I was driving to a business appointment when I came to a very busy crossroad. The traffic light had just turned red. Suddenly, an unforgettable ________ caught my eyes. A young couple, both blind, were ________ across-in-arm across this busy crossroad with cars racing by in every direction. Each of them had a walking stick extended, searching for clues to ________ them.

At first I was moved. They were trying to ________ what I felt was one of the most scary disabilities—blindness. It must be terrible to be ________. My thought was quickly interrupted by ________ when I saw that the couple were directly walking toward the middle of the crossroad. Without ________ the danger they were in, they were walking right into the path of oncoming cars. I was ________ because I didn’t know if the other drivers understood what was happening.

To my astonishment, I saw a(n) ________ scene unfold before my eyes. Every car in every direction came to a(n) ________. No sharp sound of brakes or noisy horn were heard, nor did anyone ________, “Get out of the way!” Everything ________. At that moment, time seemed to stand still for this couple.

Amazed, I ________ the cars around me. I noticed that everyone’s attention was fixed on the couple. ________, the driver to my right yelled, “To your right! To your right!” Other people ________ in union, shouting, “To your right!”

The couple adjusted their own ________ and they made it to the other side of the road. As they arrived at the roadside, one thing ________ me—they were ________ arm-in-arm. I was surprised by the ________ expressions on their faces and judged that they had no idea what was really ________ around them.

As I drove away, I did so with more awareness of life and care for others than ever before.

I was 68 when I first stepped onstage as a standup comedian. I’ve always been a performer but that came to an end after 9/11. For a year afterwards, nobody wanted to go out or be _______.

It was then that I started to think about comedy. I _______ people needed to laugh again and thought with a little _______ I could do it. I took a few classes, tried to work out a routine, and finally gathered the _______ and walked onstage. That first time was _______, for I had no idea what the audience would make of me.

In New York, comedians are typically young men. It’s hard to _______ as a woman, even harder as someone _______ enough to be their grandmother. As I stepped onstage that first time, they were clearly _______ to see me. I introduced myself, _______ my age and tried my first joke. There was ________. But by the time I got to the third line, people were laughing.

Even today, I’m ________ before I step out. My first line is, “Hello, everybody. I’m 88 years old. I’m telling you that ________ I don’t make it all the way through the show.” Then people laugh and I ________.

After a show, people come up to me, saying what a(n) ________ I am. They say they want to be as active as me when they reach my ________. I’m pleased to show as an older person you don’t need to take a back seat in life.

After a long day at school, I walked home with my heavy schoolbag. Sleepy and ________, I threw my things on the couch and hurriedly took something from the ________ to eat. I passed by the living room and wished I could watch TV, but I knew my________ would take me the whole night. I took my schoolbag and went ________ to my room. I tried to understand chemistry and ________ sleepiness at the same time I tried to keep my eyes ________ and I wanted something to cheer me up.

Later, I________ the sound of the front door opening. And I waited for it — the sound of my mom singing. Though she sang off-key (跑调), it made me ________ that she was here. I ran down to ________ her. We hugged each other and talked for a while. I like it when my mom was happy. Her________ seemed to flow down to me and I got the power to ________ the stress again.

Sometimes, I wonder ________ my mom can still be positive after coming back from work. Every weekday, she wakes up ________ in the morning to go to work and spends all hour on the bus before getting downtown. At a ________ factory, she works standing for the whole day and draws patterns for clothes over and over. After work，my mom often gets stuck in ________ for two hours on her way back home. When I ________ my school life with her work life, I should not be the one to complain. At least I have some interesting things to do at school, ________ if my mom makes one mistake at work, she will lose her job. I appreciate that my mom has a positive attitude and lives her life with a joyful heart, ________ encourages me to do my work well, ________ there may be difficulties. Seeing her happy makes feel ________, too.