阅读下面短文，从短文后所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中， 选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

    My friend Samuel, who is a good runner, and I ran a 5K race last weekend. It was my first organized1. “You run ahead,” I said at the starting line. “You2?” he asked. “Go!” I said. “I'll see you at the3”

    Samuel took off, strong and full of energy. My4 hit the ground in a familiar pattern, and I5 it to the half-way point. My legs started to6 and my back hurt. 7, I wanted to give up but my spirit told me not to. I started to think I should have8 a shorter goal as the great distance was too much for me. I began to9 deciding to run the 5K race. I thought about all this while running. The road seemed very10.

    11 I ran along, my feet felt like lead(铅). It seemed as if I would 12 make it. I was so tired that I couldn't move a step further. I tried to13 myself by sayings. Some words appeared in my mind. They were “Do 14 by halves” and “To persevere(坚持) means victory”. They were 15 and they filled me with fresh energy. Anyway, I wouldn't quit. I 16 along. I eventually saw the white tent by the finishing line.

    Samuel was at the finishing line. When I 17 at the end, he put his arm around my shoulders and18 his hand for a high-five.

    I realized that19 you never give up, the goal you set can be reached. Above all, you just have to be20 and take one step at a time.

    When I settled in Chicago, my new city seemed so big and unfriendly. Then I had a 1problem and had to go to hospital for a2examination.

    It seemed a small3compared to the one I was about to face ,but things started to go4right from the beginning.Not having a car or5the city, I was depending on a couple of buses to get me from A  to B. 6I'd left myself plenty of time, soon it was7I was going to be late, as I had mistakenly boarded a bus that was taking me in the8direction.

    I9the bus and stood on the pavement not knowing what to do. I looked into the eyes of a 10, who was trying to get past me11, instead of moving on,she stopped to ask if I was12. After I explained my13 to her, she pointed to a bus stop across the street, where a bus would take me back into the city to my14. Sitting there waiting, I felt15that someone had been willing to help.16, hearing a horn (喇叭) nearby, I looked up to see a car with my new friend17at me to get in. She had returned to offer me a18to the hospital.

    Such unexpected19from a passer-by was a lovely gift to receive. As I climbed out of the car at the hospital and turned to thank her, she smiled and told me not to lose20, for all things are possible.

    The professor's house，big and untidy，stood alone at one end of a huge garden. The place was totally uncared for, quite 1 and overgrown with all sorts of useless things. I2my way through bushes and tall weeds to the front door and rang the bell.

    I was glad that I had found him. In twenty minutes, he 3 me right on all the 4 that had puzzled me. I was on the 5 of leaving when I looked out of his study window and said, “You're very fond of gardening, I see.”

    “No, I'm not,” he said. “ 6, I love this garden, though. It's 7 I always wanted it to be. I never touch it at all.”

    “It could be made lovely. It 8 a pity to let all this ground go to waste. But perhaps you don't 9 that way?” said I.

    “I don't. I lived here when I was a child, and I had 10 of gardening then. It was my father's hobby，you see. Unfortunately, he wasn't 11 enough to do it himself. My brother and I did all of it between us year after year. There was one right way and many wrong ways. Each blade (叶片) of grass was an enemy to be 12 by hand, not just cut off. I've spent a good part of life at work here.”

    “I see. You took a dislike to it, and now you're getting even!”

    “I dislike it. Then, of course, I didn't understand the 13 it had. It used to 14 me. It appeared in my dreams—a mistake here, something not quite straight here, the enemy showing its head in a place I was 15 to have cleaned. The work was too much. It seemed endless. The size of the place was itself a fight to a boy.”

    “And now it's yours，you're just letting it go to...”

    “16?” he said. “No，I don't agree with that. This garden and I are now the best friends. I like17 it grow18 its own way. I make no demands on it. I never disturb it, and it never disturbs me. It has19at last, and so have I.”

    “But the path is over grown. It's inconvenient for you，isn't it?”

    “That's part of my20” he laughed. “You can go out the back way. The weeds are shorter there because they don't get the sun.”

    Anorexia nervosa (神经性厌食症) is an eating disorder that I struggled with for most of my middle school years and a part of my high school years.

