1 . At age 83, Barbara Humbert dreams of taking part in next year’s “Marathon for All” race at the Paris Olympic Games. It is the first _________ of its kind, allowing amateur (业余) athletes to run the same race path as the Olympic marathon athletes. Humbert has a history of success suggesting she could _________ some runners half her age.

Unlike your _________ great-grandmother, the German-born Frenchwoman runs 50 kilometers a week. She has _________ in many marathons and has the medals to show for it. “It’s _________ to have the Olympics in my homeland,” said Humbert, “It would be a _________ for my 60th marathon.”

However, Humbert is unsure whether she will receive the paper for _________ to the race, as the number for the Marathon for All will be _________ to 20,024. Humbert’s husband Jacques is a big supporter, helping where he can. He is waiting for the sports ministry’s response to her _________ for joining in the race.

Many __________ hanging in the entrance of Barbara and Jacques’s home __________ Barbara of all the races she has taken part in, from Athens to Boston and many other cities. She figures out that she has __________ about 8,000 kilometers in those races.

To __________ others to follow in her footsteps, she said of running, “It gives you balance. You run, you empty your head, you feel __________ relaxed afterwards.” Barbara is planning for more races __________ just staying on what has been achieved.

2 . It was a hot Saturday at a crowded mall, and I was walking alongside my mom. Mom is short, skinny, and easy to be ________ in a crowd. As we walked, I ________ up at the people passing by. Some were stylish young ladies, who wore fashionable ________ and walked confidently in high heels. An uneasy feeling started to ________ in my chest. It got more unbearable with every second until I could deny it no longer; I was ________ of my mother.

We lived in a small but ________ apartment building that Mom chose to move to because she knew the schools there were good. We were in a high-class neighborhood, but as I examined the passers-by and then turned ________ eyes on Mom, I realized for the first time that we didn’t ________ there. I could see the heavy lines around Mom’s eyes and mouth, without fancy creams to _______ them away. Her eyes were tired from working long hours to make ends meet and her hair too gray for her age. My mom is nothing extraordinary, yet at that moment she ________ because she was just so plain.

My mind was ________ when Mom suddenly called out: my name. She was standing in the middle of a high-end store, holding a sweater that looked much too expensive. She said, “This will look good on you. Do you want it?” I almost agreed ________ and thoughtlessly. Then I took a closer look at the small, weary woman with a big smile ________ across her narrow face and a sweater in her hands, and my words ________ in my throat. She looked so tired all the time because she was busy working to provide for me. She didn’t wear jewelry or scented perfumes because she was just ________ with me. I was no longer ashamed of her, but of myself. “Do you want it?” My mom repeated. “No thanks.” I responded.

3 . On 20 December, in Newdale, a series of huge waves caused by an undersea earthquake raced across the ocean near Gold shore. Worse still, it ________ thousands dead. Gold shore Beach was the only local beach to ________ the disaster without any loss of life. A 10-year-old girl, Sabrina Andron, helped around 100 people escape danger with her   ________ of tsunamis (海啸).

The day began like any other on Gold shore Beach. People were walking, running or simply siting on the sandy beach, ________ the warm sea air and enjoying the soft ________ that brushed their hair. Sabrina was one of the happy tourists until she noticed something ________. “The water was like the bubbles (气泡) on the top of a beer,” she later explained. “It wasn’t ________ and it wasn’t going in and then out. It was just coming in and in and in.” It struck her that these were the ________ of an upcoming tsunami, which Sabrina had just learnt about in a Geography lesson.

Sabrina was ________, but she soon kept her head. She warned her parents of the ________, thought at first they just thought she was ________. However, Sabrina was certain that a terrible disaster was ________ and kept asking her parents to talk to a safety officer. To her great relief, the officer ________ realized the coming danger. The beach was rapidly cleared of people, just ________ the huge waves ________ into the coast.

6 . There are many kinds of friends. Some are always with you, but don’t understand you. Some say only a few words to you, but understand you. Many people will step in your life, but only _________ friends leave footprints.

I shall always recall the autumn and the girl with the _________. I know she will always be my best friend. It was the golden season. I could see the yellow leaves _________ in the cool wind. In such a season, I liked walking _________ in the leaves, listening to the sound of them. Autumn is a harvest season. However, life is uninteresting. The free days always get me _________. But one day, the sound of a violin _________ into my ears like a stream (小溪) flowing in the mountains. A young girl, standing in the wind, was _________ in playing her violin. I had _________ seen her before. The music was so nice that I listened quietly. Absorbed in the music, I didn’t know that I had been standing there for so long but my existence did not seem to _________ her.

Every day she played the violin and I was the only listener. The autumn seemed no longer lonely and life became __________. Although we didn’t know each other, I thought we were already good __________. I believe she also liked me.

One day, when I was listening carefully, the sound suddenly __________. To my surprise, the girl came over to me. “You must like violin,” she said. “Yes. And you play very well. Why did you stop?” I asked. Suddenly, a(n) __________ expression appeared on her face and I could feel something unusual. “I came here to see my grandmother, but now I must leave. I once played very badly. It was your listening every day that __________ me,” she said.

“In fact, it was your playing that gave me a meaningful autumn,” I answered, “Let’s be friends.” The girl smiled, and so did I.

I never heard her play again in my life. But I will always remember the fine figure of the girl. She is like a dream — so short, so bright, like a shooting star __________ so much light that it makes the autumn beautiful.

8 . Lifeart is a student-run organization which was _______ by one of my best friends at my school in Boston, US. It sells _______ by our friends and classmates and raises money for cancer (癌症) research. To collect more money, we set out onto the streets of Boston to sell our painting to the public last spring.

We came to the subway station in order that we could get more _______. Things didn’t go well at first. It was _______ that day, so our paintings kept being blown away. All of us were quite_______ and were slow to ask people if they would consider buying our paintings. We were also worried about being driven away.

One of our girls, Luna, tried to talk to our first customer. Although he did not buy anything, it gave some _______ to the rest of us. With every new customer Luna brought to our little stand (货摊), we had more courage. I also stepped forward and talked to a Korean woman _______. I felt a bit embarrassed when she said that she didn’t have time. But thanks to this short conversation with the stranger, my courage _______. I kept talking to more people, including some Chinese people. At the _______ of the day, we sold about 20 pieces of paintings. It might not be as much as we had expected, __________ the courage that we got made up for the day’s shortcomings (不足).

9 . Xie Jun is a middle school student, studying in Grade 8 in a middle school in Changsha, Hunan. He has had lots of _________ since he was little. But as time goes by, there is only one dream still in his mind.

When he was a child, he heard of rockets and spaceships. _________, he didn’t know what they were. From his father, he started to know that scientists make _________ to carry people and things into space. From then on, he became very interested _________ space. Every time he sees beautiful stars and the moon in the sky at night, he gets very excited. He is always dreaming that he can fly to space to _________ the Earth one day.

Xie learned that the first man flew into space in 1961, and later, _________ astronauts made it successful to travel into space. Some even landed on the moon. He knows not _________ can travel into space. More importantly, _________ he can fly to space, he must be trained specially.

Xie knows it’s not easy to realize his dream, but he decides to try _________ best. He says, “I’ve had this dream for many years. It brings me a lot of __________ and always makes me study harder.”