I spent time with some elders during my grandmother's five-year stay in the nursing home. I knew what it was like for them without any_________. So sad. They just kept loving each other and being kind.

One day, I saw a man_________on a couch in the hall who was frequently lying with his head on the sidearm. Earlier he had been trying to push Jean, who couldn't_________ far alone in her wheelchair, with his head, from his wheelchair. Obviously, it was quite difficult for him and it was also a_________for Jean.

I asked if they would like me to push Jean. Jean said with_________, “Yes, please!” and the man smiled a toothless “thank you”. I thanked him for his_________and pushed Jean back to her room.

Now, this same man was on his own and as I got_________, I realized he had only one_________and the one he did have was dry and full with rashes (疹子); he kept scratching (抓) it. I had a lotion (涂剂) in my bag that seemed to made him feel better. I even found myself________thing to do. He didn't speak English but spoke to me in his home language — Vietnamese — and tears started to come gently down his face. I____________his tears with tissues and patted him on his shoulder to__________him. He kept talking and looking at me as if I understood him. I nodded and listened.

We didn't____________each other and weren't blood-related and yet, in that moment, we shared a____________that went beyond blood-heart to heart. When I see him again, chances are that he won't recognize me-but I will remember him forever. And, every time my heart extends, it is______________.

Do you remember the name of your kindergarten teacher? I do. Her name was Mrs. White.

I don’t remember much about what we learned in her ________, but my mother once told me we used to ________ a lot. And I would ________ what I wrote and my mother would look at it and see there were so many ________. But no red corrections. And always a star. Sometimes even a “Good”! That made my heart filled with ________, but worried my mother. So one day when she met Mrs. White, she asked her why she never ________ my mistakes; why she never red-penciled in the wrong ________ of words or pointed out grammatical errors.

My mother said Mrs. White said “The children are just ________ to get excited about using words, about ________ sentences. I don’t want to dampen (减弱) that ________ with red ink. Spelling and grammar can ________. The wonder of words won’t…” And maybe she didn’t ________ it exactly like that because it was a long time ago and ________ my mother told me was just what she could remember.

Thanks to Mrs. White, I ________ up learning to use words with loving ________. I had no qualms (顾虑) about writing what I meant ________ I couldn’t quite spell it out. A thought comes into my mind that if Mrs. White had used her red pen precisely, I ________ wouldn’t be telling you about this now. I look ________ now and think she must have been a rather ________ teacher — to exercise such red-pen-restraint (不纠错) — to ________ the joy, wonder and excitement of expression.

Rockets were probably invented by accident about 2000 years ago. The Chinese had a form of gunpowder which was put in bamboo tubes and thrown into fires to make ______ during festivals.Perhaps some of the tubes jumped out of the fire instead of exploding in it. The Chinese ______ that the gunpowder escaping from the tube could lift it into the air. The idea of the rocket was ______.

The first ______ use of rockets was in 1232. The Song Dynasty was at war with the Mongols. During the ______ of Kaifeng, the Song army ______ “arrows of flying fire”. The tubes were ______ to a long stick which helped keep the rocket moving in a straight direction. ______ the Mongols learned how to make rockets themselves and it is possible that they ______ them to Europe. Between the 13th and 15th century there were many rocket ______ in England, France and Italy. They were used for military purposes. One Italian scientist even invented a rocket which could travel over the surface of water and hit a(an) ______ ship.

Not everybody wanted to use rockets in battles. Wan Hu, a Chinese government official, invented a ______ chair. He attached two big kites to the chair, and 47 rockets to the kites. The rockets were lit, there was a huge explosion and ______ of thick smoke. When the smoke ______ Wan Hu and his chair had disappeared, no one knows what happened. Did Wan Hu die in the explosion? Or was he carried miles into space, becoming the world’s first ______?