When I was 13 my only purpose was to become the star on our football team. That meant  21 Miller King, who was the best   22  at our school.

Football season started in September and all summer long I worked out. I carried my football everywhere for      23   .

Just before September, Miller was struck by a car and lost his right arm. I went to see him after he came back from   24  . He looked very   25  , but he didn’t cry.

That season, I  26  all of Miller’s records while he   27  the home games from the bench. We went 10-1 and I was named most valuable player,   28  I often had crazy dreams in which I was to blame for Miller’s   29  .

One afternoon, I was crossing the field to go home and saw Miller  30   going over a fence—which wasn’t  31  to climb if you had both arms. I’m sure I was the last person in the world he wanted to accept   32 from. But even that challenge he accepted. I  33   him move slowly over the fence. When we were finally   34   on the other side, he said to me, “You know, I didn’t tell you this during the season, but you did   35  .Thank you for filling in for  36  .”

His words freed me from my bad  37  . I thought to myself, how even without an arm he was more of a leader. Damaged but not defeated, he was  38  ahead of me. I was right to have  39 him. From that day on，I grew  40  and a little more real.

30（）

A.stuck

B.hurt

C.tired

D.lost