My journey to isolation (隔离) in Antarctica was somewhat accidental. I saw a(n)_________ for a position as a leader for an expedition (探险) to Antarctica and was interested. _________, it was the picture of a penguin in the ad that caught my attention. It_________ that they were looking for someone in charge of an expedition team. I took part in a job_________ and then got a job that I knew if I didn’t go for it I would_________.

_________ 18 strangers around the clock for a full year, with no_________ from the cold and strong winds, I learned a lot. Being in isolation meant I had to do lots of self_________. Every day I would think carefully of how I had operated as a leader.That discipline of_________ myself taught me how to tell right from wrong.

After returning from the silent Antarctica, the noise in the outside world seemed__________. It took me about 180 days to __________ to the noisy life. I limited the time I spent outside and gradually__________ my tolerance to noise. Besides, the __________ of my life in Antarctica was very slow, just like everyone’s life in lockdown (禁闭期) due to the COVID-19. When I first got into my car for a ride alone, I felt like I was__________, even though I wasn’t.

Nowadays I often think back to when I saw the__________ that inspired me to look at the ad for the job-a moment that changed my life altogether.

It was the middle of winter some 30 years ago. I was a young father and _______ three little children. My education, however, didn’t _______ me to find a good job and now I was working for just above the _______ wage. One day, after I got up, I had to put band-aids (绷带) around my fingers and put more in my pockets. Cutting wood all day had caused my fingers to _______ in the cold, dry, winter air. Despite hesitating to work, I _______ started my car.

That day work was tougher than usual. The machines kept _______ . When the work day finally ended I _______ my injured fingers. The situation was worse than ever. I didn’t think I had ever felt _______ tired and sad before. I stepped into my car and drove back home. On my way, I had been thinking about why my life was so _______ .

I tried to put ________ on my face as I arrived home but one appeared ________ . My daughter ran up to me, shouted “Daddy!”, and ________ her little arms around my neck. My aches and pains disappeared into her hug. At that moment I knew I could ________ and that things would get better. I kissed my little girl’s cheek, holding her ________ . I think we all have bleeding fingers in our lives here. But with ________ we can make it through them all.

One day, Aristotle was walking on beach, a beautiful sunset was happening. But he didn't have time to_________that as he was busy thinking seriously about some great problems of life.

_________thinking, he walked up and down the beach. There on beach he saw another man doing something very absorbed—So absorbed that Aristotle couldn't_________him. Aristotle went _________and observed what that man was doing and saw he was walking_________between the beach and ocean.                                                       

Aristotle stopped the man and asked, "Hey, what are you up to?" The man said. "Don't_________me; I am doing something very important." and then went on with his work. Aristotle became even more_________and asked, "What is this important thing?" The man with a table spoon in hand showed him a little_________he had dug in sand and said, "I am_________the ocean into this hole."       

Aristotle looked at this and laughed, "This is crazy. You must be mad. Do you know how__________this ocean is? How can you ever empty this ocean into this little hole with a table spoon? There is no__________."

The man looked at Aristotle, then__________the spoon down and said, "My job is already done."Aristotle said, "What do you mean? Not to mention ocean being empty, even the hole is not __________. How can you say your job is done?" He__________and said: "I am trying to empty the ocean into this hole with a table spoon. You are telling me it is crazy, so I should give up."

The story tells us that compared to working hard,__________goals are more important.