I opened my eyes to find doctors standing by my hospital bed. They had some ________ news. They told me that my brother Adams healthy cells were beginning to ________ in my bone marrow (骨髓). I was showing________ of progress. I was able to walk around—________ without assistance, and my blood counts were going in the right direction.

It was “graduation” day. The ________ were sending me to the Hope Room, a halfway house sponsored by the American Cancer Society. I would live there for the next three months, ________ by my boyfriend, Seamus.

_____ out of the hospital in a wheelchair, I took my first breath of ________ air in weeks. But ________ I could enjoy this moment, my mother helped me ________ a face mask. I shot her an ________ look, but I know she was right. For the immediate future, anywhere I wanted to go in public I would need to wear gloves and a ________. No subways, no crowds. However, I can ________ my freedom, even if cancer continues to ________ my choices. My new freedom means not being waken up every couple of hours by a nurse with ________ in her hand. It’s not seeing doctors with their masks and their caring, and not being ________ an IV (静脉注射) machine 24 hours a day.

Freedom now is being able to eat a home-cooked ________ and then fighting to keep it down. Freedom also means being ________ with my loving mother and boyfriend. Freedom is the ________ to take the medicines on time. Freedom also means returning to the hospital several times a week to ________ follow-up examinations. But all is well worth. I love every one of my family and I love Seamus.

Can you imagine the power of a father? On Sept.17, 2022, a man and his son ______ to begin the first of three legs of the Ironman competition in Cambridge. Jeff Agar, 59, and his son, Johnny Agar, weren’t the ______ participants. Johnny has suffered from a brain disease and finds difficulty in ______. Consequently, throughout the race, Jeff would ______ as Johnny’s, arms and legs.

The race began with a 2.4-mile swim in a river. With one end of a rope ______ around his back and the other to a kayak (皮艇) with Johnny in, Jeff ______ into the water. Swimming while dragging another person is ______ enough. The pair completed the swim in 90 minutes, and here came the next ______: a 112-mile bicycle ride. Their special bike has an additional seat in the back for Johnny that ______ backward, which made it easier to observe and cheer on other ______ behind.

After roughly nine hours, they set their sights on the final leg — a 26.2-mile marathon with Jeff ______ Johnny in the racing chair. ______, Jeff and Johnny managed to pick up the pace. With only 200 feet to the finish line, Jeff ______ to help Johnny out of his racing chair. After years of tough ______, Johnny was determined to finish the last part of the race on his own.

Eventually, the ______ pair crossed the finish line together. As the crowd. cheered loudly, the tired Jeff just kept a low profile. “He didn’t want his finish line moment,” says Johnny. “He wanted it to be mine.”

I used to believe courtesy (礼貌) was a thing of the past. I had _____ met a courteous human being in this modern age of the so called Gentleman.

Recently, I changed my _____.   I had gone to a coffee place, with two of my daughters. The place was _____ and we had to climb steep stairs to find an empty table. After enjoying coffee, we were climbing down the stairs, where the _____ space made climbing up or down only possible in a single line.

_____ I was in the middle of climbing down, a gentleman _____ the main entrance of the cafe which was right _____ the stairs. I was _____ I would be pushed roughly by this man who would go up hurriedly. So I kept coming down as fast as possible towards my daughters who were already down.

Nearly reaching them, I noticed the man still _____ near the door. I reached my ______ and passed the stranger at the entrance door he kept holding open.

We _____ his chivalry (彬彬有礼) for both — waiting for us to come down before going up himself and ______ holding the entrance door open for us to go out. Such   ______   people are hard to find these days, when ______ is very common in our advanced but ______ society. To date, I remember this gentleman.,