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. ”

The world is experiencing a major health crisis. As the new coronavirus spreads, many countries are limiting their citizens’ activities. Travel has been ________ . Many schools are closed. In major cities around the world, restaurants and other businesses are shut down.

Public emergencies ________ a certain type of person—the panic shopper. Some people fear not being able to find basic needs for survival. ________ , they buy everything off supermarket shelves in preparation for the days to come. Bread is often among the first products to disappear in emergency situations.

So, if you have never made bread, now may be a good time to learn. Bread making is a ________ skill. With very few simple things—such as flour, salt and yeast—you can ________ a fresh loaf of bread for your family, neighbours or coworkers.

Baking is not just a useful survival skill. It can make you feel better at ________ times. ________ , baking and cooking have been used to treat people with mental health issues.

Julie Ohana is a(n) ________ worker. She offers what she calls culinary therapy to her patients in New York City. “I say’ therapy’ because to me cooking is so therapeutic. And ‘therapeutic’ really means something that makes you feel ________ , something that is helpful and beneficial to the person doing it.” Julie Ohana uses culinary therapy to help people overcome many kinds of issues. She explains that culinary therapy ________ on many levels.

Baking requires mindfulness. “So when you’re in the kitchen —whether you’re cooking or you’re baking—it really requires a certain level of mindfulness, of being ________ in the moment. Specifically, when you’ re baking. And baking really requires step-by-step, following a ________ , being more precise. Kneading the dough or rolling something out, you really get the full benefit of being present in the moment and being able to relax and ________ all the other thoughts and just focus on the here-and-now. And there really are very strong benefits of being able to do that, to be able to relax, to decompress, destress, and really ________ one’s level of life satisfaction.”

Baking is a labour of love. Ohana also says baking is a process filled with love. It not only makes you feel good, it produces something tangible—something you can touch and eat!

Baking is emotional. Often our food experiences are ________ to family memories and stories. We remember meals our grandmothers made. We teach our children important recipes for family favourites.

Ohana says something that all bakers know—giving delicious, baked goods makes the giver feel as good as the receiver. So, she calls baking a win-win.

If you want to stand out, 10,000 hours of training will take you much further than your natural abilities. Mozart is considered by many as the greatest composer who ever lived. Traditionally, many people ________ outstanding achievements like Mozart’s are due to talent, or even inborn inspiration or ________.

This assumption holds especially true for child prodigies (神童) like Mozart whose music talent ________ the world at the age of six. But looking more ________ at this phenomenon, we find that these individuals actually had to practice countless hours before showing their ________ remarkable talent. In fact, scientists indicate that a prodigy’s training typically ________ at a very early age, with massive time invested in practice.

For example, when the six-year-old Mozart toured Europe to ________ his brilliant piano skills, he had already ________ 3,500 hours of musical training. If you compare this to other pianists who have practiced for as long, Mozart’s ________ wasn’t all that exceptional. It seems that outstanding abilities come from intensive strict practice ________ natural talents. A study shows the only factor directly ________ the students’ level of achievement was the amount of serious practice time: the most ________ performers had practiced for an average of 10,000 hours, while the least skilled had only 4,000 hours of practice. What’s even more revealing is that there were no ________: All of the top performers had ________ great efforts to their practice. It seems that no extraordinary talent can ________ without tough practice.