1 . When I first saw the Boston Marathon in 1964, I just fell in love with it. I _______ to be part of it, but I didn’t know if I could do it.

In February, 1966, I sent my _______ to the Boston Marathon and they wrote back, saying, “Women are not physiologically (生理上) able to run a marathon. ”When I read the letter, I thought if I could prove that this was a _______ view about women, it was going to open up the discussion of what else we thought women could not do. So I took the bus to Boston and got there the day before the race.

When I got to the starting line, I knew the most important thing was that I should not be _______. To avoid being arrested or pulled off the course, I had a blue hooded (带风帽的) sweatshirt pulled up over my _______ with my hair tied back. Then, there was the bang, but I waited until about half the pack left—then I _______in.

Even though I was disguised (伪装), the other runners _______ very quickly that I was a woman. Fortunately, they were very _______ . I told them that I was _______ I would be thrown out if officials saw that I was a woman. But they said, “We won’t let that _________. It’s a free road. ”That’s when I ________ the hooded sweatshirt and everyone could see I was a woman. Then people went ________. They started shouting and clapping, “Way to go, girlie!”

Finally I ran into Boston and ________ the race in 3 hours and 21 minutes.

I went back to Boston and ran again in 1967 and 1968.1 hope to be a (n) ________ of someone who follows what they love and what they’re good at. I think everyone came to this world to ________ something.

3 . Nixon, 59 years old, was born and grew up in St. Petersburg. Each morning, he sits on a bench, watches the sunrise, and connects with _________ from all walks of life.

Eight years ago, he decided to begin each day from a bench (a kind of chair) with an impressive view of the St. Petersburg waterfront (圣彼得堡海滨), because it made him feel calm and _________ before starting his day.

About a year later, a woman stopped to say hello, and she said something that _________ Nixon’s view on his daily visit. She said, “Every morning when I see you sitting here, I know everything is going to be OK.” That’s when Nixon _________ he needed to pay attention to the people walking past.

Instead of staring straight ahead at the waterfront, Nixon started _________ at people and talking to them. And pretty soon, some early risers began _________ him on the bench, sometimes sharing their pressure and asking him for advice about personal problems.

No matter what problem a person wants to _________, Nixon lends an ear. One day, a couple came by to talk about their problems. The husband was always working. It was destroying their _________. Nixon told him, “You have to know what’s really important.” The man admitted he’d put everything he had into his _________ for many years instead of focusing on his family. “He started to cry and agreed that he needed to __________,” Nixon says. “We hugged each other and became friends after that.”

Nixon was always happy to listen, and he listens without __________ and without any kind of return expected. “You have to listen with an open heart, because you never know who’s going to walk up,” Nixon says. He is a loving and loyal __________ to many. For those who walked past the bench, they were always __________ with a smile and asked how they were doing. No topic is off limits, but some people don’t want to talk. They simply want to sit next to someone and share the __________. Once a woman stopped and just sat with Nixon for an hour; then she said thanks and walked away. She just wanted a moment of peace and to know she wasn’t __________.

And at that moment, she truly wasn’t.

4 . As my dad got a new job in southern Florida, we moved here from our old home, school, friends and everything. There were so many ________ for me. In a new school full of strangers, could I make friends? Would I ________? My mind was filled with ________.

Being shy and quiet, I read a lot. Loving books and reading helped me get excellent results. Teachers ________ me for that. But other kids disliked me getting top ________ and answering questions in class. I felt like a (n) _________.

Then one day, a tall strong boy in English class walked right over to me. He________himself. He said he was on the school basketball team. I ________ that he was the star player!

“Hey,” he said. “Do you think you could. ________ me? You do really well in English class.” I could, and ________ I would. From that moment on, life at school ________. Basketball players walked me to classes and. ________ me in hallways. As the team tutor (导师), I fit in. Nobody. ________ me anymore. I was thankful to be ________ enough to help the team.

I taught the guys about grammar. They taught me how to dribble (运球) a basketball. More importantly, they gave me the ________ to be myself and to be a short girl who really knew how to dribble a basketball!

5 . When she was 16, Joanne learned that she was adopted and that her birth mother was a woman named Lillian and that she had died days after giving birth to her. Feeling betrayed (被背叛的) and confused, Joanne spent many nights crying, _________ what her birth mother had been like. And yet, some part of her believed her mother was still _________.

The doubts _________ Joanne for years. In 2017, when Joanne was already 79 years old, her daughter-in-law, Shelley, suggested her taking a DNA _________. Shelley thought learning something about her _________ family might give Joanne some _________.

So Joanne took the test, and about a year later, Shelley received a message on ancestry.com from a man named Sam, whose genetic report had _________ him with Joanne.

