1 . Every August, teams with players about 10 years old play baseball across the US, with the aim to become Little League _______. In this year’s game, Isaiah Jarvis, a Little League batter (击球手),   _______ the pitcher (投球手), Kaiden Shelton, who threw a baseball that hit him in the head. The   _______ scene brought tears to the eyes of the crowd in the stadium.

On August 7^th, Kaiden Shelton, from Texas, _______ Isaiah Jarvis, from Oklahoma, at the plate. With two strikes against Isaiah, Kaiden _______ lost control of his pitch. The ball hit Isaiah in his helmet, sending him to the ground. The field staff immediately _______ him and found him to be OK. He decided to remain in the _______. Yet Kaiden, the pitcher, appeared to be _______.

Isaiah called a timeout upon seeing his _______ battling emotions. He calmly walked toward Kaiden and gave him a big hug, trying to ________ him. “Hey, you’re doing just great.” Kaiden later shared with NBC News. “These ________ words from him really helped me.”

A video of the moment was posted online and attracted more than 6.5 million views. Danny Graves, a sports announcer, said Isaiah’s ________ was the best thing he had ever seen in Little League baseball.

The Texas team won the game 9-4 to ________ to the Little League World Series. And Isaiah was also ________ to the game to celebrate its 75th anniversary. The pair told NBC News they think their newfound ________ will last beyond any tournament.

2 . My father grew up in Chicago and loved the local team Cubs (小熊队) his whole life. I loved my dad, so the Cubs _________ me too. When I went back home after school or work, I always watched the Cubs with him. Two decades after my father’s _________, every time I watch the Cubs on television, I think of him and _________ with him in my head about their game.

Perhaps baseball is too _________ a thing for father and son to connect over. A ball game might seem, frankly, sort of _________ compared with family and career concerns. But that is _________ what makes it ideal for forming relationships. We had nothing to _________ as we watched them play, except for the _________ of enjoying the games together as father and son, which was much greater than it would have been, if either of us had _________ without the other. The Cubs were the “place” where we met to enjoy being __________.

Lots of sports fans have similar __________. Sportswriters find that 42 percent of sports fans were “very __________” with their family life, compared with less than a quarter of nonfans.

If your __________ with family are a little cold, you might be __________ too much usefulness in your activities. Maybe the solution is to develop a taste for baseball, or maybe instead for opera or __________.

3 . It was an overwhelming Friday afternoon. There were hundreds of students, who _________ to cheer their favorite team up.

I have always loved running, but my_________to compete for a long-distance race was terrible for me. I was_________to compete in a four-hundred-meter race, yes, it was indeed _________. When the competition finally began. I found my nervous self _________. I ran with my strength, but still did not make_________to the top three. My teammates, whom I have expected to comfort me_________to doubt my ability to compete in the next event. They never wanted me to be in the next track game. This belief motivated me to_________more.

I wanted to prove myself._________I decided to work more on my endurance(耐力)skills. As soon as I noticed my time__________were getting better. I signed up for the next track game. This time I not only __________to be one of the top three competitors, but also earned a medal for my team.

Nothing was more__________ than the medal I won at that moment. I was appreciated by the members of my team, who__________rejected my wish to compete on that game. I learned that whatever one puts their__________to do, that person will__________be the best at what he is aiming for.

4 . Sophie signed up for the baseball game. She knew she could ________ Gramps to help her. After all, Gramps had been a professional player. ________, training with Gramps turned out to be hard work. For the rest of the time before the match, Gramps ________ her all about the game. If Sophie ever had ________ about being good enough to play, she looked at Gramps and those doubts ________ disappeared.

However, when Sophie stepped up to the game for the first time, Gramps was ________ to be seen. There was no time to do anything but go ahead. Slam! She swung the bat, and the ball was in the air ________ she even realized she had hit it. First base, second base, and then she ________ into third in a trail of dust. Her team jumped to their feet in ________. Now, Gramps was standing right behind the bench, ________ louder than anyone else.

