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.

    After a decade at the publishing company, I was fired. I had worked so hard for so long. I was always doing my job 1 , clawing my way up the ladder. And 2 ? Doing these things had 3 me in the end, very little of lasting value. I wondered what would happen if I let it all go—didn't look for a job, didn't keep my 4 ambition.

    My husband thought it was a great idea. “Just 5 .” he said. As a serious windsurfer, he suggested I try the sport as a path to clarity. I had windsurfed before , but only in 6 water. I didn't like high winds. I didn't like going fast—that was 7. But I wanted to abandon the past. My 8 was to do nothing but read and windsurf every day. I wanted to feel the fear and do it anyway. I wanted to learn how to ride the currents, and I couldn't think of a better way than to 9 myself to the invisible, ever-shifting wind.

    I decided to sail at Swell City, a favorite outpost on the Washington side of the Columbia. That July 10 to be one of the windiest months on record. I grew to find that what I was doing did 11 for my standing in the world. It won me no friends.Then again, I was 12 .

    One day, a friend and her l5-year-old son came, and after I explained my 13 , he said the simplest but most profound thing: “It's all in the 14 . ” This kid had windsurfed only three times , 15 he knew the secret. “If you go out there knowing you're going to 16 it, you will, ”he continued. “But if you go out there afraid you'll get hurt , you will. ” I smiled at him. Wasn't that 17 the same problem I'd encountered in life? I'd always been terrified l wouldn't reach the goal or 18 the job. I knew I had to let that fear go. And slowly I did.

    The wind wanted nothing from me. It cared not at all about my ambition or accomplishments. It 19 me that the beauty of life is in the trying. And that's where I am: still trying for the turnaround in life and in the 20 .

    If you have been to Harbin in winter, but didn't have a 1 to see people do winter-swimming, I am sure you will feel it's a(n) 2. Can you imagine swimming in a river with the temperature being about 10 degrees below zero? This would be 3 to the people from the South. If you were on the Songhuajiang River, you could not help 4 those brave swimmers.

    I felt greatly excited as well as 5 when I first saw the winter-swimming, though it was very cold that day, the swimmers were only wearing 6 clothes, while all the people watching were having heavy clothes covering all their bodies with only two 7 visible. I had thought that the river was warm, but it 8 much cold when I dipped my hand into the river water. What excited me most was the way they 9 into the river from the high ice-platform and the styles in which they swam, 10 butterfly-stroke and back-stroke.

    My uncle has been 11 about winter-swimming for several years. Now he is a member of the Winter Swimming Club. Once I asked him, “Aren't you afraid of cold? Have you got a 12 from it?” Smiling, he said, “13 we have a strong will, we can surely overcome any 14 and difficulties. I haven't got a cold at all. On the contrary, I have become 15 than I was before “That's true, he 16 suffer from bronchitis. However, since he began to like swimming, he has been fully 17 from the disease.

    Today, more and more people are 18 joining in the winter-swimming, including women and children. This activity shows the great 19 and strong will of the people in Harbin which I think is just what we 20 in our work and study as well.

Sandra was a businesswoman in Orlando. Approaching her 50th birthday, she decided to1 her love of cats and her work experience to start the Orlando Cat Cafe.

As a lifelong cat fan, Sandra's main goal in opening the cafe was to help 2 cats up for adoption with proper pet parents. What she didn't 3at the time was that her café would help human visitors as much as the cats!

"The most4thing in the cafe is that they always have new cats and cats need socialization, so both sides 5!" says Laurie, who is one6guest. She, like many other cat lovers, who 7have pets at home because of allergies (过敏反应) in the family, often comes to the cafe to experience the benefits of 8with cute animals whenever she likes.

Plus, Sandra's cat-adoption 9aren't the only charitable initiative happening at the cafe! The coffee and food10for visitors are made by Axum Coffee, a company that was also started to11others. Axum is a city in Ethiopia where fresh water is 12and even poverty is widely visible. In fact, the coffee and food are sold at a low price at the cafe, some of whose13go to the people of Axum, Ethiopia, to help improve their14 of life.

"My cafe and Axum Coffee have a(n)15 mission to reach out to others. We hit it off and became partners," says Sandra.

Maybe the next time you visit Orlando, you'll16Sandra's cafe, and hit it off with one of the cats up for17 ! Adoption specialists are always on-site to help match the personalities of potential 18 with those of the cats in the play area. And it 19 ! More than 80 cats have been adopted since Sandra20 her business in 2016.

It was my last class before summer break, and I was finishing up the first year of a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program in poetry. Unsure if I deserved a 1 in the program, I worried I wasn't as2 as my peers. When the professor asked about our summer 3 , I panicked. I didn't want to appear idle (闲散的)，so without much 4 , I burst out "gardening". Surprisingly, my professor nodded and mentioned Emily Dickinson loved gardening. Emily Dickinson, a great American poet, studied plants as a 5 . But I was in my twenties and had no gardening 6 .

A few days later, I 7 some seedlings in a store. I thought I should get some. At least I could say I had 8 gardening. Wait, was that a jalapeno (墨西哥辣椒)? I 9 it up.

Over the summer, the plant grew, not big but 10 . I was proud. Maybe I didn't have 11 . But then I had to move out of my apartment for some reason. I 12 with my friends. It was December when I found my new apartment, and my jalapeno was suffering: its 13 had fallen off. I set it next to a window by the kitchen sink, and 14 for the best.

I 15 to work hard in school. Then spring came. My plant grew with new leaves. And it flowered when I 16 my graduate paper, a book of 17 , in May.

I was washing dishes one day when my professor called. "Your poems are strong..." he said. I'd done it! I went back to the dishes, but suddenly I found the flowers 18 my jalapeno were gone. Had I done something 19 ?  I looked closer. Where a flower had been, a tiny green fruit 20 through.

Soon after my arrival in Luanda, I realized that I was going to have some free time available. I decided to spend it doing something useful and taking part in activities in the1 community. I started my search for volunteering opportunities here and a blog post2 my eye. It was Asthma's3 on how she started her4 journey in Luanda. Asthma has been volunteering at the Foundation(基金会) for Art and Culture for more than a year. I decided to get in touch with them and soon after I got a very warm and welcoming5 inviting me to the foundation. The next day as I6 into the foundation little did I know it would become such a(n)7 part of my life in Luanda.

I was a bit hesitant at first as I had never worked with children before and my Portuguese (葡萄牙语) then was much8 than now. But as I slowly started doing some activities with children, there were not any9 . All that you needed was a heart full of lóve and everyone10 the language of love.

I found plenty of11 to do with kids, keeping them busy and having fun. Together we played, sang, learned new things,12 new games and renewed the old. The children coming to the foundation are wonderful, and full of13 and energy. It is a beautiful place with wonderful projects. Without doubt, it is the best14 I could have found in Luanda, and I am very happy to go there as often as I can. The staff working there really make you feel welcome and15 .