1 . About six months ago, I got an unexpected package. The return address was a latitude(纬度) and a longitude(经度). Inside was an envelope that had a bunch of________paper towels. They were covered with________. I had no idea what it was all about________I began to read the paper towels carefully, which all brought back my________.

At 18, I went to college and got a part-time job in a________. My coworkers were some guys who had been working for too long and felt________, so they came up with some jokes to make fun of me. But there was a lab assistant named Howie, who started defending me________them. My dad had been in the army and taught me cryptograms(密码). So, I loved to send________messages to Howie on these paper towels. Now, he’d________them for 62 years.

How could I get in touch with him with this________address? After Googling it with great efforts, I________it! I sent a letter to him, and got a postcard back, saying, “Nicer than nice to hear from you.”

Then we started corresponding. We shared happiness and sorrow in the past years. That's________he has gradually changed my life. I almost________after my husband and daughter died, but what he did has brought me________. He introduced to me a sweet passion to face my life and gave me back a sense of self-worth. Our friendship is magical to be________after over six decades!

3 . When I was in college, some of my classmates and I used to take the same bus to school. Gradually we became friends and had the _________ of eating street food every night while _________ the bus. We were all _________ students and usually had little pocket money, but we spent a lot without _________

There was one guy who seldom spent money and _________ telling us not to waste money. I understood his mindset,_________ my other friends didn’t. They started teasing him and made him feel _________ by giving him a nickname“Shylock”，the mean miser（吝啬鬼）in Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice. I really felt pity for him and often _________ to them，"Maybe there is a reason why he saves." However，every time I got the same _________ that they teased not only him，but also me. Although the boy felt bad at first，he decided not to take it __________ later. He still remained __________ no matter how they teased him.

They all thought he was mean. However, everyone changed their __________ later. It was on a fine day when my friend’s dad was in serious condition and __________ to be taken to hospital. Money was necessary but we had no money. It was he, "Shylock", that __________ my friend out by paying for the hospital fee. Besides that, one classmate who was __________ for GATE exam application fee also got his aid. He gave him money without thinking. All my remaining __________ were not able to show their faces to him because of __________

So, __________ all of them, I went to "Shylock" and said sorry. He said, "There’s no need to say sorry We are friends, although there are always __________ between us. Anyway, I'm more interested in giving than spending money __________ no matter what people think of me. "

5 . On March 11, 2021, World Kidney Day, the actress Raisa wrote on Twitter: “I’ve kept my kidney (肾脏) donation process pretty private. However, I think I’ve gotten to a point _______ I feel comfortable in speaking about my experience ...” Showing her gratitude, the singer Gomez responded, writing: “Thank you for blessing me.”

In 2015, Gomez was diagnosed with a terrible disease and soon she became seriously ill. She even had to deal with the mental health problems _______ her battle with the disease.

Although she was then living with Raisa, Gomez did not tell her long-time friend about the _______of her health troubles. “I hadn’t asked anything. I knew that she hadn’t been feeling well,” Raisa recalled in an interview. “She couldn’t open a water bottle one day. She then started crying, and I asked, ‘What’s wrong?’ ”That’s when Gomez revealed that she needed a kidney transplant(移植), but that the waiting list was _______ long. Deeply _______ about her friend’s condition, Raisa decided that she would get tested to see if she could be a _______ for her. Gomez immediately refused, not wanting to make Raisa put her entire career and life _______ for her, but the actress insisted, and amazingly_______to be a match indeed.

With physical and psychological evaluations(评估)taking place over the _______ of a single day rather than the usual six months, Gomez and Raisa began their __________ journey. The surgery was __________ successful. It wasn’t long, however, before Gomez’s new kidney began to turn around inside her body, which then resulted in a second surgery, __________ by a lengthy process of recovery. Gomez, now back to normal, is certain that she __________ her life to Raisa, a true friend indeed.

Both Gomez and Raisa said it was their __________ that guided them through their emotional journey. The pair also hope that sharing their story can have a positive impact on others. “I don’t think what we went through was __________. I just hope this inspires people to remember that there’re really good people in the world,” said Gomez.

6 . I was tearing into the classroom when I ran into someone really short. He looked ______at me. “My, you’re tall,” he said. The class began to laugh. ______, I walked to my seat. Tall was the ______ word I want to hear describing a girl like me. My heart ______ when I saw my friend Reed was laughing with the rest. That was the last straw.

That was Carlos’ first day. He apologized after class, ______ out his hand, “I’m sorry I embarrassed you, but I don’t see why you are so ______.” I said sharply, “You wouldn’t understand.” He followed me a few steps, “I’m just the one who should, Karen. You and I have a lot in ______.”

It was school ______ that made me think of Carlos again. He was voted vice-president. “How come this new comer gets to be so popular?” I kept asking myself. ______ on a perfect October morning, I stopped him, “It doesn’t seem to ______ you — being short, I mean.” “Of course I mind being short. I get a stiff (僵硬的) neck every day from looking up at people like you.” “I should have known I couldn’t get a ______ answer from you.” I started up the steps. “Don’t go.” He was through ______. “Sure, it bothers me. But when I realized I was going to spend my life in this undersized skin, I decided to make the best of it and ______ on being myself.” “You seem to ______ well,” I admitted. “But being a tall girl is totally different. No boy would like to date a girl taller than him.”

“Why not let me be your manager? I can promise that you’ll soon be cool and popular.” he ______. “You sound like a soap commercial.” I said. “It’s funny you ______ say that. The trouble with you is that you’re afraid to be yourself. You are smart and pretty. ______, you are more than smart.” he insisted.

I wasn’t sure, “W-e-ll—” “Look,” he almost fell off the steps in his ______, “Prize fighters have managers, ______ do movie stars and pop singers. Besides, what have you got to lose?” I shrugged and said ______ “OK.”

I would never have believed he was going to change my life.

8 . 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.

9 . It was about 10 p.m. on October12, 2020. Paul Wilson and his friend Tina Stern were stepping out of the elevator (电梯) of her apartment building when they _________ smoke. “My dogs!” Tina shouted with _________ as she ran down the hall to her apartment. Paul 54, who is _________, walked carefully toward the smoke.

“I was _________ across from Tina's apartment door, I slowly took four or five steps to the right, and smoke hit me right, and smoke hit me right in the face.” Paul said, “I _________ the door, shouting, ‘Anybody home?’ _________, nobody answered.”

Suddenly the door opened, and more _________ more out Paul heard coughing and reached behind the door, waving his arm until he _________ someone. It was Diane, who lived there. He took her arm and pulled her into the hall, then ran back to the _________ apartment with Tina.

He and Tina picked up the fire extinguisher (天火器). While Paul held it, he __________ Tina to use it to fight the fire. __________, the fire finally died down.

Diane had fallen asleep when cooking on the stove, and it had __________ the fire. She later called Paul to __________ him. “I could have died without your help.” she said.

As it turned out, __________ fires was just second nature to Paul—he had been a __________ with the St. Lucie County Fire District for about 2 years in the 2010s. He __________ a serious eye disease in 2013 and lost his sight.

Last November, the St. Lucie County Fire District awarded (颁奖) him and Tina the Citizen Hero Award for their __________ actions. When asked what he was __________ at that moment, Paul said, “I was not __________ at all. I just knew it was __________ that I had to do.”