2 . It’s my dream. I’m nine years old now, but have been _________ competitively since I was six. I love it, because it makes me feel good. I have a lot of _________to use up and I can do it by just moving my legs.

One recent Sunday morning, my mum drove me to a 5 km race in Minnesota.

The starting line was_________because there was also a 10 km race. That morning, I was running confidently and feeling _________. At one point, I came to a _________ in the course. A woman who was directing us _________ the route I thought I was meant to take and told me to go the other way. I was confused, but I had to follow her _________.

After a while I saw route directions for a 10 km race. I was worried, thinking I was _________, but had to keep going. My body started to get _________. I said to myself, “You’re almost there. Just keep __________. ”

__________ I saw the finish line. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even know I was running a 10 km and I had __________ it. I didn’t do this on purpose. It was a __________. I felt happy and proud. It was my first time running such a(n) __________.

It has made me want to do more 10 km races. I hope my story__________ other people to run, too.

3 . While many grandmothers would be content to stay home and enjoy a relaxed retirement, Nancy is taking a vastly _______ approach to her golden years. Three days a week, she heads to the _______ where she usually warms up with a walk before turning to her favorite sport of all:_______.

You read that right. This powerhouse is 75 years old. Ten years ago, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. There’s no _______ for Parkinson’s, and the condition generally _______over time.

Nancy wasn’t about to _______ and wait for her symptoms(症状) to increase. “My doctor said one day, ‘you’re discouraged from sitting down’,” she explained. In a(n)_______ to “move, move, move”, Nancy headed to a gym to research _______ that might help her _______ her disease. As soon as she ________ non-contact boxing, she enjoyed it very much!

Non-contact boxing means Nancy never takes hits from her opponent, so it’s a(n)________way to get exercise that stimulates her brain as well as her body. Since she started her boxing________, Nancy said her symptoms have ________, and that she feels better immediately after working out!

When she first stepped into the gym, everyone turned around to stare at her in boxing gloves. Once they got over the ________, her gym friends, who are “gentle from the heart”, became her biggest supporters.

These days, she’s a ________ customer in the gym and has no shortage of partners.

4 . I’m not athletic. In high school, for example, I joined the soccer team for a year, ending up as a ____.

In 2020, I was in a difficult stage of life and wanted something to fight for. Therefore, though I’d never run even 5 kilometers before, I entered the lottery (抽签) to run a marathon, a ____ where only a small number of people are randomly selected. Somehow, my name was ____.

I figured the only way to finish the 42 kilometers was to start by running just one. But even one kilometer proved too hard, so I adjusted the ____. I ran several minutes at a time, and then walked to catch my ____. I repeated that for months. Besides, I read books, talked to friends and found coaches. Step by step, I became a ____.

Then the ____ day came when I showed up at the starting line with other competitors. Did I win? Certainly not! Did I run 42 kilometers, cross the finishing line joyfully and receive my medal proudly? ____!

Last year I decided to ____ my own business: a performing arts training centre for kids. I’ve always loved kids and arts, but I was ____ of business. Nevertheless, because of the marathon, I had a model for how to ____ it—step by step.

So, again: I read books, talked to friends and found ____. Through it all, I became a successful entrepreneur. I keep my Marathon medal above my desk not to____my achievements but to remind myself every big goal can always be ______ into individual steps. When you combine enough steps, you will ____ to the finishing line.

6 . 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.

7 . Last night was the last game for my eight-year-old son’s soccer team. It was the final ________. The score was two to one, my son’s team ________.

With less than ten seconds ________, the ball rolled in front of my son’s teammate, one Mikey O’Donnel. With shouts of “Kick it!” ________ across the field, Mikey stepped back and gave it ________ he had. All round me the crowd ________. O’Donnel had scored!

Then there was ________. Mikey had scored all right, but in the ________ goal, ending the game in a tie. For a moment there was total hush. You see, Mikey has Down’s syndrome (唐氏综合症) and for him there is no such thing as a wrong goal. All goals were ________ by a joyous hug from Mikey. He had ________ been known to hug the opposing players when they scored.

The silence was finally ________ when Mikey, his face filled with ________, grabbed my son, hugged him and yelled, “I scored! I scored. Everybody won! Everybody won!” For a moment I held my breath, not sure how my son would ________. I need not have worried. I watched, through ________, as my son threw up his hand in the classic high-five salute (击掌) and started cheering, “Well done! Mikey!” Within moments, both teams ________ Mikey, joining in the chant and congratulating him on his goal.

Later that night, when my daughter asked who had won, I smiled as I replied, “It was a tie. Everybody won.”

8 . Jacky Hunt-Broersma, 46, completed 104 marathons in 104 days, breaking the world record for most consecutive marathons. She set her goal in January and ________ about five hours to complete each run.

She is grateful because running has given her the ________ she was afraid she would never regain. In 2002, doctors ________  that she had a rare type of bone cancer. Within two weeks, they amputated (截断) her left leg to save her life. For the first couple of years, Jacky ________ with the change in her life. She was ________ to be different. She wore long trousers in public so that people would not notice her ________ leg.

Five years ago, she ________ to do some running with the help of her husband. ________, she runs on a prosthetic (假体的) leg made out of strong, light ________ known as carbon fiber, which are costly for her. But her ________ is worth it. “Running has really changed my life. It has made such a ________ to my mental state and shown me how ________ my body can be. It has given me a total new ________ of who I am. I fall in love with the process of pushing my body further to see what I can do,” she said.

“The best thing is the support I’ve received from people who’ve ________, telling me how this has inspired them to ________ themselves in turn,” she said, “I am determined to keep going.”

9 . I have grown up in a football-loving family. My elder sister Stevie ________with Crewe Alexandra Girls for a year or two as a left back just like our hero Jamie Carragher.

I remember the exact moment when I told my dad I was ________ in doing what my big sister did. I was watching the game with him in the living room and it just ________: “It makes me ________ that I can’ t be a footballer.” He asked why not, and I answered, “Because I’m not a boy.”

He ________responded by telling me that women’s football was “great” and that I could play if I wanted to. “Yeah, I suppose so,” I responded, “but no one ________women’s football.” Looking back, I can see exactly why I felt like that.

At school, there was an unwritten rule that sports like rugby and football were for the ________. I’d never seen a women’s football match on TV and the only ________athletes I’d heard of were in the Olympics.

Today, the England Lionesses (英格兰母狮队) will ________ Scotland in the World Cup, and people across the world will tune in. ________women’s football has turned out to be one of FIFA’s investments, the majority of female players in top tiers are earning under what anyone would consider a fair ________, and only £24 million prize money was awarded to the women’s World Cup victors in ________with £315 million to the men’s. That’s a vast ________.

Today, I’ll be ________the Lionesses and the song “It’s coming home” will mean more this time around, because it’ll mean talented, skillful female footballers being ________into millions of homes and maybe, just maybe, a little girl believing that she can also be a Lioness one day.