When I was growing up in Minnesota, Joe Versus the Volcano was one of my favorite movies. I ________ to be swept away to an island. But as I found myself in La Palma ________ on the Cumbre Vieja eruption in the Spanish Canary Islands, I quickly ________ that there’s nothing romantic about volcanoes or being trapped on an island.

I had come ________ — an N95 mask, baseball cap, and a swimming mask. But nothing could prepare me for the invasiveness of the volcanic ________ . It fell from the sky like a rainstorm, lining streets, ________ doorways and windowsills, and filling my ears.

It wasn’t long before the airlines canceled all flights. When ________ began panic, buying all the ferry tickets as I was interviewing residents about their futures, I realized I had ________ the boat.

For two days, I wandered ________ streets awaiting the resumption of travel, carrying a backpack and feeling progressively stuck and at times ________ . And then I realized I was being given the ________ for deeper insight. Here I was ________ what the local people were feeling: uncertainty, frustration, and tiredness from living next to an erupting volcano with no end in sight.

Like the people of La Palma, I ________ others to get me through — from the English woman who ________ me a bag of oranges from her garden to the minister of the church who let me use the bathroom after being trapped at the top of a mountain.

As I finally left, I realized how ________ I was to have experienced the humanity of the people in La Palma in the face of crisis. I know it’s what will pull them through it.

I felt gloomy the other day. The weather was dark and rainy, and I just didn’t feel so______.

As I was sitting at my desk, I______it was the birthday of a dear long-time friend—a single, middle-aged woman who has devoted the past 15 years to nursing and loving her______. Knowing that she doesn’t have family in the town, I______to give her a call. Sure enough, she was on B-shift,______to work late till the evening, and wouldn’t make much of the birthday this year. As always,______, she sounded cheerful and was happy when I______.

After I hung up, I couldn’t______the feeling that she would really want to get a little attention on her special day.______feeling a little gloomy myself, I tried to put it out of my______, but as the day passed I couldn’t shake the feeling. I______gave in, and that evening set off for the hospital with a card, a cheese cake, and some balloons. My friend’s grateful smile and joyful surprise______me that I had done the right thing and were a generous______for me.

When I got home, I realized that not only had I cheered up a______friend on her birthday, but my own gloomy feelings had also______. Making her day had made my own!

That’s true______we take the time and make the effort to do something for someone else. It is like the little saying, “Loving kindness is twice blessed; it blesses him who gives, and him who______.”

Cheering up people on their birthdays isn’t the only thing we can do to make their day. Life constantly presents us with______to take an extra step or do a kind deed that will make a______to someone. And the_____thing is that as we do, it changes things for the better for us too.

This afternoon I was driving home after visiting my mom. I took the route that was more like a canyon(峡谷)drive with beautiful sceneries.________I heard a pop. I knew what happened-a big flat tire! I________ to the side, but this was a canyon drive with not much shoulder space. What’s worse, it________to be around a bend that people couldn’t see me, which made the situation________.

Cars were passing me with no________of slowing down. I got________in the car, feeling very________After what seemed a few hours, I________a car stopping at a distance behind me. A gentleman ________out and signaled to other drivers. With his help, I________to walk out of the car very carefully. Then he moved my car a bit out of the way while I was________the police to seek help. After much back and forth, they said________they gave me priority(优先权)since I was in a dangerous place，they needed at least 20-30 minutes to send________,The gentleman offered to check my spare tire while I was making the call. ________ ,by the time I was waiting, the gentleman had changed my________!I felt a wave of ________ coming over me. I told him if he hadn’t stopped by and helped me, I would have felt________.He just laughed.

Even after we________,I saw in my mirror that the car just followed me to________I was OK.I thought how lucky I was to be the________of such kindness in a hot dry afternoon.

Bad things can happen, but life will bend toward goodness.