1 . It started with my shirts. They were too ___________. I thought I was fatter and I needed a lifestyle ___________. But I didn’t know where to start. At the time, I thought ___________ was the answer. I had to do something that would not take too much time out of my day. I decided to start taking the stairs. Climbing stairs was a good way to exercise ___________ going to a gym.

I kept climbing stairs and soon I was up to twenty flights of stairs per day. Although my endurance (耐久力) increased and I started to feel more energetic, I didn’t lose much ___________.

After ___________ it with my wife, I decided to take part in a weight loss program. I studied different programs, and decided on one that was considered the most successful.

The instructor helped me to ___________ where weight comes from; it comes from ___________ without thinking. If I didn’t keep track of what I ate, I ate a lot more. So I started writing down everything that went into my ___________. I also learned how to make ____________ choices and read nutrition labels. We weighed ourselves every week and that helped me to stay on track. I began to see that eating ____________ was like sticking to a budget. I only had so many calories to  use each day. I decided that junk food wasn’t worth the price.

I began to see ____________ almost immediately. I lost 10 pounds in the first three weeks. I ____________ to a rate of losing about two pounds a week. After nine months I had lost 85 pounds and 14 inches off my waist line. People were ____________ at the change. Some said I looked younger.

If you learn the principles of weight loss, and live those ____________, you will lose the excess pounds. It takes work and discipline, but losing weight can be done.

2 . Borneo is home to some of the most extraordinary wildlife. Several years ago, I decided to go there for a visit. A local person offered to be my guide, which was a great bonus for me. One day, my guide turned off the smooth road and took me across a ______ hillside instead. We picked our way carefully when ______ a charming flower popped into my view among those stones. Oh, dear! More than ______, I bent down and put my nose practically inside the lower’s core.

______, to my surprise, it was only one of the ______ during the trip. As I ______ the end of my trip, there was still something I had yet to see. We planned to ______ most feared creature there, the saltwater crocodile, which can grow to a ______ of 6 meters or more. When we shone a flashlight towards the muddy shore, little sounds ______ in the darkness as if something unseen underwater had broken the ______. Taking a second look, we spotted two greedy ______ just above the water line. As we drew near, it ______ and we saw clearly it was a crocodile. With great caution, we neared it and finally could ______ its true dimensions. It was a baby — no more than 0.6 meter long. Aha, whatever, I could now report to the ______ back home, who had never been to Borneo, that I had ______ a hungry crocodile in the wild and lived to tell the tale.

The world out there is so fascinating. Why not step outdoors and enjoy the wonders nature offers to you?

3 . When I was 13, my only purpose was to become the star on our football team. That meant beating out Miller King, who was the best ___________ at our school.

Football season started in September and all summer long I worked out. I carried my football everywhere for ___________.

Just before September, Miller was struck by a car and lost his right arm. I went to see him after he came back from ___________. He looked very ___________, but he didn’t cry.

That season, I ___________ all of Miller’s records while he ___________ the home games from the bench. We went 10­1 and I was named most valuable player, but I often had crazy dreams in which I was to blame for Miller’s ___________.

One afternoon, I was crossing the field to go home and saw Miller ___________ going over a fence—which wasn’t ___________ to climb if you had both arms. I’m sure I was the last person in the world he wanted to accept ____________ from, but I did it. When we were finally ____________ on the other side, he said to me, “You know, I didn’t tell you this during the ____________, but you did well. Thank you for filling in for me.”

His words freed me from my bad ____________. I thought to myself, how even without an arm he was more of a leader. Damaged but not defeated, he was ____________ ahead of me. From that day on, I grew ____________ and a little more real.

4 . The concept of solitude (独处) in the digital world is almost non-existent. In the world of technology, e-mail, social networking and online video games, information is meant to be________. Solitude can be hard to discover________it has been given up. New technologies have ________our culture.

The desire to be connected has brought solitude to a(n) ________as we’ve known it. People have become so reachable in the world of networks and connections that one can often be contacted ________they’d rather not be. Today we can talk, text, e-mail, chat and blog, not only from our computers, but from our mobile phones as well.

Most developed nations have become________on digital technology simply because they’ve grown used to it, and at this point not using it would make them an outsider. ________many jobs and careers require people to be________. From this point of view, technology has changed the culture of work. Being reachable might feel like a  ________to those who may not want to be able to be contacted at all times.

I suppose the positive side is that solitude is still possible for anyone who________wants it. Computers can be shut ________and mobile phones can be turned off. The ability to be “connected” and “on” has many advantages, as well as disadvantages. Travelers have ended up ________on mountains, and mobile phones have saved countless lives. They can also make people feel________and forced to answer unwanted calls or________to unwanted texts.

