Gap-fill: The Ugly Duckling 2

Fill in the gaps:

The 
ugly [xấu xíduckling [vịt con] swam in the new marsh [đầm lầy]. Other birds lived there, but they didn't want to be his friend either.

"You're too ugly!" they all said.

Autumn [mùa thu] came, then winter. The ugly duckling lived alone and was cold and hungry. He almost _______ [đóng băng] in the icy [băng giá] marsh. But he survived [sống sót].

Finally, _______ [mùa xuân] arrived. The duckling saw beautiful white birds flying above. "They're so _______," [đáng yêu] he thought. "I wish I could be like them."

He didn't know these were swans [thiên nga], the most beautiful birds of all.

The swans flew to a new _______ [hồ] and he followed them. He felt shy [ngại ngùng], but he wanted to be near them. He started to swim _______ [hướng về] those beautiful white birds.

As he swam, he saw something strange [lạ] in the water. A beautiful white bird was looking at him!

He turned his head [quay đầu], and the white bird did too. Then he _______ [nhận ra] - the reflection [phản chiếu] in the water was him! He wasn't an ugly duckling _______ [nữa]. He had grown into a beautiful swan!

The other swans came to welcome him. "Join us," [tham gia với chúng tôi] they said kindly [tử tế].

Children on the lake shore [bờ] pointed [chỉ] at him. "Look at that swan!" they said. "He's the most beautiful of them all!"

The swan felt happy for the first time in his life. He thought about his hard times and how much he had changed.

"I never dreamed I would be this happy," he thought. "Back then, I didn't know that I just needed time to grow. I'm glad I didn't give up."

From that day on, the swan lived happily with his new friends. He was never _______ [cô đơn] again, and he never forgot how it felt to be different. He was always kind to others, no matter what they looked like [bất kể họ trông như thế nào].

🦢🦢
And so, the ugly duckling's story teaches us that being different isn't bad. Sometimes, it just means you need time to become who you're meant to be [trở thành con người mà bạn được định sẵn].