2 . Born into a family of motorcyclists, Bridget McCutchen was able to witness firsthand the ______ and excitement that riding a motorbike could bring from a very early age. But the idea of riding around the world hadn't ever ______ her until her older brother pointed out that she was still young enough to beat the world record for the youngest person to circle the ______ on a motorcycle.

McCutchen, whose longest road trip had been from Wisconsin to Washington, says she ______ the idea at first. But it kept coming back into her ______.

After ______ as much money as she could, McCutchen ______ in August. She has been recording her ______ online, stressing that there's a huge difference in ______ the world between traveling by car and on a ______ .

However, traveling by motorcycle on ______ roads comes with its dangers. McCutchen has ______ from the motorcycle on a few occasions and nearly crashed into trucks around blind corners.

Of course, if she is successful in breaking this particular record, the likelihood is that someone even ______ will come along and set a new record one day. However, McCutchen isn't ______ about this at all. In fact, she says she'll ______ help anyone who's keen to do so, even if it means that they beat her to it.

3 . From the age of eight, I attended a little boarding school on the Derbyshire-Staffordshire border. On Sunday afternoons, the _______ would leave us to wander the edge of the grounds where we were supposed to _______ time chatting or playing sports but my _______ was to climb over the fences and disappear into the landscape. Often, much to the teachers’ annoyance, no one knew where to _______ me.

That was the point. To walk to a(n) _______ place and, for a moment, feel the world as something new brought with it a feeling I would desire. The habit _______ with me. By my mid-20s, I was a _______ walker. Walking became a way of life that, _______, gave shape to a wandering decade and I would ease myself into new _______ the world over by setting out on foot to get ________ and then find myself again in the backstreets of Ahmedabad or Isfhanan, Ramallah or Bari.

Now I have established my home in the landscape of Devon. Here, walking ________ me and my dog Dharma as an essential daily practice. The world outside our front door is an ________ the tiring, routine aspects of our lives. It’s a place where we watch the seasons change and ________ the movement of the sun and the light around the moon. We walk the same ________, day after day, but every minute of every hour can feel like ________.

4 . Mawson was an Australian explorer and scientist who explored the Antarctic with a team of fellow adventurers in 1912. His travels in the frozen continent brought him worldwide _______. In December of that year, Mawson and two other _______ left the main base at Commonwealth Bay, _______ a 300-mile exploration into the central part of the continent to gather scientific data and samples. _______ followed.

One of the men, a young British soldier named Belgrave Ninnis, _______ down an open crack on a sledge, along with several of their best dogs and many of the team’s supplies, dead. For several weeks, the two others, _______ with scurvy(坏血病)and other _______, struggled to return to camp, keeping living first on the _______ dogs, then on starvation food. _______, Xavier Mertz, a Swiss mountaineer and skiing champion, died from exhaustion, starvation and possible poisonousness from eating dogs’ livers.

________ to return with the research data, Mawson ________ the elements for 30 days. Finally he returned to the________ in February of 1913, extremely thin, frost-bitten and exhausted-only to ________ he had missed the ship rescuing the rest of the ________ by hours. Mawson was regarded as a survivor hero. For his achievements as an explorer and scientist, he was knighted(封爵)in 1914. In addition to his other ________, Mawson edited and contributed to the 22-volume Reports of Australasian Antarctic Expeditions.

5 . I was young and determined to take an adventurous trip. But _________ nearly 875 yards out of a cable car (缆车), with a rubber band attached to my ankles, was not part of my plan. It’s _________ how intentions can change.

Staring over the _________ of the cable car, my heart was in my throat. I _________ heard the others behind me counting down. How could I have let myself be _________ into this? It was crazy!

My palms were _________, and my heart was pounding.

“Five.” They started the _________ for the second time, ignoring my useless protests.

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Two.” In that instant I _________ my mind a million times and came to the final _________ that there was no way I could allow myself to leap out of the cable car, suspended so high off the ground.

__________ my ankles please!

Then...

“One.”

I let go and leaped out as far as I could. If there had been time to __________ it for another second, I would have stopped myself. But instead, I jumped.

It felt as if all my fears, insecurities, and doubts were being let go. An enormous sense of __________ rose up in me. As I fell toward the earth __________ first, I saw my new friends waiting for me on the ground and could hear them __________ my victory over fear.

Jumping out of the cable car put me on __________ of the world, and that’s where I am determined to remain for the rest of my life.

6 . One day, Marga asked if I would join her in hiking to Base Camp at the foot of Mount Qomolangma to celebrate her 60th birthday. I _________ the opportunity.

We met our guide Achut Pandey in Kathmandu. He was a man of joy and _________, who had been to Base Camp over 100 times.

When we left Namche Bazaar, we took the Three High Passes route, which is less-traveled, longer and more _________. The temperatures ranged from the teens to below 0°F. We were nearly _________. When we were done with dinner, we _________ ourselves to our sleeping bags. While we _________ were able to down a couple of eggs and a piece of toast, the higher we went, the less we _________. Eventually, it was a lot of _________ to just eat a bowl of rice. The altitude _________ us in other ways too. As our appetites slowed, so did our ____________. Renjo La Pass, the first pass, was supposed to take eight hours. It took 12.

Achut’s faith in us was never ____________. He greeted us each day with a ____________ “good morning.” Before we ____________ Base Camp, he carried our packs and skillfully negotiated our moods and capabilities. We trusted him as he ____________ us, confident and strong, up and down icy, ____________ and sometimes narrow paths.

Thanks to Achut, I made it, at 65.