1 . Donna Urquhart is an experienced runner. She ran 1,402 kilometers over the course of 28 days in Antarctica (南极洲), _______ the record for the longest-ever run in a polar region.

Urquhart spent 10 months training for the _______, turning to some unusual training methods. A company allowed her to run in a _______ storage unit where she ran in temperatures below zero. Besides, she ran along the beaches with uneven (凹凸不平的) surfaces that are like the _______ grounds in Antarctica. All those proved useful _______.

The difficulties that Urquhart faced in Antarctica were _______: taking in about 5,000 calories each day, _______ in a tent. Combined with the sound of _______ winds and the continent’s 24 hours of sunlight in the summer months, these were _______ favorable to a good night’s sleep. Urquhart would usually wear four layers of coats and keep ________ her own body temperature while running.

Urquhart launched the Run Antarctica aiming to encourage more women to ________ sport. Though still unsure about what her next running challenge will have, she has set a ________ of raising $1.5 million for charity.

“Confidence is a real issue for females,” says Urquhart. “And a sporting environment provides them with a great opportunity to ________ themselves.” This served as a huge ________ for her to take on a challenge that no other woman had attempted before. “It was actually showing that we can push our ________, and explore what seems impossible,” says Urquhart.

2 . The greatest sports moments often have a wonderful flow state behind the victories or performances. Being in flow refers to the moments where distraction reduces, and concentration ________ .

It was a _______ summer camp ping pong tournament where I was not only down I set, but 7 points behind my opponent (对手), who had only 3 points left to ________ the set, and the tournament. For a comeback, I had to win at least 10 points, without making ________ !

Facing the desperate situation, I could ________ it a day and let my opponent win. Perhaps my opponent had already focused on the ________, but failure wasn’t an option! Thus, I ________ it out, hoping for the best. I told myself, “Let’s just try and win the next point, nothing else.” ________ deep, I stared at the ball with a clear mindset and keen ________. I took it, hit it back and scored!

5 points to go, 4 points to go... My opponent started getting visibly ________ and made mistakes. Point by point I was getting closer to being even.7-8. I was one point away from doing the ________. My mouth was shut and my eyes stayed ________ the entire set. He made another error. 8-8. The comeback was complete. The crowd went ________! Winning the next 3 points, I managed to win that set. In the last set, my opponent turned restless again. ________ the flow, I ended up winning the final set, and the tournament.

Despite a small game, it inspired me a lot. Not being able to control how our opponent plays, we can _______ how to react. Don’t be there, where you are not. Instead, be here and now! Stay in flow! Be concentrated!

3 . Football is one of those sports that develop a strong bond between teammates. It requires every member to _________ the player next to him/her. At Eastern Michigan University’s team, Zack Conti was the hardest-working player, but he didn’t receive a scholarship.

Conti’s teammate Brian Dooley discovered that Conti was doing everything he could to _________ team practices, studies and had to pay his way through school for four years. Then Dooley turned to Chris Creighton, head football coach, who explained that the _________ was 85 scholarships a period and it was hard and _________. The next day, Dooley went into Chris Creighton’s office, saying, “Coach, I’ve talked it over with my family and I’m _________ to give up my scholarship as a gift to Zack Conti. He really _________ it.”

At a team meeting, Creighton made the _________ and handed Conti the scholarship. The team burst into wild cheers, and Conti was soon _________ beneath his teammates who were jumping up and down in _________.

When asked about the decision, Dooley shared, “I did it because I’ve seen Conti __________ over the years. Seeing him walk away from something that he loves did not sit __________ with me. Giving up my scholarship so he can stay and play __________ everything. Competition can __________ us to be better people. Through competition, we can learn that a team isn’t really about competing at all, but cooperating to reach a united goal.”

For most student athletes in all sports, the __________ they get from their teammates is what helps them get through the challenge of __________ the relationship between work, school and athletics.

