1 . Gidda’s Team

The door closed behind Malik, making Mama look up from the hot meal. “Just in time for dinner. Will you _____ Gidda, please?”

Gidda was staying in Malik’s bedroom. He didn’t _____ giving up his room for his 82-year-old grandmother at first. But then she didn’t leave. Malik _____ over her suitcase on the floor. “Sorry,” Gidda said. “I’m just a nuisance(讨厌的人) here. I’m _____” Malik didn’t answer as he helped her up from her chair.

At dinner, Mama asked Malik, “How’s your _____ with the coach?”

Malik was captain of school soccer team, and he had to discuss a fundraiser with the coach. They’d have to raise hundreds of dollars to _____ their old shirts, and that seemed unlikely unless Malik came up with a(n) _____ plan.

Unwillingly, Malik said, “It’s just team stuff.” Changing the _____, Malik turned to Gidda. “Do you want to go sit outside after dinner?”

Gidda agreed. In the soft warmth of the evening, Gidda settled herself beneath the enormous fig(无花果) tree. “Feels like home,” she said. But Malik _____, “It drops figs everywhere.” Right then, a fig landed on his head. Gidda laughed, picked it up, and took a _____. “Perfect. Pick me a bunch. I’ll make fig cakes.”

The next morning, Malik found Gidda making fig cakes in the kitchen. She offered him one. Malik, hoping it wasn’t too awful, put it in his mouth. His eyes _____ as he chewed. It was delicious. He eyed the tree in the backyard. How many fig cakes could it _____?

Malik grabbed his phone and started _____ in a rush of excitement. An hour later, most of the soccer team gathered in the kitchen, and ate up fig cakes.

“Gidda’s Fabulous(极好的) Fig Cakes!” Malik said. “We’ll _____ them! Gidda said they were easy to make; she’ll _____ us how.”

At dinner that night, Gidda shared their plan with Mama, smiling _____ as she repeated the title Malik gave on her, “Team Grandmother.”

The next day, the kitchen was full of _____. Walking slowly among the excited boys, Gidda taught them to make fig cakes. Soon the fig cakes piled up.

As Malik _____, Gidda’s Fabulous Fig Cakes were a huge hit and they were quickly sold out.

When the new _____ arrived just in time for the opening game, Coach Garcia invited Gidda to watch. She arrived early, and waved at Malik. Then she turned _____ to show off her shirt. On the back were the words Team Grandmother.

2 . Worth the pain in the end

I used to hate running. It seemed too hard and pushing outside my comfort zone was not something I was raised to do.

In fact, I wouldn’t have become a _______ if it weren’t for my husband Charles. He had been a serious competitive runner for many years. After our marriage, he wouldn’t stop talking about how much he missed it.

“So start running again, why don’t you?” I was getting _______ of hearing about it.

So he picked it up again, and after about a year, I started to join him at the track (跑道). Just a few weeks later, Charles signed us both up for a five-kilometer race. I _______about doing it. It was too soon.

But on _______ day, there I was.

The gun went   _______.Thousands of runners pushed forward.

The first kilometer was _______.

“I don’t think I’m going to make it.” I was already breathing heavily and painfully aware of the group of runners   pounding past me.

“No, you’re doing _______”, said Charles. He was trying to encourage me, to get me focused on something other than my   _______.

“I can’t,” I said, barely audibly (听得见地).

He tried a different way to _______ me. “Just make it to that house and let’s see how you feel.”

After another minute I saw the three-kilometer   ________. All I could think of was that I was dying and that my husband was torturing (折磨) me.

Miserable doesn’t even begin to describe   ________ I felt. And there was so much pain.

“You’ll be fine. You’ve got less than a kilometer to go.”

I rounded a corner and saw both sides of the street thick with people watching the race, all cheering the runners on. I willed my legs to keep going.

Then I looked up and saw the clock. The seconds ticking away (一分一秒地过去) gave me an incentive (助力). I knew that if I finished this race, I would have achieved something. So, I straightened up, and kicked it.

I had my arms held higher when I passed ________the finish line. A volunteer put a   ________ around my neck.

“You did great! I’m so proud of you!” Charles was thrilled that I’d ________ it.

“That was AMAZING! I want to do another race. This running stuff is amazing!” I proudly hugged my medal as we started to walk to the post-race festivities.

My lungs and my comfort zone both ________.

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