3 . In interviews, famous people often say that the key to becoming both happy and successful is to “do what you love.” But ________ a skill, even one that you deeply love, calls for plenty of drills. Any challenging activity —from computer programming to playing a musical instrument to athletics — requires ________ practice. A perfect golf swing or faultless butterfly stroke (蝶泳) takes countless hours of practice and repetitions to perfect.

Anyone who wants to have a good command of a skill must go through the ________ of practice, critical feedback, polish, and increasing improvement again, again, and again. Some people seem able to concentrate on practicing an activity like this for years and take ________ in their gradual improvement. Yet others find this kind of focused, time-intensive work to be ________ or boring. Why?

The ________ may depend on the ability to enter into a state of “flow,” the feeling of being completely involved in what you are doing. Flow states can happen in the course of any activity, and they are most common when a task has definite goals and where the individual is able to ________ their performance to clear and immediate feedback.

Csikszentmihalyi suggested that those who most ________ entered into flow states had an “autotelic personality” — a tendency to seek out challenges and get into a state of flow. While those without such a personality see difficulties, autotelic individuals see opportunities to build skills and they have low levels of self-centeredness. Such people, with their ability to focus on tasks rather than rewards have a great________ over others in developing their innate (天生的) abilities. But how can we get into flow state for an activity so that we enjoy both the process of improving skills and the ________ of being a master？

________ for those of us who don’t necessarily possess an autotelic personality, there is evidence that flow states can be ________ by environmental factors. For instance, in Montessori schools, students do not study by following direct instruction. ________, they are encouraged to develop and pursue personal interests. Competition is ________ and grading is not emphasized. Students are grouped together according to shared interests, rather than separated by ability.

While there isn’t yet a pill that can turn dull practice into an exciting activity for anyone, it is comforting that we seem to be able to advance into flow states. By giving ourselves unstructured, open-ended time, minimum distractions and task set at moderate level of ________, we may be able to love what we’re doing while we put in the hard work practicing the things we love doing.

4 . In the sport of track and field, athletes compete not only with one another but against themselves to achieve a new personal best. Aiming to ______ his own record, Cerveny pushed himself hard. However, his legs cramped(抽筋)and ______   him with only 200 meters to go. Determined to ______, Cerveny rose from the ground and continued on, only to fall again after another 50 meters.

______, his coach asked Cerveny if he wanted to stop. He didn't. With great ______ Cerveny pulled himself up and with a(n)   ______ pace, moved forward for one final push. ______, it wasn't enough. 100 meters from the finish line, his legs simply ______ .

Before his coach could ______ him, another runner- Brandon-was at his side to help. His first attempt to get Cerveny up failed, but he   ______ to quit too. With a second pull, Cerveny was ______. At a measured jog, the two completed the final 100 meters of the course, with Cerveny holding Brandon for ______ Brandon even made sure Cerveny crossed the finish line first,securing his______a faster time

In today’s ______ world in which the emphasis in athletics is so often put on breaking records, it was ______ to see that for an athlete like Brandon, the value of true sportsmanship still had legs.

5 . On Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Bing Dwen Dwen, the panda—shaped mascot（吉祥物）has arguably captured the most hearts and public imagination.

The fuzzy（绒软的）face of the smiling panda is_________by a colorful halo, which represents the five colors of the Olympic rings. He is protected from the_________by a clear shell,_________by the protective helmet in winter sports. The heart—melting mascot now has a_________fan base.

Cao, the chief designer,_________that the mascot design project was completed by a talented team. The team traveled to Beijing more than 20 times and_________the design over 1,000 times. For this team, the_________of creating the mascot was more like an academic_________than a contribution to the country. He saw the popularity of the mascot as not a(n ) _________brainstorming, but theoretical and strategic thinking. "In fact, there are__________rules behind aesthetics, and one of them is 'contrast and unity'." Cao said.

Cao still__________that on the day when Bing Dwen Dwen was unveiled to the world, he couldn't help getting__________wordlessly with joy, when his__________appeared on the huge screen and the crowd stood up to applaud.

