When I was 19, determined not to spend my last teenage year stuck in a suburb in Buckingham, I ________ with an Australian friend and we traveled around Europe for months. As budget travellers, we stayed in the ________ accommodation we could find and live on bread, cheese and the ________ bottle of red bull.

This was 1990, a time before mobile phones and the ________, when the primary contact with home was the collection of mail from the general post office.

Before I left, Mom had made me a money pouch (荷包) to wear around my neck. She’d also made me a sleeping sheet so I could ________ unclean bedding. While she didn’t want me to go, these gifts were her way of telling me to have a wonderful time.

It’s only now, as my 18-year-old daughter is preparing to leave on her own ________ year trip, that I have more sympathy for what Mom felt.

Working ________ jobs and saving money, my daughter has researched where to stay, how to get around and what to do when she arrives. She ________ asks for my opinion and I find myself desperately ________ of whether I should wade in (介入) or back off. I want to be ________ but not too involved. . I want to be cool but not aloof (漠不关心的). I want to be like the perfect guide.

When she first mentioned gap year travel, I was encouraging, wanting her to have her own experiences that ________ her. As I had mine, I didn’t let myself dwell too long on the idea of her not being here. Our house has already got smaller in size and soon it will just be me, my son and the cat. And I’m not quite ________ for that.

But this trip is about her.

This is not 1990 and I am not ________ at home waiting for a letter. I have promised not to ________ her with messages, but ________ I know she can contact me when she wants to.

A little girl has become famous in her neighborhood after drawing messages of hope on her family’s garage door during lockdown (疫情封闭).

Mom-of-two Christine has been letting her six-year-old daughter Eilidh turn their black shiny garage door into a ________ art project with chalk. Twice a week since April 2020, Eilidh has let her imagination run________, covering the space with mermaids, dolphins, Spiderman, and dinosaurs.   She has this week________ it with a rainbow, flowers, and some________ words. Eilidh has a little       wooden chair she can stand on to help her________ higher up, and her artist mom gives her________ with things she needs.

Her drawings came to people’s________, and an admiring fan club has begun leaving boxes of chocolates on their doorstep. ________ mom Christine said: “Whatever comes into her head she draws it________. It could be quite________. It depends on what is happening around her. She is just drawing outside to make people________.”

Christine has already________ one broom ( 扫 帚 ) by cleaning the garage. When it rains, the chalk is washed away, and Eilidh starts again________ on the next dry day.

Eilidh is now loving being back at________ as lockdown in Britain eases. And one thing is for   sure – this little girl is no doubt superior in her________ classes.