1 . One day, much to my astonishment, my son befriended a nun (修女)! Through the glass _______ doors where I stood chopping onions, I heard Sebastian’s voice and then a woman’s. Sebastian, woman-back and forth. Sebastian was five, and when I came out to _______ on him, his face was pressed against the bars of the fence, completely _______ in conversation.

Beyond that fence lived the woman, later identified as Sandy in her 40s. I had _______ peculiar habits inside nuns. Contrary to my _______ expectation of these mysterious figures, Sandy was friendly and _______ wore a smile.

Over the next few weeks, then months, their murmuring (低声) voices _______ through the fence. Sandy even drilled out a _______ on the wooden fence, roughly the size of a baseball, through which they _______ shells and leaves that they’d found. They asked and answered endless questions. Sometimes there was ________, Sebastian sitting with knees drawn up and his back to the fence while Sandy paced outside the fence.

During the COVID-19 in 2020, Sandy’s presence and the gifts left in the hole became a comforting ________ in the period of darkness.

Sadly, one year later, Sandy’s ________ came suddenly as she had to attend to her sick mother in Kansas. She ________ Sebastian to say goodbye but couldn’t find him in time. But their ________ remained through heartfelt letters exchanged over the years. Sandy’s impact on Sebastian’s life was immeasurable, teaching him love, and the beauty of ________ connections.

2 . When I first met Sarah, all I noticed was her drool (口水) running from the corner of her mouth. As Mrs. Wagner pushed the wheelchair toward me, I felt _________. Why was she seated beside me?

For the entire morning, I was uneasy. _________, I nerved myself to ask Mrs. Wagner, “Mrs. Wagner, can I have my seat _________?”

She patted (拍) my shoulder _________ and said, “Natalie, Sarah needs our care. Try it.”

Why? I didn’t need a deskmate with running drool! I decided to _________ Sarah. At three o’clock, our gym teacher came and said, “Kickball time! Put on your gym shoes. ” As I bent over to tie my shoes, Sarah’s caught my attention and I _________ how it feels to never walk. My _________ felt tight.

Mrs. Wagner asked me, “Natalie, although Sarah cannot kick, she can _________ balls. Would you help her in the gym class?”

I had to _________ and push Sarah to the __________.

Firstly, Matt kicked the ball and it came to me. I __________ it to Sarah and she threw it, which just struck Mike’s heel!

“You got him out!” I __________. Sarah laughed happily. Then I laughed, too. The rest of the game was __________ and we all enjoyed ourselves.

At the end of the day, Sarah read a journal entry to us, “My first day of school went well. I __________ playing kickball. I made a nice new friend, Natalie. ”

Sarah smiled at me. I didn’t __________ her drool. What I saw was a new friend, a friend I had almost missed.

3 . In 2015, I started working on a PhD (博士学位). ________, I came down with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (慢性疲劳综合症). For the next three and a half years I was always tired.

Since I was unable to ________ the house a lot of the time, I ended up becoming very ________. Being stuck at home all day was not my idea of fun.

Before I got sick, it was a(n) ________ for some of my classmates and coworkers to have lemon chicken on Wednesdays in the restaurant. When I became housebound, the lemon chicken ________ took action. They ________ on my doorstep every Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. ________ lemon chicken. We had lunch together for an hour, and then they all headed back to the ________.

Week in, week out, on Wednesday the lemon chicken crowd ________. It's hard to describe the amazing difference that one ________ of communication made to me. It was a reminder of the ________ friends I had around myself. Even when I was too tired to talk much, just having my friends there ________ me to get through the week and provided the support I needed to continue the long, slow ________. Now, five years later, the lemon chicken lunch doesn't ________ much anymore, but I'll never ________ the love and support that came my way when I was sick.

4 . I always considered myself a good friend and I'm always there when my friends need me. I truly believed I was a(n) _________ friend -- until the pandemic(流行病) hit and I _________ I hadn't been doing enough.

I basically put my _________ in a couple of different buckets（桶): those I talk to daily or almost daily, those who are local and _________ frequently, those I catch up with(叙旧, 朋友小聚) from time to time, and those who I know are still my close friends _________ we barely(几乎不) talk.

For years this has been my _________, and for years it's _________ for all of us, I assumed. The _________ of the friends in the last category(类别), whom I don't _________ to often, is that I've known all of them for many years and I know we don't need to talk all the time to stay __________. But the thing I just realized is that there's truly no __________ for us to not speak more often.

As soon as we started going into lockdown over COVID-19, one of my friends in this category texted me and suggested we WeChat to __________. I realized we hadn't spoken in nearly a year! A global health crisis made me realize I should have been keeping in touch with her better.

What really __________ me the most was the realization that I had too many friends who didn't __________ me either during the pandemic. We were so __________ letting days go by without talking that even this unusual event didn't __________ that. And that didn't sit right with me.

I __________ the fact that it took the threat of losing my friends for me to be a better friend. My friends are so __________ to me, and I absolutely know I can carve out more time to be more __________ in their lives. I'm trying really hard to be the friend I always __________ I was, and truly be the friend my best friends should have.

6 . A young man whose name was Pythias had done something that the king didn't like. For this offense he was dragged to prison, and a day was set when he should be put to death. His home was_________ and he wanted very much to see his parents and friends before he died.

“Only give me leave to go home and say_________ to those whom I love,'' he said. "And then I will come back and_________ my life."

The king_________ him. "How can I know that you will_________ your promise?” he said. "You only want to cheat me, and save_________

Then a young man whose name was Damon spoke and said, “Put me in prison to_________ my friend Pythias; let him go back to his hometown to put his affairs in order. I know he is a man who has never gone back on his _________. But if he is not here on the day which you have set, then I will die in his stead."

The king was surprised that anybody_________ make such an offer He at last agreed to let Pythias go and put Damon in prison.

Time passed, and the day__________ near that had been set for Pythias to die, and he hadn't come back. Everyone thought Pythias had taken __________ his friend, but Damon still had __________ in the truth and honor of his friend. He said," If Pythias does not come back, it will not be his fault.”

At last the day came, and then the very hour. Damon was ready to die. His trust in his friend was as__________ as ever, and he didn't feel regretful for what he had done for his friend. The jailer came to lead him to his death, but at the same time Pythias stood in the door. He had been __________ by storms and shipwreck. There he __________ Damon kindly, and gave himself __________ the hands of the jailer. He was__________ because he had come back __________, even though it was at the last moment.

The king felt that men who trusted each other, as did Damon and Pythias, ought not to suffer   unjustly and set__________ of them free. "I would give all my __________ to have one such friend." he said.