December 24 arrived along with a heavy snow. It was my first Christmas Eve without mother and the day’s usual _______ had disappeared.

The telephone rang. I _______ it and went to my bedroom to bury the continuous sadness, knowing it must be my friend Rebecca calling. How could I be _______? I wanted to be left alone .

My heart felt as _______ as the falling snow. How can I stop missing my mother?

I _______ the window. Seeing Rebecca’s car parked out front, I went back to bed and drew the covers over my head.

“Lucy!” she shouted. “I know you’re in there. Answer the door!”

“Leave me alone!” I _________ back. I heard paper rustling(沙沙作响) as she slid _________ under the door.

“Merry Christmas,” she called out.

Not answering the _________ made me feel even worse. It wasn’t fair to my best friend. Her father and sister _______ in a car accident when she was eight years old. __________, her mother had to return to __________, and Rebecca was left to look after herself.

When she left, I carried the small package, sat down and __________ it. Inside was a gold pen and a journal. When I opened the journal’s front cover, out fell a bookmark with a(n) __________ written on it:

My words won’t heal(治愈) the __________. But your own words can.

Love,

Rebecca

As I stared(盯着) at the journal’s blank pages, a single tear fell on the page which quickly absorbed it. That night, I __________ the phone and called her. “It looks like the snow is melting(融化),” I said. “Spring is just around the corner.”

I lived at home while I went to college, and I appreciated the extra time with my family. I________my mom’s wisdom and I actually took her advice! One day particularly ________for me, a day when a simple piece of advice became a(n) ________lesson.

I don’t remember what I was ________about, but I remember ________ that I was talking on the kitchen phone to someone, and there was a(n) ________. Mom was busy as usual with household tasks and she wasn’t one to interfere. But for some reason she________ as the call went on that my mood was not ________. Suddenly she stood before me with a tiny piece of paper. On it were two words and a drawing. She handed it to me with a smile and then________.

I ________ the tiny paper. It read: “Be Nice” and had a smiley face drawing.

I ________ my mom’s advice. From that point I took a ________ tone. By the conclusion of the conversation the tension I had felt was ________ . All was at peace in my world.

But there is________to the story about the little piece of paper. When I graduated and ________that little piece of paper moved with me. I________ it on my refrigerator, secured in place by a magnet. For many years that piece of paper moved with me and has been serving as a constant________ .

Today, whenever I feel stressed or impatient in the presence of a(n)________person, I visualize my mom handing me that piece of paper and I act ________ ! Who would have ever guessed the timeless________of two little words and a smiley face on a simple little piece of paper?

Huping Mountain features deep valleys and dangerous peaks. In 1990, Du Dengwen joined the local post station and was immediately_______with serving 13 villages across the mountainous area. For the past three decades, Du has been one of the few______between villagers there and the outside world. Despite difficult geographic conditions, letters and parcels always make it to their ______. Du has______mail and goods to the villagers from their loved ones, most of whom are in the distant cities for a living. His ______always brings joy to the mountain villagers, because it     ______letters or parcels of huge value are coming their way.

A round trip to______all of the villages in his charge runs about 180km, and the only thing he could rely on was a______that the post station offered. Even so, only two villages were______ by cycling, while the rest were ______roads, so Du had to walk.

Du also wrote down villagers’______and tried his best to meet them. Du had developed a close bond with the local villagers, and refused to______his job regardless of his family’s concern over his______.

Du’s kindness and ______have not only endeared him to the mountain villagers but also earned their trust and respect. He was called “Angel Courier” by locals heartily and ______as a “Touching China” role model for Hunan by the provincial government in 2015.