1 . My First Marathon（马拉松）

A month before my first marathon, one of my ankles was injured and this meant not running for two weeks, leaving me only two weeks to train. Yet, I was determined to go ahead.

I remember back to my 7th year in school. In my first P.E. class, the teacher required us to run laps and then hit a softball. I didn’t do either well. He later informed me that I was ＂not athletic＂.

The idea that I was ＂not athletic＂ stuck with me for years. When I started running in my 30s, I realized running was a battle against myself, not about competition or whether or not I was athletic. It was all about the battle against my own body and mind. A test of wills!

The night before my marathon, I dreamt that I couldn’t even find the finish line. I woke up sweating and nervous, but ready to prove something to myself.

Shortly after crossing the start line, my shoe laces(鞋带) became untied. So I stopped to readjust. Not the start I wanted!

At mile 3, I passed a sign: ＂GO FOR IT, RUNNERS!＂

By mile 17, I became out of breath and the once injured ankle hurt badly. Despite the pain, I stayed the course walking a bit and then running again.

By mile 21, I was starving!

As I approached mile 23, I could see my wife waving a sign. She is my biggest fan. She never minded the alarm clock sounding at 4 a.m. or questioned my expenses on running.

I was one of the final runners to finish. But I finished! And I got a medal. In fact, I got the same medal as the one that the guy who came in first place had.

Determined to be myself, move forward, free of shame and worldly labels(世俗标签), I can now call myself a ＂marathon winner＂.

3 . Molai grew up in a tiny village in India. The village lay near some wetlands which became his second___________. He learned the value and beauty of _________ there from a very young age.

When he was 16, Molai began to notice something _________ happening around his home. A flood had hit the area earlier that year and the _________ it caused had driven away a number of birds. _________, the number of snakes had declined as well. He _________ that it was because there weren’t enough trees to protect them from the _________. The solution, of course, was to plant trees so the animals could seek _________ during the daytime. He turned to the _________ department for help but was told that nothing would grow there. However, Molai went looking on his own and __________a nearby island where he began to plant trees.

________ young plants in the dry season was ____________for a lone boy. Molai built at the __________ of each sapling(幼树)a bamboo platform, where he placed earthen pots with small holes to____________ rainwater. The water would then drip(滴落)on the plants below.

Molai __________ to plant trees for the next 37 years. His efforts have resulted in 1,360 acres of naturally-grown land that has become home to many plants and animals.

5 . I’ve been farming sheep on a hillside for 54 years. I use a small tractor to get about. My dog Don always sits beside me in the passenger seat.

One morning I _______ a lost lamb when I was in the top field，near where a motorway cuts through my land. The lamb had become separated from its _______ , so I jumped out of the tractor to _______ it while Don stayed in his seat.

Lamb and mother _______ , I turned back to the tractor only to see it move suddenly away from me. This was so _______ because I had put the handbrake on when I jumped out. _______ Don had somehow made the _______move.

My heart froze in my chest as I _______ the tractor heading towards the _______ .I ran desperately but failed to __________. It crashed through a wooden fence and disappeared. The __________ thing I saw was Don’s face, looking calmly back at me.

Heart in mouth, I __________ the fence and looked over. The tractor was __________against the crash barrier in the central reservation, having miraculously(奇迹般地) crossed the __________ road with fast-flowing traffic. I couldn’t see Don, but as I __________ the tractor he jumped out onto the road, apparently __________ , and dashed back to me.

The police __________ and the motorway ran normally again. I couldn't quite believe my __________. It turned out no one got badly hurt, but the outcome could have been __________ . Don was given a special __________ that night—I didn’t want him thinking I was angry with him.

6 . Two weeks earlier, my son, Ben, had got in touch, he’d moved to England with his mum when he was three and it had been 13 years since I’d _________ seen him. So imagine my _________ when he emailed me saying he wanted to come to visit me.

I was _________! I arrived early at Byron Bay where we were supposed to _________. The bay was _________ in sunshine, and there was a group of kayakers around 150m off the shore. Getting a little _________. I realized one kayak（皮划艇）was in _________. “Something’s not _________!” I took off my T-shirt and _________ into the water. I saw there were two instructors on board and a man lying across the middle. He was __________ violently. Linking arms with one of the instructors. I helped __________ the young man out of the water. He was unconscious and as I looked at his face, something __________ to me. Those brown eyes were very __________. “What’s his name?” I asked the instructor. “Ben,” he replied, and immediately I __________. That stranger was my son!

The instructors called for an ambulance. __________, after a brief stay in hospital, Ben was well enough to be allowed to __________ and later the family met up for dinner. We chatted about everything and then Ben __________ to me. “I just want to say thank you,” he said, “You __________ my life!”

