1 . For me, becoming an Olympian was not developing a gift of natural athletic ability, but an act of will.

In the summer of 1979, I started _______ for the Olympic trials(选拔赛) to be held the next year.I felt happy as I made progress towards my big _______. But then in November, an _______ situation appeared. I injured my back and couldn’t move. I had to leave the _______. Everyone felt _______ for me. Everyone but me.

I never believed this would _______me. However, my _______ was slow. With only a few months remaining, I knew I would never make it _______ I did something. So, I started training in the only way I could in my mind.

I bought films of the world­record holders in pentathlon (五项全能运动).Sitting in a chair, I _______ them over and over.I lay on the bed and imagined the experience of ________ at the trials. Some people thought I was crazy, but I wasn’t ready to ________ yet. I trained as hard as I could without moving a muscle (肌肉). I ________ this practice with all my heart.

By the time the trials actually began, I had been ________ enough to compete. ________,as I walked across the field, I heard a voice on the loudspeaker announcing my name.I could hardly hold back my ________ as the announcer said, “Second place,1980 Olympic Pentathlon: Marilyn King.”

One summer weekend, my wife, my son and I entered a running race on mountain trails. When the race started, our son took off ______, but my wife and I stayed back, enjoying the scenery. After some time, while running down a narrow, ______ trail, I walked on a big stone and had a ______. I realized I'd got my toe ______, but I didn't check my damage. Instead, we kept running.______, after going half the course, I realized my watch on my wrist was______. I encouraged my wife to go on ahead, and returned to see if I could find it. Later, I ______ my broken watch and quickly put it into my pocket. Then I ______ down the trail. In the end, I saw my son, who had finished 30 minutes earlier, had run back up the trail to ______ me. He ran with me to the end.

______ it turned out, both my wife and son had won first place in their age groups, but I had no chance of placing. After the race, I took off my shoe and found that my sock was in blood. Luckily, the race ______ had a special award for the most injured runner.

Although everyone wants to live a life of comfort, the ______ is that we often face pain and ______. However, the key to happiness is ______ pain into something positive. In other words, ______ can make us stronger if we face them bravely.

3 . The Chess Competition

I had signed up to play in the School Chess Competition two months before. I’d been counting the days, filling my afternoons with practice games and begging everyone I knew to play _________ with me.

Soon the competition was about to begin. I would be competing against twenty _________, and all of us would be battling for just a few trophies. Glancing up at the prizes, I could just _________ one of them sitting on my bookcase.

My daydream was interrupted by the announcement of the _________ round. “Shake hands and start playing!” said the judge. I _________ across the board and saw that my first opponent (对手) was almost too small to see over the top of the table. “Aha!” I thought. “This will be a(n) _________ win.”

One unexpected game later, I _________ my overconfidence. My opponent, the nine-year-old girl, had beaten me in only 10 minutes! I hid my disappointment and _________ her. “Good game! You’re a fantastic player,” I said with a sincere smile.

The next three rounds went by very quickly, with each game proving more _________ than the one before. By evening I had one win and three losses. After the second game, I was ready to go home and give up, ____________ I stayed anyway, smiling and sincerely congratulating each of my opponents.

As the trophies were being awarded, I listened ____________, applauding each winner as his or her name was called.

It was hard to hide my disappointment, but I tried. ____________, I heard the announcer say my name. “For excellent chess etiquette (礼仪), a friendly ____________, and great determination, the Good Sport Award ____________ to Dustin Hodges,” the judge declared. It was amazing and I smiled broadly as I walked up to accept the prize. Although it wasn’t the trophy that I had hoped for, the gold cup looks pretty good on my bookcase. I think it won’t stay there forever, and I plan to ____________ it with the championship trophy next year.

How is it going?

Thank you for your interest in joining the school ________ team. As you know, our ________ has a great reputation, but we are always ________ new talent to sharpen the team for the future. It is not usual for a freshman student to be selected, ________ it is wonderful to hear that you are finding strength in teamwork and that basketball is giving you a ________ in life. If you are ________ for the school team, this is what our talent scouts are always looking for.

Firstly, you need to show us that you can ________ intense, focused and effective basketball. This means that you are always concentrating on the play, moving on the court, running for loose balls, and strong in both defense and attacking ________. We need to see that you can take charge of the ball, control your opponents, take shots and ________ goals for our team. So, you will need to work on your skills in these areas. Trust me, this hard work will really ________off when we are searching for new players.

Secondly, the tallest players are not always the ones that get ________. We are looking for strength, speed and skills, but we also want people who have good ________ , who are humble (谦逊的)and who can act as team players. No individual can win a basketball match; it’s the team who gets to the winning podium, and our coaches are always emphasizing ________ and cooperation both on and off the court. These are the ________ that make for an outstanding basketball player.

I hope these ________ can help you become a qualified basketball player and hope to see you when we start to recruit new members. Welcome to our school basketball team!

Yours Sincerely,

Michael Jack

5 . When my dad finally finished the triathlon（铁人三项）in Montauk, the crowd cheered. It showed me how his hard work paid off and it_______my curiosity. I wondered whether a small boy of my size could_______something like that. I found myself_______this out loud and my father overheard me. He_______me and said I could train with him.

