That cold January night, I was growing sick of my life in San Francisco. There I was, walking home at one o’clock in the morning after a tiring practice at the _________. With opening night only a week away, I was still learning my _________. I was having trouble dealing with my part-time job at the bank and my acting at night at the same time. As I walked, I thought seriously about _________ both acting and San Francisco. City life had become too much for me.

As I walked down empty streets under tall buildings, I felt very small and cold. I began _________, both to keep warm and to keep away from any possible _________. Very few people were still out except a few sad-looking _________ people under blankets.

About a block from my apartment, I heard a sound behind me. I turned quickly, half _________ to see someone with a knife or a gun. The street was empty. All I saw was a shining streetlight. _________, the noise had made me nervous, so I started to run faster. Not until I reached my apartment building and unlocked the door did I realize what the noise had been. It had been my _________ falling to the sidewalk.

Suddenly I wasn’t cold or tired anymore. I ran out of the door and back to __________I’d heard the noise. Although I searched the sidewalk anxiously for fifteen minutes, my wallet was nowhere to be found.

Just as I was about to give up the search, I heard the garbage truck pull up to the sidewalk next to me. When a voice called from the inside, “Alisa Camacho?” I thought I was __________. How could this man know my name? The door opened, and out __________a small red-haired man with an amused look in his eyes. “Is this what you’re looking for?” he asked, __________ up a small square shape.

It was nearly 3 A.M. by the time I got into bed. I wouldn’t get much sleep that night, but I had gotten my wallet back. I also had gotten back some __________ of city life. I realized that the city couldn’t be a bad place as long as people were __________ to help each other.

Yesterday, I posted a photo of a pile of cross stitch kits (十字绣) on my blog. To my ______, many readers say I do well in them. 1 couldn’t use them all,______ finally I decided to ______ the rest to ladies in my neighbourhood who like to ______ a project with their own hands.

I ______ them all up into a box and decided to start with the lady who ______ a pub. She’s perfectly ______ and she served me with a cup of coffee. I took her out to my car and showed her the ______. I was holding it in my arms beside my car when another car ______ up next to us with two other ______ in it. Within moments I was pushed against the ______ behind the weight of three elderly ladies and I had to ______ my way to pick up the empty box. The three ladies had taken every single item in that box with ______ expressions on their faces and lots of thanks. One of the ladies has a son who is a firefighter. She decided to give some cross stitch kits to the ______ station. Her decision did make me ______. I had in my mind a wonderful picture of all these ______ and strong firemen sitting around all working on their cute cross stitch Christmas stockings while they ______ for fire alarms to be called in.

Finally,______ and laughter all went around, and then I e-mailed another ______, who often visits me and also likes cross stitch kits. She promised to send me her extra cross stitch kits, too. I just know kindness will finally ______ on to others.

After my graduation from college, I was always worried about my income. I was hopeful when I got a part-time job at a library, and happier when I got a _______ part-time job. But was I going to be able to _______two jobs at the same time? I _______, looking out the window.

My eyes came to rest on a tree outside. A squirrel (松鼠) was making his way down the trunk. It was _______ because he was carrying a piece of bread. How’s he going to _______ that? Obviously he couldn’t climb up and down easily like other squirrels. He moved down, carefully holding onto the tree. “Be _______,” I thought, cheering him on in my mind. When he finally _______ the ground, he pulled the bread behind him. It was _______ yet, but he kept trying! Obviously, this squirrel and I had a lot in common. I had my own bread to _______ and my own trees to climb. I moved from one ________ to another to follow the squirrel’s ________ , slowly but surely, he made it to the road and ________ to check for cars. Finally, the squirrel crossed the road ________ with his meal. When he entered the bushes, I cheered, though I couldn’t ________ what would wait for him and watch his next move. Then I went upstairs to get ready for the ________ before me. “You can do it,” I told myself.