I received a video call last month. The president announced the news; Given the_________on university finances during the COVID-19 pandemic(流行病), he would end the geology(地质学) department. His words _________ me like a ton of bricks. For 20 years, I assumed I'd always have a _________if I kept up my teaching and research. But the pandemic had brought _________effects.

Three years ago, the president had asked us for _________. Many of our upper-level classes were highly_________ attracting only a handful of students. The president told us that we needed larger class _________and more students.

We_________making changes. We added new elective courses on climate and medical geology,_________hundreds of students, But we didn't __________ the course requirements for geology majors, and many professors __________to teach the same material in the same way. The __________ of students didn't increase a lot.

Then came COVID-19. We stayed open and taught students on campus, but enrollments(注册) continued to __________. After the meeting with our president, my mind __________. Two days after the president's call, I spent the weekend speaking with my colleagues and brainstorming a __________Together, we imagined a__________earth science course, one that would help students meet today's __________. We rethought all of our courses, focusing on problems that students and their potential__________care about.

We __________to the future with our new vision and leave the past behind. We're not sure how the university will react to our plan. Hopefully, our efforts aren't coming too __________.

I was a young newspaper reporter, and I wanted to succeed. My first job was in Latin America.

It was almost my ________ job. I had not planned to stay in the village of Zacate, ________ it had been raining hard for a whole day. So I had to stay there.

I found people there full of ________. This village was at the foot of a volcano. It was becoming more ________. Men, women and children came to the square. A few ________ each other and went out of town to get as far away from the volcano as possible, with large and full packs in their ________. Suddenly, I felt a strong earthquake. The villagers in the square ran away as soon as they felt the earthquake.

At the right time, I saw black smoke ________ down the side of the mountain towards the village. Trees and grass burned up in a second. The volcano eruption was coming so ________ that in less than a minute the roads to the villages were ________. All I could do was watching and waiting. Suddenly, my landlord (房东) cried out, “Look!” He ________ to a small hill. The lava (岩浆) was not coming over it but flowing on each side of the village, ________the village center undamaged.

Luckily, for a time, at least, we were ________.

My landlord gave me a ________ blanket to cover myself to avoid the heat and we poured water over our heads to cool ourselves. We could hardly breathe because of the heat and the ________ of the burning houses. Thanks to my landlord, I ________ the volcano.

Long long time ago, in a small and distant _________, there was a place known _________ the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and _________ to visit it. When he arrived, he _________ happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail _________ as fast as it could. To his great _________, he found himself staring at 1000 other _________ little dogs with their tails wagging (摇摆) just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was _________ with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he _________ the House, he thought to himself, “This is a __________ place. I will come back and visit it often.”

In the same village, __________ little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, was determined to visit the house. He __________ climbed the stairs and __________ his head as he looked into the door. __________ he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled (怒吼) at them and was __________ to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, “That is a terrible place, and I will __________ go back there again.”

All the faces in the world are __________. When you smile at the world, the whole world will __________ at you, and vice verse (反之亦然). __________, it is you who can choose to be happy or to be upset. And what kinds of reflections (思考) do you see in the __________ of the people you meet?