I checked my equipment one final time. It was my first ______ to climb the highest volcano in the world, Ojos del Salado, in South America.

I’d decided to climb with a local guide. I left camp just after midnight. “You go first and I’ll be behind you,” he said. As the hours passed and the terrain (地形) became more dangerous, I wondered if I’d made a huge ______ . Looking into the ______ behind me, I listened out for the sound of my guide’s steps but I was all alone. Finding my way by feel, I knew the icy conditions were merciless. Breathing heavily, I realised I’d run out of ______ soon.

Back home, 11,000 km away in Melbourne, my dad was following my ______ with my GPS tracker. ______ , now alone on the side of a volcano, all I could do was to ______ my energy as I climbed higher and higher.

Reaching the top was the ultimate goal, but really it was only half the ______ . As my breathing became more laboured, ______ set in. Had I gone too far this time? I knew all too well how frightening it was to be ______ , for I’d suffered from chronic asthma (慢性哮喘) as a child.

Pushing on, I ______ made it to the top, where I took in the breathtaking views. But I only spent a few minutes taking photos before I went down the mountain. I was ______ to see my guide on the way down and it turned out that he had ______ a climber in danger and had to ______ our exploration to save him.

Through blood, sweat and frozen tears, the last 10 years had taken me all over the globe. And with every high and painful low, I learnt more about myself. I’d pushed my ______ , both in body and mind.

I was an angry adolescent in my first years of college. One day I had a serious fight with my father.

I saw him as _________ and wanted to break free. We both exploded in shouts and I _________ out of the house. My mind raced with angry thoughts about him and I sighed all the way to school.

As I ran across the campus towards the classroom, I suddenly realized that I didn’t have the assignment that was _________: a thought card. Professor Simon had explained that every Tuesday we must _________ an index card, on which we wrote a thought, a concern, a question or anything that’s on our mind and that he would return the card every Wednesday with his _________ or answer on it. He stressed that the card was our _________ to class on Tuesdays.

Now, I raced down the hallway, ten minutes late to class. Just outside the door, I took out an index card and wrote on it “I am the son of an idiot!”, as I could only think about the _________ I’d just had with my dad. Then I dashed into the room, handed the card to Dr Simon and took my seat. The moment I reached my seat, I _________ telling him that about my dad. I didn’t want to _________ myself to him.

Wednesday morning I got to the class early and __________ in the back. Dr. Simon began returning our thought cards. On my card was written, “What does the ‘son of an idiot’ do with the rest of his life?” His question got right to the __________ of the issue: Whose problem was it? Whose responsibility was it?

Dr. Simon’s comment kept coming up in my mind over the next few weeks. Slowly, my thinking began to __________. People began to notice that I was taking __________ for my doings and choices. My grades improved. My relationship with my father also improved __________. Now I saw him as concerned and caring, instead of controlling. And it all __________ with a question, an innocent-seeming question.