1 . In 1991, Davenport played in her first professional tennis match when she was 15. She was ranked (排名) the Number 1 woman _________ player in the world eight different times.

I had the chance to _________ Davenport at the 2012 US Open. _________ that night, she answered some questions from our group and I asked her, “Ms Davenport, _________ can teach people a lot of lessons. What lessons did you _________ during your time as a professional tennis player that you didn’t learn _________ an amateur (业余运动员)?” To be honest, I had a personal reason for asking this question. I played baseball in college, but not _________. So I wanted to know what I missed.

Davenport’s first _________ was to talk about how she had to grow up _________. She mentioned the power of the media and learning to live her life in front of a(n) __________. But then she changed the __________ and talked about improving her skill and the lessons of competition, hard work, and perseverance. Those things, she said, were learned long __________ she became a professional. In other words, to learn about what it’s like to __________ as a professional athlete, you need to be a professional athlete. But to learn the lessons of playing sports, you just need to __________ your sport.

Take note: you don’t need to be the best in order to be __________ or satisfied, but all that matters is that you play the game.

2 . One day, I received a text from my assistant Susan. It read, “Congratulations! You have been _________ for the shooting of a cruise commercial (游轮广告).” I was _________ since it was a great opportunity for an actress. But as I saw the _________ of my character: “she” has to be a strong swimmer, my heart sank. I called Susan to _________ the shooting. “I’m so sorry; I can’t swim.”

I had a terrible _________ for swimming in high school. I recalled that my P.E. teacher _________ me because on the final test I tried to swim the entire length of the pool while holding my breath.

Even now, I still feel the pain of giving up that great shooting opportunity. I thought, “Maybe it’s time to _________ my fear.” Then, I slowly walked into the pool in my backyard, _________ myself by saying: “You can do this.” However, I realized I needed _________ help after trying several times. Luckily for me, I found an excellent coach who stressed that the most __________ point was “breathing and building confidence”. She said I had to __________ my face in the water, practicing blowing out bubbles (吐泡泡), and then surface for air to repeat the __________. Instructed by my coach, I practiced very hard every day. __________, I gained strength in my movement and managed to __________ my breath.

It has now been two months since I started my brave water __________, and I’m proud that I’m no longer afraid of water.

3 . As a child, Robin Stevens loved reading murder mystery stories. She _________ herself in the worlds of fictional detectives(侦探) like Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple. These childhood heroes now _________ her own detective stories and most recently the first in her new _________ of books was called The Ministry of Unladylike Activity.

This series is set in the Second World War (1939—45) and tells the story of May Wong, _________, with her friend Eric, wants to be a spy(间谍). They _________ a case at the mysterious Elysium Hall. Stevens tells The Week Junior that all her characters are _________ “parts of myself, parts of friends and some historical characters who I _________.”

Stevens tries to write 2,000 words every day when she’s first _________ a story. “It’s complicated(复杂的) and I think, ‘This is _________, I can’t write’,” she says, but then she goes back, checks and __________ a few pages at a time and __________ the story comes together. She says her snack of choice is jelly beans, to keep her brain __________.

“If you want to write, you have to __________,” she says, or at least, __________ stories from books, TV or films. Although writing can be hard and __________, if you give a few minutes to it every day, week or month, you will improve. Remember to have fun with a story, Stevens says, “and if you’re not having fun, write something else.”

4 . I come from a long line of farmers. When my parents moved to Wisconsin, farming allowed them to _________ back to Laos, to the culture, and the land. Wisconsin’s cornfields _________ the rice fields of Laos. But for me as a child, farming was just a _________. I would be assigned (分配) a row of green beans. My mom _________ me a big basket and it was my _________ to fill it. That was how I spent my summer vacation _________ my friends were either at camp or doing other fun activities.

I didn’t _________ how farming brought hope to my parents until I was an adult. I am a _________ removed from Laos and I have found that farming allows me to _________ my parents’ story. It allows me to see a little bit into their story. What I’ve __________ from my mom is that you can grow just about anything. My mom wants to start growing __________ like she did back in Laos. With a snowy climate, it is something I never thought __________ here. To me, this shows resilience (适应力). Maybe it __________ and maybe it doesn’t. But there is __________ in that.

As a kid, I hated doing farm work and I never thought that someday I would say that I kind of __________ putting my feet in the mud and weeding (除草) the corn.

5 . From a young age, I was fascinated by language. I ________ the Welsh words my grandmother taught me and parroted (鹦鹉学舌) my relatives’ local ________.

I remember a holiday in Spain when two boys asked if I spoke Norwegian. When I couldn’t ________, they ran off, leaving me sad. Back home, I’d search shops for language books and enjoyed trying all these different words to ________ what was in my head. I thought it was ________, and still do.

The first language I learned was Spanish. At sixth-form college, I ________ Spanish GCSE, then A-level. After university, I cycled to the Netherlands, ________ Dutch. It turned out that speaking a language abroad with ________ people was an ideal way to learn.

Travelling to learn a language became an ________—it came with excitement and lonelier moments. I have found that the ________ of learning depends on the language. If it is similar to a language I already speak, I can use it in a ________ way within weeks.

During lockdown, I took short courses in Scots, Korean and Irish. I joined conversation groups and ________ exams in Cornish. In 2022, I founded the annual Polyglot Conference. I also ________ for indigenous and endangered languages.

