2 . You might say I found marathoning, step by step. Or perhaps it found me. I was _____________ an athlete growing up. In fact, I have a hard time _____________ that term to myself even today.

It started when I joined a group of women in my neighborhood for a daily three-mile walk. At first it was _____________. But soon, my body adjusted and I wanted _____________. Before long, I was running 5 miles. Then I set a goal to run a half marathon. And I did complete the Covered Bridges Half Marathon. I thought, “Now what?” I started to _____________ a marathon.

It so happened that I _____________ a meeting one night and listened to the speaker and coach, Rick Muhr, and was so _____________ by his words. I told him that I had signed up for the Ocean State Marathon, just a week away, and that I really didn’t believe I could _____________. Rick locked eyes with me and said, “Trish, you’ve done enough training. You’ll finish!”

I never had someone _____________ me like that, let alone a real, live coach. He gave me the ________________ I needed. I set out to run my ________________ marathon and completed it in 4:25:00. Little did I know that this would be the beginning of nearly a decade of marathon and distance running.

Running a marathon isn’t for everybody. But it is for anybody, anybody who wants to ________________ the unreachable and to take that ________________ into the rest of their life. When you cross the finish line you may never have a ________________ picture of what you are made of and capable of accomplishing. Your ________________ of the world and, more importantly, of yourself will forever be changed!

3 . I love the idea of a marathon race with just simply having a beginning point and an end goal. But what I love more about it is all about the_________to my marathon.

Before I found my appreciation of running, _________ speaking, I was never a fan of it. As I got older, I had the _________to do things that I had never thought of doing-that was when I _________ myself.

It was during late summer that I_________ to join a run. In every training session, I got the _________to learn something new about myself and everything else that surrounded me. I found my connection to nature _________ and it made me much more _________of everything-the wind, the rays of the sun and every step I take. During training, I passed by _________people-some eventually ran faster than I, and some others I __________them. This reminded me everyone has different battles.

If I hadn’t decided to get ready and just go for it, I would have never known what running __________for me. But of course with all these amazing feelings, there came __________days when I felt terrible with aching muscles and hurting laps. Every aspect of life always comes__________ those two, doesn’t it? Good and bad, right and wrong. It all__________ perspective-which side will you let shine even more?

I hope you find your own marathon and__________ it!

4 . Despite what most people might think, you really don’t need much time to work out. In fact, even ten to twenty minutes of challenging exercise a few times a week is enough to burn fat, build muscle, boost strength, and contribute to a healthy, active lifestyle.     1    

But sometimes, the resistance isn’t really about the actual time the workout takes. It’s about the energy it takes to get ready for it. Maybe your stress levels are over the top, or your energy levels have been so low that you keep talking yourself out of a workout. Or maybe you just don’t want to get all sweaty and have to take a shower afterward.     2     In such fast-paced life, we’re all struggling. But when it comes to exercise, being healthy and fit isn’t as black and white as the fitness world tries to make it seem.     3     Doing something is always better than nothing when it comes to movement. Micro workouts, like getting out for a fifteen-minute walk instead of doing the strength training workout, are significantly better than doing nothing at all.

    4     They are time-saving, since they can be done in seconds or in as little time as 15-20 minutes. They require minimum space and equipment. Many can be done at home, in the park, or even while waiting in the checkout line. They are also money-saving as these can be done without a gym membership, coach, trainer, or class instructor.

So in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, make time to move.     5     If all the movements like push-ups and pull-ups add up, you will still get many of the same benefits of a longer, harder workout.

5 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。

6 . Table tennis may not seem a reasonable option for someone with no arms — but Ibrahim Hamadtou doesn't believe in limits. The 48-year-old Egyptian Paralympian breaks the barrier by holding the paddle (球拍) in his mouth and using his right foot to serve the ball.

Hamadtou, who lost his arms in a train accident at the age of ten, was drawn to table tennis after being challenged by a friend. "I was once watching a match between two of my friends," Hamadtou explains. "They disagreed on a point, When I counted the point in favor of one of them, the other player told me, 'Mind your own business as you will never be able to play.' It was that statement that fired me up to decide to play table tennis."

It took Hamadtou three years to master the sport. He says the biggest challenge was figuring out the best way to control his body. "I was trying first to use the bat under the arm, and I also tried using other things, which weren't working so well. Finally, I tried using my mouth. It took me nearly a year of practice to get used to holding the paddle with my mouth and making the serve. With practice and playing regularly, this skill was improved."

The Egyptian's incredible talent came to light in 2014 when he was awarded the best Arab Athlete of the year. He won a silver medal at the 2016 African Championships, qualified for his first Paralympics in 2016 at 43, and then again for the 2020 Tokyo Games at 48.

The inspiring athlete says, "The disability is not in arms or legs but to give up in whatever you would like to do."

9 . Cliff Young was a 61-year-old farmer. He had no_________experience as an athlete and was laughed at when first participating in an Australian ultramarathon (超马拉松赛) in 1983.

He had no professional equipment to complete the race,_________win it, and was quickly left behind. He even wasn’t _________that the race included scheduled stops for participants to_________, and while others took breaks, Cliff moved on into the right.

Things went on just as what happened in The Tortoise and the Hare (龟兔赛跑).

Cliff_________took over the athletes and won. He entered the race as a_________and finished it a national hero. Actually, he had been used to the lengthy running the ultramarathon_________, as he had to stay out for days fetching sheep at his farm. He just took the race as another day running after_________before the storm, which enabled him to complete the race without any_________.

Australia was so impressed by the achievement that a race was__________for him, the Cliff Young Australian Six-Day Race. In the race in 2000, he even set the world__________record. No player was older. Now he still__________athletes.

The tortoise and hare story aims to tell children the importance of steadiness over__________, though growing up makes one realize that speed does make a__________in the competitive world. Cliff__________that steadiness might actually win in some grown-up cases as well.