1 . One day when I was 15 years old, I had some friends over to hang out. While we were making food in the ________, my brother came in. He ________ his beef next to my thick one and said, “Courtney, your beef is bigger than mine. You don’t need to eat; you’re already fat enough.” Then he walked out, laughing.

_____ comments on my physical appearance were nothing new. Something inside me ________ to his idea that my legs were unacceptable, and that became the last day that I ever willingly wore ________ until I was 30 years old. For the next 15 years, I spent summer after summer roasting in long pants.

But then I ________ Ragen Chastain, and she changed everything. I couldn’t believe that this woman who, like myself, almost ________ 300 pounds was so ________ and happy in her own skin. I listened ________ she shared her own journey to recovery and self-love. She talked about how amazing our bodies are, just by ________ of the things they do every day-like ________,pumping blood to every ceil, blinking and walking..

Walking! I was suddenly aware of how foolish I’d been for so long. There’re people who are born ________ legs, or who lack properly working legs, or who ________ their legs, and I’d been ________ my perfectly strong, healthy, beautiful legs in ________ because I had allowed someone to ________ me that they weren’t good enough. The next day, I bought three pairs of shorts and a sundress and spent the entire summer letting my legs see the sun and feel the ________.

The next time anyone comments on your body in a ________ way, look them straight in the eye, smile and say, “If what you see       ________ you so much, feel free to practice the ancient art of looking somewhere else.” That’s Ragen’s original, but I don’t think she’ll mind ________ you use it.

We were studying Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in the class. Each of us     1     (require) to play a scene from the play, and I     2     (joke) asked to play the nurse. How the classmates responded aroused my interest. They thought I, a guy, couldn’t play the nurse. But I decided I was going to be the     3     (good) nurse to explode on the stage of the class. That fateful week, I imprinted the lines of the nurse in my head. On the day of the     4     (perform), I walked onto the stage,     5     (dress) in my grandmother’s Italian suit, and poured my heart and soul     6     the scene.     7     look of astonishment on my classmates’ faces was all I needed to realize what school     8     (mean) to me. School was a place     9     I could explore unknown areas of my mind and uncover new ideas about the world. Perhaps this realization had never shown     10     (it) before, because I never been brave enough to uncover it.

3 . A couple days ago, my 9-year-old son and I were grocery shopping. At the check-out, a mother was trying to understand her bill. She didn't have enough ___ for her milk and cheese.

The grocery store manager ___the items from her cart and carried them away to the refrigerator section.

Although there have been ___I myself didn't have money to buy groceries my family needed,I ___whispered to my son and told him to run and get the manager back with the items. He was ___. He didn't understand me. I was trying to do an act of kindness , but it ___ .

The lady ___with her son and fewer groceries than she had planned. I told the checkout guy to ___ me for her milk and cheese and that we'd run to the parking lot and   ___ her. He said"You do that? "and I said"Yes, I've been there before and want to____they have what they need. ”

He quickly called the manager back, ___up my items and hers, and my son and I ran to the ___. But the mom and her son ___. I have no idea where they went. They were gone in 60 seconds and with them went my____to gift these necessary items. We were too late. I felt ___ and terrible for not speaking up and telling her what I wanted to do for her, ____ I wouldn't miss the chance for ___. I kept thinking about my ___: because I didn't want to ___ her,didn't want to cause a fuss(忙乱)...

So I ask myself and you dear friends, if we allow our minds to ___our actions towards acting for love and kindness, is it still an act of kindness?

4 . Any form of speech can be challenging, particularly if you are not used to talking in front of an audience. I am very _______ that I have been doing presentations and _______training programs for many years, _______ I have got used to the nervousness that always appears inside before I speak. The nervousness is always a(n) _______ thing for me as it allows me to channel my energy into what I want to say.

Just recently I had the pleasure of _______ at a conference about the key success factors (因素) in business and as usual in the days before my presentation I spent a lot of time _______ what I wanted to cover, as well as _______ the content.

I have always _______the level of success of my presentations by the applause (掌声) and _______that I receive from the audience. After the applause ended I had the __________ to personally speak to nearly all of the delegates (代表). The last delegate I spoke with __________ me by taking my hand, shaking it and saying how much she __________ my presentation, and that she had got a lot of __________ tips to use in her business. Usually I feel __________ after any presentation, and I know it is directly related to how much energy I put into what I do. __________, this time her praise gave me a great lift and recharged my batteries.

This __________at the end of my presentation also made me realize that what we __________ in life can come back to us and __________, we all need to value the praise when and where it is deserved. As I drove away from the __________ I reflected on how fortunate I had been to receive all those words of praise and __________that morning.

5 . My sister called the other day and told me how sad she was feeling about Mother's Day this year._______, I was taken by surprise because May feels so far away. I felt instantly _______because I hadn't thought about my mother in a while. And that's_______when it occurred to me that our_______doesn’t always follow a calendar.

After our mother died, I spent a good deal of time _______her in front of her photo. It enabled me to _______conversations with her that were_______to me. I remember desiring to be picked up the phone on many occasions to_______some good news or get her advice, only to be_______ .Now, I simply talk to her in my head. Her photo has become a__________of her spirit and I'm glad she's there.

My sister, Ellen, said that this is a__________difficult year for her and she is trying to __________why. She sounded impatient with herself, __________13 years should be enough time to "get past” being sad on Mother’s Day.

The truth is, that for me, every year is__________.At times, when the TV commercials. advertisements and local stores absolutely bomb us with fairy tales of flowers and chocolate and jewelry, I get angry:__________these same reminders leave me feeling__________for my wonderful mom, recalling(回忆) her generosity and serious style. She was always a trooper. And sometimes I don’t __________any of it at all.