__________, starting at a high point may not be a good thing, as the applause could sometimes be the cause of "__________". "The road ahead is still very long, and we need to keep working hard and reinventing ourselves," said Cao.

7 . I’d love to have been a journalist, but I wasn’t _________ enough. I was always able to write a good letter — I just couldn’t stare at a blank sheet of paper and _________ a story. But I went into advertising after university and _________ fell in love with it.

I always had the _________ of speech. I was schooled at the dinner table. My father used to _________ arguments, saying we needed to learn how to make our case. It could get pretty _________. At school I ended up being captain of lots of things, not because I was the best player but because I could _________ people to do things. I learnt that you don’t have to be the most academically _________, or even the most original thinker — _________ is a big part of the battle. No wonder I felt at home in advertising.

People ____________ to stay in one company almost for life; I was always looking for the next ____________ to learn. I got into the advertising industry at Ogilvy, then went to Grey to ____________ experience on the Procter & Gamble account, and to Y&R to get creative experience. It ____________ me new-business director. Later I started my own business, HHCL, which was an amazing ____________.

My next move will be to ____________ all my skills in pioneering work. I know there is no end to learning. I will live and learn.

8 . A stand-up comedian is, supposed to be, a fluent communicator who is also good at using body language to _________ jokes.

However, for 27-year-old comedian Zhang Jiaxin, it takes a great effort to _________ pronounce the sounds of each character and sentence and be _________ on the stage. At birth, the oxygen _________ to his brain was curtailed (限制，削减), which _________ later problems with speaking and walking. The other long-term impairment is the loss of full use of his right hand.

It was two years ago when Zhang first performed stand-up comed yon the stage. At the time, he worked for the new media operation department of a company _________ in Xiamen, Fujian province, and had to prepare for a performance at the company’s year-end party.

He didn’t know much about stand-up performance. _________, as someone who likes to watch and be amused by entertainment shows from a very young age, he decided to give a humorous monologue at the party to amuse and _________ his colleagues.

It opened Zhang’s door to a colorful world of stand-up comedy.

He started to pay attention to the stand-up comedy live shows in Xiamen and got the _________ of a woman who worked at a local stand-up club.

“She sent me some videos of Drew Lynch (an American stand-up comic who developed a(an)__________ stutter (结巴) due to a sports injury earlier in his life) and told me that my defects are what make my appeal special,” he says. “That __________ me to have a go.”

After he read through a manual for writing and performing stand-up comedy, he started to __________his daily life to identify humorous __________ that could be used as jumping-off points to launch into stories.

Once he walked onto the stage, the audience __________ noticed his differences.

“__________, they were kind of walking on eggshells to spare my feelings. As I gradually opened myself to them, the atmosphere turned to be relaxing,” he says.

Wows and claps resounded. His jokes went down well as he worked the room with his humor.

10 . Several years ago, a neighbor kid kicked a football and broke a basement window of my house. Due to financial problems, I ______ it up, thinking I’d get to it someday.

Over the years, I had planned to upgrade to energy-efficient windows. But with the frame (窗框) rusted (锈) and firmly ______ in the foundation, whoever did it would need to chisel (凿) it out by hand. It would be a ______ process and there were six of those windows in the house. The cost was estimated at $15,000. It was simply ______.

Honestly, the thought of that window ______ me for years. I knew I needed to fix it, but I had built up the ______ so much in my mind that I put it off again and again.

Then I had a job change and needed to sell the house before moving away. But it was almost ______ to find a buyer if there was a broken window. So I pulled off the boards to face this thing head-on. I grabbed some rust remover, ______ it around the frame of the window, and gave it a pull. To my astonishment, it easily ______. I took the window downtown. It only cost me $12. I could have ______ the problem for only $12 when it occurred, but I let it bother me for five years!

______, this isn’t just about my window. Many of us live with broken windows of one type or another. They are things that seriously affect our ______ of life. If you recognize your broken window, don’t ______ to mend it. It may turn out to be ______ than expected. Usually we suffer more in_______ than in reality.