Nathan Sawaya showed a strong 【小题1】（prefer）for building blocks when he was young. At the age of 5, his grandparents bought his first set of building blocks and he 【小题2】（play）with them ever since. He even took his building blocks to college with him. Instead of books and a computer, he had a model of Greenwich Village 【小题3】（make）of bricks on his desk.

Nathan started as a lawyer 【小题4】 gave up his well-paid job to become 【小题5】 artist that uses toys in his art. He uses toy bricks to build everything from the Statue of Liberty to Superman！He has more than 1. 5 million colored bricks 【小题6】 are used by him to make pieces of art in his office in New York. He started by building small models but then decided to do something big and created a self-portrait. It took him two days just 【小题7】（build）the eyes.

Nathan's works have appeared in museums around the world. People love his arts because they are 【小题8】（fascinate）. Since it began in 2007, Nathan's exhibition "The Art of the Brick" has been very popular 【小题9】museum visitors everywhere.

"I'm proud that I have fulfilled my childhood dream, and I have actually made a job out of it, "says Nathan. "To do what you love in life is 【小题10】（important）thing. "

   I was stepping out of my office with a complex feeling. That was my _____ day in my office. I was _____ about what was going on in my mind. My staff members wished me many good wishes. I _____ with a smile. For the last time, I returned to my table again and _____ the board, which read “CEO” below my name. I read it and sighed deeply.

One month passed. I tried my best to _____ myself to a new life which was a bit _____. After all, I had no office or routine (常规的) life. Though I got enough job offers, I _____ them all. I didn’t know why I was no longer interested in a job. _____, one day I was anxious to visit my ex-office. So, I went there immediately. When I got there, some of my colleagues were _____. I met others, but I felt as if I ______ something. They greeted me and talked to me, but showed less ______ for me. Everything seemed very casual to me.

With a ______ heart, I left the office for a nearby park. Sitting on a bench, I ______ every single person moving around there. Slowly, I realized no one was at fault. It was my disillusion (幻灭)of ______ and position of my past days. I think ______ people must be feeling the same if they don’t ______ specific work after retirement (退休).

It was my good day in that park. While ______ on the bench, I heard a kid saying to his friend, “What is this? Why are you ______ about yesterday’s incident? ______ it! Let it go. Let’s play together again.” This “Let it go” is the best way to make your ______ cool!

   A couple of years ago I graduated from art school. After graduation I was unsure of what to do with my degree. I had majored in Illustration（插画专业）and loved it，but didn't really feel interested in doing illustrations for any companies. This left me with few options other than freelance（自由职业的）jobs and nannying.

I spent two years working as a nanny doing freelance illustrations on the side. It just wasn't quite enough to pay rent, but I loved it, so I worked well over 50 hours a week, trying to keep up with both.

Just under a year ago I went to a friend's wedding. I couldn't think of a gift for them and really didn't have a lot of money to spare so I used my talents to create a portrait for them. It wasn't much, but I hoped it would be a good gift. When I handed the portrait to them and they unwrapped it, the looks on their faces were something I did not expect. There were joyful tears in their eyes as they cried, "That's us! This is so beautiful!"

It's funny because when I was in art school portraits were always my least favourite assignment. I hated drawing people and was always so much more interested in drawing little furry creatures. Once I saw the looks on my friends' faces after giving them their portrait, it was all over. I suddenly loved portraits and wanted to do more.

I now take portraits to every wedding I go to and have given them as gifts to the families I nannied for. Every time the reaction makes all of the hard work and time I put into them so worth it.

I' ve just started offering couple, family and pet portraits as an item on my Etsy shop.

   A little girl studied at her desk in the purple bedroom of her childhood home. The girl’s homework was to _______ a true story. Simple. Yet there she was, _______ it for a long time for better past her bedtime.

So attentive was the girl — changing words to _______ the mood (语气), erasing passages to move the story along, reading out loud to _______ the rhyme — that she jumped when she _______ her father’s hand on her shoulder. Dad was a business manager. He liked to _______ and watch TV at night. It was not his _______ to check up on her.

“Daddy?” she said, looking up at him. “I think I just decided what kind of job I want when I grow up. I like to write about things that really _______. I like to move the words around.” “I’m glad to see you take your schoolwork so _______,” he said. “I’m proud of you.”________ he kissed the top of her head.

Decades later, the girl made great efforts in writing, which ________ her a top job at Reader’s Digest, a ________ that has for nearly a century told true stories of ________ interest. As she walked out of the office that afternoon, she ________ the night in her purple bedroom and decided that for every issue (期刊), she would write her editor’s note as a story. That way, she would honor the ________ of the magazine. She ________ her mom with the news of her job. “Oh, honey, I wish your father were ________,” her mom wrote. “He would be so proud.”

“As an ________, I am doing the work I love, writing about people of interest doing things that matter. It’s been a (n)________ to connect with the thousands of you who have ________ to me. Let’s continue to do so,” the girl said.

   As the saying goes, "Roses given, fragrance in hand. " I am always in the_________of giving money to every beggar or homeless person I pass by. My friends say it is not good to________them. We may come across beggars or________people begging every day and all beggars have their ability to survive. It annoys them that I never listen.

On a________day, my friend and I were walking to the_________when I passed a beggar lady. I had seen her several times before and had always given her a few_________. That day, I gave her 2 euros. I was waiting for the bus and reading a book when I_________to see that lady standing in front of me. She_________me a piece of paper covered in a plastic bag to prevent it from getting_________. She stood there, looking at me__________. Putting my book__________, I took the paper, which said she and her family had to_________their country because of floods, and she was  _________to support them. She had got a bit of money,___________she needed another 5 euros to get home. I   _____in my pockets and found 20 cents. My friend________a 5-euro note. I asked her to give it to the lady, and said that I would_________the money the next day. When she got the money, the lady hugged us and said thanks again and again, and went on her way. Later on the bus, I__________where her home was and how she had gotten there. In her story,I felt that my friend and I would always remain part of it as the_________, who helped her get home on a rainy day. But for me, helping a stranger did bring me happiness, giving me a pleasant__________.