1 . It was a classic night. The noisy Mexico City ________ calmed down. The main stadium of Olympic track and field competition was enveloped(笼罩) in the ________ . After he finished taking photos of the marathon winners ________ the victory, Greenspan, a world-famous news producer, found the stadium ________. He was about to leave ________ he suddenly saw a man with his right leg spotted with the blood ran into the stadium. This man ran lamely(跛脚地) out of breath, but he didn’t stop. After he ran along the track for a ________ and got to the finish line, he ________ the ground.

Greenspan guessed this was a marathon athlete. Out of ________, he went over and ask why the athlete wanted to run to the ________ with such a difficulty.

The young man, called Kowari from Tanzania, replied in a ________ voice, “That my country sent me here from over 20,000 kilometers is not to let me get off the track in the competition, but to make me ________ the game. I’ve fallen behind all other runners, I have a sacred(神圣的) goal like them. ________ the audience won’t ________ me any more, but my motherland is watching me from behind….” Tears welled up in Greenspan’s eyes. Soon, he spread the most ________ scene in the history of the Olympic Games to every corner of the world.

Life should have a dream of reaching the peak. It is not whether we can reach the top but whether we’ve made the greatest ________ that counts. To reach the goal in the mind is also a success.

3 . It was the district sports meet. My foot still hadn’t healed from a(n) ________ injury.

I had ________ whether or not I should attend the meet. But there I was, ________ for the 3,000-   meter run.

“Ready … set … ” The gun popped and we were off. The other girls rushed ahead of me. I felt________ as I fell father and father behind.

“Hooray!” shouted the crowd. It was the loudest cheer I had ever heard at a meet. The first-place runner was two laps ahead of me when she crossed the finish line.

“Maybe I should ________,” I thought as I moved on. ________, I decided to keep going. During the last two laps, I ran________ and decided not to ________ in track next year. It wouldn’t be worth it, ________ my foot did heal.

When I finished, I heard a cheer louder than the one I’d heard earlier. I turned around and________ enough, the boys were preparing for their race. “They must cheering for the boys.”

I was leaving ________ several girls came up to me. “Wow,   you’ve got courage!” One of them told me.

“Courage? I just ________ a race!” I thought.

“I would have given up on the first lap,” said another girl. “We were cheering for you. Did you hear us?”

Suddenly I regained hope. I decided to ________ track next year. I realized strength and courage aren’t always measured in medals and victories, but in the ________ we overcome. The strongest     people are not always the people who win, ________ the people who don’t give up when they lose.

6 . Standing in front of the bike shop, Dave stared at the shiny red bicycle in the window. He could _______ himself riding the bike in Saturday’s race and winning the first-place medal and prize money. “With that bike, I could even beat Adam,” Dave thought.

He rode on and stopped at Peck’s clothing store. The coat he planned to buy his mother for her birthday was still on sale. Dave knew she would _______ buy it for herself. She worked hard just to make _______ meet. But the prize money would be enough for him to buy that coat and surprise her.

Dave looked at his old bike. Two years ago, he found some old bicycles at the _______ and used the parts to make one bike. He called it his recycled bike. “I’ll never _______ the race on this old bike,” Dave sighed.

As Dave passed the junkyard, he noticed a newer-looking bike tire. He started _______ the huge junk pile. Finally, he found what he was looking for. “These two tires and the handgrips (手把) are just _______ for my bike.”

Arriving home, Dave put the used tires and the handgrips on his _______ bike, and oiled the chained. He stood back and admired the _______ he had made. “I might win that race after all,” he said to himself.

The next morning, when Dave and his mom got to the park, about thirty kids had already __________. Dave headed for the start line __________ Mom found a seat at the finish line.

Bang! The riders rushed off. Dave __________ Adam, who was in the lead. He __________ to pass one rider after another and was approaching Adam. Leaning forward, Dave pedaled harder and faster. __________ he sped by Adam and crossed the finish line.

As the announcer awarded Dave the medal and the check for fifty dollars, he asked, “What are you going to do with the prize money, Dave?”

“It’s a __________ ,” Dave said and waved to his mom.

