1 . We runners know how precious our running friends are. Even when the sweat and the body pain make them feel like turning us down, they _______do. One of my oldest friends is a_______, like me. We live on opposite sides of the country and on_______career paths, so we don’t often see each other. On a recent summer afternoon, my friend Sarah_______her last-minute visit to our shared hometown with a running invitation for the following_______. She was only in town for a few days and was _______with her projects for medical school. _______, running provided us with an excuse to catch up and exercise _______ we ran along the beach that was once our high school cross-country teams meeting place for _______. We discussed work and family that had________since our last meeting as we ran the miles down.

We didn’t break any of our high school racing records that morning---that wasn’t the ________. While other friendships ________ a coffeehouse or bar for a catch-up session, Sarah and I can run in any________. Once being friends and teammates in school as________, we are now simply friends, ________each other to finish the last part of a hill as we ________advice on the larger struggles that we face in life.

While I________the lasting power of some of my other friendships, I never worry about this one. We each know what running means to the other person and the________ importance it holds for each of us. Running is the ________we can always feel good about, the high school tradition we dragged into our adult lives that never makes us ________. For me, running has always been a way to make and keep friendships.

2 . As a high school coach, I did all I could to help my boys win their game. I cheered as hard for _________ as they did. A dramatic ___________, however, following a game in which I was a referee(裁判), changed my _________ on victories and defeats.

It was a league championship basketball game between New Rochelle and Yonkers High. New Rochelle was _________ by Dan O’Brien, Yonkers by Les Beck. The gym was _________, and the noise made it impossible to hear. The game was well played and _________ competed. Yonkers was _________ by one point as I _________ at the clock and discovered there were but 10 seconds left to play. New Rochelle, the home team, took _________ of the ball, passed off and shot. The ball __________ around the rim(篮筐边沿) and off. The fans ____________. New Rochelle recovered the ball, and tapped it in for what looked like victory. The noise was __________.

I looked at the clock and saw that the game was over. I hadn’t heard the final buzzer(终场哨) because of the noise. I __________ with the other official, but he could not help me. So, I __________ the timekeeper, a young man of 17 or so. He said, “Sir, the buzzer __________ before the final tap-in was made. ” Yonkers won!

I had to tell O’Brien the sad news. His face __________. The young timekeeper came up and said, “I’m sorry, Dad. The ____________ ran out before the final basket. ”__________, like the sun coming out from a cloud, O’Brien’s face lit up. He said, “that’s okay, Joe. You did what you had to. I’m __________ of you.” The two of them then walked off the ____________ together, the coach’s arm around his son’s shoulder.

3 . Today was the fifth time that I had beaten Janice this year at tennis. I was beyond________of myself, but as I stepped out of the court and passed by Janice, I found she________not to see me without raising her head, and she was________beside her father. My mind was racing with________. “Why can't she just________the loss? Is she purposely trying to mess my confidence so I will not________my best in my next________?”

My heart pounded as I dropped my head and held legs tightly. In a few seconds, my________was burning from embarrassment, and without even looking up, I could feel everyone's eyes looking at me________.

I came________to this tournament, because my parents were 3,000 miles away. There was no one there to________me or stand up for me. I was by myself, facing so many________. Just then, a warm hand tapped me on my shoulder. I was________to look up as tears streamed down my face. The person who tapped me was Janice.

I glared at her and actually________her to leave me alone. I expected her to start crying again and________to her father. However, she sat down where I was without saying anything.

After a few moments of________, she let out a big sigh and apologized for her unusual________.

Janice glanced towards where I was looking at. She carefully got up and________me away from the court. As we were walking, I turned my head around to make eye________with her father. He caught me staring and he waved at me with smile. Without________, I gave him a big smile and walked away, making sure that I had my head held high.

4 . I first played tennis when I was 5 years old. I went to my local community center to ______ a tennis camp there. It was so much fun because I learned about tennis and got to spend a lot of time with my friends. Learning to play tennis was a bit ______ at first and it took a lot of ______ before I was able to even hit the ball ______ . Even though I loved playing tennis at the ______ ,I decided to take a break from it to do other ______.

When I was ten years old,I ______ to start playing tennis again. This time I ______ more often. I've been playing tennis ever since. When I was 10,I took ______ to learn how to score and get the ball in the lines and I even joined an actual tennis ______.

When I was in the 6th grade, I ______ both doubles and singles in the tournaments（锦标赛). Doubles is when two people play together against two other people ______ singles is when one person plays against the other person. Playing tennis tournaments helped me become a ________ tennis player because being competitive showed how to focus. Learning how to fix my ________ has helped me with things besides just tennis such as homework and volunteer work.

