【推荐1】My all-time favorite movie is Cool Runnings. It is based on the true story about the Jamaican bobsled team who _______ in the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.

After they _______ for the Olympics, they got three runs, on three _______ days. I am going to break these runs down for you and _______ them to everyday life.

Before the Jamaican’s first run, they _______ the Swiss team’s style and _______ . They weren’t true to themselves, and as a result, the first run was a _______ .

After painful _______ and pep talks(激励的话), the team went back to their roots. They were _______ to themselves and they were 100% prepared for the second run. Everything clicked and they moved into 8th place.

And the third one was when they ________ . Although they were well prepared, ________ , that shaky old sled they used couldn’t stop and they crashed. Everyone knows what happened next. They ________ the sled and finished the race.

The runs are what real life is about. Sometimes you can be prepared. Sometimes you can go into a situation or relationship with all of the best ________ in the world. But something will still go ________ . That is life. However, just like those four Jamaicans, you can get up and ________ the race.

【推荐2】In 2016, 60-year-old Marshall Reeves got onto his bike in California. He began the Race Across America, a 3,000-mile _______ that runs from coast to coast.

The goal was to _______the finish line in Maryland in two weeks. This goal had_______him twice already: In 2011 he made it to Manchester, Ohio, and in 2014, he was forced to stop at West Union, West Virginia. But for his third_______, Reeves had a new source of motivation: He was racing with 3,000 miles to a Cure, which raised money for brain cancer_________

The race is one of the longest running and _______respected events in the country. But it’s also one of the most_______. Only about half the competitors are able to finish. Unlike other long-distance bike races that are done in timed_______, it is continuous---once the clock starts in California, it doesn’t _______until Maryland. To stay on track, racers have to meet________time cutoffs(截止点)along the way.

Racers are typically________ in cars by a small crew. It’s the crew’s job to keep the racer not only physically ________, but also mentally motivated. In the early days of the race, when Reeves had ________to stop at a hotel, he would be ________ to a full-body massage （按摩）and a good night’s sleep. But after three days,________ was a luxury（不常有的乐趣）as he raced to make the time cutoffs biking for more than 20 hours a day.

After crossing the two points where his________attempts had ended, Reeves entered a new, unknown area. With just 25 miles left, Reeves struggled to stay ________, catching quick naps（小睡） in the car. At last, he crossed the finish line in 12 days, 13 hours, and 52 minutes.

This year, Reeves will________across America again, but this time, he’ll be working the other side of the race. Some of his road crew members will create a relay team（接力队）, and Reeves will________ them as road chief,________the favor for his crew’s hard work.

【推荐1】When our self-confidence is low, we sometimes tend to believe what others think of us. We do not have the confidence in ourselves ______ we have to believe in others. One individual who has ______ to accept others’ beliefs is Les Brown.

It ______ when he was just a baby. He was put up for adoption.______ he was adopted by a woman, Ms Mamie Brown. She was a single parent, had limited ______ resources, and little education, but she had a big heart. She ______ Les and his twin brother.

As Les was ______, he encountered difficulties in school. He was incorrectly labeled as a “______ learner”. When that label is put on a child, it ______ a child’s self-esteem. However, Les was ______. He didn’t believe what others believed his abilities to be. He had big dreams. He had no ______ education beyond high school, yet he had determination and was very persistent. He ______ his education by self-education.

Today he is a very ______ professional speaker and author. He is a(n)______ of someone who has overcome other people’s beliefs. In his videos and tapes, he ______ confidence. He told his story and ______ he overcame the challenges in his life. Listening to him speak, and listening to him laugh, which is ______ infectious, we can see that he is very motivating and inspiring.

Remember the words wisdom ______ Les Brown, “You cannot expect to achieve new goals or move beyond your present circumstances unless you ______”. For those who have low self-confidence, start reading about the Les Browns of the world. Many people have so much more ______ than where they are right now. If you have a dream, then start today to move yourself towards it.

One day a mother brought home a small_______and gave it to her little girl on her birthday. She told her little girl that the jar was_______, and that she could write to her mommy about anything in the world and then put it in the jar. And_______, in its place, there would be a_______for her. Soon the jar became a special part of their lives.

The little girl loved to get_______from her mommy. They always told her how_______she was. Sometimes, too, there would be a little_______in the jar with a note telling her how_______her mommy was of her. She_______all of her mommy’s letters in a pretty box by her bed.

The mother________each of her little girl’s letters, too. As the years went by, that little girl________into a young lady and then got married and started a________of her own. For the first time, the jar sat________ . The mother dusted the jar every day and sometimes looked inside,________ sadly that the magic jar years had to end.

