The turning point of my life was my decision to abandon a promising business career and study music. My parents, although sympathetic, and ________ my love of music, disapproved of it as a profession. This was ________considering the family background. My grandfather had taught music for decades. Though respected, he earned ________ enough to feed his family. So the mention of musical profession predicted a risky existence with________ financial rewards. My parents ________ college instead of a music school, and I went to college quite________, for although I loved my violin, I had many other interests.

Before my graduation, the family suffered severe financial failures and I felt it my________ to leave college to work. Thus I was launched upon a business career, which I always think of as the ________ years. I do not mean to________business; My whole point is that it was not for me. I went into it for ________ but it was not enough. I felt life was ________ me by.

I continued to make money, and finally, bit by bit, ________ enough to go abroad to study music. I resigned from my position and, feeling like a man release d from ________, sailed for Europe. I stayed four years, and enjoyed every minute of it. “Enjoyed” is too ________ a word. I walked on air. I really ________ and I was finally free.

Experts say boredom is good for kids. It forces them to be creative, _________ their imaginations, and helps them discover new things. A(n) _________ in point is 13-year-old Luke Thrill from Dubuque, Iowa.

Luke was _________ of playing video games and riding his bike, so he decided to build a tiny house in his back yard instead. He made _________ from cutting lawns and even bartered (以……作为交换) some services, such as gaining the help of an electrical engineer _________ sweeping his garage. Luke also _________ spare materials from his grandmother’s house and other _________ materials from his neighbors for some of the windows and the door.

The 89-square-foot home cost $1,500 to build and _________ eighteen months. Inside there’s a kitchenette, a back sitting room, a table and a mounted (镶嵌的) TV, and an upstairs bedroom that can be easily _________ by stairway.

Although Luke did the ____________ and learned how to do all the work, he had his father’s ____________ throughout the project. Greg Thrill was very happy that his son learned to stay on ____________ and deal with grown-ups. ____________, he had some simple rules when Luke ____________ the house: “You ____________ the money. You build it. And you own it.”

Luke is now in love with ____________. He has a YouTube channel and hopes to ____________ other kids to start building. ____________ he wants to build a bigger tiny house to live in. But for now, he ____________ in his new home a few nights a week, does homework there, and uses it to take a ____________.

As a kid, I walked to the library several times a week and stayed up late reading with a flashlight. When I gave my online ______ I made my screen name “miss-bibliophile52598”, which means “missing the book-lovers”. ______ the “favorite books” section, I let a series of book titles ______ for me.

But I ______ reading gradually. I knew this is the way one recovers from harm ______ dies. So I joined online book clubs to pick up the ______.

David was my first online ______. David read much more than I did, about a book or two a ______. As we got to know each other, our shared faith and common love of books ______ our gaps. David and I once visited a ______ “I have a game,” he said, ______ two pens and Post-it notes (便笺) out of his bag. “Let’s find books we’ve read and leave reviews in them for the _______person. Later, whenever I was to give up reading, I thought of David. I carried a book to work. I ______ read at lunch and on my walk home. Within a week I stayed up late and ______ my book carefully. The ______ time I’d pulled an all-nighter to read, I was 12 and the book was Little Women. It was not a competition, but there was a(n) ______. I felt him pushing me to be ______ of who I wanted to be.

David recently suggested we visit the library again. He pulled a book, ______ to one knee, and opened it. Inside, his Post-it read, “Karla, it has always been you. Will you marry me?” We______ in the middle of the fiction shelves, surrounded by other people’s ______, about to begin our own.