第二节 语法填空
根据短文内容，填写合适的单词或用所给单词的正确形式填空，使短文意思完整。
Jake used to care only about winning. He loved chess and spent all his free minutes practicing it. He used to 1. (refuse) to play with “weaker” players—he hated losing more than 2. (something).
His life used to be all about chess. He didn’t use to have time for friends. His parents worried, 3. Jake wouldn’t listen. He thought winning was all.
One day, Jake joined a city competition but 4. (lose) in the first round. He wanted to give up chess. His coach said, “Growth means letting go of the need to win. The joy of chess is not 5. (beat) others, but learning and making friends.”
Jake started to change. He used to believe losing was 6. ______ (fail), but now he saw it as a chance to improve. He began to play with everyone, even beginners.
7. (slow), Jake became different. He used to stay alone, but now he plays basketball with friends. He still loves chess, but plays 8. fun and growth.
Jake learned that growth isn’t about holding on tightly—it’s about opening your heart to new things. If you used to be stuck in 9. narrow world, let go a little. You’ll find a 10. (big) life.

1. refuse 2. anything 3. but 4. lost 5. beating 6. failure 7. Slowly 8. for 9. a 10. bigger

1. 考查固定搭配used to do sth. 意为“过去常常做某事”，此处要填动词原形，故填refuse。
2. 考查不定代词，句意为“他讨厌输胜过任何事情”，该句为暗含的否定语境，something要变为anything，more than anything 表示“胜过一切”。
3. 考查连词，前文“他的父母很担心”和后文“Jake不听”是转折关系，故填转折连词but。
4. 考查动词时态，and连接并列谓语，前文的joined是一般过去时，此处动词lose也要用过去式lost。
5. 考查非谓语动词，后文并列的结构是动名词learning和making，此处要保持形式一致，用动名词beating作表语。
6. 考查词性转换，此处be动词后需要名词作表语，动词fail的名词形式是failure，意为“失败”。
7. 考查词性转换，此处修饰整个句子，需要用副词，形容词slow的副词形式是Slowly，位于句首首字母大写。
8. 考查固定搭配play for fun，意为“为了乐趣而下棋”，故填介词for。
9. 考查冠词，此处泛指“一个狭隘的世界”，narrow以辅音音素开头，故填不定冠词a。
10. 考查形容词比较级，此处和前文提到的狭隘的小世界形成对比，表示“更广阔的人生”，要用big的比较级bigger。