1 . Are you a man or a mouse? When people ask this question they want to know whether you think you are a ______ person or a coward (懦夫). But you will never really know the answer to this question until you are ______ in real life. Some people think they are brave but when they come face to face with real ______, they act like cowards. Others think of themselves as cowards, but when they meet danger, they act like ______.

Lenny had always thought of himself as a ______ person. He got worried before examinations. He worried about his job and his health. All he wanted in life was to be safe and healthy. Then January 5th, 2002, a plane ______ into the Potomac River in Washington. Lenny went to the river to see what was happening. He saw a woman in the ______ water. Lenny did not feel afraid. He kept very ______ and did a very courageous thing. He jumped into Potomac, ______ to the woman, and kept her head above the water. Seventy-­eight people died that day. Thanks to Lenny, it was not ______.

When you are in a very dangerous ______ and feel afraid, the body automatically produces a chemical in the blood. This chemical is called adrenalin (肾上激素). With adrenalin in the blood system, you actually feel stronger and stronger and are ______ to fight or run away. However, when you are ______ frightened, the body can produce too much adrenalin. When this ______, the muscles become very hard and you find you can’t ______ at all. You are paralyzed (使无能为力) with fear. That is why when we are very frightened, we sometimes say we are “petrified”; this word comes from a Greek word “petros”, which means “stone”. We are so frightened that we become stonelike.

2 . When I tried out for the football team during the summer before 9th grade, I never imagined how important this sport would become in my life. Football is a _____ sport, at times almost painful, and practices really _____ a team’s physical and mental limits. Without trust in my own ability and a strong sense of commitment, I would never have managed to continue after years of hard work as a player, and with countless _____.

In the first year, I played on the defensive line. This was an amazing _____ that gave me a great sense of achievement. But in the last game of the season, I was seriously injured. I was prohibited from any physical activities for six months. After going _____ a series of physical treatments, I returned to the field as a team captain. I practiced harder than ever to make up for my _____ time.

In September, during my junior year, my name was mentioned in the local newspaper as the key defensive lineman on the team. After playing a fantastic season, I was given the _____ of the Most Valuable Player.

_____, my skills in football do not magically extend to other sports. During the winter break, I went on a snowboarding trip and seriously injured my right shoulder. I had to have four _____. Since I could not use my right arm for two months, I had to learn how to write and eat using my left hand.

______ life must go on. I knew that my own present efforts would decide my future, so I ______ the strict training program to build up strength and improve flexibility in my ______. After an eight-month recovery, I was back to the field playing football, the sport I ______.

In this sense, the world of football has taught me an important life lesson: ______ and commitment make what seems impossible ______. This lesson from football is the one that can be applied to every part of life.

3 . Owura Kwadwo Hottish teaches computer science in a school. It is a normal school except for the fact that it didn’t have______

Owura became famous after he posted photos of him on the Internet. In the picture. people could see he was teaching his students by______ an entire computer on the blackboard.The photos showed the______level of education for children in Ghana. People were______ that Owura made sure each button was drawn correctly. He would come to school half an hour ahead of______every day. He drew the computer on the blackboard, but at the end of his class, it was______off to start the next class, so he had to______it the next day! Owura’s efforts______when Microsoft took______of his act. They first took him to an international educators’ meeting in Singapore. He made a______about his teaching methods at the meeting and ______a standing ovation(欢呼) after the speech.

______,Owura got the thing he always wanted for his students—some companies______computers to the school. Not a single child in the school had seen a real computer in their lives. Thanks to their teacher’s______the world took care and treat them with ______

5 . On Sunday, I had my own Father’s Day celebration. Suddenly I thought about my dad a lot. My dad is really the ____ man in the world. He would ____ refuse to help anyone in trouble.

Every Thursday night, my dad would ____ Shreveport, LA to a church there. I always drove the car for him. Although this happened many times, I recall (回想起) one incident on one of those trips to Shreveport. That time on the ____, my dad saw a hitchhiker(搭便车的人). Dad asked me to pull the car over and offer(提供) him a ____. Dad asked him his name and address, told him ours, and talked to him about all sorts of things.

At first the hitchhiker was hesitant (迟疑的), but he changed his ____ as he could tell we were really listening to him. I did know that it was quite ____ outside and the hitchhiker was very happy to be able to get a lift in our warm car.

We drove another forty-five minutes and learned that the hitchhiker was ____ many difficulties in life. Dad told him to keep his head up and said that things would become better for him soon. He reached into his pocket and ____ the hitchhiker a twenty-dollar bill, leaving only a ten-dollar bill for himself. The hitchhiker then became very ____.

I was always told never to ____ a hitchhiker and yet my dad did it every time he saw one. Dad always gave them money ____ he did not have much of his own.

From that I’ve learned a lot about my dad and ____. I’ve learned that if you come from a place with ____, you will show a lot of kindness to people who are suffering. Just one single kind act may ____someone’s life.

7 . It was the first night of a tiring seven-day 250km race across the Gobi Desert a year ago. Mr. Leonard _________ a little dog going around his camp trying to _________ herself.

“Cute, but I’m not giving you any,” Leonard thought. Like all _________, he had packed just enough for the whole _________. He’d been running competitively for three years, and he had a _________ to win.

The next day, at the starting line, the dog _________ him again. He waved her away, _________ she might be stepped on by the runners. _________, the dog followed him all the way until the day’s race _________. That night the dog snuggled (依偎) up to Leonard and even managed to get food from him. By then, he was determined to __________ her Gobi.

The pair went on to finish the seven-day race, with Gobi __________ a distance of 125km on her own, and winning Leonard over, enough for him to make a __________ — he would take her home to Edinburgh. “Seeing Gobi on the race __________ my attitude to things. It made me think more about stopping and helping her, __________ just focusing on winning,” said Leonard, who finished second. “It also made my running more __________, giving me a lot of pleasure.”

9 . Our graduation is coming and of course we’ll have photos taken. The girls start to have a ________ about what they’ll wear and where to take the photos, while the boys by comparison seldom talk about it. As for me, I ________ for my photos to be taken by the sea.

When I arrived there, I met my photographer, Anna. She asked me to make some poses and I followed her advice. After that, I asked if she could make me look ________ by taking photos in a different way, ________ I’m less than 1.6 meters tall. To my amazement, she responded, “I will make no ________ to make you look like someone you’re not. You look good in your own way.” She ________ that she wouldn’t try to edit the photos either.

I was shocked by what she said. Girls always desire to look perfect by using ________ visual angles (视角). When you go to a photo studio, photographers always try to hide your ________ by telling you to stand in a certain way. And picture ________can easily change your look by making you appear any you want to. However, that’s not the case here. Seeing I was ________, Anna explained: “Everyone has his ________. You need to appreciate your own beauty. You cannot live in a world of artificial photos.”

It was the first time that I had met a photographer who doesn’t ________ photos at all. After the shoot, I saw the photos — they are ________ special and natural. But what’s even more special are Ada’s ________, which ________ and will always stay in my heart.