Each club in our school plays a sports game against another every year. This year, our club, the Filmmakers Club, was picked to play basketball against the All-star Sports Club. That’s where the trouble began.

We cared mostly about ______. We didn’t like basketball at all. The kids in the All-star Sports Club were ______. They were excellent players and took sports seriously. They wanted to win in a hard-fought game so they expected ______ to play hard, too.

I sighed! I walked onto the gym floor to take part in the ______. Here we were, the five of us: Kenny, Ana, Jamal, Mai and me. We hardly knew how to play: Mai tried to run with the ball ______ she couldn’t control it well; Kenny dribbled (控球) with two hands. We were ______.

“Basketball isn’t fun,” said Kenny. “We’d just show up for the game and go back home.”

At that moment, I decided we needed a creative game plan to ______ us. I began to imagine the game as a scene (场面) in a movie. ______ I knew what to do—turn the game into a documentary film.

I told my teammates the ______, and they all liked it.

“But do All-star kids want to be ______ our movie?” said Mai. “Let’s ask them!”

The All-star members were glad to be part of the movie. We ______ them. They talked about how excited they were about the game. And we filmed every practice we did. When doing what we were ______ we began to show a little interest in the game, and the practice as well.

On the day of the game, great scenes were ______ with the camera, though no doubt the All-star Sports Club whipped us. The final score was37-9.

Later that week, we invited them to see our movie. With the wonderful scenes from interviews, practice and the game, the movie was a ______. They agreed, “You may not do well in basketball, but you ______ make great movies!” It was music to our ears.

“Congratulations! Your spring has arrived!” It was the ________ from his friends to the 47-year-old actor Zhang Songwen early this year. He became well-known ________ his role of Gao Qiqiang in the hot TV drama series The Knockout.

Zhang learnt acting at 25 years old. In order to ________ his putonghua, he put a stone in his mouth to correct his pronunciation. Also, he spent more time practising than others every day to make his acting skills better. ________, he was refused hundreds of times or just could play some supporting roles after he graduated, simply because he wasn’t thought to have high-level acting skills or good looks by others. At that time, he lived in a shared house and couldn’t ________ to support his family. This made him able to experience common people’s life, which helped him bring the roles of “nobody” (小人物) ________ on screen.

If Zhang lost heart and gave up, could he be a famous actor? “Never look down on yourself! Never be afraid of your ________!” said Zhang. Even great people have their own weak points. If you lose confidence and get lost in your weak points for a long time, you will completely keep yourself ________ in the cage of self-doubts. The way to get out of it is to begin looking at what you have and what you don’t have. Bravely ________ your weak points and work hard at them. “You are the lead role in your life. Believe that you are ________ to be useful and maybe you will be a shining star some day.” Zhang added. Believe that you are a seed, and give it some water and sunshine. One day, when spring comes, it may become a tall tree.