In midair I guessed whether I should do this. I fell. My knees hurt, but I _______ practicing. “Five, six, seven, eight,” my coach shouted again with even more determination. I clapped, and the sound echoed (回响) throughout the gym. Again I _______. My coach did not shout at me, but I could sense her _______; after all, I feel the same, too.

A standing back tuck — the most challenging skill in cheerleading. For me it is very difficult. Perhaps it is the mental ________ more than my capabilities that causes me to land flat on my face. I knew I ________ the talent for such a skill, but I was terrified. I was afraid to fall.

The practice almost ended in tears because of the great disappointment. I admitted that I felt like ________. I did not want to let myself down nor my teammates, but I was ________ by my efforts. I could accept falling, but I could not accept walking away from something I had put so many hours and much energy into, so I _______ myself to practice in my free time. As I practiced, I realized that my mistakes were unavoidable. I could not _______ the skill, if I did not know how to do it, or better yet, how not to. Every morning，I am up before the rising sun, attempting what some people might call impossible, but I tell myself, “If it was easy, everybody could do it.”

“Five, six, seven, eight,” my coach said rhythmically. My body sprung into motion, and I landed on the floor. The feeling of accomplishment went beyond my body. The previous defeats meant nothing because I have ________!

Last summer, Katie pulled off the road on her way to work. She _______ at a traffic light, where a man was sitting with a sign for help. She _______ her window.

“Hey!” she shouted. “I’m driving around giving free _______. If I fetch my_______, do you want one right now?” The man looked to be in his 60s. He was heavyset, balding and missing a few teeth. He paused, but then _______. “Actually,” he said, “I have a funeral to go to this week. I was _______ hoping to get a haircut.”

“I’ll be right back,” Katie said. She drove off, went to the _______ she owns, and _______________ one of her hairdressers to help her load a red chair into her car. Then the two of them drove back. The man took a seat, and they _______ his curly graying hair. He told them about growing up in Mississippi, about moving to Texas to live _______ to his adult children in order to help look after his grandchildren, and how he still phoned his mom every day.

After Katie was done, Edward looked in a mirror. “I look _______!” he said happily. “I’ll have to remember to put my _______ in next time.”

So far, Katie has given 30 or so such haircuts to people around the city. These _______ are all living in poverty, and she is keenly _______ of the power of her clean-up job. “It’s more than a haircut,” she says. “I want it to be a (an) _______, to show value and respect, but also to get to know people. I want to build _______ with them.”

Katie knows that a haircut can _______ one’s life. One changed hers: As a teen, she _______from a severe disease called ulcerative colitis and her hair _______ gradually. Seeing this, her mother arranged for Katie’s first professional haircut. “To sit down and have somebody look at me and talk to me like a person and not just an illness, it _______ me to feel cared about and less alone,” she says.

“You can be anything you want. Whatever you decide to do, Daddy and I will _________ you.”

Those words echoed through my life, leaving a deep, lasting _________. “You can be anything you want to be,” is a _________ yet strong message. The rest, well, it didn’t really _________ until I was older, but the impact is just as powerful — and positive.

While I was young, Mother kept a job list I wished to do, which _________ an adventurer, a singer, a writer and so on. The list was in no particular order and this _________ depending on day, date and age. I’m sure this is not a _________ list; if asked, my mother would happily add to it.

In the summer between my sophomore and junior years, I _________ to my parents that I was going to backpack with my friends in Europe over the summer. The negative _________ was: I’d never been to Europe. Or on a plane. Or, really, done anything __________. Though my parents were shocked at my decision, they let me go. For nearly three months, my friends and I backpacked and camped, traveled by railroad, car and on foot, and __________ almost every European country. A priceless experience.

I came back a changed person; not only did I change, but so did my nervous parents. Just as they'd __________ since I’d been four, they were behind me in whatever I wanted to do. This included my decision to go into the music business. No, not as a singer but as a manager of bands. The best __________ of following my dream?I accompanied bands and __________ who were talented, and I got to travel the world. A gain.

Throughout every situation, I’ve stayed __________ because my parents always encouraged me and stood by me.