2 . Emma and Zoe are both good swimmers. With great _______ and quick thinking, the two teenagers recently became _______ while swimming in Barbados.

The incident happened when the girls heard a _______ cry for help while relaxing on the beach after their swim.

“I heard someone shouting for help in the distance. I then looked around and _______ her, about 50 feet out from where I was,” Zoe, 13, told Global News.

The anxious woman, _______ as Belinda Stone from London, England, informed Zoe that her husband, Robert Stone, was even _______ and struggling to swim. Without hesitation, Zoe and 14-year-old Emma quickly _______ , risking their own safety to rescue the Stones.

After _______ Belinda back to shore, the girls started a five- or six-minute swim through challenging _______ to reach Robert, who was about 150 feet from shore. “When we reached him, he was trying to swim but we could tell he was struggling. He was breathing very ________ ,” Zoe stated. Despite the difficult ________, they successfully brought him back to safety.

Emma shared her experience, saying, “It was a long and ________ swim. I learned from both my parents that when there is a really strong current, you should never swim against it. You should swim parallel (平行) to shore until it ________ or you are completely out of it; otherwise, you will be pulled out into deep ________ .”

The grateful Stones expressed their ________ , “We are just extremely grateful to Zoe and Emma. They saved our lives.”

3 . One day, I was appointed to be a volunteer to welcome Alex Haley, the author of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I was _________ because I feared that I would embarrass myself in front of this famous gentleman. After meeting him, I was struck by how _________ he is.

“I’d like to become a writer, but I don’t know if I have the _________. You’ve accomplished so much. How did you _________ that you had a gift for writing?” I raised my question without hesitation. Mr. Haley laughed,_________, “I didn’t, and I don’t.” “_________ is a craft (技艺),” he said. “I learned to write through practice and persistence.”

He explained that when he entered the Coast Guard in 1939, he was _________ some boring work. He became so bored that he bought a portable typewriter. He began to write letters for sailors who wanted to _________ their parents and others back home but lacked writing skills. He wrote every day. As his writing skills improved, he _________ became a journalist for the Coast Guard.

“If you want to become a writer,” he __________ to say, “don’t worry about whether you have some magic al gift. Put in the work. Write every day, and don’t give up until you __________ it.”

This was not the answer I __________. I thanked him for his advice. After my __________ with Alex Haley, I no longer care about whether I have the “gift” to become a writer.__________, I start writing every day. Within two years, I published three stories in national children ‘s magazines. I’ve been writing and publishing ever since. Had I not met this extraordinary man, I would never have received the benefit of his wise advice and the __________ that followed.

4 . The greatest sports moments often have a wonderful flow state behind the victories or performances. Being in flow refers to the moments where distraction reduces, and concentration ________ .

It was a _______ summer camp ping pong tournament where I was not only down I set, but 7 points behind my opponent (对手), who had only 3 points left to ________ the set, and the tournament. For a comeback, I had to win at least 10 points, without making ________ !

Facing the desperate situation, I could ________ it a day and let my opponent win. Perhaps my opponent had already focused on the ________, but failure wasn’t an option! Thus, I ________ it out, hoping for the best. I told myself, “Let’s just try and win the next point, nothing else.” ________ deep, I stared at the ball with a clear mindset and keen ________. I took it, hit it back and scored!

5 points to go, 4 points to go... My opponent started getting visibly ________ and made mistakes. Point by point I was getting closer to being even.7-8. I was one point away from doing the ________. My mouth was shut and my eyes stayed ________ the entire set. He made another error. 8-8. The comeback was complete. The crowd went ________! Winning the next 3 points, I managed to win that set. In the last set, my opponent turned restless again. ________ the flow, I ended up winning the final set, and the tournament.

Despite a small game, it inspired me a lot. Not being able to control how our opponent plays, we can _______ how to react. Don’t be there, where you are not. Instead, be here and now! Stay in flow! Be concentrated!

5 . This week I saw a video of a mountain climber lying on the back of the Sherpa guide who helped rescue him.