I'm so ________ I tried tennis when I was five. If I hadn't,I may ________ have met all the amazing people on my team and I wouldn't have ________ all that tennis has taught me. Playing a sport has kept both my mind and body ________ and is really fun. That's why I ________ everyone to go out and do something you love;it can ________ you in the long run!

5 . For over four years, I learned ballet. It was a ___part of my life. I loved it because of the challenge, the ________required to improve every single day. However, when the teachers in Florida told us to_____， I found myself designing an unhealthy weight. Unfortunately, as my weight went down, my ___got worse.

I'd heard about eating disorders but I never_____that it would happen to me. Because I had lost so many________in such a short amount of time, my organs ___ I had to stay in the hospital for four nights and five days.1 realized the serious_____ I had caused to my body, and I was ready to____

As part of recovery from an eating disorder, I was not ___to exercise for a few weeks. During this time, I_____ballet and whether I truly wanted to continue it. Did it buy my____? Not any more. It was something that I could ____. So I did, but not even once have I ever____it. I began with walks around the neighborhood with my mom when I was _____allowed to exercise, and I also took long hikes. These ___were incredibly enjoyable for me. Being outside in the sunshine was_____I became happy.

As for where I'm in my recovery, I take every day as a(n) ___to get a little bit better. I celebrate every minute I exercise, and every day I am ___of anorexia ( 厌食症). I do not exercise to____ calories, and I do it because I love it.

6 . Sports are fun, and children keep healthy while playing with others. However, sometimes playing sports can have ______ effects on children. It may produce feelings of ______ self-respect or aggressive behavior in some children. Many children say they have been ______ at or called names while playing sports. This leaves many children with a bad ______ of sports. They think sports are just too ______.

Many researchers believe adults are the ______ cause of too much aggression in children’s sports and they are to blame. They believe children watch the aggressive adult behavior and ______ it. This behavior is then further ______ from one child to another. Parents and coaches are powerful teachers because children ______ look up to them. Often these adults ______ aggressively themselves, sending children the message that ______ is everything. Many parents go to children’s sporting events and shout insults at other players or cheer when their child behaves_______. What’s worse, children are also taught that hurting other players is ______ or are pushed to continue playing even when they are injured. In addition, children watch adult sports games and see violent behavior replayed over and over on television.

_____ it comes to how to solve this problem, parents and coaches in particular should act as better ______ to children. They also need to teach children better ______ of life. They should not just ______ when children win or act aggressively. Besides, children should not be allowed to continue to play when they are _____. If adults ______ children to play when injured, this gives the message that ______ is not as important as winning.

7 . Running for a Dream

I will never forget that November day. It was hotter than normal. This was the _______ my father and I had waited so long for, because we had been working towards this race for three years. Dozens of familiar faces from church and school flashed across my view. They had come for me. I saw worry and excitement on my father’s face. Then the race began!

For the first two and a half miles， I felt _______ . I had never before been so ready for something. The weeks leading up to the race were filled with controlled _______and a strict diet. My friends hadn’t seen me in weeks, but they understood the _______ required to make my dream a reality. As in all of my races, I didn’t _______ out in the front, I loved the pleasure of passing people as my strength overtook their premature speed.

Then without warning, my strength began to decrease. Neck and neck with one of my greatest competitors, I could see the finish line. I had begun the final dash into _______ when my knees became weak and my legs gave way. Nothing I could do would make them _______ weight.

I watched as runners rushed by me. Although I knew my dreams of victory were destroyed, I had to finish the race. However, my legs hurt badly. With all of the _______ left in me, I got on my hands and knees and crawled(爬), inch by inch，across the finish line. Voices, both _______ and familiar, cheered me on. They gave me the courage to keep __________ until the very end.

The doctors were there in seconds, but my eyes searched the crowd for him. There was only one person I wanted to __________ to. I whispered, “I’m so sorry, Dad, I’m so sorry I __________ you.” He looked at me, saying, “You could never disappoint me. Sometimes these things just happen . All that matters is that you did your best.”

“But we worked so __________ . What about our dream?” He reached over for my hand and said, “Don’t you know that you are my dream and it has come true?”

It wasn’t long before my running shoes were back on, marking a __________ path for my journey, I learned that all of the miles, the tears, the sweat, and the pain my dad and I experienced together were not for a __________ . What I realized, though, was that to him, I was the greatest prize he had ever won.

8 . A snowstorm hit my neighborhood the other day. I had recently agreed to be the house’s groundskeeper, which meant I got ______ with shoveling(铲) the inches of snow that covered the driveway.

