It was a big day for Molly. She sat in the backseat of the car, looking very ______. Her mom and Uncle Connor were talking about the days when they competed in school ______, to make Molly relaxed.

“Your mom was a great ______, Molly,” said Uncle Connor, “As soon as your mom hit the water, she was a fish. You could tell she was ______ to swim.”

Molly smiled at the idea of her mom swimming as ______ as a fish. For a moment, she even ______that they were on the way to her first swim race of the season.

______Molly knew it, they were pulling into the parking lot at the school. Her mom give her a quick kiss on the head for ______, and Uncle Connor smiled at her.   “We will see you after the ______，Miss Molly,” he said, “Just do your best.”

Molly took a deep breath as she ______over to the pool. As she______ her turn to swim, she gave herself a pep talk as an ______,“ You can do it. You have done it before. Just stay calm.”

______, Molly heard the sound of the whistle（哨声）. She pushes off the starting block and______ into the cool water. Then she was moving through the______ with strong, sure strokes(划水动作). Molly could ______ the voices of her mom and uncle in the crowd when she turned her head to breathe. She ______ the speed for her strokes and soon felt her hand touch the blue wall.

As Molly pulled herself from the water, she ______ the faces of her mom and Uncle Connor in the crowd. Then she found them. They were both holding up a single finger in the air with______ smiles. Number one! Molly couldn’t help smiling back and raising one arm in the air. Her______during the summer had paid off!

I was turning 65 in the fall. My mind was filled with ________ of a future loaded with bad senior moments. So how should I ________ the milestone? I knew I needed to shake off the ________ and celebrate my good health. An idea soon followed — I would________ five kilometres with my kids on my 65th birthday. I called it “5 at 65”.

After I mapped out a six-month plan, the ________ began. I started the first week with walking alternating with jogging. I jogged so slowly that I would have ________more ground if I had walked. But gradually my slow jog turned into a slow run, and the walking ________ decreased in length and number.

In mid-July I shared my ________ of “5 at 65” with my kids. With my secret out, there was no turning back. However, there were days when it was ________ to get out the door. The numbers that ordinarily ________ me became my enemy. Small hills became mountains. My legs ________ their new challenge. But the good days far outnumbered the bad ones, and I kept going.

I woke on the day of the birthday run feeling ________. But my nerves calmed as soon as we started. I set the ________ and there was no pressure to be fast. The kids regularly called out the distance and ________ me to keep running. I finished!

Becoming a senior might not be so________ after all.

If you have been to Harbin in winter, but didn’t have a _______ to see people do winter-swimming, I am sure you will feel it’s a(n) _______. Can you imagine swimming in a river with the temperature being about 10 degrees below zero? This would be _______ to the people from the South. If you were on the Songhuajiang River, you could not help _______ those brave swimmers.

I felt greatly excited as well as _______ when I first saw the winter-swimming, though it was very cold that day, the swimmers were only wearing _______ clothes, while all the people watching were having heavy clothes covering all their bodies with only two _______ visible. I had thought that the river was warm, but it _______ much cold when I dipped my hand into the river water. What excited me most was the way they _______ into the river from the high ice-platform and the styles in which they swam, ________ butterfly-stroke and back-stroke.

My uncle has been ________ about winter-swimming for several years. Now he is a member of the Winter Swimming Club. Once I asked him, “Aren’t you afraid of cold? Have you got a ________ from it?” Smiling, he said, “________ we have a strong will, we can surely overcome any ________ and difficulties. I haven’t got a cold at all. On the contrary, I have become ________ than I was before.” That’s true, he ________ suffer from bronchitis. However, since he began to like swimming, he has been fully ________ from the disease.

Today, more and more people are ________ joining in the winter-swimming, including women and children. This activity shows the great ________ and strong will of the people in Harbin which I think is just what we ________ in our work and study as well.