There is an old English saying, “Laughter is the best medicine.” One person who certainly would have agreed with this is Norman Cousins.

Norman Cousins was the editor of a magazine called Saturday Review for almost forty years. He also _______ and spoke about world peace and anti-war issues, traveling to many different countries to share his _______.

In the 1960s, after returning to the United States from a busy and tiring trip to Europe, Mr. Cousins got _______. He discovered he had a strange disease that caused great pain in his bones.

In less than a week after he got back, he could not _______ it. Every move that he made was painful. He was not able to _______ at night. The doctor told Mr. Cousins that they did not know how to cure his problem and he might never _______ the illness. Mr. Cousins, however, refused to give up hope.

Mr. Cousins thought that the illness could be caused by _______ thoughts. He did not want to take _______ to cure himself. Instead, he felt that happy thoughts or laughter might cure his illness.

He began to experiment on himself while still in the hospital by watching comedy shows on television. Mr. Cousins quickly found that ten minutes of _______ laughter during the day gave him two hours of pain-free sleep at night.

Deciding that the ________ could not help him, Mr. Cousins left the hospital and checked into a hotel room where he could ________ his experiments with laughter. For eight days, Mr. Cousins ________in the hotel room watching comedy shows on television, reading amusing books, and sleeping whenever he felt ________. Within three weeks, he felt well enough to take a vacation to Puerto Rico where he began running on the beach for ________.

After a few months, Mr. Cousins was ________ to carry on his work. He had laughed himself back to health.

He is a born dwarf, only 100 centimeters tall. His _________ did not bring joy to his family, but cast a shadow on his parents’ hearts. Because he _________ a rare disease, his bones are as _________ as glass.

He showed great interest in music at an early age, — _________ the piano. However, it is not easy for a person with weak hands and feet to learn it. Every time he has to rely on others to _________ him to get up and down the piano seat.

Later, his father figured out a way to — _________ a special assistor (助力器) on the piano, which made it easier for his feet to move the pedal. Even so, he often has _________ situations in the process of practicing the piano, but he _________ them and practices the piano crazily. At the age of 13,he was recommended to two musicians and under their careful guidance, his talents were undoubtedly _________.

When he performed in public for the first time, he ____________ in front of the stage for three minutes before starting to play. After the performance, there was a brief ____________ in the audience, and then thunderous applause ____________.

Someone asked him why he stood for three minutes first. He explained, “Many people came because they were ____________ about my figure. Let them see enough before my performance.”

Being in the magical music world, he forgot the pain caused by his broken limbs and became full of ____________ and high spirits. Instead of focusing on his physical body, people looked up at the “height” of his ____________ with admiration.

Koch began her second year as a first grade teacher in a virtual（网络虚拟的）classroom at an elementary school in Michigan in 2020. One September afternoon a few weeks into the school year, she received a ________ from Susan, who was having technical difficulties with her granddaughter’s tools for ________ learning.

Koch immediately knew ________ was wrong with Susan. The two women had spoken many times before, but Koch had never ________ the grandmother sound quite like this. Her words were so jumbled（混乱的）that Koch could ________ understand her, though she was able to ________ that Susan had fallen four times that day. Koch ________ her principal, John, who assured her that he would call and check on Susan himself.

Just like Koch, John could barely understand Susan. He ________ she might be having a stroke（中风）—he recognized the ________ from when his own father had suffered one. John was able to distinguish the word kids and ________ became concerned that Susan’s two ________, ages six and eight, were probably home alone with her. John asked his office manager to send a(n) ________ to the grandmother’s home. Then John called two deans in the school district to tell them what was going on. Both of them ________ everything and drove to the family’s ho me.

When they ________ less than ten minutes later, the EMTs were treating Susan while the two girls, looking ________ shaken, were outside with a neighbour. The quick response from Koch and John ________ Susan’s life. She arrived at the hospital in time to get ________.

“If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be here,” said Susan from her hospital bed about a month ________ her stroke. “I’m proud of the people I work with, that they responded so quickly and that it did ________ for Susan,” says Koch. “I am so pleased to be part of such a ________ community.”