Standing on the edge of the plane, my tandem skydiving (双人跳伞) instructor, Bill, turned to face me. “Do you have any last words?” he asked. “Yes,” I said, joking. “I hope my parachute (降落伞) opens .”

I’d never felt more alive as Bill and I _________ and started our free fall. As we reached 4,000 feet, I felt a parachute open. This, I was told, would slow us down for a smooth _________. But why were we still traveling so fast? I could hear Bill swearing as he tried to_________ whatever had gone wrong.

Worse still, our emergency parachute unexpectedly got _________ on something. At that moment, I just felt so _________ that I’d even invited my family along to experience sorrow instead of watching my wonderful performance.

We _________ the ground. An unimaginable pain shot up my back. Feeling weak and tired out, I gathered all my strength, and turned to face Bill. He started screaming. From my neck down, I could hardly move. My mother couldn’t help crying as we were placed into a(n) _________ from the hospital.

After years of treatment, the deep physical and mental pain is _________. I heard Bill made a full _________ and returned to skydiving.

I was always terrified of being myself and doing the things I wanted. Now I’ve learned I need to be fearless. There’s nothing like falling from 15,000 feet without a parachute and surviving. It forces me to __________ every day!