1 . Imagine being told that you will never walk again! That was what doctors told Kieran Behan after they ______ a cancerous tumor (肿瘤) from his leg when he was 10 years old. Up to then, he had been ______ about gymnastics and was determined to become an Olympic champion. But how could he ______ the sport when he could not even walk?

Kieran was going to ______ them that he could and he started the long road to recovery. He had to stay in the wheelchair for 15 months but he ______ and was back in the gym at last. But a few months later, he slipped from the high bar and ______ a terrible head injury. He was so badly injured that faints (昏迷) happened ______ when he walked. He missed a whole year at school but the gym was beckoning again. This time, though, he had to ______ the challenges of that awful injury.

It then took him three years to reach where he had been before the ______ accident. Then another ______ came when his knee snapped (断裂) just after he had been ______ for the European Championships. Kieran said that was when he was about to give up, ______ he stuck to his dream and he ______ in becoming the World Challenge Cup champion.

In 2011, his greatest moment of glory was when he ______ for the London 2012 Olympics. He had eventually become an Olympic athlete after being through ______ pain, injuries and setbacks. It’s a glorious example of the Olympic spirit.

2 . I called my brother, Larry. “I have good news, and I have bad,” I said. “Which do you want to hear first?”

“Good news first.”

“You can go to sleep early tonight.”

“Okay. What’s the bad?” he inquired.

“We’re going to the opera!”

The joke was, the last time I made him go, he fell asleep. Even I had to admit it was a boring production. But when someone gave us tickets to the all-time favourite Carmen, I really thought he might enjoy it. When he nodded off again, I let him sleep. I only woke him when his snoring (打鼾) became louder than the performance.

Larry and I have always had our basic values in common, but our interests are as far apart as, well, opera and hockey (冰球). I love the arts, and he’s a huge sports fan. His big passion is NHL hockey. He’s shared season tickets with his friends for years. I must admit there have been times I’ve been tempted (诱惑) to sell my ticket online. Tempted, but I’d never do that. Instead, if he wanted to go, we went. I would complain, “Oh, not again!”

When the game started, my phone would be on my lap. Most of the time, I’d be texting or daydreaming. Sometimes, my texting would be interrupted when the home team scored. I knew they scored because everyone jumped up and exchanged high-fives and fist bumps.

As I looked around at thousands of people cheering and getting increasingly excited, I decided to at least give it a try—for my brother’s sake, if not for my own.

It took a few games, but soon I was hooked. When the other team scored, I eventually felt a bit disappointment with the rest of my crowd.

My brother was surprised to see me getting involved. I was astonished myself! I didn’t keep glancing at the clock, counting the minutes until we got out. Time flew. The game was over before I knew it.

4 . The Marches were a happy family. Poverty, hard work, and even the fact that Father March was away with the Union armies could not down the spirits of Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy, and Marmee, as the March girls called their mother.

The March sisters tried to be good but had their share of faults. Pretty Meg was often displeased with the schoolchildren she taught; boyish Jo was easy to become angry; golden-haired schoolgirl Amy liked to show up; but Beth, who kept the house, was loving and gentle always.

The happy days passed and darkness came when a telegram arrived for Mrs. March. “Your husband is very ill,” it said, “come at once.” The girl tried to be brave when their mother left for the front. They waited and prayed. Little Beth got scarlet fever（猩红热）when she was taking care of the sick neighbor. She became very ill but began to recover by the time Marmee was back. When Father came home from the front and at that joyful Christmas dinner they were once more all together.

Three years later the March girls had grown into young womanhood. Meg became Mrs. Brooke, and after a few family troubles got used to her new state happily. Jo had found pleasure in her literary efforts. Amy had grown into a young lady with a talent for design and an even greater one for society. But Beth had never fully regained her health, and her family watched her with love and anxiety.

Amy was asked to go and stay in Europe with a relative of the Marches’. Jo went to New York and became successful in her writing and had the satisfaction of seeing her work published there. But at home the bitterest blow was yet to fall. Beth had known for some time that she couldn’t live much longer to be with the family and in the spring time she died.

News came from Europe that Amy and Laurie, the grandson of a wealthy neighbor, had planned to be married soon. Now Jo became ever more successful in her writing and got married to Professor Bhaer and soon afterwards founded a school for boys.

And so the little women had grown up and lived happily with their children, enjoying the harvest of love and goodness that they had devoted all their lives to.