1 . Like many parents, I enjoyed reading a bedtime story to my two sons each night before they went to bed. After the story was over, we would turn off the lights, and talked until they fell _________

One night after the lights were off, my 3-year-old son, Will, _________ me to tell them a story_________ by myself, not one from a book. So I _________ told him a story about the first thing that came into my _________. But to my surprise, he _________ it so much that he asked me to do that the next night.

Thus a story-telling tradition was _________ in our family. Ever since that night, they seemed not to be able to sleep without hearing one of my _________ stories. Of all the things I do for my _________ ,my storytelling is what they love most. It has created a special __________ between us. And they find that their day isn’t __________ without one of my stories, and so do I.

When I see how __________ my storytelling is in their lives, I come to realize how much our television and video-oriented (以视频为导向的) society has __________in terms of the personal connections that storytelling brings. Before the __________ of television, computers and smartphones, a family’s __________was built around storytelling. This oral (口述的) tradition was __________ from generation to generation, and many of the stories we have today originated from this tradition until someone finally __________them down.

Storytelling is used as a creative way to __________ for me. During the storytelling, I forget about the pressure of the day and enjoy the __________ time I can spend with my children. I hope that other parents can gain __________ from storytelling, too.

3 . The books in David’s schoolbag felt like bricks as he ran down the street. What he wanted to do was play basketball with Eric,_________ his mother told him he would have to return his sister’s books to the library first.

He went into the building; only a few minutes _________ closing time. He put the books into the return box. And after a brief _________ in the toilet, he would be on his way to the playground to _________ Eric.

David stepped out of the toilet and stopped in _________ — the library lights were off. The place was _________. The doors had been shut. They _________ be opened from the inside: he was trapped — in a library!

He tried to _________ a telephone call but was unable to _________. As the sun began to set, he searched for a light and found it.

__________ he could see. David wrote on a piece of paper: “__________! I’m TRAPPED inside!” and stuck it to the glass door. Surely, someone passing by would see it.

He was surprised to discover that this place was not so unpleasant, __________. Rows and rows of shelves held books, videos and music. He saw a book about Michael Jordan and took it off the shelf. He settled into a chair and started to __________.

He knew he had to__________, but now, that didn’t seem to be such a __________ thing.

6 . My love for libraries grew after I joined the public library.

From the age of 8, I was allowed to walk from my home to the city _______. There the librarian gave     me my first library card, and I could ______ a range of books from then on. I was _______, and this love for libraries and reading changed my life, ______ me to create a safe ______ for high-school students one day, too.

By the time I was in high school, I could read about the ______ that we were studying in class, _______Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. When I studied English literature at university, I thought it was time to _______my own library. For the next 30 years as a teacher, I continued to ______ books. Until one day, I realized that all my ______ had become a part of the house, like wallpaper.

Toward the end of my ______ career, I became a teacher-librarian at my old high school, where I had first learned English literature. This ______ resumed (重获) my love and appreciation for libraries. I never forgot how ______ it was to be surrounded by books.

With the money intended for the library, I ______ for novels that would interest my teenage audience. I bought sofas and comfortable chairs, ______ the library into an inclusive (包容的) public space, ______ for everyone.

In doing so, I realized that the library isn’t just a place to do research. ______ , they are places that offer an opportunity to connect with the _______, the present and the future. All that is required for students is ______ a bit of curiosity. Libraries are places that should be full of life. And their doors must be kept open to everyone — ______ !

7 . It's often said that you can judge a person by looking at what's on their bookshelves. Well, when I asked myself this question a few years ago, I made a (n) _________ discovery. Pretty much all the books on my bookshelves were written by British authors, and there was _________ in translation from other languages. What a shame! So, I decided to launch my _________ reading project.

But how could I find books from much of the rest of the world? I had to ask for _________. So in February 202I, I posted a short _________ online. Within hours, people began to _________. At first, it was friends and colleagues. And soon, it was _________.

Four days later, I got a(n) _________ from a woman called Rafidah in Kuala Lumpur. She said she _________ my project and went to her local bookshop to __________ my Malaysian book. A few weeks later, a package which contained one book—Rafidah's choice from Malaysia reached me. At the time, I was __________ that a stranger more than 6,000miles away would help someone she would probably never __________.

Rafidah's kindness __________ to be the pattern for that year. A writer from Spain __________ emailed me an unpublished translation of his novel to me. Thanks to the kind strangers, I could read books from over 70 __________ .

9 . Those youngsters were a great concern for Ngurang Meena. The social-science teacher found many children _______ to online games. She runs the Ngurang Learning Institute — an adult literacy centre. She says that she feels _______ every time she reads student papers. “The graph of student _______ is falling every year. It _______ my heart whenever I see answer sheets — basic grammar skills are missing and there’s a/an _______ of any cohesive(连贯性的) expression. They lack proper _______ and reading culture is almost zero,” Meena says. When her school and the centre she _______ had to close due to the Covid-19 Lockdown, she was determined to do something to _______ the problem.

Searching for ideas online and _______ by a similar proposal, __________ Meena set up a bookshelf with around 80 books on the side of the road, where __________ could spend time reading. The __________ include motivational books, biographies and novels as well as comics for young children. “I often __________ the younger ones with sweets to sit and read, but that is okay,” she laughs.

Meena’s library became __________ among youngsters who spend hours in the reading corner. Within two months, her effort became the __________ of the town. Generous contributions of books flood in from the public and she is even __________ receiving requests to set up such libraries in other parts of the state.

“I never __________ this would become such a big hit,” Meena says. “Since childhood, we have been told that books are our best friends and the __________ of success. I don’t want the present generation to __________ games and head on the wrong track. This library is a reminder that knowledge is __________ power.”

10 . It's often said that you can judge a person by looking at what's on their bookshelves. Well, when I asked myself this question a few years ago, I made a(n) _______ discovery. Pretty much all the _______ on my bookshelves were written by British authors, and there was almost nothing in translation from other _______. What a shame! So, I decided to begin my _____________ reading project.

But how could I find books from much of the rest of the world? I had to ask for _______. So in October 2011, I started my blog, and I _______ a short appeal (呼吁) online. Within hours, people began to _______. At first, it was friends and colleagues. Then it was friends of friends. And soon, it was _______.

Four days later, I got a(n) _______ from a woman called Rafidah in Kuala Lumpur. She said she loved my project, ________ if she could go to her local English-language bookshop and choose my Malaysian book and post it to me. I ________ accepted, and a few weeks later, a package ________ containing nothing but two books — Rafidah's choice from Malaysia, and a book from Singapore that she had also ________ for me. At the time, I was ________ that a stranger more than 6,000 miles away would go to such lengths to help someone she would probably never ________.

But Rafidah's kindness ________ to be the pattern for that year. Time and again, people went out of their ________ to help me. And books often came from ________ sources. A writer even emailed me an unpublished translation of his novel to me, allowing me to become one of the ________ people ever to read that book in English.

That year, thanks to kind strangers from the four ________ of the world. I read books from over 100 countries.