I remember the day when shyness took over my life. I was 14 and having a French lesson. The teacher told us to record ourselves _____about a film. Perfect! I recorded myself______Then I pressed “play” to listen back. What I heard was a little kid talking. My______reaction was to assume I was listening to someone else’s recording. But that was my______! I realized there was something______about me.

My little voice has made me feel really shy. And my shyness has caused me to _____attending events, not make important______, and keep my ideas to myself. As a shy person, working from home, hiding behind my computer was______, but the more time I spent hidden away, the smaller my comfort zone became. Everyday______, like ordering a coffee, became increasingly awkward and______.

And, then, one day I was at a big conference and it suddenly _____me like lightning. All speakers were confident, comfortable with being______. There were no quieter voices. But the_____is, if the loud voices are the only ones you hear, we quieter people feel even more______. The world needs mixture of personalities. Success is not just about who can shout the _____. The world needs quieter people, too. That day I chose to stop______and hug my shyness. No more feeling like I needed to change who I am in order to______. No more living a small life.

Then I created the Shy and Mighty Society, a space for shy people like me to______, and in the process of helping others, I could also push myself______, bit by bit. Now, I’m happy to tell people I feel shy. I’m not______any more. And I know that I’m not alone.

A friend of mine met with an accident driving in darkness. His legs were so hurt that he couldn’t move. What was the _______ was that he found himself unable to ask for help—his mobile phone went out of _______ as a result of exhausted (用尽的) battery. Nothing could be done but _______ in cold wilderness. It was 8 hours later that day broke, and then the _______ of the rescue.

It was almost _______ that he could stand the horror in the darkness for so long. Even more surprising was his _______ ,“First of all I checked up my _______ conditions and found myself not in deadly danger. As there was no _______ to call for help, I leaned back in my seat trying my best to keep the wound from _______. In this way I dozed (打盹) off.”

His story put an end to my regret for the ________ of an exploration adventure that happened last year. A group of young men ________ to explore a mountain cave and got lost.________ to find a way out in the dark cave, they were frightened and ran anxiously without a sense of ________. Finally they fell dead in fear and exhaustion. According to the ________people that found them, the place where they got lost was only about 10 meters away from the ________of the cave. If they stayed on the spot when they lost their way and tried to__________themselves, they would probably sense a faint light flashing not far away.

Don’t you think that you can compare it with ________ itself? When you meet with difficulties in life, you are lost in darkness.________ you that it’s unclear yet and you needn’t put up struggle ________. It seems to be a negative (消极的) attitude,________ a person who can do so must have foresight as well as a great courage in the first place.

When I was a young boy, our whole family lived in my Nana’s old house right beside a set of railroad tracks. I can remember the whole house would _____ when the trains passed by. I often spent my summer afternoons walking down the _____. I can remember the first time I tried to ____ myself and walk on a (an) ____ rail. The steel rail was very narrow and quite ______ so I didn’t have much success. First I tried holding my arms out and _____ my feet as I walked. This only led to me falling off after a few steps. I ______ to walk backwards once but quickly slipped off. It was only when I started looking ____   that I was able to walk the rails.

Looking back on this time I now______ that it also gave me a wonderful lesson about _____. You can’t go through life watching every _____ you take or choice you make. This only leads to ______ yourself and you soon go off the rails. Looking behind you is even ______. Only when you look ahead can you really ______ forward and see the life you want to lead. Then you will walk on with a light ______.