When I first heard about the improv (即兴表演) classes, I was hesitant. As an introvert, I _______ getting on stage. However, it seemed like the _______ opportunity to improve my speaking ability and gain confidence.

During our first class, we learned a core _______ of improv: “yes, and.” It means that we accept what fellow performers say. If someone says that rhinos (犀牛) are librarians, we do not question the _______; we say “yes” and continue with the scene.

I got a _______ of how difficult that was when, in my first scene, my classmate said, “Mom is going to be so mad.” Mad about what? My mind _______ ideas, and my inner critic shot them all down. I _______ landed on an answer: “Yes, we’re going to be late for dinner.” The scene _______ from there, and we finished as two sisters who lost their way on a hiking trail. Over time, I started to enjoy our classes. I never _______ my inner critic entirely, but became better at listening and ________ to my conversation partners.

That training proved ________ when my experiments generated unreasonable data. Instead of getting ________, I kept ________ the data and ended up identifying a new type of cell. If I hadn’t ________ the possibility that the results were real, I would have missed out on the most exciting finding of my Ph. D. so far.

Our job as scientists isn’t to generate data that support a preconceived (预想的) story. If the data say rhinos are librarians, then it’s worth ________ whether rhinos are, in fact, librarians.

Paul O’Sullivan was around his Baltimore apartment one evening, feeling bored. Having nothing better to do, he logged on the social network to find out how many others ____ his name. Moments later, many Paul O’Sullivans popped out. On a whim (一时兴起), he decided to ____ friend requests to them all. 

Many of his fellow Paul O’Sullivans ignored him but a few felt too ____ to resist his invitation. He ____ that four of them were all musicians. Wouldn’t it be funny if he asked the other musical Pauls to ____ a band? So they did. 

Starting a band across multiple time zones proved to be ____. Shaky Wi-Fi and other technical difficulties meant they often failed to work ____ at the same time and speed. To ____ this, Baltimore Paul and Rotterdam Paul wrote and recorded a basic track (乐曲), then e-mailed it to Manchester Paul. Once he recorded a bass (低音的) track, he e-mailed it back to Baltimore Paul. 

Later Pennsylvania Paul added the drumbeat. Round and round the ____ went until they released their first original song, “Namesake”, which is about long-distance relationships, just like theirs. 

____, months later, Baltimore Paul had to stop due to health issues. The other Pauls didn’t ____ their friendship. They made sure Baltimore Paul never felt alone. It was about four years before Baltimore Paul was ____ enough to start making music again. They created a music video for “Namesake” in 2020, which pulled in more than 20,000 ____ in its first two weeks online. Now, a new source of joy for the Pauls is to spend time with each other in person. 

“What are the odds (可能性),” says Baltimore Paul, “that a random ____ would lead not only to new music but to lasting ____ as well? Some things are just meant to be.”

It was about the third week in June last year. My 15-year-old son had already settled into his summer routine: Go to ___at 2 a. m. and wake up at 1 p. m. only to get back on his computer to play computer games  ___dinner.

It was the middle of the ___when the sound of his computer games woke me up again. I couldn’t  ___that anymore and decided it was time for him to get a summer job. I got on the computer and found a lifeguard certification class that ___the next day, and a company that ___teenagers to guard their pools.

From that day I woke him up at 8 a. m. every day for him to ___the class. At first, he continued to complain that I was ___his summer. But by the end of the week, he was actually ___going. He learned something about first aid, figured he really could ____someone from drowning, and got some ideas on how to  ____work for a living.

Two weeks later, he had a  ____as a lifeguard. He took his responsibility very  ____and never went to work late. This summer, he will be working fulltime at a pool. He says a lot of his ____don’t have jobs. And I say that is because their mothers didn’t try ____enough! Even if your kid is super  ____with finals and afterschool activities and doesn’t have time, you can ____job information for him.

Whether it is an ice cream store, a movie ____, or a summer camp, you can ask if they are hiring  ____for the summer. After your kid gets a job, pay attention to the ____to make sure he is never late.