阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

    My dad, “Mutt” Mantle is1 a father to me, sometimes more like a good judge of talent.

    He was 2 about baseball. He made his living working in mines. But he played baseball in several town teams.

    From the day I was born, Dad said he wanted me to make my living as baseball player. He named me Mickey3 a catcher he liked. He hoped I would play for the New York Yankees.

    Dad often 4 a toy baseball to my crib(摇篮). One day, 5. I caught one. Then he was sure that I'd be a ball player!

    I learned about the 6 on a ball field before I learned my ABC's. When I was three, Dad had Mama make me little uniform. He liked to 7 around town in it.

    When I five, I started school. That same day, I had my first 8 in switch-hitting(左右手都能击球)

    Dad and Grandpa were in the yard when I came home from school. They had a small bat and two9“Mickey,” said Dad, “ Grandpa and I have thought up at a new 10. Take this bat and try to hit our

    pitches(投掷).I'm left-handed. When I throw, you swing right-handed 11 you always have. Grandpa's right-handed. When he throws, turn around and swing left-handed.”

    Dad was going to make me a 12 ! He knew that a player who can bat both right and left has a good 13 of making hit.

    That day I tried and tried. But I couldn't swing left-handed. After about 15 minutes, I yelled to Mama for help. She said, “ I know it's easy. But please try.14, to make Dad happy .”

    So, every day after school we had switch-hitting 15. After two weeks, I didn't 16 it any more. My17 were getting trained. I began to hit a few.

    After a year or two, Dad and Grandpa began throwing as 18 as they could. And they put real curves(曲线)on those tennis balls. Then as I grew older, they began to use baseball 19.

    So you know20I, today's baseball star Mickey Mantle, got my star as a Switch-Hitter.

A Leap(跳跃) to Honor

    Leaping on a narrow balance beam(平衡木) is not easy. But Lola Walter, a 13­year­old gymnast, is an expert at it.

    To perfect her skills, Lola 1 for four hours a day, five days a week. At the state championships in March, she finished seventh out of 16 girls.

    That's especially impressive,2 she is legally blind, born with a rare condition that causes her eyes to shift(移动) constantly. She often sees double and can't 3 how far away things are.

    When she was little, her mom 4 that even though she couldn't see 5 ， she was fearless. So her mom signed her up for gymnastics when she was three. She loved the 6 right away and gymnastics became her favorite.

    Though learning gymnastics has been more 7 for her than for some of her teammates, she has never quit. She doesn't let her 8 stop her from doing anything that she wants to.

    She likes the determination it takes to do the sport. Her biggest 9 is the balance beam. Because she has double vision, she often sees two beams. She must use her sense of touch to help her during her routine. Sometimes she even closes her eyes. “You have to 10 your mind that it'll take you where you want to go，” says Lola.

    To be a top­level gymnast, one must be brave. The beam is probably the most 11 for anyone because it's four inches wide. At the state competition, Lola didn't fall 12the beam. In fact, she got an 8.1 out of 10—her highest score yet.

    Lola doesn't want to be 13 differently from the other girls on her team. At competitions, the judges don't know about her vision 14. She doesn't tell them, because she doesn't think they need to know. Her mom is amazed by her 15 attitude.

    Lola never thinks about 16. She is presently at level 7 while the highest is level 10 in gymnastics. Her 17 is to reach level 9. She says she wants to be a gymnastics coach to pass down what she's learned to other kids 18 she grows up.

    Lola is 19 of all her hard work and success. She says it's helped her overcome problems in her life outside gymnastics too. Her 20 for other is “just believe in yourself”.

    Every day Jack met me at the beach of the River Yenisei. The1is 5,539 kilometers long. It is frozen almost half the year. When the water was 2enough to go in, we played with his shark toy. "Mr. Shark," he called it. Mr. Shark was very 3, but after it got filled with water, it became heavy enough to throw.

    We had long talks about our 4. Jack worked as a lawyer but was5with his job. He had to work long hours. His bosses were not always kind. He 6 of travel, or working a different job. Why don't you 7? I asked him. But quitting is not so 8 . Attending university for so many years 9him a lot of money. Working as a lawyer 10  well. But he thought about doing different work, 11would help poor countries and poor people, volunteer work perhaps. That's 12we were both doing in Siberia, volunteering our time.