“Where did you go?” asked Sophie, rushing up to him after the game. “I looked everywhere for you. I needed you!” “You only ________ you needed me,” said Gramps. “The ________ is, when you are in the game, you’re always on your own. Now you know you can do it, with or without me.” Sophie nodded. “You’re ________. I can do it on my own.” Then she smiled, “Any more ________ I need to learn?” “When it comes to baseball,” said Gramps, “You never ________ learning.”

5 . Could you live without your smartphone for an entire year? A filmmaker and fantasy author from New York is about to try in an effort to win $100,000.

Vitaminwater launched a contest in December, offering one contestant the________to end up with six figures if she was able to go a________year without using with a smartphone or tablet.

After sorting through over 100,000________submitted online________how they would approach the challenge, Vitaminwater aimed the company’s chosen candidate on Friday.

Elana Mugdan, 30,________an infomercial style video on Twitter that impressed the judges with its unique approach and humor. “She________for her originality and creativity in our challenge,” says Natalia Suarez, a brand manager at Vtaminwater.

Mugdan is________her iPhone for a flip phone (翻盖手机) provided by Vitaminwater. For the next year, she can’t________any smartphones or tablets at all, even those________other people. She will be able to use laptops and desktop computers. Devices like Google Home and Amazon Echo are OK, too, as long as they’re not________to a smartphone.

Getting________to compete came as an absolute surprise to Mugdan, “I really thought that I was a good________for it, but this was the kind of thing I never________that I would actually win,” Mugdan tells CNBC Make It.

“At first I was shocked when they called me. I’m kind of a(n)________person, so I was having a panic attack,” she says. But shock________turned to expectation, and now she feels she’s up for the challenge.

6 . My mother turned ninety. I knew I needed to find a senior _______ center. Not for her — for me. If I were at her age, I would want to stay in shape to _______ life, getting a lot of pleasure. Yes, walking in local parks was my _______, but I wasn’t so active as before.

I called a nearby center, “Do you have aerobics (有氧运动) classes _______ for seniors?” “Sure. Come and check us out! We start at 10 am,” the receptionist (接待员) replied and _______. The next morning, I went there. One part of me was _______ that the class was too easy, not doing me any good. The other part feared it was too hard for me to _______.

When I came into the room, a woman _______ me, “Oh, you’re new. Welcome.” Then the music started. The hour-long workout woke up the muscles I didn’t often _______ in daily walks, suiting me fine. I became a member there. My classmates ranged in age from fifty to ninety. Most gave the exercises their own ________, doing as much or little as they could. ________ no one kept score. Soon I learned physical well-being wasn’t the only ________ there. During breaks, people chatted happily. Whenever some people were ________ we asked around. Were they busy? Were they in hospital? Moreover, we signed cards for those who were ill.

I ________ to be in good shape now as I’ve hoped. Still, I’m grateful for things more valuable from the class — close friendships and new social ________.

7 . Harper Gage was 5 years old when she took part in the world Karting Association’s national go-kart (卡丁车) race. Harper thought she would _________ in the top half for her age group. But her first season as a go-kart racer did not end the way she _________.

Harper was the sixth out of 17 racers near the end of the eight-lap race. _________, her car’s engine died with only two laps to go. “She’s pretty _________.” her mother, Lauren Gage, said after the race. “But we are so _________ of her.”

Just one year, Lauren _________ that her daughter should race. Harper was born with hearing loss in both ears._________, she can hear clearly when wears hearing devices. But the devices don’t fit under Harper’s race helmet (头盔), so she races _________ them. Harper doesn’t think hearing loss puts her _________ in the race. The engines are so __________. Harper said that she can hear when another car is close and ready to get ahead of her.

Harper learned about go-karts at age 3 and loved it when her family __________ a racetrack. She told her parents she wanted to __________ it, too. Lauren was worried that Harper would crash into another go-kart since she wouldn’t __________ it. But Tom Gage Harper’s father, told his wife that their daughter would be OK. When Harper turned 5, her amateur (业余的) racing career began, but she wishes to race __________ one day.

