“A new student is waiting in your room.” My principal announced. “Name’s Mary. I’ll talk to you about her.” I nodded, some materials in my hands. “Fine,” I said. “We’re making valentine envelopes, a good way for her to get ________.”

She sat in the back of the room, her hands ________ in her lap. “Welcome, Mary. I’m glad you are in our room.” No ________. “Mary.” I said again. She raised her head and looked into my eyes. A chill went through me. The eyes in that face were unexpectedly ________ as if the owner of a house had drawn the blinds (百叶窗).

The bell rang, little time to worry about Mary. After ________ Mary into her desk, I distributed materials and then hurried to the office. There I learned weeks ago, someone had broken into her home, killing her mother in Mary’s ________. She survived but had been ________ since. “Give her ________,” the principal suggested.

I returned and grabbed a chance to explain this to my students. “It may be a long time ________ she joins us, but you can do your bit.” How loving they could be once they understood. On Valentine’s Day, Mary’s envelopes overflowed. Although studying each card without ________, she replaced it in her container.

Later on a March day, my children noticed the flowers ________ and advised making flower baskets! It was something to lift our ________. Remembering the valentine incident, I expected nothing from Mary; ________, I encouraged her to try. Soon, a boy exclaimed: “Look at Mary’s basket. So pretty!” I was dumbfounded at its beauty, asking how she managed it. She looked at me with the shining eyes of any ________ girl and replied “Mother loved flowers.”

“God, you’ve given us a ________.” I put my arms around Mary. I’ve kept the followers in my desk just to remind me of the lasting power of love.

In almost every photo from our 1986 family vacation to Washington, D.C., I am showing off the souvenir I _________ from the gift shop at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo — a cotton sweatshirt _________ pandas dancing on the front. I was nine years old, and pandas were cool. Not even midsummer heat could _________ me keeping that sweatshirt on throughout the _________.

Over 30 years later I _________ myself among a pool of photojournalists and video crews packed into the panda enclosure (围场). A baby panda named Bei Bei was being _________ to the world, and I was covering it for National Geographic. I asked zoo administrators if I could _________ periodically to document the first year of the panda’s life. They said yes.

Soon I was making _________ stops at the zoo to record the baby panda’s daily _________. I watched Bei Bei grow from a baby to a __________ and energetic youth. He played with the keepers, looking around the corner from one room to the next in his version of hide-and-seek. If I got too close, he’d lunge (猛冲) for my camera, __________ me that he was actually a bear.

When Bei Bei was a few months old, the zoo held an official __________ day for the public to come and see him. That morning I arrived early, making my way past the line that was already __________ at the entrance to the enclosure. I __________ with a woman there who’d been making frequent trips to the zoo to see pandas since 1982, panda earrings swinging enthusiastically from her ears. “I’ll come every month,” she said. “It’s great to __________ the baby panda growing up”.

A 9-year-old boy saved a man’s life. It’s a _________ that no matter how small you might be, you can help make a _________ and save someone’s life.

Allen Clemmons found himself in a _________ situation on Saturday afternoon, when he was _________ his car in his backyard in South Carolina. While _________ to remove the transmission (变速器), he became _________ beneath the car when it _________ off the blocks and the jack (千斤顶) that was holding it up. Clemmons called for help — but he never would have _________ just who came to his rescue.

After shouting for help for nearly an hour and a half, Clemmons had an _________ difficult time breathing. Now he was getting __________. Luckily, 9-year-old neighbor Malachi heard a call for help. “I was playing outside and I heard someone __________,” Malachi said. “He was saying something like he was stuck, but I didn’t know what he __________.” But then he found Clemmons stuck next to a car __________ — one that the young boy’s uncle had taught him how to work.

Once the man was relieved of the car’s __________, the young boy hurried over to his aunt’s house to __________ help. Moments later, a tow truck arrived and a group of people helped to __________ Clemmons out from under the car.

Clemmons was __________ flown to the Palmetto Health Richland Hospital, where he is now __________ from several injuries, including some __________ bones. “I hope he feels better. It’s __________ to help people,’’ said Malachi Coffey.