. My mother had to stay with him in the hospital for a month. When they returned from the hospital, they both looked_________. It seemed both of them had had a serious illness. After they were back, every day in the morning and dusk, my mother supported my father    16    on the country road.

“Dad, how are you feeling now?” I asked him one day.

“Susan, don’t    17    me.” he said gently. “To tell you the truth, I just like walking with your mom.”    18    his eyes, I know he loves my mother deeply.

Once I thought love meant flowers, gifts and    19    . But from this experience, I undentand that love is just    20    in the quilt of our life. Love is inside, making life strong and warm.

6 . One day, a lovely little girl was holding two apples with both hands. Her mum came in and ___________ asked her little daughter with a smile, “My sweetie, could you give your mum one of your two apples?” The girl looked _________at her mum for some seconds, then she suddenly took a quick _________ on one apple, and then quickly on the other.

The mum felt the smile on her face _________. She tried hard not to show her _________. Then the little girl handed one of her _________ apples to her mum, and said, “Mummy, here you are. This is the _________one.”

No matter who you are, how experienced you are, and how knowledgeable you think you are, always _________judgment. Give others the privilege to _________ themselves. What you see may not be the __________. Never conclude for others, which is why we should never only __________the surface and judge others without understanding them __________.

Those who like to pay the bill, do so not because they are loaded, but because they value __________ above money.

Those who __________first after a fight, do so not because they are wrong but because they value the people around them.

Those who often text you, do so not because they have __________ better to do but because you are in their heart. One day, all of us will get __________ from each other; we will miss our conversations of everything & nothing; we will miss the __________ that we had. Days will pass by, months, years, __________ this contact becomes rare — One day our children will see our __________ and ask “Who are these people?” And we will smile with invisible tears because a heart is touched with a strong word and you will say, “__________ was them that I had the best days of my life with.”

7 . A few days ago, I observed a teenager doing yardwork that his dad had told him to do. Instead of doing the task_______, he wandered around there for hours,_______ to himself and doing a bad job.

The person he hurt the most was himself. His dad was trying to teach him _______and how to do a good job. As a result of his_______attitude, he spent the whole afternoon finishing a task that should have taken one or two hours. And the yard _______ wasn't clean enough when he got through.

He_______his day because of his attitude. And his dad was _______with him, and the boy's bad mood ended up_______ the whole family that day.

A sweet lady was working in a fast-food_________. The minute I walked in, she welcomed me________. She smiled as she took my order, and then as we__________ for the food, she talked with me. As I walked off with my tray, she said with a big __________, “I hope you have a blessed day!” I think the food tasted better because of her__________. There was a delay, during which I sat there hearing her singing as she__________ her tasks behind the counter.

She wasn't making a large salary, and she didn't have a powerful__________, either. In addition, she stood on her feet for a long shift each day, often dealing with __________customers. But she chose to be joyful.

I want to__________from her. I want to do my best, even when there's no __________ or glory. Other people are watching me________ I might not realize it at the time. I want to bring joy to all those around me. A(n)________can make a great difference.

8 . As a child I was always good at drawing and art. I won ____, got constant attention, and even saw my face in the ____ and on television because of my natural ability to ____.

Most people who ____ to come across something that they are good at are ____ to take it and run with it. Of course, my life was no ____. From teachers, to principals, to family members, ____ seemingly had a ton of advice to give me in regards to art.

All the while, my true desire was ____. I entered poetry, essay, and short - story contests and ____ them all. It was such a contrast from my artistic ____ experience! It was so bad that I ____ a good friend of mine who told me once, “If you are so good at drawing why do you even care about writing? ____ drawing!”

Though well intended, eighteen years later I’m ____ I didn’t take his words to heart. Years went by with me still writing and still occasionally entering ____.It wasn’t until my first year in college that I finally got honorable   ___ in a poetry contest. As a writer I’ve truly ____.

I’m sure there are things in your life that are ____ and yet, rewarding. Endurance (忍耐), especially when it comes to things you truly love is ____. Take some time to devote some more ____ to the “thing” that didn’t come ____ and see what happens.

9 . About 30 years ago, I left Cuba for the United States with my 4-year-old son. After getting ________finally in Brunswick, New Jersey, I enrolled（注册）my son in ________Several weeks later, my son’s teacher asked me to meet him at his ________.

In the teacher’s office, an exchange of ________was followed by his questions: “Is your son mentally retarded （弱智的）, Does he suffer from any kind of ________disability?”

Was he talking about my wonderful Scola? No, no it can’t be. What a ________. lonely moment! I told him that Scola was a quiet, sweet little boy, instead. I asked him why he was asking me all these questions.

My son could not ________the teacher’s directions, he told me, and ________. Scola was disrupting the class. Didn’t he know my son did not speak English yet?

He was ________; “Why hasn’t your son been taught to speak English? Don’t you speak English at home?”

No, I didn’t speak English at home, I ________, I was sure my son would learn English in a couple of months, and I didn’t want him to forget his ________language. Well, wrong answer! What kind of person would not speak in English to her son at home and at all time? “Are you one of those people who come to this country to save dollars and send them back to their country, ________wanting to be a part of this society?”

________, I tried to tell him I was not one of “those people”. Then he told me the ________was over, and I left.

As I had ________, my son learned to speak English ________before the school year was over. He went on to graduate from college and got a ________, earning close to six figures. He travels widely and leads a well-adjusted, contented life. And he has ________from being bilingual（双语的）.

Speaking more than one language allows people to ________with others; it teaches people about other ________and other places something very basic and obviously lacking in the “educator” I met in New Jersey.

10 . On Thanksgiving day, Mrs. Klein told her first graders to draw a picture of something for which they were thankful. She thought that, living in a_____________neighborhood, most of these children would draw pictures of     ______or of fully laden Thanksgiving tables. That was what they believed was ___________of them.

What took Mrs. Klein by___________was Douglas’ s picture. Douglas was so alone and likely to be found_______in her shadow as they went outside for play. Douglas’s drawing was simply a(n)___________, obviously, but whose?

The class was_________by his image. “I think it must be the hand of God that_________us food,” said one student.

“A ___________,” said another, “because they grow the turkeys.”

“It looks more like a policeman, and they__________us.”

“I think,” said Lavinia, who was always so ___________, “that it is supposed to be all the hands that ________us, but Douglas could only draw one of them.”

Mrs. Klein had almost____________Douglas in her pleasure at finding the class so active. When she________the others at work on another project, she___________and asked Douglas whose hand it was.

Douglas_________, “It’s yours, teacher.”

Then Mrs. Klein___________that she had taken Douglas by the hand from time to time; she________did that with the children. But it should have __________so much to Douglas!

Perhaps, she reflected, this was her Thanksgiving, and everybody’s Thanksgiving—not the material things______     to us, but the small ways that we give something to others.