1 . This was the big game. The boys were _________ and excited. It was a clear night, and my son, Andy’s baseball team, which had _________ all year, had shocked the better teams by making it to this championship game. The atmosphere was _________: the other team’s slugger (强击手), a big kid, was like a snake, dangerous and ready to _________.

Nervously, I looked out Andy’s way. I was _________ to see Andy looking straight up at the night sky! Obviously he wasn’t _________ on the game. I was horrified that he wouldn’t even know the ball was coming.

“Come on, Andy. _________ out there,” I said to myself.

Thank goodness, a big kid in the other team made a mistake. Andy and I had been _________ and our team still led by one run.

Andy ran up to me at the _________. I was about to ____________ him when he said loudly, “Did you see that shooting star?”

Andy’s eyes were glowing (发光) with ____________. I paused.

“Yes,” I said. “Well, one inning (局) to go. Hit a home run (全垒打)!”

“Okay!” said Andy, and he ran back to his ____________.

I suddenly realized it was nice that my son would take time out to ____________ the wonder and beauty in life. You might be surprised by the beauty you can find when you least ____________ it. Andy hit a triple (三垒打) in that last inning. But I still wish I had ____________ that shooting star, too.

3 . Last Sunday, our school held an ice hockey (冰球) game. I was so proud when my team ________ the game. It made me feel like I could do ________. Only three years ago, I was________ of walking or skating on the ice. To deal with this problem, I decided to ________a skating club. I really envied (嫉妒) the other club members, who were so ________and confident on the ice. But my teacher was good at teaching and before I knew it, I was able to ________. He then advised me to try ice hockey. I ________ it and was soon practising ________ my local team almost every evening. We are now training for national games________  hope to be winners one day, but my final________is to be an ice hockey teacher and help people learn to play this game.

4 . American runner Isaiah Jewett took a deep breath. Entering the final stage of the men’s 800-meter semifinal race. Jewett _________ to finish in the top two and make it to the finals. And he was in the best possible position to achieve his aim.

“I was like ‘Okay, there’s a _________ to do this. Let’s do this,’” Jewett said.

That is when something unexpected _________. When Jewett got to the turn, Botswana runner Nijel Amos tripped (绊倒) him from behind.

“It was _________. I didn’t even believe it was me even though I was on the ground,” Jewett said. “I felt so _________.”

For Jewett though, showing good sportsmanship was more _________ than winning a medal. Growing up, he was exposed (使接触) to the world of anime (动画), which taught him valuable _________ such as never giving up and always finishing a race.

That is exactly what Jewett did with Amos.

“I just _________ that he was sad, and I shut off how I was feeling. I knew I couldn’t help him in any way but I _________ to do the best I could.” Jewett said.

After the __________, Jewett got up and helped Amos to his feet. Amos apologized for his __________, and Jewett put his arm around his competitor.

“Hey man, let’s __________ this race together; we’re not done yet,” Jewett told Amos. __________ , they crossed the finish line.

“It’s okay to compete but it’s also important to show that you’re a __________. That’s the way you show your heroism by __________ each other along the way and finishing the race together,” Jewett said.

5 . Are all of your playmates crazy about football in their spare time? If so, how much do you know about football? Football is, I suppose, the most popular game in England. But one had only to go to one of the important________to see how much they know about football. One can see kinds of people there, shouting and _______for one side or the other.

One of the most _______thing about football in England to a stranger is the_______knowledge of the game which even the_______seems to have. He can tell you the names of the players in_______ of the important teams. He_______photos of them and knows the result of large numbers of matches. He will tell you _______ he expects will win such and such a match, _______his opinion is usually as_______as that of men three or four times his _______. All these facts prove that the British are really crazy about football.

Football players are trained at school, which also provides the fans with chances to learn about the special game. Most schools in England take_______seriously-much more seriously than nearly all the schools in other countries, _______lessons are all important and games are left for one’s own arrangements (安排). In England, it is believed that_______is not only a matter of filling a boy’s mind with facts in the_______; it also means character training; and one of the _______ways of training character is by means of games_______team games, where the boy has to learn to _______with others for his team , instead of working just for himself alone. The school therefore arranges games and matches for its_______. Football is a good team game and it is good exercise for_______.

7 . Deserts, rainforests and wildlife are just some of the difficulty that Russell Cook says he’ll ________ as he attempts to complete the task of running the length of Africa. Starting at the most southerly point in South Africa, the 26-year-old Briton is ________ reach the most northerly point in Tunisia by Christmas—that’s the equivalent of running 360 marathons in 240 days.

Supported by a small crew of friends, Cook will pass through 16 countries in a physically demanding, mentally exhausting and challenging ________ as he raises money for both The Running Charity and Water Aid. “There’s no ________ worrying about it until it’s right in your face. We can plan and try to ________ as much as we can along the way but none of these things keep me stay up at night. Handle the day, wake up, and handle tomorrow.”

Life hasn’t always been so ________ for Cook. Like many young men, Cook ________ his mental health as a teenager, unable to find ________ in the multiple jobs he was doing to make a living. ________ new horizons, he decided to run. A friend asked Cook to run a local half marathon. He completed it. He then thought he’d try a ________ marathon a few weeks later. He ________ that as well. “For the first time in a long time, I felt ________,” says Cook. “Trying to improve myself and then putting more ________ energy out there, putting the work in, working on myself and then slowly but surely, climbing the ladder.”

His ________ for adventure is very strong. ________ his heart is beating, Cook says, he will be moving down the road.

8 . 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 __________.

9 . As her father guided her ________ down the road alongside the swimming pool, 12-year-old Tina Fisher fiddled (整理、摆弄) with the folds of the borrowed wet suit she was wearing and took a few ________ breaths.

This is a girl who loves the ________ of water flowing around her limbs (四肢), who until recently was ________ her underwater swimming, and who takes every opportunity to spend time in the water.

But this was the first time Tina had been anywhere near a pool since the otherwise ________ June 2 when she was playing with a friend. Just 90 minutes after the preteen felt pain in her legs — the first symptom of a spinal stroke — she became paralyzed (瘫痪) from the waist ________ .

Now she was going to try something she’d never ________ even when she’d had the use of her legs: She was going to take her first scuba diving lesson.

Tina’s father, Dennis Fisher, slipped into the pool and helped Occupational Therapist Kaitlin Macdonald ________ his daughter into the water. She lay ________ , rested her head on the surface and, for a few brief moments, ________ her eyes. Then she did something that made MacDonald smile. “Tina,” she said, “look at your leg.” Ever so slightly, Tina was moving her right leg. It was ________ a few inches, but still — Tina’s mind was telling her leg what to do, and her leg was ________ .

“A lot of times, we’ll see movement ________ in the water,” MacDonald said, “It means a capacity (能力) is there that we can build on, ________ it’s still weak.”

For Tina, it felt great to just be back in the pool. She wrapped her arms around her father and briefly lay her head on his chest. Then she turned to Macdonald and indicated she was ready to swim the ________ of the pool.

“OK,” Macdonald said, “Here we go.”