4 . When I was 14, I invited some friends for a party at our home out in the country. I planned it well, but something __ happened. When it was time for us to ride the bus, Nora, one of my friends, didn’t ___.

I felt __ . Why would she tell me she’d come to the party and then __ without letting me know? So, I decided to call Nora and get some answers. I needed no __ but I demanded to know why.

Nora __ she had to stay away from school because she was sick. Anger still seized me and I __ to listen, “What kind of friend are you?” Nora began crying on the phone, hurt and surprised. For the rest of the school year, we __ hung around again, and I forgot about my __ call with Nora. __ had happened between us at some point, but I shrugged (耸肩) it off.

Years later, I began to __ that ugly phone conversation. I regretted it. I recognized how selfish, and __ I’d been, caring only about myself. I wanted to make things __ . I wrote an apology letter to Nora and soon got her __ . So finally, we did bring a sad moment from the past to a __ conclusion, healing both of us.

5 . Norwood was driving last February. The laughter and chatter from the four teenage girls inside her car quickly gave way to screams — another car T-boned (T形撞击) them, sending their car _______ into the yard of a nearby home, and _______ into a tree.   

Shaken, but otherwise OK, she crawled out through the window. With two of her friends, who’d also managed to _______ themselves, she ran for her _______.     

But halfway, she realized that Simmons wasn’t with them._______, Norwood ran back and found Simmons _______ in the back seat. She threw open the back door, pulled her friend out, dragged Simmons a few feet to _______ and laid her on the ground. “I _______   her pulse.” Nothing. “I put my head against her chest.” No _______ of life. “That’s when I started CPR,” Norwood told Inside Edition.

Had the accident happened earlier, she might not have known what to do. But Norwood, who wants to pursue a ________   in medicine, had ________ and earned her CPR certificate just the day before. She started pumping Simmons’s chest with her fingers and ________ into her friend’s mouth. Nevertheless, no ________. And then, after the 30th pressing, Simmons began coughing and gasping for air. The CPR had worked! Soon, paramedics (医护人员) arrived and ________ Simmons to the hospital, where she received a treatment. And then she heard how her best friend had saved her life.“I wasn’t ________,” Simmons told CNN “She will always help any way she can.”

6 . I grew up in a culture with a delicious tradition-baking lots of different types of cookies at Christmas. We baked for days to fill cookie tins on our kitchen shelf, and to fill boxes with cookies to ________ to families, friends and neighbors. I have a friend from a different ________ background, who also loves cooking and baking. When she heard that I was planning a baking day, she was ________ and talked me into promising to teach her how to bake my Christmas cookies.

________, it was the baking day. We already imagined the beautiful and tasty ________ that we would proudly deliver to our families, friends and neighbors! However, baking with my friend got off to a slow start, because the techniques and skills that I’d used countless times were new and ________ to my friend. On my own, I’d have done it quickly and correctly. But by midday, I could feel my ________ rising. Teaching my friend had put us well behind ________.

There was, of course, a solution: I could ________ and just let her watch. But I had ________ that I would teach her. So, we decided to ________ the variety of cookies and bake only the simpler versions. At the end of the second day, we had 20 beautiful gift boxes of mouth-watering cookies.

My friend was eager to get home and share the ________ of her hard work with her family. Seeing how proud she was, I was doubly glad that I didn’t act on my thought to do everything myself just because it would be ________. In that case, she would have not only missed an opportunity to ________, but also lost a chance to experience the new-found ________ and the pride she felt at having achieved something new.

7 . I often read of incidents of misunderstanding or conflict. I’m left _______. Why do these people create mistrust and problems, especially with those from other_______?

I was growing up in Kuala Lumpur in the early 1960s, when children from different races and religions played and studied together _______. At that time my family lived a stone’s _______ from Ismail’s. And no one was bothered that Ismail was a Malay Muslim and I was an Indian Hindu—we just _______ our differences. Perhaps, our elders had not filled our heads with unnecessary advice, well _______ or otherwise. We were nine when we became friends. During the school holidays, we’d explore the countryside on our bicycles, hoping to _______ the unexpected. At times Ismail would accompany my family as we made a rare shopping trip to town. We would be glad of his _______. When I was twelve, my family moved to Johor. Ismail’s family later returned to their village, and I lost touch with him.

One spring afternoon in 1983, I stopped a taxi in Kuala Lumpur. When I _______ my destination, the driver acknowledged my ________ but did not move off. Instead, he looked fixedly at me. “Raddar?” he said, using my childhood nickname. I was astonished at being so ________ addressed. Unexpectedly! It was Ismail! Even after two ________ we still recognized each other. Grasping his shoulder, I felt a true ________, something hard to describe.

If we can allow our children to be themselves without prejudice, they’ll build friendships with people ________ race or religion, who will be ________ their side through thick and thin. On such friendships are societies built and then we can truly be, as William Shakespeare once wrote, “We happy few. We band of brothers”.

9 . It was a snowy day. I ______ the friend who sat with me on winter evenings, talking about our experiences and thoughts—a true ______.

I had almost given up hope of finding another friend like that after I ______ to this city. I wanted to invite a woman I’d met only twice to come share my dinner, ______ she lived an hour away, and it was snowing. I was sure she wouldn’t ______ to come. However, I decided to have a try. So I made the ______.

“Don’t feel you have to come if you don’t want to.”

“Is it snowing? I have a ______, and I’m in bed. I’ll think about it later, if that’s OK with you.”

“Of course it is. And here are your choices, if you decide to come. I’ve just been shopping, so I can ______ you macaroni (意大利粉) and cheese or fresh vegetable salad.”

There was a ______ for a moment. She was thinking.

“Since I’m sick, not the macaroni and cheese. Too rich for a cold. I ______ the vegetables,” she said, “Vegetables. If it’s not snowing too hard.”

An hour before dinner, the phone rang.

“I’ve got up. I’ve been in bed all day. Looking forward to the ______.”

I was happy.

An hour later, she ______, holding a piece of chocolate.

We sat by the fireplace, eating and chatting. The smell of the vegetables filled the house. And we ______ love, art and travels. Everything was warm and good.

As she left, she said. “Those vegetables were delicious. They kept me from ______. I didn’t choose macaroni and cheese.”

“Next time,” I promised. And I went inside, quite satisfied, because I knew there would be a next time, and I didn’t feel ______ anymore.”