When asked about her __________, Harper shyly giggled and said, “I want to drive fast.”

8 . In the sport of track and field, athletes compete not only with one another but against themselves to achieve a new personal best. Aiming to ______ his own record, Cerveny pushed himself hard. However, his legs cramped(抽筋)and ______   him with only 200 meters to go. Determined to ______, Cerveny rose from the ground and continued on, only to fall again after another 50 meters.

______, his coach asked Cerveny if he wanted to stop. He didn't. With great ______ Cerveny pulled himself up and with a(n)   ______ pace, moved forward for one final push. ______, it wasn't enough. 100 meters from the finish line, his legs simply ______ .

Before his coach could ______ him, another runner- Brandon-was at his side to help. His first attempt to get Cerveny up failed, but he   ______ to quit too. With a second pull, Cerveny was ______. At a measured jog, the two completed the final 100 meters of the course, with Cerveny holding Brandon for ______ Brandon even made sure Cerveny crossed the finish line first,securing his______a faster time

In today’s ______ world in which the emphasis in athletics is so often put on breaking records, it was ______ to see that for an athlete like Brandon, the value of true sportsmanship still had legs.

9 . At the Abu Dhabi Special Games in 2019, Li Xiang won two golds, four silvers and a bronze. Li Xiang is 15. But his _________ age is 5 to 6 because the teen suffers from Down’s Syndrome, causing his physical and mental retardation(迟缓). Yet he proved to be a _________ at the Special Olympics World Summer Games.

When Li was diagnosed (诊断) with the _________ soon after his birth, it was for his family the end of the world. _________, when Li was 10, Chinese Olympic _________ champion Li Xiaopeng visited the school where Li Xiang was and _________ for those special students there. The act made Li Xiang _________ to gymnastics. He was determined to become an Olympic _________ like Li Xiaopeng, which brought a _________ of hope to his family.

It was not easy for a __________ child to practice gymnastics. Li __________ from coordination(协调) and __________ problems and was very sensitive when facing failure. However, with the __________ of his coach and parents, in 2015, at the age of 11, Li Xiang __________ his first Special Olympics as one of the youngest competitors. He __________ a gold, two silvers and two bronzes.

“Though years of sports haven’t improved Li Xiang’s __________, I can feel his progress in life, in self- discipline and in __________ with other people,” his mother said. It is difficult for people to __________ the hardship Li Xiang’s family has suffered to __________ up their special child and their happiness on seeing the progress he has achieved so far.

“I __________ sports. It makes me feel happy and energetic,” Li Xiang told reporters after his events.

10 . Fourteen-year-old Quan Hongchan has struck gold for China at the Tokyo Olympics. Starting the competition as a dark horse on the national team, she’s made _______ with amazing performances in the 10-meter women’s diving platform event. She _______ her name in the history books.

Quan is a genius who walked out of a small seaside town. She started _______ at the of seven. In her first training school, the springboard was made of _______ and it got burning hot in the summer. She could only use a towel to squeeze the water to _______ the springboard, and then jumped into the water again and again in the terrible _______.

“Even in such tough_______ Quan Hongchan’s hard work and seriousness in training slowly showed,”   Coach Chen Huaming said, “Her success is not entirely _______ talent”

“Our coach often reminds us that we should take those successful big brothers and sisters as our role models. However hard the training is, they just _______ it to the last second. ”   Quan told China Daily. With the role models in her heart, Quan Hongchan became more __________in training. She kept practicing physical stamina and basic skills, fuming on the tossing machine and jumping off   the platform repeatedly.

Having stood out in a series of competitions, Quan Hongchan managed to __________ the national team at the end of 2020. Due to the __________ training, talent and hard work could finally be perfectly __________ to achieve her goal. This little genius __________ the world with three perfect 10 scores out of five dives after she __________ a near splash-less dive.