When he failed to beat John, he felt he had _____ his friends.                                         

— What was she doing when you visited her?
.— She was _____ herself in the mirror.                    

Don’t try to cheat—you’ll never _____ it.

---Do you have any good suggestions for our company?
---In my opinion, you should _________ the cost and increase the output.

When he saw we were upset, he began to ____ us for hours with his stories and jokes.

My grandpa often says, “As time _______, my memory seems to get worse.”

Pay your gas bill as soon as possible, or the gas will be ______.

Li Na had managed to ______ in motion an upsurge（高涨）of students learning tennis across Asia.

--He got the first prize in his math contest.
--Yes, I wondered how he did ____________.

The local people ________ building the new hotel because of the great cost.