I used to hate being called upon in class mainly because I didn’t like attention drawn to myself. And ________ otherwise assigned (指定) a seat by the teacher, I always chose to sit at the back of the classroom.

All this ________ after I joined a sports team. It began when a teacher suggested I try out for the basketball team. At first I thought it was a crazy idea because I didn’t have a good sense of balance, nor did I have the ________ to keep pace with the others on the team and they would tease me. But for the teacher who kept insisting on ________ for it, I would not have decided to give a try.

Getting up the courage to go to the tryouts was only the ________ of it! When I first started ________the practice sessions, I didn’t even know the rules of the game, let ________ what I was doing. Sometimes I’d get ________ and take a shot at the wrong direction—which made me feel really stupid. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one “new” at the game, so I decided to ________ on learning the game, do my best at each practice session, and not be too hard on myself for the things I didn’t know “just yet”.

I practiced and practiced. Soon I knew the ________ and the “moves”. Being part of a team was fun and motivating. Very soon the competitive ________ in me was winning over my lack of confidence. With time, I learned how to play and made friends in the ________—friends who respected my efforts to work hard and be a team player. I never had so much fun!

With my ________ self-confidence comes more praise from teachers and classmates. I have gone from “________” in the back of the classroom and not wanting to call attention to myself, to raising my hand—even when I sometimes wasn’t 100 percent ________ I had the right answer. Now I have more self-confidence in myself.

The first day at school has left a deep _______ on me.I’ll never forget it.

As soon as I rushed into the classroom，the bell rang.A young beautiful woman came in，but she was _______，no smile on her face.“You are not permitted to _______ me in the course of class unless...”She was speaking when I heard a _______ “Lily，Lily” from outside the door.My grandmother was standing there with a pair of socks in her hand.I didn’t realize I was bare feet _______ then.I wanted to _______ them，but I dared not do that.I shook my hand，_______“Don’t wait here any longer.Leave quickly.”As I did so，I still _______ my eyes on my teacher.I really didn’t want her to take _______ of me，but she did.She went out to get the socks.When she gave them to me，she looked at me for a while.My face suddenly turned ________ and my heart ________ faster.I began to put the socks on.Unfortunately I was so nervous that my ________ hands couldn’t get them onto my feet easily.Just then I heard my name called.I ________ from my seat quickly.“Can you ________the numbers from one to one hundred？” the teacher asked.I nodded.________ her surprise，I did very well.Finally she said，“Be ________，please.Study hard.” I looked ________ her to find a smile on her face.I felt ________ at last.

The first day at school has stayed in my ________ as something embarrassing but ________.

Lifeart is a student-run organization founded by my friend at my school in Boston. It _________ its members to make artwork to sell for funding cancer research. _________ the students at our school can support us only so much, we went to the _________ of Boston one spring day to sell our artwork to the public.

We _________ a stand near the entrance of a subway station, _________ that people might be more likely to _________ our artwork when heading home. The situation was quite hard to _________ at first. It was windy that day, so our canvases (帆布) kept on _________. Being shy as well, we were _________ to ask people if they would consider buying our artwork. I suddenly had great __________ for vendors (商贩) . We were also afraid of being __________. Did we need a license? We weren’t sure of what we were doing, and we didn’t have teachers to __________ in for damage control. Thankfully, no one drove us away.

__________, a braver girl, Luna, approached our first __________. Although he did not buy anything, it __________ a little courage in the rest of us. Gradually, our __________ grew with each new customer Luna had led to our little stand. In a pure act of courage, I talked to a Korean woman passing by. I felt a bit __________ when she said that she didn’t have time, but my courage had __________ with this short conversation with a stranger. I went on talking to more people.

At the end of the day, we sold a large amount of artwork. It might not have been as much as we expected, but we __________ that the experience of gaining and __________ our courage made up for the day’s shortcomings. I look forward to another one of these trips.