Shelley immediately wrote back to Sam, asking _________ he knew a Lillian. Yes, Sam said, that was his mother’s name. Almost _________, an even bigger shock came that Lillian was alive, at age 100.

The families quickly planned a(n) __________ where Lillian lived. A month later, Joanne found herself sitting across from the mother she had __________ in her whole life, looking at Lillian, who suffered from dementia (痴呆症) and used a wheelchair.

“I don’t know if she recognizes me,” Joanne said.

She told Lillian that she had been __________ in 1940 and that she’d been told her birth mother had __________. No response. Joanne started to cry. At that point, her mother __________, as if she had started to understand. Joanne excitedly continued telling Lillian all about her children and grandchildren. Lillian smiled. Then she said the words Joanne had waited more than 60 years to hear: “This is my __________.”

8 . Until a few years ago, I had what most people would call a good life. I had a _____ job that paid the bills; I had a good family that I was close to, and I had a place to live and money in the bank for trips and _____, and there was nothing much wrong in my life. However, I was bored.

I wanted more. I wanted to live _____ and loudly and make sharp memories instead of the grey ones of everyday life. But I was _____. I have never had any confidence in myself. As a child, even buying something in a shop caused me a great deal of _____, and even though I did get better as I got older, I never quite _____ that childhood shyness.

And I tried everything, like reading books about confidence. I also took tiny steps leading to my goals. But none of them really _____.

So I _____ that the small steps weren’t enough. I signed up for an internship (实习期的工作) of teaching English in Vietnam, an _____ huge step, one that terrified me as much as it excited me. And then the day came and I left my home and my loved ones. I was alone in a country where the food was ______ and the streets were unfamiliar. I had no idea whether I would be able to ______ everything that this very strange environment would ______ at me.

I spent five months in Vietnam, teaching, exploring and laughing, I’d learnt to ______ myself, my skills, my abilities and my decisions. I returned home unrecognizable, even to myself, let alone to others. The ______ that had controlled my life and the self­doubt were ______.

That one big chance changed everything for me, and in me.

9 . Yesterday, I posted a photo of a pile of cross stitch kits (十字绣) on my blog. To my _______, many readers say I do well in them. I couldn’t use them all, _______ finally I decided to give away the rest to ladies in my neighbourhood who like to _______a project with their own hands.

I_______them all up into a box and decided to start with the lady who _______a pub. She’s perfectly kind and she served me with a cup of coffee. I took her out to my car and showed her the _______. I was holding it in my arms beside my car when another car _______up next to us with two other ladies in it. Within moments I was pushed against the _______behind the weight of three elderly ladies and I had to fight my way to pick up the empty box. The three ladies had taken every single item in that box with _______expressions on their faces and lots of thanks. One of the ladies has a son who is a firefighter. She decided to give some cross stitch kits to the ________station. Her decision did make me pleased. I had in my mind a wonderful picture of all these ________and strong firemen sitting around all working on their cute cross stitch Christmas stockings while they ________for fire alarms to be called in.

Finally, ________and laughter all went around, and then I e­mailed another ________, who often visits me and also likes cross stitch kits. She promised to send me her extra cross stitch kits, too. I just know kindness will finally ________on to others.

10 . Last year I ruined my summer vacation by bringing along a modern convenience: the iPad.

Instead of looking at nature, I _________ my e-mail. Instead of paddling an old boat, I followed my Twitter feed (简讯). Instead of reading great novels, I stuck to reading four _________ each morning. 

And that was the problem:I was acting _________ I were still in the office. My body was on vacation but my head wasn’t. 

So this year I made up my mind to try something _________: getting away from the Internet. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, since I’m not good at self-control. But I was determined. I started by _________ the iPad to my wife. Then, a stroke of luck: The cell phone signal at our cabin (小木屋) was worse than in the past, meaning that I couldn’t cheat. I was _________, forced to carry out my plan. Largely cut off from e-mail, Twitter and my favorite newspaper websites, I had little way to connect to the world _________ radio—and how much radio can one listen to, really? I had no choice but to do what I had planned to do all along:read books. 

This experience has had a _________ ending—for now, at least. With determination and the strong support of my wife, I succeeded in my vacation struggle against the Internet. I _________ realized that it was me, of course, not the iPad, that was the problem. 

I knew I had __________ when we passed a Starbucks and my wife asked if I wanted to stop to use the Wi-Fi. “Don’t need it,” I said.__________, as we return to post-vacation situation, a test begins: Can I __________ when I’m back at work? And I don’t plan to __________ my convenience completely. But I hope to resist the temptation (诱惑) to check my e-mail every five minutes,__________ often leads to following my Twitter feed. 

A vacation is supposed to help you reset your __________ to become more productive. Here I hope this one worked.