I had stayed in the house during the ______ , so I was actually pretty happy to head ______ . I shoveled for an hour or so, and I felt muscles in my arms and legs that I had ______ used start to burn. By the time I finished shoveling, I was getting the   ______ I normally get from biking. To be honest, I was pretty ______ to stop.

A few days later, some friends and I got into a ______ about how hard it is to exercise. Going to gyms is becoming the most annoying ______ ever. Not exercising has an effect on our health. Less than 5% of adults are physically ______ for half an hour a day. Not exercising enough can ______ diseases like heart diseases, cancer, obesity and depression.

And yet shoveling snow was that ______. It didn’t take too much ______ because I wasn’t shoveling for exercise, but to ______ the driveway. People pay much money for gym memberships and classes to ______ extra fat. So why not ______ paying the fitness industry to exercise and help with each other with such kind of ______ ? Surely they’re better off ______ that money and putting the energy to practical use.

A neighborhood could have a Facebook group where people could ______ things they needed help with. Then, people who wanted to exercise could ______ . Win-win. Instead of making it about helping people, it can be framed as a new fitness ______ .

9 . During my first three years of college, I put on weight quickly. Between classwork and a part-time job, I had zero time for ______. Besides, I ate a lot of fast food. Not surprisingly, I _____ a fat stomach.

After leaving college, I ______ to take exercise. Invited by a friend, I ______ working out with exercise machines three times a week. I was the kind of person who did not try something ____. I ate the same food; I did the same thing. M friend, however, became ______. One day, he said, “We’re not getting enough exercise. We should play tennis instead.”

Me? Play tennis? No way. I was strongly against his ______. I was not good at sports and I was ______ the exercise machines. ______, weeks later, I found myself standing on a tennis court (球场). As I held my racket (球拍), I felt ______. I ran after every ball he served to me, completely ______ about 90% of them, hitting the rest into the other court.

The first few months were quite ______. But one day, as the ball came flying toward me, my racket and the ball finally met in the place where it is most effective to hit a ball. I watched ______ as my return landed where I had aimed (瞄准) it. I had finally ______ how to play tennis properly!

I learned a ______ during my journey toward learning to play tennis: I can do whatever I set my mind to.

10 . Although it is difficult to make direct year-to-year comparisons because of increase in viewing on digital devices, the trend over the past decade is clear in numerous studies, including the Nielsen ratings. The average age of those who watch nationally televised Major League Baseball games has been _____ these years. Asked in a survey whether they _____ baseball, nearly two-thirds of those ages 18 to 36 said no.

Michael Haupert, a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin ----la Crosse who studies baseball as a business, explains why many young people might be _____ by what to an older and more knowledgeable fan is one of the most exciting experiences in sports: a no-hitter. ” Failure is more ______ than success,” he says. ”If my students get a third of the answers right on their test, they fail. However, if a ballplayer gets a hit a third of the time, he’s often one of the _____ .” But watch an NBA game for 15 seconds, and you will likely see one team score.

It is not surprising that ______ the length of games----about three hours in recent years-----and increasing the pace of action has become a subject of discussion among those who love baseball. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is strongly ______ of both. For the 2018 season, the league issued a set of new rules designed to do just that. Mound visits are limited. A timer countdown is designed to shorten the break between innings(局).

No one knows if any of these changes will significantly shorten games. According to MLB, the average length of a nine-inning outing this season has been three hours---about five minutes shorter than the 2017 average, itself the longest mean on record.

All of those proposed changes seem to ______ the point. I interviewed at least 100 semi-fans in their late teens and early 20s for my recent book. All considered themselves fans to some degree, though they ______   watched more than snatches—on iPads or smartphones. They told me it made no difference whether a game lasted two or three hours: they would not pay attention for _____ amount of time.

The historic May 14 Supreme Court decision allowing all states to legalize sports betting could have an impact on all this. More people will soon be able to gamble on sports while watching a game on their couch. But whether ______ gambling will attract more young people to baseball is a huge unknown. Many already gamble, both legally and illegally, on fantasy sports, but legalization will provide yet another ______ during games in real time. Will some states allow betting reports in broadcasts? Will it make the young more likely to bet on baseball than on other sports? Stay tuned.

I don’t know what will hook young people on baseball. But abandoning the game’s unique selling proposition---the timelessness that provides both suspense and great conversationhe educated fan -----is not the ______ . Baseball, Clark told me, is like a game of chess---and too many ______ - changes might turn it into something “more similar to a game of checkers.” Baseball may survive in spite of its challenges, precisely because it stands out and stands up against the short ______ spans that negatively affect every aspect of our culture, including politics and education. As Casey Stengel is reported to have said,” Never make predictions, especially about the future. ”