1 . On a fresh May morning, with my guitar in tow, I ventured down the road to a busy restaurant. I was about to _______ the fear that had held me hostage for 35 years.

As I reflect upon my childhood, I’m _______ of a kind, sensitive kid with long-term struggles. But there was one bright spot in my life: I loved singing and playing the guitar. It was my grandmother, Peg, who _______ a flame within me, kindling an unyielding love for _______ in me. But then, in the blink of an eye that joy was _______.

I was 10 years old and our entire fourth grade was in _______ for our annual choir concert. The substitute choir teacher had _______ me with a solo in the concert’s finale (终曲): “76 Trombones” from The Music Man. But each time my solo _______ , terror kept a firm hold of my voice. The teacher rushed to me, “You’re wasting all of our time. Let someone else sing.” Since then I hadn’t sung in _______ again for 35 years.

The broad road in front of the busy restaurant was filled with people. I pulled out my guitar. As I ________ the first chord, I heard a voice in my head: “You are going to ________ yourself like never before.” But I gathered the courage, and ________ a cascade (瀑布) of songs that had built up inside of me for 35 years. ________ my voice wasn’t beautiful, my passion and excitement won over the crowd. Afterward, I felt a wave of pride, ________, and happiness coursing through my veins (静脉). Eventually, I ________ myself from the clutches of fear and reclaimed the stolen joy.

3 . On March 18, 2018, I was alone at home in Costa Rica, unaware that my life was about to change. I received an e-mail with the subject “___________ selection result”.

My heartbeat___________   as I read through it: I had been chosen to receive a full scholarship at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Finally, I would be able to___________ the old legends of China, which had always ___________ me.

In Costa Rica, I learned music well. However, it was my professor in Shanghai who guided me in improving my skills. His teachings emphasized the art of letting the music flow as___________ as tai chi.

In my opinion, that’s the___________   of life in China. You can see it on every corner when you notice how the traffic ___________ or on the way people walk throughout China. Similarly, music can go___________ paper, flowing from the musician to the audience and enriching the world one note ___________ .

When I went back to Costa Rica, I held a(n)___________ piece of Chinese music in my heart. One day, I introduced Molihua to my students and___________ their great interest instantly, which made me pleasantly ___________. Music is indeed one of the best ways to show people about the___________ of another country.

This year, I return to Shanghai and continue my___________of China through its music. Words fall short in expressing the delight and gratitude I experience. I hope to spread the joy of music___________and I believe my ambitions will be fulfilled here in China.

6 . At the age of 12, I withdrew into my bedroom with my guitar. I had neither musical talent — many_______music lessons had proved that — nor musical training. My fingers ached as I tried to press down on the strings without making them buzz (发出嗡嗡声). _______, I worked my way through 2-, 3- and even 5-chord (和旋) songs and discovered the _______ thrills of these musical notes. No one _______ me to do this. I did this myself and of my own free will for a week, and the sense of happiness－ true happiness _______ in absorption in something － has _______ me. Fifty years later, that week’s self-directed practice became a model and _______ for almost every meaningful thing I have done since. It makes me understand the _______ between achievement and accomplishment.

The world favors achievement while _______ accomplishment. The former is the completion of the task imposed (强加) from the outside — the ________ being a path to the next task. The latter is the end point of an activity we have chosen, whose bonus is the sudden ________ of happiness.

The seeking of accomplishment always ________ people. I learned so long ago in that ________ week that simply lifting one finger from the guitar’s C chord, you should get the most moving ________ in tune. I didn’t know then it was a major 7th chord, a favorite of some masters’. I just ________ accomplishment. That’s real human “achievement”.

8 . Our ancient nomadic(游牧的)ancestor would often sing or dance to show others where to find food. In my family, we’ve always had music around us too and this influence is starting to _______. Our seven-year-old son has _______ to perform his own raps which are quite excellent even without considering how _______ he is. Our four-year-old daughter is showing her musical _______ too — she started to make up little ditties(小调).

What is most joyous about our shared _______ of music are those moments when we all come together as a _______. My favorite time happened in April when I was feeling quite _______. I was cooking breakfast when the kids _______ that I was playing dance music. My seven-year-old son then started to join in dancing. This _______ his four-year-old sister, soon the three of us were jumping up and down. It was a moment of real ________ and it turned around how I was feeling.

At that point, I felt like music would be the way to ________ to the kids. I’ve sat down with my son and together we’ve remixed his voice and I’ve sat with my daughter and we’ve played the guitar. We might not be ________ anything about the whereabouts of food as our ancestor did. But we are giving them an ________ through song. We’ re teaching them “Flower of Scotland” so that they might know something about their heritage.

Through ________, we have all become a ________ family.

9 . My five-year-old son was amazed by the beauty of the dancers _________ the classic story, presented by a ballet company. Afterwards, he expressed an interest in learning to _________, the classmate who lived next door laughed. “Don’t be _________, there are no boys in my dance classes.”

One afternoon when my son waved from the front window to this classmate as she left for dance class, his eyes _________ with tears. “Mom, boys dance too.”

My son _________ to pursue dance, but I held the same view as my peers, I discouraged him of his dreams. Dance lessons were put _________. Instead, I admitted him in many other classes. However, he never lost interest in learning to dance.

Finally, he got to have his dance and voice _________ during his fresh year of high school even though he was also busy with those classes. His goal was to try out for the school’s madrigal choral troupe, a group that performed at various_________. The competition was fierce, and the _________ was made and posted finally. He managed to practise at a dance academy that welcomed male dancers. The hard work __________ — he made the cut. He developed as a member of the madrigal troupe, and it paved the way to his dance __________.

During his first year of college, he was __________ a role in a national touring company. Several years later, he moved to New York City and was offered a chance to __________ his idol, Bob Fosse. Over the years, my son has danced in dinner theatre, summer stock, television and various musicals. Indeed, boys dance, too.

When I wrote the article about diversity twenty years ago, I still felt the sense of __________. My message holds true today: “It’s okay to be __________. Go for it!”

10 . What do you usually keep on your desk? Maybe a box of candy, pens or a glass bottle. Sure, these everyday objects have their own _________, but did you ever think they could be made into music?

Recently, Zhang Yuxuan, better known as Vicky Xuanxuan _________ the spotlight on Chinese social media for her music. With all the media focusing on her, the 15-year-old girl revealed that she recorded sounds using _________ objects around her and mixed them into her songs. Upon the _________ of her English song She, it has been viewed more than 14 million times and _________ over 1 million thumbs-up emojis (表情符号) on Bilibili, China’s video-sharing and livestreaming platform.

“A melody _________ popped into my head when I was having math class,” Zhang, a student at the Shenzhen Arts School, majoring in violin, said in her video titled How to Turn a Melody into a Song. “I quickly wrote down four _________ of lyrics and the melody in my notebook and after class, I _________ home and took less than half an hour to finish the rest.”

Now, Zhang has nearly 1.7 million followers on Bilibili. Some are strangers but firmly _________ her. Popularity has given her the opportunities to cooperate with __________ people, such as pianist Lang Lang. But just as the old saying goes, “a coin has two sides”. Internet __________ can also attract criticism. Viewers have left remarks like “you look too old for your age”. Although she felt bad about these __________ at first, Zhang tried to get used to them. Later, she even turned the __________ reviews into a song.

No matter how __________ some people are online, to be seen and heard by more people has motivated Zhang to keep posting her singing clips. Her song Runaway Forest may indicate her __________ facing difficulty—“You don’t have to be upset/Just walk straight forward/... I’m the one with the shining light.”