【推荐1】I believe even the smartest people have to work hard to achieve success, because there is no such person as a born winner. People turn themselves into winners by their own       _______

I learned this lesson from a(n) _______ many years ago. I took the head _______ job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football program.

It was a _______ for the school’s old team to play against the new team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they didn’t even practice to _______ the game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to win, but to my disappointment we were defeated. I couldn’t _______ I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I came to _______ that my team might not be the number one team in Georgia, but they were _______ me. I had to change my _______ towards their ability and potential.

I started doing anything I could to help them build a little ________. Most importantly, I began to treat them like ________. That summer, When the other teams enjoyed their       ________, we met every day and ________ passing and kicking the football.

Six months after suffering our ________ on the spring practice field, we won our first game and our second, and continued to win. ________, we faced the number one team in the state. I felt that it would be a ________ for us even if we lost the game. But that wasn’t what happened. My boys beat the best team in Georgia, giving me the greatest ________     of my life!

From the experience I learnt a lot about how the attitude of the leader can ________       the members of a team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and ________ them. I helped them to see themselves ________, and they built themselves into winners. Winners are made, not born.

【推荐2】How much do you know about athletes? Many people regard watching sports games as a form of _________. But for athletes, they are challenging the _________ of human beings and breaking boundaries. Intensive training is a task which they do every day as a matter of _________. On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister, who ran a mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds, _________ the whole world’s attention. People believed that it was _________ imagination for a person to run a mile within 4 minutes. Bannister made a（n）

_________ in what people believed was impossible. In the years since, more and more athletes have overcome the four—minute—mile _________. Today, the record—held by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco since July 7, 1999—_________ at 3 minutes and 43. 13 seconds!

Records are _________ at a lower and lower rate in both running and other fields. When new records are set, they're changed by a small proportion of a（n） __________ . The decimal point（小数点）,set at one- tenth of a second for Bannister's record, now __________ one-hundredth of a second. __________, we'll have to go to a third decimal place, and then a fourth.

The closer athletes get to being __________, the harder it is to make improvements. Even though they are __________ the best performances of human beings, excellent athletes can still __________ proportions of seconds off existing records. They have a real __________ to break records. The gaps between new and old records decrease __________. Athletes are getting closer and closer to physiological __________ performances all the time. It will be tougher and tougher __________. However, excellent athletes never __________ trying.

【推荐3】It was the final part of the Santa Barbara Cyclo-cross race in Spain. With only 300 meters to the finishing line, Ismael Esteban, in third place, was just ahead of his ________, Augstin Navarro. Esteban had been ________ as hard as he could for hours. With the finishing line in sight, all the riders began to ________. Then, suddenly Esteban’s bike got a puncture (扎胎). What should he do? ________ or continue? Esteban threw his bike over his shoulders and ________ towards the finishing line.

Just a few seconds later, Navarro caught up with him. ________, he could come third. But Navarro ________ down and let Esteban run ahead of him. The two riders reached the finishing line with Esteban ahead on foot, Navarro just ________ him. Navarro had let Esteban finish in third place, while he came fourth. The audience was ________ at his show of sportsmanship and   ________ for the riders. After the race, Navarro said, “I didn’t want to ________ that way.” Later, Esteban, who won the bronze (铜) medal, tried to give his ________ to Navarro. However, Navarro ________.

The two riders showed ________ sporting spirit. Esteban offered Navarro his medal and   Navarro refused to make use of Esteban’s ________. This was sportsmanship at its very best.

【推荐1】Jayce began noticing when he was in kindergarten that he looked _________ from his classmates. They had two hands. He had one.

It started when one boy _________ him, says his mother, Lewis. He _________ to their Des Moines, Iowa, home with _________: Why am I different? Why me? Why? Lewis _________ she didn’t know what to do at that point. How could she provide answers to her son’s questions when she had never _________ those answers herself?

A few weeks later, Lewis came home from her job and turned on the TV to a news _________   about a six-foot-three eighth grader, Trashaun. He became an Internet hit after posting videos of his slam dunks (灌篮), and like Jayce, he lost most of his left arm. She _________ Jayce in. At the time, it seemed that watching Trashaun would simply be an _________ moment for Jayce—he’d see a role model with a seemingly __________ birth defect (先天缺陷).

The boys met at Washington Middle School on a Saturday afternoon a couple of months later. The day was not spent in self-pity—it was about __________. They rode bikes around the school, took photos, played hide-and-seek, and __________ baskets.

