The last race of the day was over. My breathing gradually stilled along with the ripples in the pool, but I stayed in the water, watching sadly as the winners gathered for the medals ceremony.
"Don't look so sad," I heard a voice say behind me. I turned around to see a tall, blond, blue-eyed man standing on the edge of the pool. "You came in fourth, but you are the best in your country." he said smiling. "I'm Ken Schafer, and you?"
"Rima Datta."
"And how old are you, Rima?"
"Fourteen, Sir" I replied lifting myself out of the water. Ken was a swimming coach from California and asked me about my life as a swimmer until then.
My eldest brother, Anil, had taught me how to swim, but I had no real training until I was nine when a coach from the National Institute of Sports came for just three months a year to train the boys at Mayo College, where our father taught. She set aside a couple of hours a week for the daughters of the staff. It was she who had corrected my mistakes and encouraged me to take part in competitions.
Surprised to hear how little steady training I had had, Ken introduced me to the National Institute of Sports in Patiala to be trained in this summer. The train was hard, and I felt quite lonely away from my parents and all that was familiar. But it was Ken, with his tireless enthusiasm, his passion for swimming, and his faith in me that kept me focused.
I won my first gold medal at the national championship that year, a fact that filled me with immense joy and Ken with a sense of satisfaction that his work with me was paying off. Yet he realized that what I really needed was a team to train with and steady coaching year-round.
Then he persuaded my parents to allow me to go to California and train there for a year. He even helped find out a host family for me.
注意：
1）续写词数应为150左右；
2）请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
Alone on the long flight to Los Angeles, I was filled with doubts, as I had never lived with a strange family.
Paragraph 2:
The kindness of the host family and Ken gave me all the practical and emotional support I needed to train in a swimming club of California.
