Mr. Hope, the doorman at our school walks with a limp (跛脚). Sometimes people make fun of his limp. It always     1     (make) me angry to hear them laughing at him. Watching him make his way slowly around our school with the cleaning tools in hand, I often wondered why he limped.

One day while I     2     (stand) in the hall, I saw two boys laughing at Mr. Hopes’ limp. The headmaster saw this and he was very mad. He took all of us down the basement where a picture of a young man standing by a long thin boat     3     (show) to us. “This is Mr. Hope when he was young.” said the headmaster. I was shocked     4     (learn) that our doorman was once a great rower (划船运动员). In the 1968 Olympics, after the final race started, Mr. Hope’s boat and another one were soon far ahead of the other boats, racing neck and neck towards the finish line. The race was going well. Suddenly Mr. Hope     5     (hear) a huge cracking sound. He saw his opponent’s (对手) boat going down fast. The man was in trouble because the boat had broken right in the middle. He was stuck (卡住) inside deeply, as a result, he     6     (not) escape (逃离).

Without     7     (stop) to think, Mr. Hope jumped into the water and pulled the man up from underneath the water. The other boats passed them on their way to the finish line, leaving the two men alone in the water. The other man had a broken leg and Mr. Hope’s leg was cut badly by the sharp wood splinters.

Mr. Hope never finished the race. He never got a gold medal at the Olympics. He did end up getting a special medal for sportsmanship. And ever since then he     8     (be) unable to walk properly.

As we stood there listening, the boys felt ashamed of what they had done. “Mr. Hope is a hero. His bravery and settles actions make him an Olympic champion (冠军) forever. At the same time, his spirit     9     (influence) us now. We     10     (not laugh) at him anymore.” said the boys.

These days, more and more students in the UK are taking a “gap year” between their graduation from school and their university studies. This means that they take a year off to do something else, before they s    1     their studies.

For most students, spending time in f    2     countries is the favourite activity—and Australia is the favourite place to go.

Many parents, teachers and business people a    3     that traveling can teach important values.

“After a year of traveling, I felt I’d grown up. I had learned the i    4     of relationships with people, on all sorts of levels.”

There are many companies a    5     the world that welcome these students on their projects—helping people in poorer countries, or e    6     in your home country. Although you don’t get paid for your work, this kind of work can teach important s    7     -decision-making and finding answers to problems, for example—that will help a student in a job o    8     day.

Finally, getting some knowledge and experience in an area you hope to study or work in one day will always be very u    9    .

If several university graduates are asking for the same job, gap year work experience allows you to say. “I’ve already had some e    10     of this kind of work.” And that can get you the job!