After graduation, I decided to take the gym seriously. Accompanied by a friend, I _________ a routine of walking on the treadmill(跑步机). I was _________ with our routine in the gym. My friend, however, became bored.

One day, he suggested that we _________ an outdoor sport. I was an uncoordinated (动作不协调的)person, so I _________ his proposal.

But several weeks later, he managed to _________ me to step onto an outdoor racquetball (美式壁球)court. When I hit the ball, I sent it flying in every direction except the direction that I had _________. Still, somehow, I tried hard to learn it and became _________ after constantly practicing.

“We’re not getting enough _________ on the treadmill. Why not play tennis to build up our body?” suggested my friend.

“Tennis? I can’t play tennis! That _________ real skills!” I firmly resisted his new __________.

Nevertheless, weeks later, I started playing tennis. After several months of painful practice, one day, as the ball came flying towards me, my racket and the ball met in what tennis players __________ as the “sweet spot”. I had __________learned how to play tennis properly!

I learned an extremely valuable __________ from these experiences: I can do whatever I set my mind on. I just need to put in efforts, and the results will __________. And I become quite __________ about trying new things and I’m always filled with a sense of excitement.

During my first three years of college, I put on about 30 pounds of weight. Between classwork and a part time job, I had zero time for _________. On top of that, I ate a lot of fast food. Not surprisingly, I _________ a fat stomach.

After leaving college, I _________ to take exercise. Invited by a friend, I _________ working out with exercise machines three times a week. I was the kind of person who did not try something _________. I ate the same foods; I did the same things. Clearly, I _________ my routines (习惯). My friend, however, became _________. One day, he said, “We’re not getting enough exercise. We should play tennis instead.”

Me? Play tennis? No way. I was strongly against his _________. I was not good at sports. Besides, I was _________ the exercise machines. __________, weeks later, I found myself standing on a tennis court (球场). As I held my racket (球拍), I felt __________. I gave my friend some looks that could kill. I ran after every ball he served to me, completely __________ about 90% of them, and hitting the rest into the other court. The first few months were quite __________. But one day, as the ball came flying to ward me, my racket and the ball finally met in the place where it is most effective to hit a ball. I watched __________ as my return landed where I had aimed (瞄准) it. I had finally __________ how to play tennis properly!

Tennis would finally become my __________. I played it for several years, only __________ because of a knee injury. I learned a __________ during my journey toward learning to play tennis: I can do whatever I set my mind to. I just __________ to put in the work, and the __________ will follow.

My family and I belonged to (属于) a country club lying across the street from the Long Island Sound. Each summer, the big __ for us was the pool. I learned how to swim and __ the swimming team but was never really a good swimmer. ___,swimming in my younger days was a way to keep ___,and swimming on a team gave me a sense of belonging. For the next 30 years, most of our summer days were spent around that pool.

In 1973, I was married and had a __ . What made our little home even more __ was when I discovered that four __ away was Rath Park Pool!

Each of my five kids __ swimming lessons and learned all the different swimming styles. They later joined the swim team, competed in __ and won prizes. My daughter even became a __ at the town pool.

Though I'd have liked to have life stand ___, it doesn't. My children lost interest in swimming and continued their life. But the pool was still four blocks from my home, so I began to __ swimming again. I got so much out of it that I joined the local pool __ I could swim year-round. Whenever I swam, I would always come out feeling __ . And sitting at the bottom of the pool, I could also see through all of the __ and problems I've had in life!

What has swimming taught me? I've learned that __ is the key to being a good swimmer. If you are balanced in the ____ you have no resistance (阻力).Working on staying balanced made me __ the similarities between life in and out of the pool. If you __ keeping yourself balanced, you will be able to swim right through the stress and problems that life __ at you!