“I miss my old friends. What if there are no kids at _______ age there?” Amber asked her parents when her family decided to _______ to a new place.

Amber’s family knew that she would make more friends. But Amber was still _______. She sat on a rock in her garden. There were no kids in sight. Then, she saw an older girl.

“Hi,” said Amber, “My family just moved in.”

The girl made a strange sign with her hands. “She’s deaf,” thought Amber. Amber didn’t know _______ to talk with the girl, so she waved goodbye and ran back inside her home.

At lunch, Amber told her mother about it. Mom said, “She is deaf and her name is Liz. I have _______ her to visit us later.”

“How will I speak to her?” asked Amber.

After lunch, Mom knocked on Amber’s door. Amber was finishing her homework. “Do you have time to _______ the website with me?” asked her mom. “I think it may help you understand Liz.” Amber put down her paper.

The first _______ on the website discussed two men who lived back in the 1800s. Their fathers were teachers of the deaf, while their mothers were deaf. The website _______ said that it didn’t take long to learn a few signs, but to become good at sign language _______ practice. Each letter of a word can be spelled out with the __________. Some people could spell sixty words in a minute.

Amber really liked the next article. Deaf children wrote about sign language. Over one million deaf and hearing loss people __________ it. There were pictures of children signing with each other on the website. Amber and her mom were __________ that they had seen the website.

When Liz came over, she seemed happy. Amber was __________ about using her new skill at first.

But then she overcame her shyness and took up her __________ to take the first step. She signed “hello”. Liz smiled and signed “hello” back. That’s when their __________ started! Liz helped Amber practice sign language. They became best friends!

My mother was a housewife. She thought that successful people spent a lot of time _________. So she asked my brother and me to read two books every week and write book reports. She would check them and make marks, _________ she couldn’t read the books at all.

When I went to school, I was an A-student, but not for _________. I wanted only cool clothes and mostly _________ with friends. I went from being an A-student to a C-student, but I didn’t care. One night, I complained (抱怨) about not having enough Italian T-shirts. Then my mother gave me all her _________. She said I could use the money left to buy shirts if I finished buying all the things the family _________. I was very _________ about that, but after I bought all the things we needed, there was no money left. Then I understood how difficult it was for my mother to _________ the family. I went back to my studies and became an A-student again. Finally, my dream _________ true and I became a doctor.

My story is really my mother’s story - a woman with little education greatly changed my __________. So, I believe there is no job more important than parenting.

I am Lucy. The new year is coming, so I’d like（想要）to ________ some new clothes for my ________ and myself （我自己）. Now, I am in Cindy’s Clothes Store, because （因为）all the clothes here ________ on great sale today. The clothes here are in ________ colors—yellow, white, blue and so on（等等）. Look！ This yellow sweater is at a very good ________. It’s only 16 dollars. I think it is OK for my grandfather.

For my grandmother, I will buy the red hat. It looks nice. ________ about the white sports shoes? I know my father ________ doing sports very much, so I will buy ________ for him. There are many socks in the store, too. I know my mother ________ likes green, so I will get these green socks for her. As for me, I need a sweater and a pair of shorts ________ school.