1 . In 2022, a father and his son set out to begin the first of three legs of the Ironman (铁人三项) competition. Jeff, 59, and son, Johnny, 28, weren’t the typical ________. Johnny is disabled and Jeff would ________ his arms and legs. To ________ the competition, athletes must complete a(n) ________ 140 miles of swimming, bicycling and running within 17 hours.

“I wanted to ________ his dreams,” Jeff said. “I started doing things I never would have dreamt possible.” Finishing the Ironman competition would be another dream come true.

The race began with a 2.4-mile swim in the Choptank River. The ________ completed the swim in 90 minutes, and completed the difficult bike part in eight hours, then set their sights on the ________ leg of the race — a 26.2-mile marathon with Jeff ________ Johnny in the racing chair. They’d been competing for 5 hours, leaving another 3 hours to make their time. But at mile 19, Jeff began to panic, convinced they were going too slow. Somehow he ________ the energy to pick up the pace.

With 15 minutes left and 200 feet to the finish line, Jeff stopped to help Johnny out of his racing chair. In the first decade of his life, Johnny could only walk 23 steps. ________, after years of painstaking work, he ________ his step number and was determined to finish his races on his own. Johnny saw the clock ticking down and ________ they wouldn’t complete it. “Not because I wouldn’t get my moment,” he says, “but because Dad had worked so hard.”

After 16 hours, 55 minutes and 35 seconds — with just four minutes and 25 seconds to ________— father and son crossed the finish line together.

As the crowd cheered on an excited Johnny, a(n) ________ Jeff kept a low profile (保持低调).

“He didn’t want his finish line moment,” says Johnny. “He wanted it to be ________.”

2 . The Martin County High School boys’ basketball team was in the final quarter of a nail-biter of a game at a regional tournament in Pikeville, Ky., when live music ______ started playing for them.

They knew it wasn’t their school’s ______ 23-member band —which was unable to ______ the game because of a bus driver shortage. The music was coming from the nearly 100-member band of a rival (对手的) school, Pike County Central High School. The score was ______ in the tough game when the music filled the air.

Jason Johnson, Pike Central Band director, said some audience members and cheerleaders started encouraging his band to ______ the playing field and perform for Martin County Cardinals. “I was ______, well, what should I do?” Johnson recalled. The score was 64-64.

The band members, though, seemed ______ to replace Martin County’s band. “It was the students who really stepped up and ______, “said Johnson, who ultimately ______ his concerns and decided, “Let’s just do it.”

As they started their first song, the Cardinals’ ______ skyrocketed (飞涨，猛涨). “We just wanted to ______ them in a time when they needed encouragement most.” said one band member.

______ the Cardinals secured a ______ in overtime. Players said the ______ from the band helped them come out on top. Now, the team is ______ for the state tournament, marking the school’s first time competing at that level in 40 years.

3 . Donna Urquhart is an experienced runner. She ran 1,402 kilometers over the course of 28 days in Antarctica (南极洲), _______ the record for the longest-ever run in a polar region.

Urquhart spent 10 months training for the _______, turning to some unusual training methods. A company allowed her to run in a _______ storage unit where she ran in temperatures below zero. Besides, she ran along the beaches with uneven (凹凸不平的) surfaces that are like the _______ grounds in Antarctica. All those proved useful _______.

The difficulties that Urquhart faced in Antarctica were _______: taking in about 5,000 calories each day, _______ in a tent. Combined with the sound of _______ winds and the continent’s 24 hours of sunlight in the summer months, these were _______ favorable to a good night’s sleep. Urquhart would usually wear four layers of coats and keep ________ her own body temperature while running.

Urquhart launched the Run Antarctica aiming to encourage more women to ________ sport. Though still unsure about what her next running challenge will have, she has set a ________ of raising $1.5 million for charity.

“Confidence is a real issue for females,” says Urquhart. “And a sporting environment provides them with a great opportunity to ________ themselves.” This served as a huge ________ for her to take on a challenge that no other woman had attempted before. “It was actually showing that we can push our ________, and explore what seems impossible,” says Urquhart.

4 . “Have you ever considered giving up during a race?” a runner asked me during the Geneva Marathon. We’d _________ and keeping going felt like walking through a marsh (沼泽). Even the appealing scenery along the way wasn’t enough to _________ our spirits.

“I can’t think of a single race when I haven’t!” I answered _________. The runner beside me looked a little relived. Encouraged, I went on to _________ a few of the weak moments I’d overcome to persuade her to _________. My biggest _________ came during the first half of the 56-mile Marathon in South Africa, I told her. Running it was a _________ dream, but when I found myself on a steep hill with painful blisters (水疱) between my toes after a(n) _________ decision to wear no socks.

“If I give up now, I’ll _________ myself six hours of pain,” I continued. In that moment, 1,000 km of __________ training and the thousands of pounds I’d spent on flights and accommodation didn’t __________ at all.

__________, someone at my running club had laughed at the idea of a slow runner like me entering the marathon like this, and recalling this inspired me to keep moving.

“I may not finish this race before the 12-hour __________, but I’m not going to give that man the chance to say, “I told you so”, I said. Soon afterwards, I buddied up with another __________, a six-hour chat __________ and we got each other to the finish with 17 minutes to spare.

8 . A cheerleader amazed everyone at the Nebraska State High School Cheer & Dance Championship (锦标赛).

Just two weeks before the competition, something unexpected happened. Morrill High School cheer coach (教练) April Ott _________ the sad news to 17-year-old Katrina that she was the only one left on the cheer squad (拉拉队) after three girls _________ for personal reasons. The coach added the only choice for them was to watch other girls in action, but Katrina had other _________. She made up her mind to go at it _________.

And that was exactly _________ Katrina did. It was the first time that a cheerleader had competed on her own. Surprisingly, she had the _________ audience when she was _________. She was greeted by huge cheers. And despite not being able to be _________ the same as other competitors, her _________ ended up eighth out of the 12 squads.

“It was the last competition in my high school life. It was certainly out of my comfort zone,” said Katrina. “That was not something I would __________ do by any means, but I didn’t want to end my senior year on a(n) __________ note.”

Katrina’s story __________ her coach and many other people. “Katrina __________ herself,” Ott said, “I feel like this is a story for everyone. Never quit. Whatever the __________ are, just keep going.”

As for her advice to others, Katrina smiled, “Never back off. You’re __________ than you think you are.”

10 . 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.