Biking through my PhD

Overcoming my initial struggles in the Netherlands to start my PhD has been like riding a bike.

I ____in a hilly, seaside city in China without cycle paths, and biking was ____for me. Now, my Dutch neighbour was telling me I had to __

It took me around a month to feel __ cycling. After half a year, I was starting to enjoy it. For me, a helpful __ for dealing with Dutch traffic was to make a lot of noise as I ____: loud laughs, “look out”, “watch it” , and so on. These ____other cyclists into keeping away from me, and prevented the __ that had seemed unavoidable when I started.

This pattern, of a time of struggle ____by fun, was repeated with other ___ of my life in Utrecht. There were more “bikes” that I____ to learn how to ride. One of them was ____management. In Utrecht, I don't see people working ____time. As for working at the weekend, _____it. I initially assumed that nobody was working very hard, because of their shorter ___.

But after a few months, I ____that the other PhD students were all ___ focused on their work during that eight-hour working ____, whereas I was taking endless “ breaks” when I could have been focusing on my studies.

Cycling has become a __ of my growth, freedom and__ adjustment to PhD life in the Netherlands. And I have formed a good habit of working while I work and playing while I play.

Many years ago not long after we were married, my wife, Margaret, and I went to her parents’ place for a weekend visit in the fall. They happened to be pouring cement ( 浇筑水泥) for a new step and walkway outside their back door, so I ______ them. We completed the job and were quite _____ of the result.

Later that night after dinner, I ______ that my wedding (婚礼) ring was______. The whole family searched the house with no luck. The next day I was not______. After breakfast we ______ to search outside but again, no luck. At that point we came to the conclusion (结论) that the______ must have slipped off (滑落) my finger while I was doing the cement work and now it was ______.

We returned home without one wedding ring. I felt______ at the thought and kept ______ myself why I hadn’t taken it off before doing the cement work. This was a very hard ______for me to learn. My wife’s family said they would continue______ just in case as you never know — they might get ______ and find it.

The following spring, we got the miracle (奇迹) phone call. It seems that my ten-year-old brother-in-law, Mike, was outside playing in the yard and guess what he ______? My mother-in-law phoned to give me the good news.

Luckily, the ______ ended well for us and was quite a learning experience for me!

In 1949, I just returned home from the war. On every American highway you could see soldiers in uniform hitchhiking (搭便车) home to their families, as was the ___at that time in America.

___, the excitement of this reunion with my family soon disappeared. My mother became very ill and had to be in hospital. The doctors told me she ___a blood transfusion (输血)   ___or she wouldn’t live through the night. The problem was that Mother’s blood type was AB-, a very ___type even today, but even harder to get then because there were no blood ___ or air flights to ship blood. All the family members had their ___tested, but none was a   ___. So the doctors gave the family no hope. My mother was ___.

I left the hospital ___to gather up all the family members, ___everyone would get a chance to tell Mother good-bye. ___down the highway, I passed a soldier in uniform hitch-hiking home to his family. Deep in sadness, I had no willingness at that moment to do a good deed. Yet it was almost as if something outside myself pulled me to a ___, and I waited as the stranger climbed into the car.

I was too upset to ___ask the soldier his name, but he noticed my tears right away and asked why. I told this total stranger ___.

It got very ___in the car. Then this soldier reached his hand out to me, in which rested the dog tags (身份识别证) from around his neck. The blood type on the tags was AB-. The soldier   ___me to turn the car ___and get him to the hospital.

My mother ___until 1996, and to this day no one in our family knows the soldier’s name. But I have often wondered, was he a soldier or a(n) ___in uniform?