Even though it was only October, my students were already whispering about Christmas plans. With each passing day everyone became more________waiting for the final school bell. Upon its ringing everyone would run for their coats and go home, everyone except David.

David was a small boy in ragged clothes. I had often wondered what kind of home life David had, and what kind of mother could send her son to school dressed so________ for the cold winter months, without a coat, boots, or gloves. But something made David________. I can still remember he was always ________a smile and willing to help. He always stayed after school to straighten chairs and mop the floor. We never talked much. He________just smile and ask what else he could do, then thank me for letting him stay and slowly________home.

Weeks passed and the________over the coming Christmas grew into restlessness until the last day of________before the holiday break. I smiled in________as the last of them hurried out the door. Turning around, I saw David quietly standing by my desk.

“I have something for you,” he said________from behind his back a small box.________it to me, he said anxiously, “Open it.” I took the box from him, thanked him and slowly unwrapped it. I lifted the lid and to my surprise I saw nothing. I looked at David’s smiling face and said, “The box is nice, David, but it’s________.”

“Oh no, it isn’t,” said David. “It’s full of love. My mum told me before she died that love was something you couldn’t see or touch unless you know it’s there.”

Tears filled my eyes________I looked at the proud dirty face that I had rarely given________to. After that Christmas, David and I became good friends and I never forgot the meaning ________the little empty box set on my desk.

It was a fine day. My husband David and I set off on a short ________ with a friend as our guide. He said it would be a rather ________ two-hour hike to see the rare Paiute cutthroat trout in its natural habitat. But we later found it was a different story.

When we arrived, we were ________ , but not too tired to enjoy the thrill ________ we saw the colorful fish swimming there. It was late, so we could only appreciate the scenery for a ___________ while and then went back to our car before dark. We ________ the rest of the hike should be relaxing. But it wasn’t. It was the steepest way we’d faced so far.

When we ________, my huge backpack felt like a ton of stone. My knees were in ____________ and tears poured out of my eyes. And there was another mountain ahead of us. As the sun began to set, my legs gave out ________. Seeing that, David asked me to take one tiny __________ at a time. “Don’t look at the mountain. ________ your eyes on your feet,” he said. With David’s ________, I struggled to move slowly. Eventually, we climbed over the mountain, __________ to find it was the last obstacle (障碍) in our way.

Though it has been years since that hike, David’s words have continued to be a source of ___________ for me when I faced difficult situations. They remind me that I don’ t need to __________ everything all at once, but rather make small progress at a time.

“I Got Him!”

It was the homecoming parade in Rockwall, Texas, and cheerleader Tyra Winters in her uniform, was riding atop one of the school’s floats(花车). As it slowly made its way down the street, the 17-year-old enthusiastically _______ at the crowd, all the while soaking in the music, laughter, and applause.

All of a sudden, a horrible _______ came. Looking down, Winters saw a two-year-old on the sidewalk gasping for air, his mother _______ for help in panic. The boy had been sucking on a piece of candy when it _______ down the back of his mouth, lodging in his throat and blocking his windpipe.

“There was no coughing；there was no _______ ,” his mother, Nicole cried. No one seemed to know how to help.

Except for Winters. With dreams of becoming a surgeon, she had learned the Heimlich maneuver（海姆利克氏急救法）. Knowing that every second _______, she leaped off the moving float and ran to the child.

Soon, the boy coughed up the piece of _______, gasped, and began breathing again. Without another word, Winters handed the boy back to his mother and hurried back to her float before it could leave her behind.

It all happened so _______, Nicole never had time to thank the teen. Winters’ heroic actions left Nicole __________. “I don’t really have any words,” she said, “‘thank you’ doesn’t seem good enough.”