As Ellen and I talked, she seemed to come to a certain __________.She was going to be out of the country on business on Mother’s Day, without her husband or any family around Without the presence of this__________, she worried about being__________. But she decided that it would be OK. Deep in our heart, Mum has always been with us.

6 . Leslie Morissette’s son, Graham, was 6 years old when he suffered leukemia(白血病).

“We spent two years pretty much in and out of the hospital,” Morissette said. “Watching your child _______ a serious illness is the worst possible thing a family can _______.”

Throughout Graham’s _______, Morissette wanted to surf the Internet to make _______ of what the doctors were telling them and to help Graham stay in _______ with friends and family. It was the late 1990s, when the Internet was relatively new and not as widely _______. The Morissettes had a computer and Internet access at _______, but there was no way for them to go online at the hospital.

_______, Graham connected everyone he met, from _______ people to younger children. “He would lend other sick children his toys or act silly to make them ________,” Morissette said. “Graham’s special spirit is what kept me ________. He helped me have the energy and the ________ to fight with him.”

Unfortunately, in 1997, when he was 8 years old, Graham passed away.

________ by how Graham lived his life caring about others, Morissette founded the nonprofit Grahamtastic Connection in his ________. The organization provides free technology — including computers, iPads, and now even ________ for children struggling with cancer and other serious illnesses. It really helps them recover emotionally(情绪上地) and ________ at the same time.

Since 1998, the group has helped more than 1,500 children throughout the country stay ________ to the outside world. One of the group’s major ________ is to link kids to their classrooms, which really helps them ________ their education despite(尽管) hospitalizations and days ________ from school. The group has been providing robots since 2012, and the robot technology is really cool.

Once upon a time, there was a poor fisherman     1     always dreamed of becoming rich. He wished to become     2     millionaire, and so did his wife. He heard     3     some old men before, that several ships     4     (load) with diamonds and gold had sunk in the nearby seashore. Because of this, for a long time he kept searching that whole area for this treasure.

One day, while he was sitting on the boat daydreaming, he suddenly felt that the fishing rod     5     (weigh) down by a heavy object. He     6     (excite) pulled hard at it, and     7     he saw made him shout, “Wow! A big, shiny gold chain!” He pulled hard at the gold chain to get it into the boat, but     8     seemed to be no end to it. His boat started to get overload and the sea water filled his boat.     9    , he had begun dreaming of a big house, a big piece of land and     10     (buy) horses and cows... He kept pulling at the chain while the boat kept sinking. The boat was finally submerged and he struggled to stay afloat. Unfortunately, his feet were caught in the gold chain and he drowned.

If my husband and I hadn't gone to the funeral， we would never have known how our small acts of    1    （kind） may influence someone．

We    2     （attend） a funeral yesterday， for an acquaintance we knew from our local park． My husband used to walk around the park with him    3     they would talk on the phone once in    4     while． When we went up to his wife    5     （express） our sadness and introduced    6     （we） to her as her husband's park friends， what she said amazed us．

She said her husband always spoke about my husband with great fondness and had posted a picture with an inspiring quote on it    7     （give） to him by my husband on their fridge． He wouldn't let anyone remove it． Besides， he was always sharing    8    （thing） my husband had said to him． We were blown away， as we didn't know any of this． I almost cried and I could see my husband was    9     （great） moved， too．

So， never doubt the power of your "small" acts of goodness， because they can have a huge effect    10     people．

9 . I always remember one Christmas when we ______ outside of town. My older brother had a job in a different city ______ he always made it home to celebrate the holidays. During the few days before Christmas Day, we _____ a violent snowstorm with powerful winds.   It was so ______ that the country road was almost impassable.

The day before Christmas was more ______ than I had ever imagined. My older brother was stuck at a stranger’s home where he had been ______ to stay overnight because of the storm. The person was _______enough to let him stay until morning. But, the ______ was that he couldn’t get his car to start and there was no assistance available.

So, my dad and I ______. We were lucky enough to make it to where my brother was ______. After his car warmed up, he thought it much ______ to head back to his place rather than try and make it home for Christmas. So we headed in ______ directions.

The drive back got even worse. We got stuck in a huge snowdrift. A(n)   ______ had to be made. We placed a shovel(铲子) about ten feet behind the car to ______ anyone else that there was an obstruction(障碍物) ahead.

We left the cars in the ______ , wrapped(包裹) blankets around our heads and ______ on top of the snowdrifts. We made it about a mile up the road to a neighbor’s farmhouse where we ______ for the next mile walk home. We all made it ______ home that night.

Christmas was very ______ that year. It didn’t matter if there were _____ or not under the tree the next morning. We each got our gift—the gift of life, home with our family safe and sound. What better gift is there? None.

From the first day I arrived in Kunming, I had my understanding of China     1    (change). Far from being narrow-minded and hostile to     2    (foreign) ，people came up to talk to me the first time I went out on the street. It happened to be all in Chinese, so I didn’t understand much,     3    it did cause me to rethink my assumptions.

As my Chinese improved, this continued throughout my stay, from my landlord introducing me to people who could help us learn Chinese to     4    (get) to know the couple who ran a noodle restaurant nearby.

If you’re interested in other people, their culture, and their language, they’ll be    5    (friend) to you. China isn’t     6    exception.

Don’t judge a country by its media coverage,     7    (especial) some Western media, which have much prejudice.

I saw a very different kind of China with my own eyes. Kunming,     8     I lived for most of my stay, wasn’t much polluted. I had frank conversations with Chinese people about almost everything.

Still China     9    (develop) ，but the economic growth means that most people     10     (see) their living standards improve rapidly in the last 20 years. People I spoke with were generally optimistic about the future.