All Quiet in a Darkened Library

After my mother died, my father, who was 75 at the time, began to regularly visit the local library in Epping. He loved going there _______ he enjoyed reading different kinds of books, especially reading the newspapers on Saturdays. The library had a small area, where the soft carpet, folding chairs and lap desks _______ a comfortable space for independent reading. My dad would sit there for hours. This particular wintery Saturday, at about 12 noon, after being there for two hours, my dad _______ that it was very quiet and darker than usual. He looked around, realizing that all the staff had left and he had been _______ locked in.

My dad was a “panic merchant” at the best of times, so I can only _______ what he was like when this happened. The doors had been locked from the outside and he had no way _______. He must have felt completely at a _______, since he didn’t know some _______ for handling this kind of crazy situation. My dad looked at the noticeboards to try to find a _______ phone number—a staff member or someone he could ring to help let him out—but without __________. So he rang the police station and they kindly got in touch with the head librarian.

The head librarian immediately rang my dad back at the library, and __________ that she would be soon there. She tried to __________ him and even explained how he could make a coffee if he wished. This was very nice, but my dad was in too much of a “__________” to do so.

Thankfully, the head librarian arrived __________ the hour and let my dad out. She apologized for the __________ it had caused my father and sent my father back home in person. We were very grateful, since she could easily have been __________ at having to come back to work. The next day my dad seemed to __________ from this accident. He almost forgot all about the unpleasantness, and even found his experience quite __________.

I guess the entire staff now makes extra sure that the library is __________ before they leave. What’s more, my dad has learned an important lesson by himself—never again became quite so __________ in his reading.

Honest Thanks

I sat down at my desk and started writing. I wrote an emotional letter of gratitude. I put the note card into the ______, sealed it and stuck the stamps on it, but when it came to actually placing the letter into the mailbox... I ______.

The letter was to a schoolmate with whom I kept in contact via Facebook ______. She had inspired me to live a different life—for example, by ______ more.

Her volunteer efforts weren’t ______—she wasn’t building wells in Uganda, but instead she was doing small, local good deeds, such as serving as a crossing guard. These were things I could do, too. She made me ______ I could make a difference here at home. I felt I should let her know how her example positively influenced my life. I could have easily sent her an e-mail, ______ that seemed a bit lame for such an important thank you. That’s why I ended up ______ the letter. But now I stood before the mailbox, unable to place the envelope inside. What was ______ me? Why was this so ______ to do? I guessed l felt strange because it wasn’t like she was my best friend. I just knew her. “People don’t ______ do this,” I thought to myself. However, after thinking it over, I still felt a(n) ______ to let her know how grateful I was. Finally, I put the envelope into the mailbox.

Weeks later I received her reply. She was ______ a tough time and my letter meant the world to her. She didn’t know she had such a(n) ______ on others. Not only did this letter make her happy, but her response to it increased my ______ of happiness. I decided to write a gratitude letter to someone each month. Cultivating gratitude is a great skill to practice. Life is too short not to do it.

Nicholas Rilling is a bright-eyed, active 5-year-old boy, normal in every way. What is _______ is that he’s that way today after three days’ _______ that happened because of his being underwater without _______ for some 8 minutes.

It was Oct, 17. The Maryland family were enjoying a vacation at a beach resort (旅游胜地) in Puerto Rico. The shallow (浅的) water suggested no _______ . But after a while when Kent Rilling _______ , he couldn’t find his son Nick!

The sunlight dancing on the water made it difficult for Kent to see where his son was. After an anxious and hurried _______ up and down, he suddenly found his son _______ face-up on the bottom, his eyes open, his body _______ .

“He just looked gray and his _______ black,” Kent said. “We picked him up, ran him up to the ________ and just started CPR (心肺复苏) at once.”

For three days in hospital, Nick ________ unconscious (无意识的), his breathing assisted by a breathing machine. The whole time, from the beginning when her husband brought Nick to the beach to give first aid (急救) as a crowd of other ________ gathered around, Cynthia Rilling kept taking pictures and videos of what was going on.

“ ________ as I was, I knew in my heart he was going to ________ . There was no way God was going to take our son from us. And I just said, ‘I am going to take pictures so he can see the ________ he went through when he grows older.’”

The family kept praying at his bedside, talking to him, hoping for a ________ . Finally, on the fourth day, when his parents asked him what ________ he liked, “Sponge Bob Square Pants,” he answered.

After five days, Nick was well enough to be discharged from hospital, showing no ill ________ from his ________ experience. The doctors and nurses organized a “________ party” for him, and Nick was happy to watch his Sponge Bob Square Pants on TV.