Gelje says he was_______a client toward the summit ofEverest last month when he noticed another climber_______a rope, alone, in what's called Everest's“death_______”.These are the highest_______, where temperatures can drop below minus 30 degrees Celsius, where human cells begin to________without oxygen.

Gelje stopped the climb of his own client. Then he rescued the________stranger, left hanging for his life,and________him for about six hours, to an area called theSouth Col, where another guide joined in the_______.

“We________the climber in a sleeping mat,”Gelje said,“dragged him on the snow, or carried him in______ on our backs to Camp Three, which is still more than 7,000 meters high.”

A helicopter met them to lift the________climber down to the base camp. He was taken to a hospital, and has since returned home to Malaysia.

We don't know how the Malaysian climber_______himself in danger. But the two guides who grow up in and know those________saw a stranger in danger, and risked their own lives to________him. As Gelje said,“Saving one life is more________than praying at the church.”

6 . Robert Mendez Jr. is a football coach. Despite being born without limbs (四肢), he has spent his life on what he can ________. And this spirit was what drove him for more than a decade toward realizing his dream—becoming a coach.

This year, Robert ________ the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance, presented to “a ________ member of the sporting world who has overcome great difficulties through determination.” Nobody could have been a better ________.

As Robert accepted the ________, he thanked a number of people for helping him. Then, true to his character, this passionate coach ________ a piece of his wisdom.

He said, “If there’s any ________ that I want to give you, it’s to look at me and see how much passion I put into coaching and how ________ it’s gotten me. When you open your mind to different possibilities and ________ what you can do, you really can achieve something.”

When talking of ________, he said, “The best part of it is seeing someone’s ________ and making them realize what’s possible. So for anyone out there not ________ about their abilities, I’m here to tell you that you can do it. It can ________.”

Robert may have been born without arms or legs, but he was ________ born with the amazing ability to ________ others. As he’s already well aware, there’s nothing this man can’t do!

8 . Seven years ago, my wife bought me a terrific birthday present. For $70, she   _________ me two garden plots of land 20 feet by 20 feet from the Skokie Park District, which come with free _________ to fresh water from faucets, no _________. The football field of garden is a true place of beauty, costing the Park District very little to _________, with the water pipes being the only _________ capital investment.

My _________ is that gardening is good exercise accessible to people far into late middle age and beyond, deeply beneficial and _________ by couples and groups of friends. My garden neighbors and I, once _________, share ideas and encouragement. My daughter loves to help me _________ the wild weed, and the whole family loves the good fresh food, some of which I give to friends and neighbors.

I __________ about $300 to $400 a year but harvest literally 10 times the __________ of fresh produce—and I’m far from the best gardener!

We need to __________ one another while respecting each other as individuals, as carriers of subcultures, as positive people. Human difference is easier to accept with __________ when we know each other and are building something together.

And who doesn’t need to have __________ and get some exercise and eat great food? Community gardening is a wholly __________ activity.

9 . Photographers from China were among the top prize winners at the 14th Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, organized by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, in London.

Chinese photographers featured significantly and won _________ in three categories and one of the individual awards, with the most remarkable _________ being the young photographer award, jointly won by Yang Hanwen and Zhou Zezhen, both aged 14, for their _________: Andromeda Galaxy: The Neighbor.

The official awards news release described their picture as “a _________ photograph of one of the Milky Way’s closest and largest neighbors” that showed the lively _________ of a nearby galaxy, stars piercing (穿透) through the _________ and emphasized the wonder of the magnificent sight.

The image was _________ by Laszlo Francsics, one of this year’s judges. “It is an excellent sight _________   by young Chinese teenagers, who also demonstrate their extraordinary talent in _________ a deep-sky photo,” says Francsics.

Hanwen, one of the two Chinese winners, says, “I think this photo shows how __________ our nearest neighbor is.” “One of the main functions (功能) of the competition is to __________ more people to fall in love with astronomy by showing the beauty of the __________,” says Zezhen, the other teenager who won the award.

“The __________ for the competition is incredibly high,” says Ed Bloomer, an astronomer. “It was really satisfying to see how many competitors __________ themselves to capture unusual, rarely imaged or __________ events: There are some things you won’t have seen before, and even some things that won’t be seen again.”