When I was about 12, a girl in my class liked to point out my problems. I was too thin; I wasn’t a good student; I talked too much; I was too ______, and so on. At last, I became very angry and ran to my father.

He listened to me ______. Then he asked, “Are these things true or not? Do you know what you are really like? Go and make a ______ of what she said and find the ______ that are true.”

I did as he told me. To my great ______, I found that about half of the things were true. Some of them I couldn’t change (like being very thin). But there were things I could and wanted to change. For the ______ time, I got a clear ______ of myself.

I brought the list back to Dad. He refused to take it. “That’s just for you.” he said. “You know the truth about ______ better than anyone else. When people say something that is true about you, you should find it helpful. Don’t ______ your ears and feel ______. Listen to them.”

To personal trainer Sammy Callari,13-year-old Parker Seward is more than a client (客户). Over the past year, the pair have developed a close ________. They play basketball together, share meals and so on.

Last spring the trainer was asked to work with Parker, who had Down syndrome (唐氏综合症), ________ his co-worker (搭档) was out of town. Callari had never worked with someone with a(n) ________ by himself before. He was stressed the first day he met Parker, but Parker’s wide smile and cheerful introduction made him ________ at once.

Parker reminded Callari of himself when he was a(n) ________. As a high schooler, Callari described himself as a weak, thin kid. When it came to sports, he always ________ to be noticed. His dream of playing basketball in college quickly died. He then turned to a new ________. His younger brother trained him to become a Kung fu artist. Callari took part in five matches. Out of those fights he was considered to be the ________, but he won three times.

“Society tells you ‘you can’t do this’, or ‘you can’t do that’,” says Callari. When it comes to Parker, Callari ________ to accept the word “can’t”.

The friends meet twice a week to train. They train together with biking and boxing. Parker has a short ________ span (持续时间), so it’s Callari’s job to keep him focused (集中). Callari ________ videos of himself and Parker’s exercising online — ________, with the agreement from Parker’s mom.

“It’s clear that it is Parker who ________ me,” Callari says. “He’s made me a better trainer, and he’s also made me a better person,” Callari adds. “A lot of people see him as different, but I’ve ________ looked at him like that. If anyone is ________, it’s me.”