At age 83, Barbara Humbert dreams of taking part in next year’s “Marathon for All” race at the Paris Olympic Games. It is the first ______of its kind, allowing amateur(业余) athletes to run the same race path as the Olympic marathon athletes. Humbert has a history of success, which shows she could ______some runners half her age.

Unlike your ______great-grandmother, the German-born Frenchwoman runs 50 kilometers a week. She has ______in many marathons and has the medals to show for it. “It’s ______to have the Olympics in my homeland,” said Humbert, “It would be a ______for my 60th marathon.”

However, Humbert is ______whether she will receive the paper for admission to the race, as the number for the Marathon for All will be ______to 20,024. Humbert’s husband Jacques is a big supporter, helping where he can. He is waiting to hear from the sports official about the ______for his wife to be allowed to enter the race.

Many ______hang in the entrance of Barbara and Jacques’s home. They ______Barbara of all the races she has taken part in, from Athens to Boston and many other cities. She figures out that she has ______ about 8,000 kilometers in those races.

Humbert wants others to ______in her footsteps. She said of running, “It gives you balance. You run, you empty your head, you feel ______ relaxed afterwards.” Barbara is planning for more races ______ just staying on what has been achieved.

I played a racquetball (壁球) game against my cousin Ed last week. It was one of the most ________ and tiring games I’ve ever had. When Ed first phoned and suggested we play, I laughed quietly, figuring on an ________ victory. After all, Ed’s idea of exercise has always been nothing more ________ than lifting a fork to his mouth. ________ I can remember, Ed’s been the least physically fit member in the family, and ________ proud of himself. His big stomach has always ballooned out between his T-shirt and trousers. Although the family often ________ about that, Ed refused to buy a larger T-shirt or to lose weight. So when Ed ________ for our game not only with the bottom of his shirt gathered inside his trousers but also with a stomach you could hardly ________, I was so surprised that I was speechless. My cousin must have made an effort to get himself into shape. ________, at the point in our game when I’d have predicted the score to be about 9 to 1 in my favor, it was ________ 7 to 9 — and Ed was _______. The sudden realization was painful. We continued to play like two mad men. When the score was 16 up, I was having serious ________ about staying alive until 21 years old, let alone ________ that many points. When the game finally ended, both of us were lying flat on our backs, too tired to ________. In a way, I think we both won: I the game, but cousin Ed my ________.

I had been swimming competitively for about five years and was ready to quit because I felt I was horrible at it. I kept _______ “Honorable Mentions”(安慰奖). Any _______knows that you don’t want to have a bookshelf full of “Honorable Mentions”, which you get just because you _______.

One summer day, the day _______ a big swim meet, I decided to tell my grandma that I was quitting the swim team, but she said, “Baby, _______ these words: ‘A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.’ You go to that swim meet tomorrow.”

The next day we arrived at the swim meet late, _______ my group of swimmers in the 15/ 16 age group. My _______ insisted that I be allowed to swim with the _______group. I knew that she was _______ me in the race so that our long drive would not be ________. As I got on the board, I quickly noticed that these girls were here to do one thing—to________ me! All of a sudden my grandma’s words ________ in my head, “Ouitters never win and winners never quit, quitters never win and winners never quit.”

SPLASH!

I was swimming ________ than I’d swum before. As I drew my right arm back, I noticed I was tied with one person. I assumed we were battling for the eighth place and I refused to finish dead last, so I added more kick on the ________ 200 yards. I hit the wall and ________ to the left and to the right for the swimmers who had beaten me, but no one was there. They must have gotten out of the ________ already. I raised my head to see my coach________ hysterically(歇斯底里). My eyes ________her pointing finger and I couldn’t believe what I saw. The other swimmers had just reached the halfway point of the ________! That day, at age 15, I broke the national 17/18-year-old 400-freestyle record. I had hung up my honorable mentions. That day, I ________ them with a huge gold medal.