1 . During the recent school holidays I was walking past a playground on my way to a meeting. The thing that_______me was not the number of children enjoying the fresh air on a pleasant Queensland winter day, but the number of older people_______those children.

Sure, there were a few younger mums and dads, but there were_______more “old folk” who I doubt were all grandparents. It is great that they are able to_______quality time with their grandchildren. After all, we often hear people saying that their reason for retiring is that they can devote more time to their families. However, I_______how many grandparents are spending their retirement (退休) years taking on the role of full- or part-time_______of their grandchildren.   

Retirement is a valuable time. We are generally living much longer than our own grandparents did, but as we_______, we become more limited in our ability to pursue (追求) our own favourite. However, what if your plans for pursuing some of these lifetime dreams are _______，out of a sense of responsibility for your family?

So how can you keep a_______ balance between helping out your family and pursuing your dreams altogether? I'm not sure where the answer lies, but having an open and honest________   with your family should be at the top of the list. You need to nip sense of________ in the bud (对……一开始即加以阻止) — and sooner________later.

By all means, help your family whenever you can. Everyone will________from it, and your grandchildren will get the rewards from staying with their________. Do it because you want to, not because you feel you have to. In addition, spare time for ________ to pursue your dreams and ensure that nobody puts your retirement on hold.

2 . The Little Baby Face Foundation (LBFF) provides free plastic surgery (整容手术) for children born with facial deformities (畸形). Many teenagers who have been _________ for their looks are now applying to have their problem areas “fixed” by LBFF.

Nadia, one 14-year-old teenager, had her face greatly changed in June when she went under the _________. Her classmates had been constantly making fun of her appearance. “They said I have the biggest ears that they’ve ever seen. They called me elephant ears,” Nadia said. Those _________ hurt her a lot. She even _________ how to end her own life.

But Nadia tried to _________ the bullying a secret from her mother, Lynda. Her mother was already dealing with mounting medical _________ for her 9-year-old son, Josh, who had a serious brain disease. When her mother did finally _________ about the bullying, she was heartbroken.

Then her mother _________ the LBFF, which accepted Nadia’s application. The surgeries were very _________ and it took months for her face to heal, but she did __________ return to school with a new face, a face she was finally proud of.

Nadia’s surgery may have helped her overcome her emotional pain, but should teenagers go to those __________ just because they are being bullied?

Experts __________ if the deformities are not really a problem to the child, plastic surgery is not the answer! In fact, when a teen decides to get plastic surgery because he or she is being bullied, it can send the wrong __________. By surgically changing the victim (受害者) of a bully, it is as if you __________ the bullying and agree the victim is in fact worthy of all those __________ he or she has been called.

3 . During the Nov.11 shopping event, many people tend to buy more than they need because of sales promotions or just plain urge. But what normally_______the shopping spree(疯狂购物)is not _______but regret. That’s because many people just buy things to fill the_______in their hearts, but accumulating things actually_______the burden in their minds.

The concept of Danshari may provide a (n)_______to the problem. Danshari was based on three Chinese characters, duan she li, _______refusal, disposal(清除)and separation. It promotes the idea of getting rid of _______things and separating oneself from the drive to own_______ possessions. There are two basic rules that_________whether you should keep something-the relationship between you and the item under__________as well as the timing. So before you________ your payment password for something, ask yourself two questions: Do I________ it now? Does it suit me?

Danshari encourages you not only to__________yourself things, but to give up the unreasonable desire associated with owning them. Nowadays, people need to learn to__________their daily lives. Buy only the necessities and__________items, regularly__________things you don’t need any more, then you’ll get freedom in your heart.

However, it doesn’t mean that you should__________your desire and live a less interesting life. Instead, you should ________ yourself rather than material goods. Through ________ what to buy and what to get rid of, you can see a deeper reflection of yourself.________learning to make wise decisions about more important things.

Beware of those who use the truth to deceive. When someone tells you something that is_______, but leaves out important information that should be_______, he can create a false impression.

For example, someone might say, “I just_______a hundred dollars on the lottery. It was great. I took that dollar ticket back to the store and_______it in for one hundred dollars!”

This guy’s a winner,_______? Maybe, maybe not. We then discover that he bought two hundred_______, and only one was a winner. He’s really a big_______!

He didn’t say anything that was_______, but he deliberately left out some important_______. That’s called a half-truth. Half-truths are not technically__________, but they are just as not__________.

Untrustworthy candidates in__________campaigns often use this tactic (策略，手段). Let’s say that during Governor Smith’s last term, her state lost one million jobs and__________three million jobs. Then she__________another term. One of her opponents runs an ad__________, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state lost one million jobs!” That’s true.__________, an honest statement would have been, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state had a net gain of__________million jobs.”

Advertisers will sometimes use half-truths. It’s__________the law to make false claims so they try to mislead you with the__________. An ad might boast, “Nine out of ten doctors recommend Yucky Pills to cure nose pimples.” It__________to mention that they only asked ten doctors and nine of them work for the Yucky Corporation.

This kind of deception happens too often. It’s a sad fact of life: Lies are lies, and sometimes the truth can lie as well.