My wife was shouting at Sindu again. I threw the paper away and rushed to the scene. My daughter Sindu looked_______. Her eyes were wet with tears. In front of her was a bowl_______with bitter melon. Sindu particularly hated bitter melon, but my wife believed _______ in the “cooling effects” of bitter melon. I tried to_______ Sindu to take a few mouthfuls. She _______ down a bit and wiped her tears. Then she said she would eat the_______bowl of bitter melon on condition that I gave her whatever she asked for. I agreed. Slowly and_______ , she finished the whole bowl. After that, Sindu came to me with her eyes wide with_______. To our surprise, she wanted to have her head _______. “Impossible!” shouted my wife. However, I knew that if I ________ on my promise, Sindu would never learn to________her own. So I decided to keep my promise.

On Monday morning, I________ her off at school. Just then, a boy shouted, “Sindu, wait for me!” What struck me was________ hairless head. I was about to leave when a lady came to me and said, “Sir, your ________is great indeed!” I didn’t________. She continued, “That boy is my son. He is ________from Leukemia(白血病). He lost all his hair________the side effects of the chemotherapy(化疗). He ________to come back to school because he was afraid that the kids at school would make fun of him. Sindu visited him last week and promised to help him, but I ________imagined that she would sacrifice her lovely hair for the sake of my son! Sir, you and your wife are blessed to have such a（n）________ soul for a child. ”

I didn’t know what to say. It was then that I knew what love really was.

It was my first attempt to challenge the highest volcano in the world, Ojos del Salado, in South America. I’d decide to ______ with a local guide. I left camp just after midnight. “You go first and I’ll be behind you,” he said. As the hours passed and the terrain (地形) became more ______, I wondered if I’d made a huge mistake. Looking at the view behind me, I listened out for the sound of my guide’s steps but I was all alone, so I had to found my way by ______. Breathing heavily, I realized I’d run out of ______ soon.

Back home, 11,000 km away in Melbourne, my dad was following my _____ with my GPS tracker. However, now ______ on the side of a volcano, all I could do was to ______ my energy as I climbed higher and higher.

______ the top was the ultimate goal, but really it was only half the ______. Had I gone too far this time? As my breathing became more laboured, I felt extremely ______.

Pushing on, I ______ made it to the top, where I took in the breathtaking views. But I only spent a few minutes taking photos before I ______ the mountain. I was surprised to see my guide on the way down and it turned out that he had ______ a climber in danger and had to abandon our exploration to ______ him.

Through blood, sweat and frozen tears, the last 10 years had taken me all over the globe. And with every high and painful low, I learnt more about myself. I’d pushed my ______, both in body and mind.

I was deeply moved by the kindness of an elderly flower seller at Sydney’s Central Station one evening.

I was feeling as cold as the chill winds ________ the steps of the workers who buried hands deep into coat pockets. In many ways, 2018 had proven a ________ year. My teenage daughter had left home for university, my job of 23 years was no more, and a creative project I’d given my all to for years had also been ________ called off. I also found out a person who I’d thought was a friend was ________ it.

A year earlier, I’d dreamt about an earthquake. In the dream, a red light flashed inside a building and then the earth began to ________.Walls collapsed and pieces of brick rained down on me as I ran into the open, feeling ________ for the people I hadn’t loved enough. ________ I was buried completely by the falling world, I stretched out my hands and ________, “Abuelo, ayudame,” in my native Spanish. “Grandfather, help me!”

Now, with the very real aftershocks of a number of ________ endings, I walked into a little flower shop to buy a gift for a friend. The gentleman at the checkout looked at me and ________ for a moment, returning with a fragrant flower. “For you. You need to smile today,” he said in a rich and beautiful accent, ________ me the flower with eyes full of care. It took all my strength not to ________ tears. Then he ________ me in a grandfatherly hug that made me want to tell him everything. ________, I just thanked him and headed for the train. How did he know? I wondered. For the first time in weeks, I felt ________.