It was a big day for Molly. She sat in the backseat of the car, looking very _________. Her mom and Uncle Connor were talking about the days when they competed in school _________, to make Molly relaxed.

“Your mom was a great _________, Molly,” said Uncle Connor. “As soon as your mom hit the water, she was a fish. You could tell she was _________ to swim.”

Molly smiled at the idea of her mom swimming as _________ as a fish. For a moment, she even _________ that they were on the way to her first swim race of the season.

_________ Molly knew it, they were pulling into the parking lot at the school. Her mom gave her a quick kiss on the head for _________, and Uncle Connor smiled at her. “We’ll see you after the _________, Miss Molly,” he said. “Just do your best.”

Molly took a deep breath as she ____________ over to the pool. As she ____________ her turn to swim, she gave herself a pep talk as an ____________. You can do it. You’ve done it before. Just stay calm.

____________, Molly heard the sound of the whistle(哨子). She pushed off the starting block and ____________ into the cool water. Then, she was moving through the ____________ with strong, sure strokes(划水动作). Molly could ____________ the voices of her mom and uncle in the crowd when she turned her head to breathe. She ____________ the speed of her strokes and soon felt her hand touch the blue wall.

As Molly pulled herself from the water, she ____________ the faces of her mom and Uncle Connor in the crowd. Then she found them. They were both holding up a single finger in the air with ____________ smiles. Number one! Molly couldn’t help smiling back and raising one arm in the air. Her ____________ during the summer had paid off!

It was the final part of the Santa Barbara Cyclo-cross race in Spain. With only 300 meters to the finishing line, Ismael Esteban, in third place, was just ahead of his ________, Augstin Navarro. Esteban had been ________ as hard as he could for hours. With the finishing line in sight, all the riders began to ________. Then, suddenly Esteban’s bike got a puncture (扎胎). What should he do? ________ or continue? Esteban threw his bike over his shoulders and ________ towards the finishing line.

Just a few seconds later, Navarro caught up with him. ________, he could come third. But Navarro ________ down and let Esteban run ahead of him. The two riders reached the finishing line with Esteban ahead on foot, Navarro just ________ him. Navarro had let Esteban finish in third place, while he came fourth. The audience was ________ at his show of sportsmanship and   ________ for the riders. After the race, Navarro said, “I didn’t want to ________ that way.” Later, Esteban, who won the bronze (铜) medal, tried to give his ________ to Navarro. However, Navarro ________.

The two riders showed ________ sporting spirit. Esteban offered Navarro his medal and   Navarro refused to make use of Esteban’s ________. This was sportsmanship at its very best.

At middle school I found it ________ to run around the playground and I was always one of the last students to cross the finish line. One day, my friend asked me if I would like to run a 10K event with him. My first reaction was, “No way! I hate ________ .”

Over the weekend I thought about his ________ . I thought, “Why do I hate it when I haven’t done it since Grade 7 in middle school?” In the end I decided I should have a(n) ________ .

I told my friend I would like to join the 10K event with him. He ________ me to turn to the Internet for a running programme to help me learn how to run. ________ I chose a 14-week running plan that would teach me how to run for 30 minutes non-stop. I had to run three times a week for different lengths of ________ . As the weeks went on I could run for longer periods. I enjoyed following the plan as I could see ________ in my running each week. I went from being ________ to run for more than 30 seconds to running for over 30 minutes! My younger self would not have ________ it.

On the day of the 10K running event I was both excited and ________ . It was the first time I had apply my new skills to practice. I lined up with other ________ . My friends and family came to support me. With their encouragement and my training, I ________ to finish the 10K in 72 minutes. It was ________ but I felt very proud of having tried It.

From this experience I learned it was a good idea to try something before saying “I hate it!” It turned out that I ________ running.