My daughter performed on behalf of her class in the annual school concert today. She played so _______ that I could not help cheering her. The very _________ reminded me of her experiences of piano practicing.

When she was five, we gave her a piano as a birthday present. With great_______, she began   learning it. However, when she was no longer _______, she became sick of it. _______, it is a tough job to learn the piano, not to mention the daily routine (常规) of_______.

When her first teacher left, my friend_______ me to an American teacher whose way of teaching was completely American. After practicing, she would give my daughter some_______ comments, and then point out what should be_______. Every time she came, ________ beginning the lesson right away, she would first play some________. She said, “To learn the piano, you should learn not only the ________of playing, but more importantly, to ________ the music and love it.”

After some time, my daughter became fond of her lessons. Sometimes she ________would like to________ a little bit when her skill had reached a certain level.

Surprisingly, my daughter said to me one day, “Mom, I was________ that you didn’t give up my piano lessons. Learning it is like climbing a mountain. You’ll feel________ when you are on the way. When you look ________from where you are, you will realize that you have been making________. But if you________, you’ll never take one more step.” That was the very thing I wanted to teach her.

Erinna’s son, Jackson, was an autistic (患自闭症的) child. One of the most _________ things for him was getting a _________. He would get so anxious that he would start _________ and crying. It was really hard for Erinna to _________, so she decided to _________ taking him to the barber.

Jackson went almost two years with no haircuts. _________, Erinna found a barber named Ree. For the past few years, Ree had been able to _________ things slowly with Jackson. But one day in early 2022, things _________.

“We got caught in traffic. He _________ his headphones behind. We hadn’t had lunch. It was just like a series of __________ events for him,” Erinna remembered. Ree was just trying to put the cape (斗篷) on Jackson when he was greatly __________ and started running __________ around the shop.

Erinna was about to __________ it a day. But Ree encouraged her to give it a few more minutes. The barber then made the haircut into a __________. She would shave a little hair off Jackson’s head; he would __________ it off and then run to a new __________ in the shop. “He doesn’t like the hair to get on him... so the game was a good distraction (分散注意力的事) for him. And she was able to cut his hair,” Erinna said. When the haircut was complete, Jackson was __________ and happy.

It meant a lot to Erinna that Ree took the time to __________ a way to give Jackson a haircut that day. “The patience and __________ that Ree took with my son seems like a __________ in the darkness,” Erinna said.

A new week began. Marcus entered the school. _________, he cried out, “What happened to the stadium?” Someone had painted faces on the stadium wall!

All students were whispering with _________ about the graffiti(涂鸦). Possible explanations spread like wildfire around the school.

Later, when Brian cleaned the blackboard, Marcus suddenly spotted the paint on his hands. He _________ that it was Brian who did it. After school, Marcus followed Brian and _________ on what he was doing. When Brian opened his locker, Marcus saw small cans of paint! He decided to _________ it to Mr. Johnson.

The next morning, Brian was called to the principal’s office. The moment Mr. Johnson _________ asked about the graffiti, Brian cried. _________, Brian explained that he liked to paint, but he couldn’t join the art club because he had to go _________ home after school to babysit his little brother. “I’m sorry. I’ll clean the stadium,” he sobbed.

Though angry at first, Mr. Johnson began to soften as he realized how _________ Brian was. “Brian, painting graffiti on school walls is a very serious matter. Of course you should clean and __________ the wall.” Mr. Johnson paused,“__________ I must say, those paintings are quite good. Did you do it alone?” Brian nodded, “Yes. I’m good at painting.”

Mr. Johnson thought for a moment before making a(n) __________. “Well,” he said, “some teachers suggested that we hire a local artist to paint our school mascot on the school wall. Would you like to participate in that?”

“Really?” Brian hesitated, __________ to believe it.

“Yes, but it’s hard work, and we can consider it part of your __________,” Mr. Johnson said, trying to hide his __________ as he picked up the phone.