1、“Watch me dive off the high board, Dad,” my ten-year-old son called me out. I looked    36    to the ten-foot-high diving board and waited as he stood at the edge. He had    37    off the high board many times before, but now his courage seemed to    3 8   as he considered jumping through the air headfirst.

There were no other swimmers now, so he could take his    39    . “You can do it, Robby,” I encouraged. But he couldn’t. For 20 minutes he    40    to gather the courage to make the plunge (跳水 ), and he finally    41   up when the pool closed for the night.

  “I feel    42   , ”Robby said on the way home. “I know I can do it, though. I know I can.”

  He    43    me to take him to the swimming pool again the next evening. Like the night before, we happened to be the only ?   44   . “I’m going to do it this time,” he said    45  . “Watch me !”

He climbed the ladder and walked to the    46    of the board as I watched.   47    I encouraged him, but he   48   . It seemed that he would    49    defeat his fear.

The lifeguard on duty helped me cheer him on. “You can do it, Robby, ” we all shouted. “Just do it! Don’t think about it. Just do it!”

For 30 minutes we    50    him. For 30 minutes he started and stopped, he leaned and straightened and    51    the fear that held him back.

And then it happened. He extended his    52   , bent over the edge and fell headfirst into the    53   ! He appeared to the sounds of    54    and congratulations. He did it!

Robby not only learned something about facing his fear that evening,   55    learned that some things need full devotion.