1 . On a recent Sunday morning jog through Prospect Park, Martinus Evans was received like a conquering champion. Every few minutes, a passing _________ would smile and nod, congratulating him as they _________.

Mr Evans is the _________ of Slow AF Run Club. At 300 pounds, he is a _________ figure among runners who have felt left out of the sport. He’s graced the cover of Runner’s World and _________ in the ads of sports brands. And this month, he’s releasing his first book.

The idea for the club was born at about mile 16 of the 2018 New York City Marathon, just after the tiring Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan. Mr Evans was running along when he _________ a man gesturing from the sidelines.

“You’re _________, buddy,” the man shouted, adding an impolite word to indicate just how slow. “Go home.” Mr Evans tried to _________him, and turned his attention back to the _________. Six hours behind the winner, he __________ finished it in over eight hours. But as the bystander repeated his __________ word, Mr Evans got angrier-then __________. The next time he raced, he wore a shirt with that man's phrase, and a cartoon of a smiling turtle. When he __________ photos of his new uniform on social media, __________ asked for shirts of their own. By early 2019, his running club was born.

He said his driving message is simple: “I want everyone to know that they can run in the __________ they have right now.”

2 . After winning the 100-meter dash at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in August, 26-year-old sprinter (短跑运动员) Noah Lyles was named “World’s Fastest Man”. Now he has his ____ set on winning more medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Lyles, the son of two former runners, grew up in Alexandria, Virginia. He began ______ as a sprinter when he was a teenager and dreamed of going to the Olympics. He ______ for a spot (排名位置) on the US Olympic team in 2016 but did not ______. Fortunately, in 2021, he ______ the US team for the Tokyo Games and won a bronze medal in the 200-meter race.

Lyles has been ______ with legendary Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who has held the same ____   “World’s Fastest Man”. Bolt won the 100 meter and 200 meter races at the World Championships and still holds the ___in the 200 meter with a time of 19. 19 seconds, set in 2009. Lyles’ best time for that race is 19.31, and he said his _____ is to run it in 19.10 seconds, which would break Bolt’s record. Lyles said that he did not ______ top runners like Bolt as idols (偶像) while growing up. “I believed in myself and in learning something from _____people, because everyone has their own advantage,” he said.

After his win, Lyles said he felt that his years of training and patience have finally ______. In Paris next year, Lyles hopes to win more golds.   “If I got three gold medals at the World Championships, maybe I have the ______ to get three gold medals at the Olympics,” he said. His another expectation is to make track and field more _____ and accessible to a large number of people. “I’m trying to make sure that everybody comes and ______ the sport,” he said.

3 . This is the dream of my running partner: Eduardo. He’s a marathon runner with an eye problem who needs ______ to train and to compete.

Eduardo has been running longer than me, and has more desire than any person I know. ______ , he didn’t like training for a marathon. He ran with ______ , without a clear goal, got bored with training and didn’t train with many people.

Now it has ______ — he has an 18-week training plan where he runs six days a week, and he has realized he ______ running more because he has a ______ — to make a little progress every day. He runs with me, one who loves running so much and with the training group at La Tapia de Madrid. The ______ we share for running is what ______ us.

Eduardo and I run together by a rope-I have to ______ turns, different terrain (地形) and barriers. It’s ______ , but I have never ______ this in the presence of others. The main thing we ______ is to run confidently and enjoy running as a whole.

Now, Eduardo goes running with different people, but with a fixed goal of rhythm (节奏) and ______ . He has taken five weeks of training, but he says he will keep on doing it, because he has understood ______ can be the way to improve his fitness.

Eduardo wants to run sub-3:30 in the Madrid Marathon, and he will do it. ______ , it’s not written in stone, but I’m confident that he’s going to succeed.

4 . At age 83, Barbara Humbert dreams of taking part in next year’s “Marathon for All” race at the Paris Olympic Games. It is the first ______ of its kind, allowing amateur(业余)athletes to run the same race path as the Olympic marathon athletes. Humbert has a history of success suggesting she could ______ some runners half her age.

Unlike your ______ great-grandmother, the German-born Frenchwoman runs 50 kilometers a week. She has ______ in many marathons and has the medals to show for it. “It's ______ to have the Olympics in my homeland,” said Humbert, “It would be a ______ for my 60th marathon.”

However, Humbert is ______ whether she will receive the paper for admission to the race, as the number for the Marathon for All will be ______ to 20,024. Humbert's husband Jacques is a big supporter, helping where he can. He is waiting to hear from the sports ministry about the ______ to reserve a piece of admission paper for his wife.

Many ______ hang in the entrance of Barbara and Jacques’s home. They ______ Barbara of all the races she has taken part in, from Athens to Boston and many other cities. She figures out that she has ______

about 8,000 kilometers in those races.

Humbert wants others to ______ in her footsteps. She said of running, “It gives you balance. You run, you empty your head, you feel ______ relaxed afterwards.” Barbara is planning for more races ______ just staying on what has been achieved.

5 . Adriaan Wildschutt is a South African middle-distance runner. Recently he _______ to break two previous records in a row in just three months, which were set in 1999 and 2016. While qualifying (取得资格) for the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 was his main _______, breaking two records was a(n) _______ but great achievement.

With such a performance, Wildschutt has put himself in a strong _______ for future competitions during the World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger in Belgium. And he looks forward to _______ his country on a global stage.

“Well, it is _______ to know that I have written myself into the history books of South African athletics. It has always been a _______, and knowing that my hard work paid off in such a surprising way is joyful,” said Adriaan Wildschutt. “I guess I _______ from the elevation training over there a lot. It’s just having a great coach and a great team and having all the things that I need to _______ well and stay healthy and consistent,” Wildschutt said.

