Michael Todd wore the same old clothes for the first three weeks of school. When some kids began to ______ that, they piled it on. Todd became the target of ______. But there was little Todd could do.

The kids taking the ______ were Garrett and Graham. But over time, they realized their seemingly making fun of Todd was ______ bullying(欺凌) and was hurting Todd. "Finally something ______ I knew I needed to do something ______ the thing got much worse," Graham said. So he and Garrett ______ a plan. The two went home and ______ through their rooms. They asked Todd to come into the ______ the next day at school. Todd was understandably nervous of being called out by them.

"He looked ______," Graham said. "I told him, 'We make a (n) ______ for starting the unkind thing, and want to ______ it.'" He then handed Todd a bag. Inside were clean shirts and a new pair of shoes. Todd was _______

Reflecting on the day he was called to the hall, Todd said it "marked the ______ of my life". Because he got much more than clothes and shoes. He's no longer being ______ at lunch. Now he eats with his new friends, Garrett and Graham.

A ship was wrecked (失事) and only two of the men aboard were able to swim to a small, desert-like island. Not knowing what else to do, the two ______ agreed that they had no ______ but to pray to God.

____, to find out whose prayers were more ______, they agreed to divide the territory (领地) between them. What the first man ______ for was food. The next morning, he saw a fruit bearing tree on his side of the island, and he was able to eat its _______ But the other man’s side of land remained ______.

After a week, the first man became ______ and decided to pray for a wife. The next day, a woman swam to his side of the island. But on the other side of the island, there was ______. Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes and more ______. The next day, like magic, all of these things were ______ to him. However, the other man still had nothing.

____, the first man prayed for a ship so that he and his wife could ______ the island, and in the next morning he found a ship at his side of the island. The first man ______ the ship with his wife and decided to leave the other man on the island, considering him unworthy to receive God’s blessings ______ none of his prayers had been answered. As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from Heaven booming, “Why are you leaving your ______ on the island?”

“My blessings are mine alone since I was the one who prayed for them,” the first man answered. “His prayers were all unanswered and so he doesn’t ______ anything.”

“You are mistaken!” the voice ______ him. “He had only one prayer, which I ______. He prayed that all your prayers would be answered. Had it not been for that, you would not have ______ any of my blessings.”

As I waited for my university lecture to start, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Looking up, I found a young woman smiling at me, ________ a notebook. I knew immediately who she was. The week before we had ________ emails, and I’d told her I would be sitting in the front ________. I always sat at the front and the reason was that I’m deaf and needed to lip-read the ________. “I’m Rosie,” the young woman said. She was the first person I’d ever met who was my ________ and wore hearing aids. At my school, I was the only person who wore hearing aids. So I was ________ and fascinated to see Rosie wearing them. She tied her hair back, and didn’t try to ________ them like I did.

After the lecture, Rosie and I carried on talking. She always remembered to look at me when we talked. I didn’t have to worry that she’d ________, and I’d miss a joke or remark. There was an instinctive awareness between us about making communication clear and ________. I’d grown up thinking that deafness was some kind of ________, but here was Rosie, who was clever, wise, full of fun and deaf. What was the big deal?

I felt like a window had opened on my own experience as a deaf person. Partly it was the joy of being able to talk ________. We discussed noisy social events, or group conversations, where we felt on the fringes. The ________ that I wasn’t the only deaf student at the university made the experience feel less lonely.

We continued to share notes on being deaf. Learning to advocate for myself as a deaf person in the professional world was ________. But Rosie was more enlightened, and she was a fierce advocate. She held up a ________ to my own experience, but also set an example for me, offering an alternative ________. Our friendship has become an essential part of who I am as well.