1 . Back in the summer of 2016, China’s Gobi Super Marathon, a 155-­mile race across the Gobi Desert, officially ________．

Dion Leonard, a seasoned British athlete, had been invited for that ________, who had finished some of the toughest races on the planet. On the first evening, a dog kept following him wagging its tail. Dion didn’t want to be ________ because he was devoted to this race. Just after ________ it for a while, he took it aside and turned back to the camp. But the touch changed the ________ of his life.

On departure the next day, the puppy ________ again at the starting line. He thought it was a coincidence (巧合)．But when Dion started to run, the puppy followed. It was too easy to be lonely and ________ in a game like this but the puppy brought great ________ and encouragement to Dion. The puppy did not become a burden to him, ________, it’s the best companion on the boring track. Since they met in the Gobi Desert, Dion gave it the name Gobi.

On this long journey, one man and one dog silently ________ each other. They ran together, they shared water and food, they camped together under the stars. Dion also gradually forgot the ________ of the road, and suddenly let go of his obsession (痴迷) with rank.

After being with Dion for 125 kilometers, Gobi finally ran out of ________ and Dion had to put it in a first­aid car. Three days later, when Dion reappeared in the view of Gobi, it broke free and ran ________ to Dion. They rushed to the finishing line together.

________, Dion came in second. Gobi also won a medal from the organizers. Dion has no ________ about missing out on the championship because Gobi was the best prize on his trip.

2 . Both my parents were born to help plants grow well. Our family ______ the food we grew in our huge vegetable garden. My mother canned much of the produce for winter, and my father sold vegetables to the stores and high schools. Our garden was the ______ of the neighborhood. But one summer, we had a ______. Someone was stealing some of our vegetables.

Then one of the neighbors tipped us off that an old bachelor (单身汉), who lived a short distance from us, was seen ______ some vegetables in a nearby town. Benny didn’t have a garden, so he was ______ getting his vegetables from someone else’s garden. Actually, Benny wasn’t a(n) ______ fellow. My dad often ______ him for part-time jobs just to help him out. My parents figured he was taking our vegetables just to earn a few extra dollars. ______ stealing is stealing. My father decided to ______ this situation his own way: hiring Benny to guard the garden. But the others in my family were all ______ it.

When my father asked him about the job, Benny was obviously a bit ______, but he finally agreed. Needless to say, there were no vegetables missing the next day. Whether or not Benny slept most of the night wasn’t ______. The fact was that Dad’s plan was working, ______ better than my father had planned. You see, each morning, after Benny got done sleeping, guarding the garden, he’d ______ long enough for breakfast with us.

Now, Benny got to like this garden business. By the following spring, Benny had his own garden with my father’s help. Of course… for some ______, we don’t need a garden guard anymore.