One day the young lady came to________her mother. She went straight to her mother’s room, opened the chest at the end of her bed, and found what she was looking for. She________a piece of paper and put it in the jar, and________it to her mother. The mother opened the magic jar and there was that note from so long ago, “You’re going to be a________!”

And when that baby boy was born months later, there was the jar________in his nursery (育儿室) with a blue ribbon tied around it, and a note that read, “Magic jar years never________: they are always just beginning.”

【推荐1】On 20 December, in Newdale, a series of huge waves caused by an undersea earthquake raced across the ocean near Gold shore. Worse still, it ________ thousands dead. Gold shore Beach was the only local beach to ________ the disaster without any loss of life. A 10-year-old girl, Sabrina Andron, helped around 100 people escape danger with her   ________ of tsunamis (海啸).

The day began like any other on Gold shore Beach. People were walking, running or simply siting on the sandy beach, ________ the warm sea air and enjoying the soft ________ that brushed their hair. Sabrina was one of the happy tourists until she noticed something ________. “The water was like the bubbles (气泡) on the top of a beer,” she later explained. “It wasn’t ________ and it wasn’t going in and then out. It was just coming in and in and in.” It struck her that these were the ________ of an upcoming tsunami, which Sabrina had just learnt about in a Geography lesson.

Sabrina was ________, but she soon kept her head. She warned her parents of the ________, thought at first they just thought she was ________. However, Sabrina was certain that a terrible disaster was ________ and kept asking her parents to talk to a safety officer. To her great relief, the officer ________ realized the coming danger. The beach was rapidly cleared of people, just ________ the huge waves ________ into the coast.

【推荐2】Dropping into hopelessness completely, Jack' wandered on the streets, knowing he came to the end of life. In his mid-fifties, Jack had never been _________ experienced the joy of having children or spent holidays with his family. On this miserable (悲惨的) rainy night, he felt as if there was _________ in the entire world who cared whether he lived or died.

Meanwhile, I was sitting in my room watching the rain _________ my window. When I heard the doorbell ring, I _________ from my chair and raced out. But my mother was already at the door. Opening it, she found herself face-to-face with a very dirty-looking man with tears streaming down his face. My mother, overcome by _________ , invited the man inside, and he sat with my parents in our living room.

_________ , I walked secretly downstairs so that I could get a better look. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but the sight of the man, _________ his head in his hands and crying, made my chest ache. I raced back upstairs to my room and _________ my hand into my money jar. Pulling out my only half-dollar coin, I ran back downstairs.

When I reached the door of the living room, I walked right in. The three _________ looked at me in __________ , as I quickly made my way over the stranger. I put the half-dollar in his hand and told him that I wanted him to have it. Then I gave him a __________ , turned and ran as fast as I could out of the room and back upstairs. I felt excited but happy.

Downstairs, Jack sat quietly with his head __________ . Tears streamed down his face as he __________ held that coin. Finally looking up at my parents, he said, "It's just that I thought nobody cared. For the last twenty years, I have been so __________ .That is the first hug I have ever got. It's hard to believe that somebody __________ "

Jack's life changed that night. When he left our house, he was ready to live instead of die.

My life changed that night, too, as I saw the hug healing (治愈) power of giving, even if it's only a gift of fifty cents.

【推荐3】At the age of nine, I was taking swimming lessons in a pool. The day had arrived when I was to be tested to see if I could _______ to a higher level class.

Fifteen of us were to _______ swimming from one side of the pool to the other and back. I watched as my _______ , one by one, tried and failed. Then it was my turn to _______ , I mean, my turn to _______ to pass the test. I was about halfway when I got choked (呛住) . I immediately stopped and _______ the side of the pool, ending my test. Our instructor, a college student, was standing _______ me. “Why did you stop?” He yelled, in a less than _______ voice. “I got water in my nose,” I _______ .

That’s when this college student ________ me one of life’s great lessons, ________ he probably never realized that. Bending down, he shouted, “So?”

“So?” The ________ shocked me. It had just seemed ________ to me that the answer to pain was to remove the thing causing the ________ . My nine-year-old brain had not understood the fact that a valuable ________ is worth achieving, however difficult to get there. Recognizing that, I was ________ nothing would keep me from completing the test. In fact, I did it rather ________ at my next attempt. Seeing me ________ the test, almost all the others did so as well.

Life is a journey, and the road won’t ________ be easy. We have to focus on the final destination, not the ________ along the road.