My 8-hour sleepy voyage finally came to an end after I stepped out of the airport. 1 on the bus, I was waiting anxiously for it to start.

    A woman beside me and her daughter both seemed 2. She told me that her daughter had an upset stomach and would3 continuously; 4, the mother had lost her purse. Apart from a significant 5 of money, the purse also had her phone and a phone number of an important 6. She would meet him for discussing a(n) 7 matter which had to be 8 by tomorrow morning.

    I handed her my cellphone without 9 and told her that she could make any 10 she wanted. I also produced a bottle of water I had in my bag to relieve her daughter of her 11. After making several calls, they finally 12 to the official! They turned to look at me 13 and thanked me many times. The woman tried to 14 for my assistance, but I refused 15 I knew she had lost her money.

    The next morning, I received a call from the mother, saying that they couldn't 16 how much my generous act touched them. They were so 17 that they had taken down my number to thank me. I was astonished to be thanked in this way. I never thought my simple offer 18 so much in her heart. And I thought of how many opportunities for kindness we had lost by plugging into cellphones and being disconnected 19 the reality around us-something with easy 20 may make a big difference to others.

    The LEGO story started in a Danish woodworking shop. At the time, Ole Kirk Christiansen was just a(n)1 carpenter working in a local shop. But he always had big dreams. As a young man, Christiansen turned　his love of playing with wood into a 2 and, in 1916, he opened his own shop.

    At first, his shop produced furniture like ladders, stools and ironing boards. But in 1924, his sons 3set a pile of wood chips in the shop on fire, 4 the entire building and the family's home.

    Despite a total 5, Christiansen saw the fire as an excuse to simply 6 a larger workshop. Tragedy (悲剧) continued to 7, however. In 1929, the American economic depression broke out, and his wife died in 1932. Affected by 8 and financial disaster, Christiansen unemployed many of his workers　and 9 to make ends meet. 10 did he know that those tragedies would be of importance for his business to 11.

    Since times were so 12, Christiansen made the hard decision to use his wood to create 13goods that might actually sell. The decision didn't pay off at first. But his love of toys pushed the company ahead, even when it was 14 the toughest times.

    It turned out he was a brilliant toymaker. Soon, his wonderful models of cars and animals and his adorable pull toys gained a national popularity. His bestseller, a wooden duck15 mouth opens and closes when pulled, is now still a hot hit. By 1949, his company created a plastic product called the Automatic Binding Brick. And their toys became more and more popular as the years passed.

    I was a shy girl and I was afraid to talk to people I didn't know. I enjoyed the1 of exploring nature. 2, at school I had to spend all day in the company of others. My3was reading. I spent a lot of time studying and was 4  good grades. My only failure was Spanish — I'd get all As on my written work and tests, but Ds and Fs on the5 part.

    Eventually I went to college. During my third year of college, I had6of being shy and determined to change my outlook and behavior. One day while at school, I noticed an advertisement for7on the local classical music radio station. I had8listening to classical music, and I could easily pronounce names such as Tchaikovsky and Chopin.

    I had no background in radio, and absolutely no hope of getting the job. The idea of9thousands of listeners in "radio land" terrified me. However, I10survived the interview. I was given brief descriptions of symphonies（交响乐）and a public service announcement to read, and a list of composers' names11 . It wasn't hard for me. I left the recording session（录音场次）with a sense of relief and a sense of12. About two weeks later I actually landed the job. It was a13 job, but I grew to14 it greatly. I began to feel comfortable talking to people.

    Although I now spend many hours each week talking with people, I'm15basically a quiet person. Perhaps it is my soft voice and my16nature that helps draw people out when they respond to my questions when I17 them. My former shyness is a18, as I can relate to people who feel discomfortable when they talk to reporters. I still enjoy moments of loneliness and the19found in nature. But I'm also glad I decided to make a20in my life that has opened many doors and opportunities that I never knew existed.

Sargassum is the smelly seaweed piling up on beaches across the Caribbean. It isn't something most people 1 kindly. But for Omar de Vazquez, a gardener, it was something like a(an) 2 .

Years ago, as part of his gardening business, Omar launched a beach cleanup service to 3 the leafy seaweed. But, as its 4 intensified, he started considering how to turn it into something useful, and in 2018 he 5 a way to use it in building blocks. He started his company—SargaBlock to market the bricks which are being 6 by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as a sustainable solution to a current environmental problem.

"When I look at SargaBlock, it's like looking in a 7 ," he says, comparing his company to overcoming his personal 8 , including drug and alcohol addiction. "That was a time when I felt unwanted and 9 , like the sargassum people complained about."

Luckily, Omar grew up in nature and poverty, which 10 his character and turned him into someone who takes action. He wanted to make something good out of something everyone saw as bad. Omar then put his idea into 11 , mixing 40% sargassum with other organic materials, like clay, which he then puts into a block-forming machine. The process was 12 .

The UNDP selected Omar's work for their Accelerator Lab, which 13 and recognizes innovative solutions to environmental challenges globally. The idea is that some of the most timely and creative 14 come from locals suffering from environmental dilemmas 15 .

The summer after my freshman year college, I had to get my first job. This was probably one of the1 tasks I have ever had to do. I had never held a job when I was in high school because my parents wanted me to put all my 2 into my studies. 

At first, it was very hard. I filled out dozens of 3 but got no calls back in the first two weeks. It made sense because I had 4 no job experience. All I could 5 was that being a high school graduate and a year of college. 

However, halfway through the third week, I finally got a call back from one of the places I 6 . We had set up a meeting time, and after my 7 , I was more than ready to start working the following Monday. I was 8 at the chance of working for my wages. 

When I started, it was very clear that I was not 9 . I made mistakes with orders and often 10 sales promotions（推销）. My parents made a bet I would not 11 the first two weeks, and I would be back looking for more 12 . However, I stuck with it. 

After working a while, I got better at orders, and always 13 the cheaper options for customers. A couple of weeks later, I had been told by the manager that I had 14 the award of the best employee of the month. It taught me a lot about responsibility and gave me the 15 of working. 

Road trips were part of my childhood, but it is hard to say they are entirely fond memories. As someone who easily got carsick, I spent most of the long drives with my head against the window or leaning awkwardly to the side. More often, however, I would have to sleep through the CDs in our beaten car.

There was one CD that we often played, one that became the symbolic Road Trip CD in my mind. It was an album in Mandarin (普通话) by my mom's favorite music artist, Leon Lai, who I understood was a major Cantopop legend in his day. We seemingly only played the unidentified Leon Lai CD during our hour-long road trips. I didn't know what it was called until I was in high school and successfully uncovered it by searching through Leon Lai's albums on Spotify until I found the one like the CD cover art.

向往，or Longing, a 1998 Mandarin release, didn't seem to be one of Leon Lai's most famous works. My mom didn't seem to remember why she had it either. The fact that it was in Mandarin, however, made my parents even more willing to play it on repeat. To make up for me and my brother's embarrassing unfamiliarity with the Chinese language, throughout our childhood they were keen on having us watch shows and listen to music in Chinese as a way for us to immerse ourselves and make up for the ground we lost. They were usually in Mandarin, because that was what our formal Chinese schooling taught us, even though Cantonese was the dialect our family actually spoke. This at least meant I could use what I learned in class to understand the lyrics in this album, though I found the singing harder to understand.

Due to the endless exposure to the songs on the road the genuinely memorable mix of upbeat and ballad-like tunes, as well as how well it shows my complicated connection to the Chinese language, this random album holds a special place in my heart.