7 . When the summer holiday came, our kids joined a swim team. Every morning they _______ their swim skills. Then, every Thursday afternoon was the swim meet, where they could compete(竞争)for a red _______ .My oldest son was a really good swimmer. Yet, he felt most comfortable staying at home where he could avoid _______.

Last Thursday, he once again said how much he _______going to the swim meet. After a few minutes, we made a _______ that if he went to this meet and didn't like it, he could_______ the rest of the meets for the year and still _______the swim team without competing.

We arrived at the pool early. As I returned to my seat, I noticed my _______ little boy sitting on his towel, lost in thought. To my surprise, when it was time for his _______, he jumped into the water and began paddling as hard as he could. Soon he came up to me ________, showing me a red band! I was also excited. He finally broke down the barrier(障碍)and had ________. On the drive home, he said to me, “Dad, I ________ to go to all the swim meets.”

Then, I remembered a famous saying, “A ship in the harbor(港口)is________,but that is not what ships are built for. ” We have to ________ the fear of failure and step out of our comfort zone(区). There are many________we can develop if we are willing to go out and try.

8 . This weekend a marathon took place where I live. I _________ the runners, who would run 42. 2 km if they completed the race. I’ve never run for more than half an hour _________ I’m amazed that some people _________ to keep going for over four!

At university, I played korfball (荷式篮球). The aim in the sport is to shoot the ball _________ the hoop (篮筐), which is like a netball hoop only _________ ! All players get a chance to attack and _________ during the game and its pace is _________.

When I started korfball, I wasn’t very good at it. I could _________ and catch but I was not very fast on my feet. Shooting was also difficult for me because I’d played netball in school and was used to a shorter post (柱子). _________, you often had to shoot on the move in korfball, and I found it __________ to balance and shoot straight while running __________ away from my defender!

However, I really __________ the sport and made friends, so I attended training twice a week. Two years later I was in the first team for my university and played in many matches, even scoring some goals for my team! This just shows that perseverance (毅力)__________—if you train hard, you can succeed.

__________ is difficult because you have to encourage yourself to keep going it’s __________ an individual than a team sport. I used to get really out of __________ while running and it didn’t feel good at all! Now I actually enjoy going for a run, feeling my muscles working and breathing in the fresh air.

Challenging exercise is always __________. I would like to try a 10 km run sometime, or even a half-marathon though I will __________ be a marathon runner. Seeing how happy the runners were as they __________ the finishing line made me want to have that feeling—the months of __________ is worthwhile as you achieve your goal.

9 . My 11-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, does not like swimming contest. She gets horribly________   because she is afraid that she will let everyone down. She started to talk about ________ swimming, which broke my heart because she loves swimming.                                

Recently, Elizabeth’s team ________ a T-shirt relay, which works like this: one person puts on a T-shirt and a pair of ________ and swims 50 meters. The person takes off the clothes and the other members, ________ put them on and swim another 50 meters until everyone on the team has completed a lap.

I told Elizabeth I really wanted her to go. She ________ back angrily but finally agreed.                                             

When the day arrived, Elizabeth was ________ to swim the anchor leg (最后一棒). By the last leg, Elizabeth’s team had built up a ________ lead. Then it was Elizabeth’s turn.

________ the halfway mark, she was still in the lead. Then somebody noticed that one of Elizabeth’s socks had ________ and was floating in the pool. “She has to get that sock on before the end of the race,” a swimming ________ told Elizabeth’s team, “or you will be ________.”

Everybody on her team started shouting, but she couldn’t hear them. ________, a girl in Lane Two was ________ on Elizabeth. Just then, a girl on my daughter’s team jumped in the pool, ________ the sock, swam after Elizabeth and put the sock on Elizabeth.

The sock finally on, Elizabeth swam with all her ________ for the last 15 meters and won! There followed much ________. And, for a few minutes, Elizabeth was the heroine.

On the ride home, she relieved her moment of glory ________. She told me that if the T-shirt relay were an Olympic event, her team would win the gold medal. I told her that in my ________ opinion, she was ________ right.