4 . I was first going into this final day, the Junior Sled Dog Championship. We’d trained two years and wanted to beat Blake. I knelt down to pat Kenai and my hands ______ from nerves and excitement. Kenai tipped up his face to lick my chin. “You are ______, aren’t you?”

Just before the count down started, Blake shot me a _____ grin, hands trembling too. Then I heard, “Go!”______ I could yell   “Hike!”, Kenai leaped forward. The rest of the dogs _____ after. We started last. We flew down the long hill. Then we ______ a corner. I leaned to keep the sled steady. Kenai saw Blake’s team before I did. His tail flew up, and he ______ . Seeing his tongue still flopping forward, I let him go all out. We closed the ______. A bridge later, we inched closer. On the next hill, Kenai drew even with Blake’s sled and then we passed it.

____ our sled hit a branch. The runners caught. I lost my ______ and fell off the sled. Witnessing the sled come to a stop, I struggled through the deep snow to Kenai. I ____. His shoulder was bleeding.

“Kenai! No!” My voice came out a howl. Kenai ______ to stand. He looked at me, his blue eyes______ to keep on. He would do it, too. For one frozen moment I saw myself on the winner’s stand with the trophy (奖杯). But no. I bent and gently ______ Kenai in a blanket.

The race vet examining Kenai, I watched Blake accept the trophy. Kenai squirming in my lap, I leaned over upon him. Just at that moment, I felt a warm tongue on my wet cheek. I smiled and realized that I had the ____ that really counted.

6 . There is no age limit to work or do something you love. 102-year-old Jean Bailey, a resident of Elk Ridge Village Senior Living in Omaha, is constantly ________ this by teaching a fitness class four times a week for almost three years now.

Bailey mentioned that some of her ________ clients have arthritis(关节炎) that restricts their mobility, but they can ________ perform stretching exercises by following her instructions and get benefit from them. Bailey, who also uses a ________ frequently due to her leg pain, is a strict coach despite this. She explained she was ________ and called “mean” for being strict in her classes. “The girls seem to ________ what I’m going to do for them,” she added. “They know it’s beneficial.”

In 2020, 99-year-old Bailey started ________ classes. Despite being a senior, she wasn’t ________ by the younger ages of her peers(同行). Being someone who was keen on staying active and good at motivating people, she encouraged her students to bring chairs into the hallway and performed ________ exercises. Everyone enjoyed it greatly and the classes never stopped.

Bailey ________ 30-minute exercise classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, which begin at 9:45 am. Apart from helping them stay ________, the classes also have allowed the women attending to form beautiful ________. Bailey said, “One of us would do something for anybody. We really keep track of each other.”

One of these women is Phyllis Black, 87, who lives down the hall from Bailey. Black was ________ by Bailey with homemade cookies when she moved into Elk Ridge about three years ago. Bailey often treats the ________ with baked goods after the exercise sessions, especially on birthdays, as she believes all birthdays are significant at this age. Black said of Bailey, “She’s a very ________ neighbor, and she’s also a good friend.”

7 . On Oct. 11, hundreds of runners competed in a cross-country race in Minnesota. Melanie Bailey should have _________ the course earlier than she did. Her _________ came because she was carrying a _________ across the finish line.

As reported by a local newspaper, Bailey was more than two-thirds of the way through her _________ when a runner in front of her began crying in pain. She _________ to help her fellow runner, Danielle Lenoue. Bailey took her arm to see if she could walk forward with _________. She couldn’t. Bailey then _________ to let Lenoue climb onto her back and carried her all the way to the finish line, then another 300 feet to where Lenoue could get _________ attention.

Once there, Lenoue was _________ and later taken to a hospital, where she learned that she had serious injuries in one of her knees. She would have struggled with extreme __________ to make it to that aid checkpoint without Bailey’s help.

As for Bailey, she is more __________ about why her act is considered a big __________. “She was just crying. I couldn’t __________ her,” Bailey told the reporter. “I feel like I was just doing the right thing.”

