Eric is a 13-year-old boy. He loves _________, so he often plays card games, computer games, and sports games with his friends. Winning (赢) is _________ favorite thing. To him, winning is everything.

There is a race (赛跑) in his class this afternoon, and there are _________ teams (队) — the blue team and the red team. Eric is on the _________ one. Before the race, he says to himself, “I must win!”

But things don’t go very well. Eric doesn’t feel good _________ his new shoes. He even falls down (摔倒). All his _________ run past him, except (除了) one.

“Come on. Let’s finish the race together,” a _________ stops next to Eric and says.

Eric looks at him. The boy is John. He’s on the red team, _________ he wants to help Eric finish the race.

“_________ do you want to help me?” he asks john. “We’re not in the same team.”

“Winning isn’t everything,” John says. “It’s just a race, and there will be a lot of races later, but I want to be _________ to others.”

Eric thinks about John’s words. Yes, winning isn’t everything, but being nice is the most important (最重要的) thing.

Our words may influence people for years, and even for a lifetime. They give people courage to go on or one more reason to ________.

My family moved to ________ city when I was fourteen. Junior high was always a ________ time for me, and the move made my ninth-grade year even harder.

I remember walking into the dining room for the first time. The other ________ had good friends with them, but I didn’t know anyone. I felt ________ and went to the nearest seat after getting some ________. The kids beside me looked at me up and down and then laughed. Then one of the kids said, “Man! You have one big nose.” I could feel my face turning ________ at that moment.

I felt shy and didn’t know ________ to say. I wanted to cry, but I tried to smile — ________ it didn’t hurt me at all. But it did.

From then on, I would often look at ________ in the mirror. It seemed that I was just living for my nose. Thankfully, I grew out of this influence finally. But it really ________ me twenty years to forget that.

I also remember going through a ________ business failure. I called my dad for help. My father told me, “________ you meet difficulty, think of your first goal and ________.” His words gave me courage and confidence to go on with my business and finally I ________.

Encouraging words can really help people a lot. So encourage others more and try to help them out.

Have you ever been to an amusement park? Did you have a special experience there? I had an ________ trip last time. I went to the amusement park in my hometown with my family several months ago.

You may wonder ________ I agreed to go on the ride called The Dark Knight Rides. I knew it was going to make me scared, but I didn’t want to lose the chance to ________ myself because I wanted to be brave. The ride started after we went on the seats and sat down ________ the seat belts fastened (扣紧安全带). It started off slowly. Then I felt more and more ________ because it kept getting faster and faster each time it took a turning. Then it ________ stopped. Yes, it did stop. I didn’t know how long we waited there. Maybe 10 or 15 minutes. All the ________ started talking about what was going to happen. We all agreed that it would start quickly, but it didn’t. When I sat next to my sister waiting for this nightmare (噩梦) to end, it started getting dark with only one ________ on. The ride started again, and it went on quickly. After that, more and more lights were on and beautiful pictures were shown while the ride was getting slower and slower ________ it stopped. All the tourists shouted with excitement when the ride ended. Just at the moment, I found out it was ________ decision to be brave that brought me the wonderful feeling of success during the ride.

“No rain, no rainbows.” Try your best to face something difficult or scary, and you will succeed when you get over (克服) the difficulties or scare.