Surfing: It’s Not Just for Boys Anymore

If you asked high school girls to name their favorite sports, most would probably say basketball or volleyball. I happen to be one of the few girls who would ___: surfing. But isn’t that a boy’s thing? Some people ___. It’s most certainly not true.

I started surfing about five years ago and ___ in love with the sport on the very first day. Riding that first ___ was the best feeling I had ever experienced.

When I try ___ surfing with other things, I find it very difficult because, in my ___, there’s nothing like it. It involves body, ___ and soul. There’s sand between my toes and cool, salt water all ___ me. The feeling I get when I’m surfing across that___, becoming one with the ____, is like I’m weightless.

The one thing I can ____ from surfing and not any other sport is endless challenges (挑战). You can never be the ＂best surfer＂ because the ocean ____ uncountable waves that nobody can ever master. The changes of surfing styles are wonderful. Some surfers are free and flowing; ____ are very aggressive and sharp. All of these things attract me to surfing and make it ____ from any other sport.

I’ve ____ to tell every girl I know to do something that people don’t think girls can do. It’s part of being human to advance to new ____, so shouldn’t it be expected that girls should step up and start ____ the limits of things boys and men used to dominate (主宰)?

There’re women working side by side with the President of our country, ____ why not play side by side with the boys ____ the football team or go out in the water surfing? Give girls a chance to ____ and they will.

I always wanted to look like the slim girls on TV even though I knew that it was impossible. I worried about my _______ and tried every new diet I read about online. I tried low-fat, no-fat, only bananas, no bananas — I almost went bananas, too.

Then I read an article that said _______ asking “Am I fat?”, I should be asking “Am I _______?” I had no _______ a letter could make such a _______! Once I started thinking about fitness rather than weight, things began to _______. Instead of saying “I want to lose three kilos”, I would say “I want to _______ two kilometers in eight minutes” or “I want to be able to do 30 push-ups”. Rather than _______ the foods I enjoyed, I added healthy foods to my meals. I could _______ have a burger now and then, but I would ________ a salad or an apple.

Finally, I stopped ________ myself with actresses and models and ________ things that were wrong with my face or body. Instead, I made a list of the things I ________ about myself. By being ________ about myself and my body, I became both happier and ________.

I had been skiing since childhood. I’d _________ fallen, I’d never crashed into anything, and I’d _________ mostly to the “blue” trails — the ones for intermediate (中级水平的) skiers. Therefore, for my first day on the mountain, I decided to _________ a blue run, one I had done many times before.

When I reached the top of the blue trails — only chairlift (缆椅), though, something in the atmosphere _________. Why was it so cold? Were the blue trails always this sharp? The rhythm of the chairlift started to sound less _________.

It _________ that simply having skied “many times before” didn’t mean I was getting better at it. There’s a large body of _________ showing that practice—or even just doing — doesn’t make us any better at the activity, so it is with skiing. The joy of getting better sometimes comes along with the _________ of getting worse.

One afternoon, I took a chairlift with a retired ski _________ named Bob. When I told him I was struggling, he __________ to watch me take an easy slope and assessed what I was doing wrong.

Bob __________ me that the learning process looks a lot like backsliding (倒退). When babies first learn to walk, they progress from __________ imitation. Sometimes it seems that we’re losing ground, but we’re actually __________ a new skill. An __________ attempt is often a sign that you’re learning.

“You’re skiing better already!” he shouted at me.

“Thank you!” I yelled back.

Then I skied a few more feet and __________.