My Ph.D. adviser called me into his office saying, “You are fired from the lab.”

I had moved to Israel to study for a Ph.D. At first, things went well in my new lab. Then I ________ some problems. I made a few mistakes in the lab that slowed my ________ , but he never spoke to me about any concerns. I`m still not ________ why he fired me, but I guess it was because of those mistakes. He wasn`t confident that I could ________ my research in time as we`d planned.

The first few days after I was fired were especially ________. I spent hours staring at my computer screen, unable to get anything done. I tried to ________ his mind with promising results, but he ________ to his decision. I could not tell the news to my family in India, as the fear of ________ them overwhelmed (压垮) me. I soon got into a ________ of sadness and anxiety.

Around that time, I watched a movie — Dasvidaniya. One line from the movie stuck out to me, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. What kind of lemonade could I make out of my present ________ My desire to complete a Ph.D. was never in doubt. After much ________, I told myself that one ________ attempt was not the end of the world, and that I needed to give it another ________. With renewed ________, I emailed expected advisers and applied to other programs. Within 2 months, I ________ an offer from a Ph.D. program in Italy.

It was Christmas Eve. Arriving home, I was greeted with a lot of unattractive mail, which _________ an otherwise neat dining room table set _________ the evening meal. The first letter was an unexpected bill, and then there was the _________ of a parking fine(罚金) to pay. I was feeling pretty _________ at this stage.

Then, from the pile, I noticed a smaller, distinctive envelope and immediately I was _________. I opened it quickly and a pretty Christmas card slid out. To my _________, it was from my three-year-old son. It says, “Merry Christmas! Daddy, you are always the best! I love you!” I was _________ to tears. What’s more, I later found out that the card had been _________ prayerfully(虔诚地)for several weeks before Christmas. And it reached my hand at the _________ time. I knew my son wrote this card with my wife’s __________, but it was just what he really felt. It is a small gift but the small thing __________ love. It has really improved our family __________.

The small gift costs only a little money and time __________ many of us forget to do it or are __________ to do it. Why not? Not only are family members __________ by the words in cards, but also the family relationship becomes more harmonious. Small gifts prove to be of great significance for inspiring people to march on their journeys in life.

Six years ago, I walked into a local animal shelter on a cold, rainy day. _______ my house was already full of cats and dogs, I still couldn’t ________ an occasional visit to the shelter. This time as I was walking down the row of pens(畜栏) full of barking dogs, I ______ a small boy looking into one of them.

He had a malnourished（营养不良的）looking body and a _______ face with a big nose _______ out of the middle of it. He was looking at a small golden dog. Its ribs（肋骨）were showing and its thin tail was folded between its legs. It wasn’t begging for ______ like the other puppies ______was hiding in the corner instead. The boy looked up at me with ______ eyes and asked what was wrong with it. “It was probably abused and ______,” I said. “ That is why it is so ______.”

The boy ______turned to an old lady and said, “ Grandma, I want this one.” The old woman smiled and walked to the front desk to fill out the ________ forms. I followed her and asked ______ the boy. She told me that he’d had a ______ start in life, too. She had just gotten custody(监护权) of him______ the state had taken him from his parents. She hoped getting a dog would make his life ______ for him. I looked back at him, holding his scared puppy, and said a prayer for them both.

It was yesterday that I was driving down the road enjoying a gloriously sunny, spring day. Then in a green front yard I saw the boy. His _______ body was tall and strong. His nose no longer ______ big but fit well into his smiling face. He was throwing a ball to a healthy, happy dog shining golden hair. His little act of love and ______ had indeed gone a long way. It had saved a dog’s life, _______ his own heart, and given this middle-aged man fresh hope for the whole world.