    But if we were just 13 here, we'd never get the 14to know so many local people. The students did almost anything the teachers asked. They wrote and 15plays, did dances and sang songs. Siberian kids were certainly not 16. Well, the students were not all kids. The youngest was about ten years old; the 17was 40!

    Each day throughout the two weeks had a  18. One day the theme of our class was the world 19 day. As an American, it was interesting to talk to young Russians about peace because when I was growing up, the United States and Russia did not 20. Wouldn't it be great that we were now talking about peace?

    Several decades of years ago, I ran a service station and roadhouse on the main road between Melbourne and Adelaide. One very cold, wet night at about 3∶30 a.m., there was a1on the front door of our house. A young man, wet from2 to toe, explained that he had3out of petrol about 30 km up the road. He had left his pregnant wife and his two children4 at the car and said that he would hitchhike(搭便车) back.

    Once I had5a can with petrol, I took him back to his car where his two-year-old and four-year-old children were both6, saying that they were cold. Once the car had started, I suggested that he7me back.

    Before leaving, I had turned the heater8 in the roadhouse, so that when we went in, it was nice and9.While the little ones played and ran10, I prepared bread and butter for the children, and hot chocolate for the11.

    It was about 5 a.m. before they12 .The young fellow asked me how much he13 me and I told him that the petrol pump(加油泵)had14 $15.He offered to pay "call-out fee", but I wouldn't accept it.

    About a month later, I received a15 from Interstate, a large bus company that we had been trying to16to stop off at our roadhouse for a long time. It17out that the young fellow I had helped was its general manager, the most18person in the company.

    In his letter, he thanked me again and19 me that, from then on, all their buses would stop at my service station. In this20, a little bit of kindness was rewarded with a huge amount of benefits.

    Last fall I hung outside my window a bird feeder(喂鸟的食槽). Knowing 1about wild birds, I 2that3 I hung this bird feeder outside, numbers of beautiful birds would be swooping(飞扑)to my new addition. However, days, weeks, and months4, NO BIRDS.

    I asked so many people, “What to do？5 was I doing wrong？”“Nothing, ”most of them replied, “just6！”So I waited and waited and waited, trying everything7to attract these birds. I cleaned off the deck(平台), 8the feed, and washed the feeder. I9 made the cat go out the other door！But nothing seemed to10. So I waited with patience and11.

    Two months later, on a Saturday afternoon, I 12 ！What came to my eyes was the most beautiful bird I have ever seen in my life！All of a13 , hundreds of birds were14 from everywhere!

    What a beautiful15I learned from this little creature！Patience and hope will16 the beautiful things in life. Yet I had never17how much patience I really do have and how much I do rely on hope to 18 the questions in my heart.

So I 19hoping and waiting, waiting and hoping. I will try to use this “little lesson” with so many other things in my life. I guess patience is a 20 after all.

    Stars guide the way for us in the dark. Some are 1, others are dim, but they all shine together as if they're 2 the ups and downs of life. Among them, I try to find Hazel's, the heroine of the novel The Fault in Our Stars, written by U.S. author John Green.

    Hazel is a 16-year-old girl who has cancer. In her 3 group, she wins a boy's love, who has lost a leg and he also has 4. They fight pain, fear and death together. 5 their lives are hard, Hazel has a strong will. She never 6, and even silently 7 the happiness of people around her, behind which, I believe, it is the inner spirit that makes her 8.

    Hazel isn't 9. She quarrels with her parents, like most teenagers. But most of the time, she's very 10, never letting cancer be an excuse to 11 her life. She regards cancer as a side effect of death, which everyone will 12 one day. She accepts the fact that "the world is not a wish-granting factory", so she13 every single moment in life, no matter if it's 14 or sweet.

    That's 15 I admire her. I don't experience the pain and the challenge that Hazel has faced, but 16, I come across many difficulties. When I'm in 17, I always wonder what I can do about it. If there's no more mercy I can beg for, then I try to find 18 in my heart. Hazel has taught me that we should love and appreciate life as it is, forget today's 19, and live life to its fullest. 20, tomorrow is another day.