1 . When I tried out for the football team during the summer before 9th grade, I never imagined how important this sport would become in my life. Football is a _____ sport, at times almost painful, and practices really _____ a team’s physical and mental limits. Without trust in my own ability and a strong sense of commitment, I would never have managed to continue after years of hard work as a player, and with countless _____.

In the first year, I played on the defensive line. This was an amazing _____ that gave me a great sense of achievement. But in the last game of the season, I was seriously injured. I was prohibited from any physical activities for six months. After going _____ a series of physical treatments, I returned to the field as a team captain. I practiced harder than ever to make up for my _____ time.

In September, during my junior year, my name was mentioned in the local newspaper as the key defensive lineman on the team. After playing a fantastic season, I was given the _____ of the Most Valuable Player.

_____, my skills in football do not magically extend to other sports. During the winter break, I went on a snowboarding trip and seriously injured my right shoulder. I had to have four _____. Since I could not use my right arm for two months, I had to learn how to write and eat using my left hand.

______ life must go on. I knew that my own present efforts would decide my future, so I ______ the strict training program to build up strength and improve flexibility in my ______. After an eight-month recovery, I was back to the field playing football, the sport I ______.

In this sense, the world of football has taught me an important life lesson: ______ and commitment make what seems impossible ______. This lesson from football is the one that can be applied to every part of life.

2 . Worth the pain in the end

I used to hate running. It seemed too hard and pushing outside my comfort zone was not something I was raised to do.

In fact, I wouldn’t have become a _______ if it weren’t for my husband Charles. He had been a serious competitive runner for many years. After our marriage, he wouldn’t stop talking about how much he missed it.

“So start running again, why don’t you?” I was getting _______ of hearing about it.

So he picked it up again, and after about a year, I started to join him at the track (跑道). Just a few weeks later, Charles signed us both up for a five-kilometer race. I _______about doing it. It was too soon.

But on _______ day, there I was.

The gun went   _______.Thousands of runners pushed forward.

The first kilometer was _______.

“I don’t think I’m going to make it.” I was already breathing heavily and painfully aware of the group of runners   pounding past me.

“No, you’re doing _______”, said Charles. He was trying to encourage me, to get me focused on something other than my   _______.

“I can’t,” I said, barely audibly (听得见地).

He tried a different way to _______ me. “Just make it to that house and let’s see how you feel.”

After another minute I saw the three-kilometer   ________. All I could think of was that I was dying and that my husband was torturing (折磨) me.

Miserable doesn’t even begin to describe   ________ I felt. And there was so much pain.

“You’ll be fine. You’ve got less than a kilometer to go.”

I rounded a corner and saw both sides of the street thick with people watching the race, all cheering the runners on. I willed my legs to keep going.

Then I looked up and saw the clock. The seconds ticking away (一分一秒地过去) gave me an incentive (助力). I knew that if I finished this race, I would have achieved something. So, I straightened up, and kicked it.

I had my arms held higher when I passed ________the finish line. A volunteer put a   ________ around my neck.

“You did great! I’m so proud of you!” Charles was thrilled that I’d ________ it.

“That was AMAZING! I want to do another race. This running stuff is amazing!” I proudly hugged my medal as we started to walk to the post-race festivities.

My lungs and my comfort zone both ________.

3 . Ms. Evans passed out the quizzes. “Everyone ready?” she asked, _______ the clock. “Begin!”

Raj zipped through addition, subtraction(减法), and multiplication(乘法) problems. When he came to _______, he slowed down a bit. Then his pencil tip _______.

“Time’s up!” Ms. Evans called. “Exchange papers, please.” After checking, Ms. Evans made a/an _______. “We have a new speed-math champion this week.” She smiled at the new girl, who had been in class for only three days. “Congratulations, Caroline. As for the rest of you, keep _______.”

Raj shook his head. He didn’t need to do that. Next Friday, he’d sharpen two pencils. Then the _______ would be his again.

_______ for the second week in a row, Raj wasn’t the winner.

“Good job, Caroline,” Ms. Evans said, “Looks as if the others are going to have to work harder to _______ you.”

This time Raj decided to practice his math like crazy. He started on Monday: addition problems during breakfast; subtraction while he brushed his teeth; multiplication on the bus; and division during his after-school snack. As the week went _______, he did better and better.

Even so, when he saw his score in class on Friday, he didn’t feel as ________ of winning as he had before. Maybe Caroline had gotten an even higher score.

While Ms. Evans paged through the ________ papers, Raj watched her face. Had his work paid off?

“Our champion has changed this week,” she said at last, “Congratulations, Raj. You’ve really ________.”

Caroline was standing right in front of Raj’s desk. “Good job on the quiz,” she said.

“Thanks,” Raj replied, “You, too—I mean, winning the past two weeks.”

Caroline shrugged. “At my old school, I was the ________ at math, so I always won. It’s fun to have some competition here. It makes math more exciting.”

Fun? Exciting? Raj stared at her. What was fun about ________?

“Are you going to try to win the title back next Friday?” he asked.

“Of course.” She smiled, “I will try my best! See you Monday. And good luck, champ.”

Raj grinned at the teasing. Maybe math was more ________ this way.