1 . It was a dark day, one of depression, sorrow and anger. As I climbed out of the _____, after witnessing my time in the 100 yard freestyle, I did not feel like speaking to anyone. I saw the bright smiles of swimmers who had just _____ a best time. _____ , I had failed. Or at least that is what I thought at the time.

I was lying on my cool bed when an idea _____ my head. Success is the _____ to go from failure to failure without _____ your enthusiasm. At practice the next day, I told my swimming teammates about my goal time and they all either laughed or replied with a _____ similar response like, “You can’t do it” or “Probably not”. Believe it or not, these are the responses that made my goal _____.

Finally came the day when I had to _____ to myself and others that with ______ there is no limit to your achievements.

With the starting gun ______, I dove with perfect form into the pool. I felt the cool water running ______ my back. I swam like a fish, bouncing off each ______ at the wall as if it was a spring board. On the ______ turn, I came back to the wall with every piece of strength I had. I ______ the final wall with my fingertips and knew that I had swum the ______ race.

I had done it! I had achieved my best time! Joy filled my ______ like water does a cup. I saw the ______ on all of my friends’ faces as I ______ out of the pool: their jaws dropped to the ground. I began to laugh and gave them thumbs up.

I have ______ in life that having belief in yourself opens all gates. Never forget that anything the mind can conceive and believe can achieve.

Anna lost her arms in a car accident when she was a teenager. What was worse, she lost her parents at the age of 20. Her elder sister,     1     was ten years older than her, wanted to take care of her. However, Anna refused     2     (live) with her sister, saying that she would take care of     3     (her). She managed to enter college and     4     (study) very hard. Four years later, she graduated and     5     (give) a job. Once she wrote     6     her diary, “I am quite lucky. Though I lost my arms, I still have my legs.”

Anna chose to face her misfortune in a positive way. Instead of     7     (feel) sad every day, she decided not to let it hold her back. She has taught us     8     good lesson. When something bad happens to us, we have two     9     (choose). One is to complain, and the other is to face it     10     (brave). If we choose to escape, it will always follow us wherever we go. If we decide to be strong, new hopes will come. So choose wisely.

3 . “You’ll be blind by the time you’re twenty-five,” a doctor at Children’s Hospital predicted. “Your blood sugars are much too high.” It consumed me. No mater where I was or what I was doing, it was overhead like a dark cloud, waiting for just the right opportunity to break open and destroy my world.

I liked painting. Losing myself in painting filled me with peace. Painting provided me with the only place where I could escape from those threatening words.

When I was 2l years old, my right eye went blind. Precisely three months after I was 25, I had a massive hemorrhage (大出血) in my left eye because of an accident. For the next twenty years, vision came and went. I went through many eye operations in an attempt to keep my vision. But after one final operation, I lost the battle and all remaining vision. And I buried all dreams of painting.

Desperate, I enrolled in (注册) a sixteen-week program for the blind and visually impaired (视力受损).I learned personal adjustment and the use of a computer with adaptive software. A whole new world opened up to me through this program as a turning point.

“Jaws and Window-Eyes are leading software for the blind.” my instructor told me. “You can use the Internet, e-mail and Microsoft with all its tools and features.” It’s amazing! Hope went up for the first time in years. “By learning how to use hot keys to control the mouse, you can use Microsoft Access, Excel and PowerPoint,” my instructor added.

For the next several years, I learned that when one door closes, another door opens. There are plenty of choices available for the blind and visually impaired through the gift of technology. Not only do I have a speaking computer, but I have a speaking watch, alarm clock and calculator.

4 . It was the last day of the final examination in a university. On the steps of one building, a group of students who majored in engineering were talking about the exam that was going to begin in a few_____.On their faces was confidence. This was their last exam—then they would face _____ and jobs.

Some talked of jobs they already had; others talked of jobs they would get. With the certainty of four years of college, they felt ready and able to take _____ of the world.

The coming exam, they knew, would be an easy task. The professor had said they could_____ any books or notes they wanted to take the exam, only requesting that they should not _____ each other during the test.

Joyfully they entered the examination room. The professor handed out the papers. And smiles _____ on the students’ faces as they noticed there were only five essay－type questions(问答题).

Three hours had passed_____ the professor began to collect the papers. The students no longer looked confident. On their faces were frightened expressions. No one spoke as the professor faced the class with papers in his hands.

