Novels. Why do I read them? I was most ____ to read when I was a kid. I suspect this was because my only purpose was ____ and escapism. From all 21 Famous Five stories — in order, naturally — to Anna Karenina, ____ into a basket on a cycling holiday, I was ____ to another world. Then, for A-levels and a degree, I read to pass ____. Slowly, tellingly, the joy ____. And I was no good at the exams either. When those last exams were done, more than 30 years ago, I was done with novels. I had ____ love.

Gradually, it has come back, but it’s all ____ now. I find I’m reading whole novels mainly to ____ intelligence to help understand what I’ve been feeling; feelings that I’ve been ____ to express myself. For some reason I ____ The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. The _____soon starts to fade, and all you are left with is how it made you feel. This is nice, but what makes it all worthwhile is those specific ____ that I make sure to harvest and go back to. ____, Helen says of her new life in the big city: “At first, I was ____ with the novelty and excitement of our London life, but soon I began to be tired of its ____.”

A few months later, I ____ Anne Bronte’s resting place in Scarborough. Standing there, I____ this little passage and appreciated anew how ____ it resonated (产生共鸣) with my own feelings about London. And there the poor young woman lay, gone 173 years and still making ____ friends. That’s quite something.

A 10-year-old American girl, Selah Schneiter spent five days climbing El Capitan with the help of her father and a family friend and reached the top of the sheer rock on June 12, 2019. It _______ takes skilled climbers four or five days to complete. She may have been _________ the youngest person to climb one of the most _______ peaks in the world.

Reaching the top “was really _______,” Selah said. “I was also kind of sad because it was over,” she _______.

Selah has been climbing since she could_______and had been asking her parents for years to climb El Capitan. And she spent nine months preparing_______ and mentally.

“Our big motto was ‘How do you eat an elephant?’ ‘Small _______,’” said Selah. And the only thing she feared was the possibility of a big _______ because it would mean “having to go down”.

Her mother stayed home and received daily________ about progress in EI Capitan. She knew her husband would turn back if there were any safety________. “I was worried she would ________ serious injury,” she said. “But by day four I knew they would ________. I’m just really________ of her. Her ________ astonished me.”

There are always some persons in your life who touch your soft heart with kindness.

As a little girl, my favorite thing was _______. And when I thought about _______ I wanted to be when I grew up, I figured I’d be a librarian, just because the two librarians changed my life.

At that time, the town library limited the number of books a person borrowed _______ two once a week. I _______ the books in just three days. So to read more, I was _______ about what books to choose. The librarian, Mrs. Tonne, was a warm person. Every time I went into the library, she greeted me, _______. When learning about my trouble, she often _______ some better books. Thanks to her help, I _______ a lot from these books.

Gradually, I developed an interest in writing, _______ poems. When I was in fourth grade, our school librarian, Mrs. Ketelsen, encouraged me to write more. When my poem was not accepted, she ________ me with comfortable words. Once she helped ________ some poems I’d written about dinosaurs to Highlights magazine. It was my first published writing!

Later, at the University of Iowa, ________ I majored in journalism, my dream was different. I realized that I was shy about interviewing people, which made me ________. When I recalled Mrs. Tonne and Mrs. Ketelsen, I made a decision without ________ to be devoted to writing. And now I am an editor at Reader’s Digest.

Whenever I think of the help from them, how ________ I am. It is their kindness that makes me what I am.