Training with my dad turned out to be very______.We would get up early for a morning jog, or go for a swim in the pool after school. After a few weeks of_______, I signed up for my first triathlon. Before the competition, I nervously waited for the_______.When someone fired the gun, I was_______, swimming towards the distant buoy（浮标）that marked my turn. I_______the half-mile swim and ran towards my bike. I was dripping wet, trying to________it. Once on my bike, I experienced an excitement specific to________. I went through the transition zone（转换区）again and________my running shoes. At the start of the run part of the triathlon, my________already felt like they were made of cement（水泥）.

For me, the real competition began during the run,________now I could see each competitor as a target. No matter my________in the field, each racer was either following me or being followed. The run part of the race boiled down to________tolerance. "Shut up, legs", one of my favorite quotes, kept me from________the burning feeling. Then I crossed the finish line. I took a breath and then began a(n)________with the other finishers. The sense of accomplishment was there for all of us.

Looking back, I________the small boy on that day in Montauk who thought he couldn't________it. Now, that same boy is not only a huge fan, but also a training partner.

6 . In 2016, 60-year-old Marshall Reeves got onto his bike in California. He _________ the Race Across America, a 3000-mile _________ than runs from coast to coast.

The _________ was to cross the finish line in Maryland in two weeks. It had _________ him twice. But he didn’t give up. For his third _________, Reeves had a new source of _________; He was racing with 3000 Miles to a Cure, which raises money for brain cancer research.

The race is one of the most _________ in the world. Only about half the competitors are able to finish it. _________ other long-distance bike races, it is continuous—once the clock starts in California, it doesn’t stop until Maryland. Therefore, racers have to meet the _________ time cutoffs（截止点）, otherwise it is impossible for them to __________ it.

Racers are typically __________ by a small crew in cars, whose job is to keep the racers not only physically fit, but also mentally __________. In the early days of the race,when Reeves had time to stop at a hotel, he would be __________ to a full-body massage（按摩）and a good night’s sleep. But after three days, rest was a luxury（奢侈品）as he needed to __________ for over 20 hours a day to achieve his goal.

After crossing the two points where his previous attempts had __________, Reeves entered an unknown area. With just 25 miles left, Reeves __________ to stay awake, just catching quick naps. __________, he successfully crossed the finish line in 12 days, 13 hours and 52 minutes.

This year, Reeves will __________ across America again. But this time it’s a little __________ —as a road director, he returned the __________ for his crew’s hard work.

7 . It started with my shirts.They were too _____．I think I was fatter and I needed a lifestyle _____．But I didn't know where to start.At the time，I thought _____ was the answer.I had to do something that would not _____ too much time out of my day.I decided to start taking the stairs.Climbing the stairs was a good way to exercise _____ going to a gym.

I kept climbing the stairs and soon I was up to twenty flights of stairs per day.Although my endurance increased and I started to feel more energetic，I didn't lose much _____．

After _____ it with my wife，I decided to take part in a weight－loss program.I studied different programs，and decided on one that was _____ the most successful.

The instructor helped me to _____ where weight comes from；it comes from ______ without thinking.If I didn't keep track of what I ate，I ate a lot more.So I started writing down everything that went into my ______．I also learned how to make ______ choices and read nutrition labels.I weighed myself every week ______ that helped me to stay on track.I began to see that eating ______ was like sticking to a budget.I only had so many calories to ______ each day.I decided that junk food wasn't ______ the price.

I began to see ______ almost immediately.I lost 10 pounds in the first three weeks.I ______ to a rate of losing about two pounds a week.After nine months I had lost 85 pounds and 14 inches off my waist line.People were ______ at the change.Some said I looked younger.

If we learn the principles of weight loss，and live those ______，we will lose the excess pounds.It takes work and discipline，but losing weight can be done.

8 . Eric Moussambani, a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, won brief international fame at Sydney’s 2000 Olympic Games for an extremely unlikely victory.

Twelve months before the Olympics, Moussambani had never gone outside of his home country, an extremely poor tiny African nation. Having_________his admission into the Olympic Games, Moussambani set about teaching himself to _________. The only pool that was_________belonged to a local hotel, and they _________ him to use it between 5 and 6 am, three times a week. Before Sydney he had never set eyes on an Olympic _________, let alone practiced in one. Moussambani had no_________, no lanes（泳道）, and no way of tracking his efforts. Worse still, he didn’t know he had been entered in to the 100m race, not the 50m he had_________.

When the day came, events got _________. Of the three competitors in the first round, Moussambani was the_________competitor who was not removed from the game for starting early. He now had to do it alone, against the ________, fighting for a chance to be in the final. __________it seemed that he’s not going to finish it in the second half of the race, he ________completed it with a time of 1＇5". It was the slowest time in Olympic history, __________a personal best.

International media __________him ‘Eric the eel’ and a real model of the Olympic __________that it’s not the winning, but the taking part that __________. When he was__________after the race, Moussambani said, “At first I got worried that I couldn’t ____________. Thinking of the dear people__________me, I kept on and it happened.”

Moussambani never gives up. He is now the head coach of the national team and thanks to his__________, the country has built two 40m pools.

9 . 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 ________me．I saw worry and ________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 ________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．________ 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 ________．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．