I’ve studied dozens of languages now. The most important thing about learning languages is the ability to build ________ with other people. They allow you to experience ________ and perceptions you may never have otherwise considered.

6 . When I was 8, my brother who was 4 years older than me, did a heroic action. He saved our _________ sister’s life. It happened in the _________ near the village of Saint Lucia.

On the day of the _________ action, my mother and a friend of hers _________ to take us, my three siblings and me, out for a _________ in the mountains. The path was very _________ and at times it broke into slippery cliffs(光滑的峭壁)of rocks.

One particular stretch was very narrow, at most 10 inches in _________. My older sister and I _________ ahead of the group and crossed the path without a problem. My younger sister followed us and began _________ the path. She froze in the middle of the path, and began __________ as she felt stones rolling under her __________. We told her to keep moving towards us, __________ she felt unable to move.

We __________ to my mother and her friend, but they were __________ far behind to hear us. We called our brother and in five minutes he arrived.

Upon seeing my sister, he __________ her hand, calmly telling her to move sideways, one step at a time. She began moving slowly and they finally approached to us. About two feet away from us, the stones fell down under my brother’s feet. He quickly pushed our sister into my arms as he went down the cliff.

A few minutes later, my mother arrived with her friend. My brother had a cut in the arm but fortunately no severe wounds. He was able to climb back up.

7 . When my mother took me out of high school, I knew that my life would become   ______. My mother told me when I was 18 I had to leave the house. As I was going to ______ my 18th birthday, I started feeling ______ because I didn’t have an idea on ______ I was going to do.

One night while I was watching TV, an advertisement came on about ______ the military (军队). The next day I ______ the number on the advertisement and set up an ______ to meet the recruiter (招募者). When he heard about me not having a high school diploma (毕业文凭), he knew I had little ______. I explained to him that I was going to be ______ in a few weeks.

About a month later he called me and asked me to come to his office. He told me he would get me in the military but I had to ______ him that I would make the ______ of this chance. In fact, I kept my side of the ______ by doing eight years. Now I am ______ and have the ______ to make my life a little easier with that decision I made and the help I ______.

8 . In a history class, our teacher, Mrs. Bartlett asked us to make a poster in groups about the culture that we were studying. She told us to write the names of three friends we _______ in one group and she would think about our_______.

The next day, I was told to be in a group I would_______want—the boy who was too weak in English, and the two girls who wore strange clothes. Oh, how I wanted to be with my _______!

With _______ in my eyes, I walked up to Mrs. Bartlett. She _______ me and seemed to know what I was there for. I told her I should be in the “good” group. She gently _______ a hand on my shoulder. “I know what you want, Karma,” she said, “but your group needs you. I need you to help them. Only you can help them.” I was _______ and moved. Her words _______ me.

“Will you help them?” she asked. “Yes,” I replied. Then I ________ walked over to my group. I sat down and we started. Each of us did a part according to our interests. Halfway through the week, I felt ________ enjoying our group. We did a good job together. Nobody ________ Mrs. Bartlett had believed in our group.

________, our group got an A. But I think we should hand the A back to Mrs. Bartlett. She was the one who should truly ________ it. Mrs. Bartlett brought out the potential (潜能) in ________ of her students.

9 . For me, becoming an Olympian was not developing a gift of natural athletic ability, but an act of will.

In the summer of 1979, I started _______ for the Olympic trials (选拔赛) to be held the next year. I felt happy as I made progress towards my big _______. But then in November, an _______ situation appeared. I injured my back and couldn’t move. I had to leave the _______. Everyone around me felt _______ for me. Everyone but me.

I never believed this would _______ me. However, my action was _______. With only a few months remaining, I knew I would never make it _______ I did something. So, I started training in the only way I could in my mind.

I bought films of the world-record holders in pentathlon (五项全能运动). Sitting in a chair, I _______ them over and over. I lay on the bed and imagined the experience of ________ at the trials. Some people thought I was crazy, but I wasn’t ready to ________ yet. I trained as hard as I could without moving a muscle. I ________ this practice with all my heart.

By the time the trials actually began, I had been ________ enough to compete. ________, as I walked across the field, I heard a voice on the loudspeaker announcing my name. I could hardly hold back my ________ as the announcer said, “Second place, 1980 Olympic Pentathlon: Marilyn King.”

10 . You never know who’s having a bad day. One _________ can turn a stranger’s entire day around.

I _________ this while I was in Brisbane back in February. I was walking on one of the main streets. A stranger was walking towards me on the sidewalk. He looked _________ and seemed to be having a terrible day. I _________ to show him a little kindness. So I briefly made eye contact and smiled for a few seconds.

He stopped and said, “I’m very _________ to you. I recently got made redundant (被裁员) and feel terrible about my _________. You made me feel a little bit better.” The truth is that I wasn’t _________ to have a conversation about someone’s _________ in life. I just wanted to smile. But we ended up _________ for several minutes. Afterward, he seemed to be in a much happier mood (心情).

A __________ is just a friend that you haven’t met yet. Be the type of person who shows small kindnesses to strangers. Become a beacon ( 灯塔) of __________ during moments when people feel hopeless. Become a guiding light when someone is __________ one of the darkest times of their life. Smile at everyone you see on the street. The __________ it can have is incredibly profound (深远的). Small acts of __________ can achieve so much. As the sun makes ice melt (融化), kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and unfriendliness to __________.