He looked at the _____ faces before him, and then asked, “How many completed all five questions?”_____ a hand was raised.

“How many answered four?” Still no hands.

“Three? Two?” The students moved restlessly (不安地) in their seats.

“One, then? Certainly somebody finished _____.”But the class remained silent.

The professor put down the papers.“That is exactly what I _____，” he said.“I just want to impress upon you that，_____ you have completed four years of engineering, there are still many questions about the _____ you don’t know. These questions you couldn’t answer are relatively (相对地)valuable in everyday practice.” Then smiling, he added, “You will all _____ this course, but remember even though you are now college graduates, your education has just begun.”

The years have _____ the name of this professor, but not the lesson he taught.

8 . At 111, Dr Edith Kaufmann was the second oldest person in the UK. I met her when I ________ at a care home for the elderly in London six years ago. I didn’t realize it would be the start of a close ________, where the age gap spanned eight decades.

At first sight, I was ________ by her self-confidence. Her doctorate (博士学位) told me she was intelligent and ________. From the beginning, I never felt as if Edith and I ________ conversation. Edith could have a full conversation with me about anything, and that her memory stretched back so easily, ________ even small things which took place 100 years ago.

She was also________ . She loved dancing as a child and I recall, only a few weeks before her death,________she smiled when I played the waltz and we________ hands and danced along to the music. Although towards her later years she was________to a wheelchair, she still participated in the exercise classes.

As I________Edith each week, I realized that I was going as much for me as I was for her. I learnt to take the words of________when I could get them. When I have failed over the years, and small decisions have ________on my mind, I have ________nothing more than the opportunity to regain my perspective (视角) on life and what actually________.

9 . On January 15, 2016, I awoke at 2:30 am because I needed water. After drinking some, I was walking back upstairs from the kitchen when I_________ the bulldog (牛头犬), Rock. When I made it to the bottom of the stairs, he was running up. But he had never_________ to the stairs before. Now I know that was his way of informing me of the_________.

When I turned around, I saw some light, but I remembered I hadn’t_________ a light on. Walking_________ to it, I found it was fire. It became a big fire soon. _________ shouting to my wife to wake up and get our three kids, I cut out the plastic that covered the window to the_________. Then I hurriedly got _________ out on the roof. We _________ for help, but help never __________.

The fire became very fierce (凶猛的). Even worse, I was scared of heights and had physical__________ --my rheumatoid arthritis (类风湿性关节炎), but I couldn’t mind. I just jumped and got injured when I__________, but I didn’t care about it.

I found our__________, placed it against the house, and climbed back up to the roof.I__________ out one hand to hold my daughter and__________ my nine-month-old son with an arm. Once on the __________, I had my little girl hold her brother, and I went back to save others. When I tried to save Rock, he just__________ in the black smoke. I never saw him__________ again.

I’m not a hero, but Rock is. I’m just a(n) __________ person helping my wife and children while he lived to__________ us.

10 . Five-year-old Willard Wigan struggled to tell the difference between an M and a W or a 6 and a 9. Unfortunately, his schoolteacher knew nothing about dyslexia (阅读障碍症), a learning disability that can make letters and numbers ________. She didn’t try to ________ him.

Not ________, Willard didn’t like school. Usually, his mind drifted (游荡) to playing outside, to his dog Maxie, or to the ________ that lived near his family’s garden bed. Willard was especially ________ about those ants. He felt like them-________ and insignificant.

Willard ________ that the ants were coming and going from a hole in the dirt. One ant was carrying a piece of grass, and Willard thought, “He’s trying to build a ________, so I am going to help him!”

Willard constructed a small house for ants. At school, Willard still ________, but now he knew he could do something ________. Maybe he wasn’t a failure after all. Willard later went home and created tiny furniture (家具) for the ant house.

His artistic skill ________, and a love for little things began to grow in his heart. When he showed his mother his carved works, she said, “This is what you do well. You must make ________ to be the best in the world.”

With her ________, Willard continued. When he quit school at age 15 to help support his family, Willard still spent his spare time ________. His confidence grew as more people appreciated his talent.

Because of their beauty and rarity, Willard’s sculptures have made him a(n) ________ man. But he says, “Success isn’t about material things like an expensive watch or a costly ring; it’s about determination and achieving your dreams.”