    At Riverview,1was usually a nightmare for me. As I 2 the dining hall, all the eyes would be fixed upon my bony figure. I would take my place at a table full of friends and 3 to enjoy a "normal" lunch. The 4 was that I would not always eat lunch, and that greatly 5 my friends. They would watch to make sure that I was eating properly, almost 6 food into my mouth.

    And then, I transferred to Madison High School. I decided not to tell anyone at that school about my eating disorder since I had almost 7 by that time. Strangely, I stopped fearing lunch when I started at Madison. No one knew that I had an eating disorder,8 they did not care what I ate. This 9 a huge amount of stress from my life. It was still hard for me to eat in front of others, which is 10for an anorexic, but I was able to put some of my 11 aside.

    I was thankful for the students at Riverview, but they knew me only as an anorexic. My friends cared about my health, but they 12 to care about me as a person. Truthfully, all I wanted was for them to 13 me and not to fix on my eating disorder.

    The students at Madison took the time to know who I 14 was. They had no idea that I had been an anorexic, so that a particular label did not 15 their opinions of me. I was finally 16 for my talents and achievements, not my failures. I was honored as a good student. I was no longer afraid to show my true 17.

    My days as an anorexic taught me many lessons that I would never 18. They taught me about life and how to be a better friend. I learned about the joy of 19 tasks such as eating lunch. I appreciated the people who helped me to see that there is more 20 life than having an eating disorder.

    One month ago, my daughter started kindergarten. As usual, I wished her success. I was telling a lie. What I actually wish for her is 1. I believe in the power of failure.

    Success is 2 in a sense. Success is proving that you can do something that you already know you can do, or doing something correctly the first time, which can 3 be a problematic victory. First-time success is usually a fluke (侥幸). First-time failure, 4, is expected; it is the natural order of things.

    Failure is how we learn. I have been told of an African phrase 5 a good cook as “she who has broken many pots”. If you have spent enough time in the 6to have broken a lot of pots, probably you know a fair amount about 7. I once had a late dinner with a group of chefs, and they spent time 8 knife wounds and burn scars. They knew how much credibility (可信度) their 9 gave them.

    I earn my 10 by writing a daily newspaper column. Each week I am 11 that one column is going to be the worst column of the week. I don't just set out to write it; I try my best every day. 12, every week, one column is inferior (较差的) to the others, sometimes extremely so.

    I have learned to 13 that column. A successful column usually means that I am treading (踏) on14 ground, going with tricks that work, or dressing up popular ideas in fancy words. Often in my inferior columns, I am trying to 15 something I've never done before, something that I'm not even sure can be done.

    My daughter is a perfectionist. She will feel her failures, and I will want to 16 her. But I will also, I hope, 17 her of what she learned, and how she can do 18 next time. I probably won't tell her that failure is a good thing, because that's not a(n)19 you can learn when you're five. I hope I can tell her, though, that it's not the end of the world. Indeed, with luck, it is the 20.

    Three months had passed since I lost my husband Willianm. I was extremely sad. My six-month-old daughter, Sienna, had lost her father before she'd even got to1him. I had no idea how I was going to raise her2. I spent six months hanging out with great3before I knew I had to4. I just had to work out how to start5my life.

    Then my mind wandered back to a few years earlier, when I'd6boxing at my local gym. I'd really7the exercise and it had given me something to focus on. So I picked up8and called my old boxing coach, Ken. "I want to get back to the boxing ring(拳击赛场)," I told him.

    I was9when I turned up for my first training. But my fears soon died down once I started hitting the pads (软垫). "You've still got it," Ken said10.

As I built my strength over the following months, I felt the weight of the world slowly lifting off my11. I found myself enjoying my time with Sienna more and I really looked forward to seeing my friends at the gym. I'd been12for five months when Ken scheduled my first boxing match.

    Jumping around the ring, I felt as though William and Sienna were13me on. I was really excited when I was announced as the14. That encouraged me to study to become a fitness trainer myself.

    When I15a job at a Maori health and well-being organization, I wanted to introduce boxing16so I could help others lift their spirits.

    17, my classes have been a huge success and I now hold nine classes every week. More than three years have passed since we lost William and I18miss him every day. I often talk to Sienna about him. She'll always know who her father was and how much he19her.

    I have no doubt that boxing saved my life and made me a better mother. If teaching other people boxing can help them on their journey from darkness to light, it's well worth the20.