“The 3,000 m for me is really the most ________ — It’s short and fast and very exciting. It’s probably not the event I’m best at, but I ________ enjoy running in it. I would probably say my best events are 5,000 m-10,000 m,” said Wildschutt with ________.

The United States-based athlete said one should work hard to achieve the goals. “Work hard in all ________ of your life, whether that is personally, academically (学业地) or athletically. It’s important that you keep them ________. Discipline (自律) is also ________, which helps you manage yourself well. It is what made me who I am today.”

6 . Yang Xiuyun, 72.is addicted to running. A 10-kilometer run in the morning is like her first _______ of the day. Before her _______. Yang was a breeder(饲养员). At that time, she did not know what a marathon was, but now she has run nearly 40 marathons, not only _______ in China, but also in Helsinki. Finland.

“Life is like a marathon. I’m just racing against the _______.” said Yang, who has been running consistently for 22 years. The old lady has short hair and speaks as _______ as she runs.

When she retired, Yang _______ kidney stones(肾结石). The doctor said that if she did not have _______, she could only recover by talking medicine or exercising. One morning, Yang went out for a walk and _______ a group of runners, who ran together and _______ each other. Seeing Yang’s ________ look in her eyes, the runners warmly invited her to join. “At first. I was afraid that I would become a drag in this group of young people, but they ________ me with great enthusiasm.” From 5 kilometers running to 10 kilometers, 20 kilometers, and ________the full marathon, the distance that Yang measured with her feet became longer and longer. Besides, she ________ a group of friends.

Running day after day has also brought changes to Yang’s body and ________. To the doctor’s ________, her kidney stones, which were ________ the size of broad beans, disappeared after several years of running.

In 2011, Yang ________ for the Shanghai Marathon, but she was not satisfied after finishing in five hours. Since then, she found ________ running teaching videos to adjust her running movements. After five years of professional ________, she ran for four hours and 20 minutes. In 2019. Yang signed up for the Helsinki Marathon with her running friends. “Even after all these years, running continues to ________ me,” said Yang.

7 . At the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Derek Redmond was a 400-meter runner for the UK. The _______ started well. In the semifinals(半决赛), Derek was far ahead of his _______ . But shortly before the halfway mark,he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right leg and _______ . Derek struggled to his feet and began hopping(蹦)on his left foot. The crowd stood up and cheered as he hopped _______ toward the finish line.

Then a figure _______ from the crowd: Derek’s dad, Jim Redmond. Waving off officials who tried to get him off the _______ , he ran up to his son and put an arm around his waist. Derek _______ and wept on his father’s shoulder. _______ , father and son walked the final meters of the race. The Olympic

Committee called the finish one of the most _______ moments in Olympic history. And twenty years later, they were invited to take part in the nationwide torch(火炬)relay for the 2012 Games in London.

“I saw my son having a(n) __________ and it was my duty to help”, he told CBS News in 2012. “I actually went on the track to try to stop him from __________ himself further. But he was __________ to finish the race. So I offered him a shoulder to support him.”

“He was telling me that I had nothing to __________ and that I didn’t need to do this, but I told him I was going to __________ . Then he said that we would do it together,” Derek Redmond remembered at the same interview. “So we did, and I hopped over the line in __________ .”

8 . 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.”

9 . To become the Olympic champion in the individual (个人) all-around event, Gabby Douglas had to leave everything she _________ best. She had to _______   her bedroom in Virginia. She had to say _________ to her two dogs and to the beach, where she loved to _________ waves on her board. But it was _________ to take the leap (飞跃), however _________ it would be. Even at 14, Douglas knew that. So she _________ about 1,200 miles away from home, to _________ with a coach from China. She lived with a family she had never _________ and everything was new to her.

As it turned out, Douglas did __________ what she needed to do to become Olympic champion when she __________two Russians. The Chinese coach __________ Douglas into one of the best gymnasts in the __________, helping her skyrocket from an __________ member of the national team to the top of the sport. By __________ the Olympic all-around title, she became the first black woman to do so. She __________ the competition from beginning to end. She said she had felt __________ all along that she would win.

Not so long ago, Martha Karolyl the coordinator (联络人) of the women’s national team, did not think Douglas had what it __________ to be an Olympian. As time went by, she thought __________ that she could make the London Games — and win.

“I’m going to inspire so many people,” she said. “I’m ready to __________.” And shine she did.

10 . Olympic athlete, former surfer, and Kiwi runner—Sam Tanner is all of these things and more. Now 22, the New Zealander has already _______the second-fastest time in the country’s history for the 1, 500 m race. His personal best came in the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021.

“_______on the start line and looking around, seeing so many excellent athletes felt like that my dream had _______,” Tanner said.

Tanner is a true _______ of New Zealand, a member of the Māori. The Māori are the first people to_______on this small island country in the Pacific Ocean. When asked his_______ for hopeful athletes, Tanner said, “It’s really _______to do a variety of activities when kids are doing sports. It’s also necessary for kids to have _______ living habits. Improvement is better when it's slow but steady (平稳的) progress.”

Though Tanner had _______ training, he didn’t make the top three in the 2022 Commonwealth Games. However, he still proved he was a(n) “__________” in the eyes of New Zealanders when he immediately congratulated the first-place ________ with a tap on the back.

Tanner is now ready for even more________in his running career. He trains several hours each week. “It’s not about__________,” he said. “It’s about knowing I’ve reached my best.”

The runner is ________to do what he loves the most for his country. “It was amazing to be able to__________the New Zealand uniform at the Olympics,” he said. “I had finally got there.”