Afel was only a very small boy when he first saw snow in a picture book. It had lots of pictures of children 1 in big white fields. He asked, "Mum, what are those white fields?" His mother laughed, "That's snow, and they are making a snowman!" She tried to 2 what snow was. Afel didn't really 3 because there was no real snow where he lived. But he showed great 4.
One day when he was 12, Afel was watching a programme on TV at his uncle's house. The programme was full of snow. And not only snow — there were people 5 across the snow. They looked like fantastic birds. They had hats covering all their heads and big goggles over their eyes. And on their feet, they had 6 shoes.
"What are those?" he asked his uncle 7. "Skis," replied his uncle. "And those people are called skiers." At that moment, he 8 to be a skier. He asked his uncle what the programme was. "The Winter Olympics," said his uncle. "It's like the normal Olympics, but for 9 where you need snow — ski jumping, bobsleigh (长橇), those sorts of things. They 10 it every four years."
Afel found out that the next Winter Olympics would be in Beijing, in 2022. "Perfect," he thought. "Enough 11 for me to become a brilliant skier."
"But there's no snow here!" people told him. "Where are you going to ski?" Afel 12 them. He made himself a pair of skis from two pieces of wood. He tied them to his feet and practised skiing 13 two sticks in his hands. He practised again and again until he could 14 quite quickly across the sand. He 15 to fly down the hills like the people on TV, but he couldn't.
"Never mind," he thought. "It's a 16…"
"How will you go to the Olympics?" people asked him. "Our country doesn't 17 have a team that goes to the Winter Olympics. We have good runners and win lots of medals at the Olympics. But no skiing, no." Afel didn't 18.
So every night, out in the middle of the desert, Afel now practises skiing down sand hills. He 19 that the yellow sand and brown earth are as gold as the medal he will bring home with him, when he is the 20.
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