1 . Cali Scores a Goal

It was the last game of the season. Cali had been playing soccer all summer. She really enjoyed __________ around with the other players in her blue uniform, chasing the black and white ball across the grassy field. As much as she tried, __________, Cali still had not scored one single goal.

“Don’t give up,” said her coach. He showed Cali and her team how to pass the ball to each other and take shots at the goal. Cali was pretty good at passing the ball, but she couldn’t kick the ball __________ the goalkeeper. She wondered if she should __________ soccer.

“Don’t give up,” said her teammates. ”You just need to keep trying and you will get __________ .” So Cali stayed on the team and did her best.

“Don’t give up,” said Aunt Lisa. But it was half-time, and Cali was feeling __________ . She was trying! Every time she got a(an) __________ to kick the ball, it would go in the __________ direction or a player from the other team would take control of it.

The break was over and the referee(裁判) blew her whistle to __________ the game again. The two __________ walked back onto the field, both __________ to win. Cali heard her aunt whisper in her ear. “Look for an opportunity to get the ball. You can do it.”

Cali took a deep breath. __________ she didn’t get one goal all summer, she knew that she had tried her best. She dreamed she’d leave her team after the game was over. Suddenly, she was woken by some __________ that was the sweet, happy jingle of the ice cream truck. It was driving right beside the soccer field, playing its music loudly to attract __________ .

The players on both teams turned to __________ at it. A few girls pointed to it and cheered. The soccer game had nearly stopped. Cali looked around and saw the soccer ball close by, __________ by the nearest player from the other team. Cali dashed over to the ball. She dribbled(带球) it between her feet, moving forward toward the net of the yellow team. By the time the other girls had __________ , Cali was positioned right in front of the net. The goalkeeper was __________ to one side, looking at the ice cream truck. She turned back __________ to guard the net as Cali kicked the ball hard.

The keeper __________ out her gloved hand. The ball touched the tips of her fingers as it swooshed past, right into the net. “Goal!”

2 . After having a child, I found my regular exercise interrupted. I was not only busy: I also lacked the motivation. Solo gym sessions or some quick______following the DVD while the baby sleeps didn’t______me at all. So I decided to sign up for a hiking______in Peru, hoping that it would get me______again.

Looking over my travel arrangements before I left. I______phrases such as “3-hour hike______primitive forests” and “sliding with a rope down waterfalls”, and I started to feel a little______.

However, as we made our way through the forests and were______with amazing views of______waterfalls, this team of strangers______me to go on. Being physically active with a group motivated me to reach the______or the valley below-rather than simply lying down on the forest floor and giving up,______I might have done if I were alone.

____confirm my experience: Group exercise can really start a new attitude toward fitness. “People get a better______in a group than they do on their own,” said Allison Kimmel, a group______instructor. That’s because other people______both support and competition. “Humans are______animals and the shared experience of facing a challenge______is compelling(不可抗拒的),” said David Ezell, the CEO of fitness provider Darien Wellness.

With the______of a group, I'm slowly getting back into a______lifestyle.

3 . I had been swimming competitively for about five years and was ready to quit because I felt I was horrible at it. I kept _______ “Honorable Mentions”(安慰奖). Any _______knows that you don’t want to have a bookshelf full of “Honorable Mentions”, which you get just because you _______.

One summer day, the day _______ a big swim meet, I decided to tell my grandma that I was quitting the swim team, but she said, “Baby, _______ these words: ‘A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.’ You go to that swim meet tomorrow.”

The next day we arrived at the swim meet late, _______ my group of swimmers in the 15/ 16 age group. My _______ insisted that I be allowed to swim with the _______group. I knew that she was _______ me in the race so that our long drive would not be ________. As I got on the board, I quickly noticed that these girls were here to do one thing—to________ me! All of a sudden my grandma’s words ________ in my head, “Ouitters never win and winners never quit, quitters never win and winners never quit.”

SPLASH!

I was swimming ________ than I’d swum before. As I drew my right arm back, I noticed I was tied with one person. I assumed we were battling for the eighth place and I refused to finish dead last, so I added more kick on the ________ 200 yards. I hit the wall and ________ to the left and to the right for the swimmers who had beaten me, but no one was there. They must have gotten out of the ________ already. I raised my head to see my coach________ hysterically(歇斯底里). My eyes ________her pointing finger and I couldn’t believe what I saw. The other swimmers had just reached the halfway point of the ________! That day, at age 15, I broke the national 17/18-year-old 400-freestyle record. I had hung up my honorable mentions. That day, I ________ them with a huge gold medal.

4 . Everyone wants a blue ribbon(丝带). Blue is the best. Even kindergarteners(幼儿园小孩) ___ that blue ribbon. In sports, I was never a ____ .

During the spring of my kindergarten year, our class had a field trip in a nearby park. We planned to have a race. ___ , it was not an ordinary race. It was called the three-legged race. Our feet were tied together. One __ boy got me for a partner. He almost always won, but I __ that, with me, he didn’t have a chance. Obviously he didn’t ___ that at first.

The gun sounded, and we were off to the other side. ___ were falling around us, but we stayed on our feet. Only one other pair even had a ____ . Then only feet from the finish line, I fell down. We were __ enough that my partner could have __ dragged me across the finish line and ____ . But he didn’t. Instead, he stopped and helped me up, just as the other couple __ the finish line. I still remember that moment, and I still __ that little red ribbon.

When we graduated many years later, I stood on that stage and gave the valedictory address (告别演说)to that ___ group of students, none of whom even remembered that moment anymore. So, I told them about that little boy who had made a __ that helping a friend up was more ___ than winning a blue ribbon. I keep that ribbon __ it is a reminder that you don’t have to be a winner in the eyes of the world, to be a winner to those closest to you. The world may __ you a failure or a success, but those closest to you will know the __ . That’s important to remember as we travel through this __ .