“Marilyn, you have so much determination and so much heart. If you work at it you’ll be a fine swimmer,” Gus Ryder said to me after I finished a one-mile race in the freezing cold Lake Ontario.

I believed him and started swimming for Gus. Every day, we trained for hours in open water. But no matter how hard I worked, I still came in third or fourth. Four years later, it was clear that I was never going to the Olympics. That’s when Gus suggested I challenge the famous American long-distance swimmer Florence Chadwick to swim the thirty-two miles across Lake Ontario from New York to Toronto.

The idea had never occurred to me, but Gus had made up his mind. “I wasn’t sure Florence could make it. If we could swim one stroke further than her, it would be worth it,” Gus encouraged me.

Eventually, I decided to do it for Gus, and for myself.

The race started at 10 pm on September 6. It was cloudy, windy, and very dark. When I looked around, I couldn’t see where the lake ended and the sky began.

“Marilyn, just follow my light and I will guide you across this lake,” said Gus, who had a big flashlight and shone it just ahead of me from the lifeboat.

Florence swam for about four hours before she quit. But it wasn’t until several hours later, when I was having difficulty, that Gus told me that Florence was out and that I was the only one left!

I felt very encouraged. But it was such a long night that Gus had to do his best to keep me going. At the dawn, he even began writing messages on a chalkboard to keep my thoughts positive. Once he wrote, “You know you can do it. You can do it for me!” Another time he even wrote, “If you give up, I give up.”

By midday I felt so tired that I started falling asleep. So Gus started swimming with me to get my attention back. “I’m here to swim with you, Marilyn. Come on!” he said.

At the very moment, I began to experience a very unusual feeling.

After twenty-one hours in the water, we began approaching the shore.

The FIFA World Cup is     1     international association football competition contested by men’s national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). Qatar will be the first country in the Middle East     2     (host) the FIFA World Cup. The tournament will be held from 21 November to 18 December 2022,     3     the average temperature in Qatar ranges from 24-28 degrees Celsius. The tournament was moved to winter in Qatar to protect athletes and attendees     4     the summer heat.

As the flagship tournament of the most popular sport in the world, no event has such an extraordinary global reach as the FIFA World Cup™. With the     5     (participate) of 32 national football teams, fans from all around the world and an international event management and volunteer workforce, Qatar     6     (expect) to host as many as one million visitors during the tournament.

Unique stadium     7     (design) reflect the cultural heritage of Qatar and the Arab region. Al Bayt Stadium, which will host the opening match of the FIFA World Cup™, features a giant tent structure     8     (cover) the entire stadium. The stadium takes its name from ‘bayt al sha’ar’ — tents     9     (historical) used by nomadic peoples (游牧民族) in Qatar and the Gulf region. Lusail Stadium, the largest stadium,     10     (celebrate) the region’s ancient tradition of craftsmanship. Its golden vessel design takes its inspiration from intricate bowls used across the Middle East for centuries.

An impossible peace

Once upon a time, on a piece of land there lived giants and dragons, who had been enemies for years on end. However, after years of bloody fights, they had learned a lot. They were no longer so foolish as to wage wars with terrible battles in which thousands died. Now, every year they held bowling matches instead. A giant competed against a dragon. Whoever lost would become the winner’s slave. If a dragon won, he could use the giant’s muscles for all that heavy lifting. If a giant won, he would have free flights and fire for the whole year.

That was how they prevented their deaths and yet with the match going round and round, they hated each other more and more. Every year the winners were so cruel to the losers, in revenge (报复) for the time they had lost. The losers would be at the mercy of the winners, giants tired from lifting loads while dragons worn out from constant flying and breathing fire. There came a time when what mattered most was not winning the bowling match, but not losing.

Yonk the Giant was the best bowler, and the most afraid. He had never lost. Many dragons had been his slaves and they were dying to see him lose so they could get their revenge. This was why Yonk was terrified of losing. Especially since last year’s match, when he missed his first ever strike, he had decided that something had to change.

The following year he won again. When he arrived home, his slave dragon feared the worst but Yonk did nothing bad to him, for he had a different idea in mind.

“This year you will not be my slave. We will go bowling and I will teach you all of my techniques and secrets. But you must promise me one thing: when you win your match next year, you will not be cruel to your giant. Do the same as I am doing with you.”

The dragon gladly accepted.

Much later Yonk lost his first bowling match but he was no longer afraid of losing.

From 13 runners meeting in Bushy Park, south-west London, in 2004, to five million members worldwide in 2018, parkrun has become     1     global phenomenon. There are now more than 1,700 of the free,     2    (week) events in 23 countries, with numbers     3    (continue) to rise. Beyond joining local races, there’s an increasing number of “parkrun tourists”, who plan trips in order to check off unusual and impressive     4     (route). All parkrun events, which     5    (manage) by volunteers, stay true to the original aim of being free and inclusive. “    6    (like) traditional running events that may require pre-registration, entry fees and cut-off times, at parkrun     7     is free to participate and speed is not important,” says Chrissie Wellington, Global Head of Health & Wellbeing for Parkrun UK. “The     8    (popular) continues to grow by empowering local communities to work out a mixed-gender, multi-generational health plan that appeals to a broad cross-section of society,     9    (particular) those for whom physical activity and volunteering is not the norm.” Whether you walk, jog, run, volunteer     10     watch, you can learn new skills and enhance your health and happiness in the great outdoors while making new friends, feeling part of your local community and improving your fitness.