While I was cycling, I saw a man in front of me, about half a mile far. Noticing the man was ________ at a speed lower than me, I decided to overtake (超过) him. With about a mile to go before turning off, I started cycling ________. Every block, I was gaining on him a little bit. Just within minutes, I was about 50m behind him. So I gathered all my ________ and tried hard to overtake him. It was as tiring as the ________ lap of the Olympic triathlon (铁人三项). Finally, I caught up with him and ________ him. “Yes!” I felt like a(n) ________, while he had no ________ that we were competitors.

However, I soon realized that I had been so ________ on competing against him that I had ________ my turn. Having gone nearly six blocks past it, I had to ________ and go all back.

Isn’t that what ________ in life? We spend most of our time and energy in competing with neighbors, friends and family. We are ________ to do better than them or be ahead of them, while we are never in the ________ with them. Instead of getting involved in (卷入) ________, never-ending competitions, we should just concentrate on our own ________ and reach our destination.

Having recently changed my job, I moved from a house with a yard full of trees to a small apartment two miles away. I __ two loving cats. I brought them with me.

My cats were___ going outside to exercise,but in my new apartment, they were not afforded that___. For safety reasons, I decided to keep them___. Alley Cat was satisfied with just looking out the window. Stripes, on the other hand, didn’t___ being cooped up(关起来) and cried continuously at the door. It was___ for him to go outside because I had to walk down the stairs to let him out. After two days, I___ and opened the door. He walked around the tiny yard for a while and then came back.

The next time Stripes went out, he was___ for three days. I __ the neighborhood, calling out, “Stripes, come home.”

On the third day, I got a___. It was from the lady who had___ my house. She told me that Stripes was in her yard crying, probably___ me.

I jumped in the car and headed for my old house. Stripes was as___ to see me as I was to see him. He started rubbing ( 蹭) his head against my legs. The next day, the____thing happened again and again, Stripes made it clear that he___ to stay in my new apartment.

The new owners became____Stripes and even began feeding him. They offered to make Stripes a member of their family after I had tried many times to keep my cat and___. It was the perfect___, I' ve heard the expression," If you____something, let it go. “ Unwillingly, I did. __ I had visitation rights.

Lighting flashed through the darkness over Sibson’s bedroom skylight (天窗). Sibson was shaken by a clap of thunder _________ he knew what was happening. The storm had moved directly over his two-story wooden house. Then he heard the smoke alarm beeping.

Sibson rushed down the stairs barefoot to _________; he opened the door to the basement (地下室), and flames _________ out. Sibson ran back upstairs to call 911 from his bedroom. “I felt safe because the room had a separate outdoor stairway,” he explains.

But the phone didn’t work, and when he tried to go down the outdoor stairway, he was _________ by a wall of flames. Sibson realized he was trapped.

Sibson’s house was three kilometers _________ the main road and was so well hidden by trees that he knew calling for help would be _________.

Up a hill nearby lived Sibson’s neighbor, Huggons. He was lying in bed when something like a smoke alarm _________ his ears. He jumped out of bed, took his phone and flashlight, and headed down the hillside toward the _________. That was when he saw the rolling heavy smoke.

Huggons dialed 911，and the operator warned him not to _________ the house. But Huggons said, “There is no way I am going to listen to Sibson __________ and die in that fire.”

“Anyone, there?” Huggons called out. Then he heard “Help! I’m trapped!” coming from the second-floor balcony (阳台). He entered the house, but soon had to run back to catch his breath.

After one more __________ inside the house, Huggons gave up and __________ around back.

The wind parted the smoke just __________ for him to catch sight of Sibson. But there was no way to get to him. He shone the flashlight into the woods and noticed a ladder. He took it over to the balcony and __________ Sibson down just as the second floor of the house fell off.

Sibson is still __________ when he tells the story. “I was alone that night,” he says. “Then I heard the most beautiful sound in my life. It was Huggons.”