In 2017 I was on my way back from a trip to Egypt when I received a text from Harriet next door. The _________ between our gardens had been damaged in a storm. It was winter and, frankly, if she hadn't told me, I probably wouldn't have _________ .

Last year, the fence had long been _________, Harriet and I spent those first weeks of lockdown（居家隔离）、 _________ over the fence. The houses are on a slant (斜坡); I had to put a chair on top of an outdoor table to get the _________ .Sometimes she'd launch a Club bar over to _________ me a cup of tea.

Around the same time, walking to the _________, I stopped to pet an all-white dog, and an elderly lady. _________ at her door. Soon, I was _________ waving through her window to see if she needed any food or drink. It was a mutually beneficial human __________.

Neighbours can be __________: loud voices, the sound of arguing and door slamming. But I have never really __________ that only country folk are there for their neighbours. When I first moved into my flat in the city, a stranger I __________ helped me carry a wardrobe, even though a(n) __________ would have been easier.

Neighbours truly did become good __________ . I hope I am a good neighbour in the way that mine have often been.

During the war, my husband was stationed at an army camp in a desert in California. I went to live there in order to be _______ him. I hated the place. I had never _______ been so unhappy. My husband was ordered out on a long-term duty, and I was left in a tiny shack(棚屋) alone. The heat was _______ — almost 125°F even in the shade of a cactus(仙人掌). _______ a soul to talk to. The wind blew non-stop, and all the food I ate, and the very air I breathed, were _______ with sand, sand, sand!

I was so sorry for myself that I wrote to my parents. I told them I was _______ and coming back home. I said I couldn’t stand it one minute longer. I _______ be in prison! My father answered my _______ with just two lines — two lines that will always sing in my _______— two lines that completely changed my life:

I read those two lines ________. I was ashamed of myself. I made up my mind I would find out what was good in my present ________; I would look for the stars.

I made friends with the natives, and their ________ amazed me. They gave me presents of their favorite artworks which they had ________ to sell to tourists. I studied the delightful forms of the cactus. I watched for the desert sunsets, and ________ for seashells that had been left there millions of years ago when the sands of the desert had been an ocean ________.

What brought about this ________ change in me? The desert hadn’t changed, ________ I had. I had changed my ________. And by doing so, I changed an unhappy experience into the most amazing ________ of my life. I was excited by this new world that I had discovered. I had looked out of my self-created prison and ________ the stars.

Hank, a two-year-old cat, is a homebody. But recently, he got _______ in a 60-tall tree for five days and four nights without food or water.

Hank’s big _______ started last weekend. He explored the neighborhood _______, and a dog came out, running after him and sending him flying up a tree.

When Hank’s owner, Delores Bushong, _______ him in the neighbor’s tree, she immediately called the Humane Rescue Alliance for help._______ , Hank was too high for any ladder (梯子) to reach and the tree branch wasn’t _______ enough to support the climb of the rescuer. Bushong felt extremely _______, but her neighbors showed her that she wasn’t alone.

The neighbor, whose tree Hank had climbed, let Bushong sit in his backyard and _______ Hank down. Another neighbor _______ a can of fish, hoping it might attract the ________ cat to come down. By day five, they tried a new ________ and it worked! They ________ a pulley (滑轮) system by circling a rope around a tall branch, and ________ a basket with some of the owner’s personal items. The cat, following the familiar scents, climbed into the basket and was ________ from the tree.

Bushong said the help of her community was ________ , and Hank’s adventure taught her a lesson about neighbors helping neighbors!