Although the two young women were strangers before the __________, they’ve since become friends. Neither won the race, but the __________ of human kindness won the day.

8 . When people find out that I competed in the Olympics, they________I’m an accomplished pentathlete (五项全能运动员). But it isn’t true. For me, becoming an Olympian was, actually, an act of ________.

In the summer of 1979, I started intensively training for the Olympic trials to be________in June of 1980. But then in November, I was seriously injured in a car accident. It seemed that I would have to________my dream of the Olympics.

Everyone felt so sorry for me. Everyone but me. It was________, but I never believed this setback would stop me.

But my progress was________, for I was still in pain, unable to move. I knew I had to do something or I would never________. So I started training the only way I could — in my head.

A pentathlon consists of five track and field events. I obtained________of the world-record holders in all five of my events. I watched the films over and over. I trained as hard as I could — without ever moving a________.

________, when I could walk a little, I went to the track. ________I couldn’t practice, I would stand on the track and envision in my mind the complete physical training routine. For months, I repeatedly________myself competing and qualifying at the trials. I firmly believed that I could place in the top three at the Olympic trials. By the time the trials actually rolled around, I had healed just enough to compete.

I moved through my five________as if in a dream. ________, as I walked across the field, I heard a voice on the loudspeaker________my name, “Second place, 1980 Olympic Pentathlon: Marilyn King.”

9 . We all know that physical exercise has treatment power, but who would have ever imagined that playing ping pong could help _________ the brain?

For decades, the recording artist and activist Nenad Bach _________ the world performing with famous musicians like Bono and Luciano Pavarotti. However, everything came to a _________ stop in 2010 when Nenad was _________ to have Parkinson’s disease(帕金森病). Everything that Nenad thought was ordinary in life was _________. “Music is a passion of mine,” he said. “When I was told I had Parkinson’s, I didn’t know what it was. Five years later, I couldn’t play a single chord(和弦) on the _________.”

One day, a friend of Nenad’s asked him to play _________ with him, and Nenad said yes. The effects were _________ and positive: he woke up the next day filled with a “_________ to live”, and his physical and cognitive(认知的) issues had __________. Encouraged, he kept playing. For months, he told everyone around him about how ping pong was __________ his Parkinson’s, but his praise fell on deaf ears. __________, he took matters into his own hands and started Ping Pong Parkinson’s sessions. Once the sessions __________ momentum(势头), he created a nonprofit organization called Ping Pong Parkinson (PPP). PPP hopes to encourage people living with Parkinson’s to play ping ping for its multiple __________.

Nenad has made spreading the word about the power of ping pong as his new life goal! He hopes others will __________ the sport and see the same sort of cognitive and physical improvements he’s enjoyed.

10 . Marcus is a handsome and athletic kid. He plays tennis and _________ the state tournament every year. Marcus’s neighbor, Conrad, is also _________ to compete, but he has rheumatoid arthritis (类风湿性关节炎). Although it pains him just to walk, he _________ painful days at school walking to the sports field. He loves watching his school compete so he doesn’t _________ a game.

Marcus has known Conrad since primary school. They’ve always been _________. He sees Conrad in pain and his _________ at not being able to play sports. So, every day alter school, Marcus _________ his classmates to go to Conrad’s for a moment of discussion about the game competition. The discussion is as _________ as a real high school game, which makes Conrad forget the hurt.

Finally, the doctors found a new _________ to reduce the pain. Conrad walks without much pain, and then begins running, but he still has to learn the __________ of running. After a childhood of walking carefully and taking __________ steps, Conrad has to train his walking like a kid again and stay in shape. He pushes himself every day，building his lungs and doing leg lifts repeatedly for his leg __________. He knows what pain feels like, but running for Conrad is no longer __________.

To Conrad’s delight, he gets a chance to join the cross country team. Conrad doesn’t win, not once, but Marcus is there, __________ for him who always finishes in the middle of the competitors, breathing in wind and waving his hands __________.