Attitudes towards our connection as a society________across generations. Some find today’s technology a gift. Others consider it a curse. Regardless of anyone’s view on the subject, it’s hard to imagine what life would be like without daily progress in technology.

6 . A lady wanted a birthday gift from her husband. For many months she had liked a beautiful _________ and knowing her husband could _________ it, she told him that was all she wanted. On the morning of the birthday, her husband told her how _________ he was to have such a good wife, and how much he loved her. He _________ her a beautiful gift package (盒). She opened it and found a book. _________, she raised her voice and said to her husband, “With all your money, you give me a book?” She was so _________ that she left him.

Many years passed and the lady was very successful in business. She owned two large companies. She _________ her husband was very old, and thought perhaps she should go to _________ him. But before she could, she received a letter telling her that he had died, and gave all of his possessions (财产) to her. She needed to come back and _________ things.

When she arrived at his house, sadness __________ her heart. She saw the still new book, just as she had left it years before. With __________, she opened it and began to turn the pages. A ring __________ from the book to the floor and a __________ could be seen. She picked it up and found it was the ring she wanted in those days. And on the card was the date of her birth, and the words “LOVE YOU ALWAYS”.

__________ your gift is not packaged the way you want it, it’s because it is better packaged the way it is! Always appreciate little things; they usually lead you to bigger things! The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched for they must be felt with the __________.

7 . Foster decided to leave behind her life in Texas to Alaska with her husband. They had just _______ a flight to Alaska without much of a plan. So when they _______, they had to hitchhike (搭便车) because of having a little money, which made them feel _______. 

As they walked down the _______, none of the cars slowed down to pick them up, so they even doubted the humanity._______, a car pulled over. Sitting in the driver’s seat was a middle-aged man with bright blue eyes. He told them to _______. 

“I’ll never _______ glancing over at him while we were driving down the road and seeing that he _______ the steering wheel the same way my father did,” Foster remembered. “When I saw that, the way his hands were positioned on the steering wheel, I took it as a(n)_______that I could trust this man.”

The man’s ________ in picking them up restored her faith in humanity. And it didn’t ________ there. When he heard the couple was ________, he offered them summer jobs and a ________to live in on his farm near Homer, Alaska. They gladly accepted.

The ________ impacted Foster so much that she wrote about it in a book titled More Than Everything. Looking back on that time, she says she’ll never forget that man with the bright ________ eyes.

8 . When my friend first suggested that we join the new Tai Chi Club at school, I _________. I always believed tai chi was for old people. After the first class, _________, I had to admit that I had been wrong about tai chi. It was amazing!

The first few tai chi classes were fun and _________, and the moves really caught my imagination, with descriptive names like “white crane spreading its wings” and “golden rooster standing on one leg”. Later, I found myself bored and aching from doing the same _________ over and over again. Luckily, my coach taught me how to relax my muscles and _________ peace of mind while performing the routine. With these requirements of tai chi in mind, I found to my satisfaction that my balance and flexibility slowly _________, that I was able to do more difficult moves, and that my _________ for tai chi returned stronger than ever.

A year of practising tai chi has had a(n) _________ effect on my everyday life. I sleep better at night, and I am more _________ during the day. I feel happier and more confident. Tai chi has taught me to relax my mind, enabling me to stay cool in stressful __________. I am sure I will continue to practise tai chi and enjoy the benefits it has brought me.

9 . Gather together a couple of good friends and take a free ________ through the streets — this is what many ________ people in China enjoy doing when they pay a visit to a new city. To them, Citywalk means “wandering around the city” on foot. Participants (参与者) can follow a special urban route, exploring old buildings or enjoying real ________ snacks.

The ________ of Citywalk can date back to London, England. Strictly speaking, this form of urban tourism is not as casual (随意的) and ________ as it may appear. In the ________, Citywalk referred to tours where participants followed a(n)________ route under the guidance of tour guides, ________ deep into the city’s history, culture, landscapes and other aspects. ________, the thought of Citywalk, which ________ the quiet appreciation of urban lifestyle and cultural atmosphere, has gained popularity worldwide.

Up to now, the Citywalk trend has ________ from first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai to second-tier and third-tier cities, encouraging more participants and event organisers to get ________. Some organisers ________ folk culture researchers and enthusiasts to act as tour guides.

In short, Citywalk not only offers a way for young people to ________ with a city but also provides them with a new social scene, where people with the same interests and ideas can ________ make friends.