The frightening day of our diving test was here. Our parents thought we were lucky to have an Olympic-size swimming pool at the school. My mom stressed that the swimming pool was one of the best in our city. But I didn’t feel happy about it at all. Instead, I felt afraid of the swimming pool. It was mainly because I was terribly shy.
I was so shy that I always sat at the back of the room in class so I’d not be called upon to read. As for the present physical education class each Monday morning, I would work my way to the back of the line forming at the diving board so I would not have to practice the dives.
Now, it was another Monday morning - the morning of our diving test. My blood ran cold when the teacher Ms. Robbins announced that we would be graded for our final on the most difficult dive- the jackknife. And she added, “This diving test is important. The one who fails has to spare time in the following Monday mornings to practice diving in this swimming pool and attend this test again.”
My body kept shaking with fear as the line to the scary diving board shortened. As I watched, each student seemed to perform the challenging dive effortlessly. And shortly I would have to attempt something that I had never even practiced before.
Then I remembered someone telling me that when you picture yourself doing a skill over and over, it’s just as effective as physically practicing that skill. So I watched carefully as each classmate jumped at the end of the board once, added a jump for height, folded their body in half to reach for their toes, and finally straightened out like an arrow for going into the water. After carefully watching for a while, I was actually in a state of surprise, because all of a sudden I realized that it was possible for me to perform these four steps of diving.
Eventually all classmates except me finished jumping. The teacher announced that it was my turn.
注意：1. 续与词数应为150左右；2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
With my heart knocking wildly, I walked down the diving board towards its end.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Knowing I failed, I climbed out of the pool, embarrassed.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Deep in the forest, my husband and I had fun climbing over and crawling under the downed trees that blocked the dirt path before us. It was May, yet we walked up a snow-covered hill. When we noticed our jeans were wet up to our knees, it did not dampen our spirits Not once did we say, “Let’s turn around.” This was our vacation, and we were on an adventure. Little did we know this was the beginning of many more surprises.
The trail was marked as an easy one-kilometer like yet we were already walking a long distance. Our light-heartedness stopped when we came out into a clearing and saw a parking lot without our rental car in it. As my eyes scanned the surroundings, nothing looked familiar. My heart raced. I realized we were lost in a national park that did not officially open for another week.
Usually, I am the calm one in the relationship, but my husband surprised me with his calmness. This did not comfort me; in fact, it heightened my fear. As we walked, I asked my husband to call for help, but there was no cell-phone signal in this isolated（偏僻的）area.
It was awfully quiet except for our footsteps hitting the road, and my heavy breathing. My husband suggested we conserve energy and walk slower. With each step on the road, my feet and thighs hurt while my mind raced with thoughts about people who got lost in the Canadian woods for days.
My vision sharpened. I noticed everything around me: the trees, rocks and snow. I thought we could eat the snow on the ground in case we needed water. For the first time in my life, I was ready and willing to get a ride, but we did not meet with a single car on the road. Silently, I prayed multiple times. We focused on each other, made joint decisions and connected through gratitude. We managed to stay on the main road and walked straight on.
Paragraph 1:My husband suddenly spotted a small building on a hill in the distance.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
Just then, a friendly woman appeared, saying, “Hello.”
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