At one point, Trashaun did get __________ with Jayce. He talked about their left arms. He told Jayce he was perfect the way God made him. He said not to let anyone __________ him down and that words don’t need to __________ his confidence.

“It made me feel less __________,” says Lewis. “I know in my heart that everything’s going to be fine.”

Trashaun has grown up to be a __________ kid. And I know Jayce is too. As a parent, that’s all you want to know: “That everything’s going to be OK.”

Since that meeting, Lewis has seen a great __________ in her son, who is now seven and in second grade. He recently started wrestling and loves it. Lewis points to Trashaun’s __________. Meeting him, she said, made Jayce “__________ that there are others like him.”

【推荐3】I dropped out of college after my freshman year. Three years later I _______ to college in autumn after finding myself having difficulty with college-level algebra(代数) in work. But after a week, I was ready to drop out again.

Then a smartly dressed woman walked _______ to the platform in my English composition class. “Look at each and every one of you,” she said. “You’re here _______ you want to change your lives for the better. And you’re going to _______ it!”

I can’t _______ the rest of the speech, but it changed the _______ of my life and career. I felt she was speaking _______ to me. She knew exactly what I was feeling and what many of my fellow students were probably feeling _______. I came out of that classroom _______ to rise to the challenge.

“Having trouble ________ the heavy workload? Break it down into small manageable pieces, and set up a ________ that works for you. Professors’ lecturing is too fast for you to take notes? ________ them with a question so you can catch up on your notes,” she said.

She cared about us, worried about us and ________ us. She never let us lose sight of our dreams or our potential.

Today, as a college instructor, I often think of her each autumn when I stand in front of a new class and I am ________ of how much teachers can ________ their students. She has made a huge difference in my life.

【推荐2】 A woman came out of her house and saw three old men sitting in her front yard. She said, “I don’t think I know you, but you must be _________ . Please come in and have something to eat.”

“Is the man of the house home?” they asked. “No,” she replied, “He’s out.” “Then we cannot come in” they replied. In the evening when her _________ came home, she told him _________ had happened. “Go tell them I am home and invite them in!” The woman went out and invited the men in. “We do not go into a _________ together.” they replied “Why is that?” she asked.

One of the old men gave an _________ that their names were Wealth, _________ and Love. Then he added, “Now go in and _________ with your husband which one of us you want in your home.”

The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was _________ and he suggested inviting Wealth to fill their home with money, talking and laughing. “With riches, we buy new houses, expensive furniture, and colorful clothing. We will look much better in the eyes of both ourselves and our neighbors.” he said. And his wife wanted to invite Health: but their daughter-in-law _________ they should invite Love so that their home would be full of warmth. “With that we will feel much better in our family and our neighborhood as well. That’s of more importance.” she argued, ____________ the husband said to his wife. “Go out and invite Love to be our guest.”

The woman ____________ and asked the three old men, “Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest.”

Love ____________ and started walking toward the house.

The other two also got up and ____________ him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Health: “I only invited Love, why are you coming in?”

The old men replied ____________: “If you had invited Wealth or Health, the other two of us would have stayed out, but since you invited Love. Wherever he goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is____________ Wealth and Health!”

【推荐3】After watching my son Todd run in a race, I made my usual comment, “Todd, I could walk faster than those women run.” Todd__________as he knew I wasn’t a runner.“ Listen, Mom, how about you run with me next year at this race?” Without thinking, I quickly agreed to this__________. I felt this was going to be a piece of cake!

Never in my__________dreams did I ever imagine what the next year would bring. When it was almost time for this race to__________, Todd wasn’t going to be running. He had died in a car accident. A few of his friends knew this “challenge” I had agreed to with Todd. They started to__________me to run the race. I hadn’t__________or prepared anything. Quite__________, I had almost forgotten I said I would do it.

I decided I should keep my__________. Before the race, I listened to some__________talking about how to run your race. I played the race over and over in my__________when I listened to the tapes. The day of the race finally came. I felt pretty__________. When it was time for the race, I was all dressed and ready. It was freezing cold that day, but I didn’t care. I__________all my warm clothes and ran with only a sleeveless shirt and shorts on. Nothing was going to__________me.

No one knew what__________me to run. I finished my practice run, fell on the grass, and cried my eyes out. I found that running__________the stress I was feeling of losing my dear Todd.