I still can’t believe what a __________ it was. I’m just so glad I was there __________ to help my son.

7 . When most of us get a text message on our cell phone from an unknown person, we usually say ＂sorry, ________ number!＂ and move on. But when Dennis Williams __________ a text that clearly wasn’t intended for him, he did something __________.

On March 19, Dennis got a group text __________ him that a couple he didn’t know were at the hospital, waiting for the __________ of a baby.

＂Congratulations! But I think someone was mistaken,＂ Dennis __________. The baby was born and update texts were __________ quickly from the overjoyed grandmother, Teresa. In her __________, she didn’t seem to realize that she was __________ the baby’s photos with a complete stranger. ＂Well, I don’t __________ you all but I will get there to take pictures with the baby,＂ replied Dennis before asking which room the new __________ were in.

Much to the family’s surprise, Dennis stuck to his __________! He turned up at the hospital __________ gifts for the new mother Lindsey and her baby boy. Lindsey’s husband was totally __________ by the unexpected visit. ＂I don’t think we would have randomly invited him over but we __________ it and the gifts.＂

Teresa __________ a photo of the chance meeting on a social networking website __________ by the touching words: ＂What a __________ this young man was to our family! He was so __________ and kind to do this.＂ The post has since gained the __________ of social media users all over the world, receiving more than 184,000 shares and 61,500 likes in just three days.

8 . My faith in human nature has never been so great as it was last weekend after our family get-together in the town of Vail.

On Saturday, we all went to the market right in the middle of the town. Near the end, we all_________at the fountain near the bridge, and the kids waded（蹚水）around in the fountain until we_________. This is one of the busiest walking streets.

After we returned to the hotel late in the afternoon, my 7-year-old son Ponder_________that nowhere could he find his backpack, which_________his Gameboy and his watch. After a thorough_________we determined that he must have left it at the fountain.

Ponder has never_________anything. So we just take for granted that he needs no supervision（指导）for managing his_________.

He was upset, not about the Gameboy, but about the watch. "But Dad," he said, through massive_________, "they don't make that kind of watch anymore." We were all very_________.

Our dinner reservation was at a restaurant just on the other side of the bridge, so I__________him that we would not only search the area around the fountain when we went back for dinner, but we would also find the police and ask them if the backpack had been__________.

As we exited from the parking garage, we could see the fountain as we walked down the long staircase. I saw something black__________there, but it was right next to a woman standing by the fountain, so I could not__________what it was or if it was hers.

"See it, Dad?" Ponder shouted. "Don't get too__________because that may not be it," I said. But that was it. It had been five or six hours since we left the fountain, and it was__________there. There was no ID in it, and it looked like someone had looked through it and then set it right out where all could__________it.

I literally__________when we reached it and it was his！Everyone in our party was blown away by this "miracle（奇迹）". In my wildest__________, I would never have imagined that this could happen nowadays.

What a charmed life, eh? I believe this was a perfect__________for a child in losing something important…to lose it and feel the full__________of that loss, and then to miraculously get it back.

10 . 阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。

A Vacation with My Mother

I had an interesting childhood. It was filled with surprises and amusements, all because of my mother---loving, sweet, yet absent-minded and forgetful. One strange family trip we took when I was eleven tells a lot about her.

My two sets of grandparents lived in Colorado and North Dakota, and my parents decided to spend a few weeks driving to those states and seeing all the sights along the way. As the first day of our trip approached, David, my eight-year-old brother, and I unwillingly said good-bye to all of our friends. Who knew if we’d ever see them again? Finally, the moment of our departure arrived, and we loaded suitcases, books, games, camping equipment, and a tent into the car and bravely drove off. We bravely drove off again two hours later after we’d returned home to get the purse and traveler’s checks Mom had forgotten.

David and I were always a little nervous when using gas station bathrooms if Mom was driving while Dad slept: “You stand outside the door and play lookout(放哨) while I go, and I’ll stand outside the door and play lookout while you go.” I had terrible pictures in my mind: “Honey, where are the kids?” “What?! Oh, Gosh…I thought they were being awfully quiet.” We were never actually left behind in a strange city, but we weren’t about to take any chances.

On the fourth or fifth night, we had trouble finding a hotel with a vacancy. After driving in vain for some time, Mom suddenly got a great idea: Why didn’t we find a house with a likely-looking backyard and ask if we could set up tent there? David and I became nervous. To our great relief, Dad turned down the idea. Mom never could understand our objections(反对). If a strange family showed up on her front doorstep, Mom would have been delighted. She thinks everyone in the world is as nice as she is. We finally found a vacancy in the next town.

注意：

1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；

2. 至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；

3. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头已为你写好；

4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。