The mental aspect of athletics is underrated. The common expression, “athletics is 90 percent ________ and 10 percent physical, ” is often used by coaches, and stresses that mindsets make a huge ________ in competitions.  

“The physical aspect of the sport can only take you ________, ” said Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Shannon Miller during an interview with the Dana Foundation. “The mental aspect has to ________, especially when you’re talking about the best of the best. In the Olympic Games, everyone is talented. Everyone ________ hard. Everyone does the work. What ________ the gold medalists from the silver medalists is simply the mental game. ”  

Many athletes have used the technique of mental imagery, or ________, to perform at their best. Research on the brain patterns of ________ found that the patterns activated when a weightlifter lifted heavy weights were activated ________ when they simply imagined lifting and some studies have suggested that mental ________ can be almost as effective as physical training. One study, published in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology in 1996, found that ________ weight lifting caused ________ changes in muscle activity.  

“Mental imagery ________ on many cognitive (认知的) processes in the brain:motor control, attention, perception, planning, and memory, ” researcher Angie LeVan wrote in Psychology Today. “So the ________ is getting trained for actual performance during visualisation. It’s been found that mental practices can enhance motivation, increase confidence, improve motor performance and ________ your brain for success. ”

________ visualising is more than just thinking about an upcoming event. ________ athletes use visualisation, they truly feel the event taking place in their mind’s eye.  

“During visualisation, she incorporates (整合) all of her ________ into the experience, ” sports psychologist Dr JoAnn Dahlkoetter wrote in a blog post on The Huffington Post ________ a speed skater she works with. “She feels her forefoot pushing off the track, she hears her skating splits, and she sees herself racing ahead of the competitors. She experiences all of the elements of her race ________ before executing (完成) her performance. ”

In America, it is not polite to telephone someone very early in the morning. The time of the call shows that the matter is very ______ and requires quick reply. It is the same to ______ telephone calls after 11 p. m. If someone receives a call during sleeping hours, he thinks its a matter of life and ______. The time chosen for the call communicates its importance.

In social life, time ______ a very important part. In America, guests may ______ that they are not highly respected (尊重) if they get the invitation to a dinner party only three or four days before the party date. But it is not the ______ in a countries. In other parts of the world, it maybe ______ foolish to make an appointment too early because it is easy to be forgotten.

The ______ of time is different in different parts of the world. So misunderstandings happen between people from cultures that treat time differently. To be on time is valued ______ in American life. For example, if people are not on time, others may think they are impolite. In the United States, no one would keep a business partner ______ an hour because it would be too impolite. A person who is five minutes late will say a few words of explanation to show his apology.

Good news for awkward teenagers around the world.As time goes by,you could __ up like a completely different person.

This comes from the longest running personality study ever __ by scientists.According to researchers from the University of Edinburgh in the U.K,our personality changes so much from youth to old age that most people's personalities in older age are barely __ compared to their younger selves.

The researchers analyzed results from a study in 1947,which gathered 1,208 teenagers in Scotland aged 14 and asked their teachers to __.Their personalities based on six traits(特征)

Now more than six decades later,the University of Edinburgh team has managed to contact 635 of the __ students,and 174 agreed to have their personalities tested once more.

At an average age of 76.7 years old,the group were asked to __ themselves on the same six personality traits,then pick a close friend or family member to do the same.

By __ the then-and-now test results,the researchers found that there is hardly a relationship between traits people had as teenagers and those in their older years.

It was"as if the second tests had been given to __ people,"the study's researchers wrote in their report,which was published in journal Psychology and Aging.

The results were a surprise because research in the past found personality __ in people tested from childhood to middle-age,and from middle-age to older age.

As the team explained,our personality appears stable over short intervals-__ so throughout adulthood.__,the longer the intervals between two tests of personality,the __ the relationship between the two tends to be.

It is clear that more studies are needed to find out what is going on here.but it could be the first___ that is not just our cells that are being __ throughout life--the way we think,feel and behave might not be as___ as we once thought.