【推荐1】The plane was taking off in twenty minutes and I was close to tears. The potato-faced Russian official fingering my ________ said that my visa had been out of date. ________, when I had checked with the visa office, they had shouted “No problem!”

If not boarding the plane, I would have to ________ for another flight, and need $200 for the ________ visa. But all I had was $25. I tried to make this ________, firmly and without crying, to the official, but he remained ________. A queue had built up behind. Suddenly there was a ________ behind me “If an English chequebook is any good…?” It was a stranger who had come from several places back in the queue to ________ me a cheque. Sadly, however, it had to be cash.

________ unhappily around the hall, I suddenly had an idea. I somehow ________ the airport official to let me into the departure lounge (出发大厅). I ________ the stranger and asked him to help with my plan. We went from passenger to passenger, ________ the situation, asking a small loan (借款) and an address to return the ________. People were understandably silent. Just ten minutes before the take-off, I cleared my ________. “Ladies and gentlemen...”

“Come on, ladies, it could be your daughter!”, with this ________ the cash. Soon, dollar bills gathered without a/an ________ being recorded. I ________ my head at the next person who held out money to me, saying “I’ve got it”. The news ________ the room: “She’s got it! She’s got it!” A plane’s worth of people clapped.

I ________ back to the desk and practically threw the money at the official. Five minutes later I was on the ________ to Heathrow.

【推荐2】Hurricane Ian hit Florida and brought with it flooding, winds and a record high storm.

Karen is 84 years old and relies on a wheelchair to _________ because she is missing a leg. Her son Johnny tried _________ to get her to leave, but she refused again and again — she _________ the intensity of the storm.

Johnny lives four blocks away. When Karen reported the water in her house had reached her waist, he knew he had to take _________.

First, Johnny _________ his kids were taken care of. He gave them food and opened the attic (阁楼) so that they could _________ through the roof if water continued to rise. Then, he jumped out of a window and began to _________.

Johnny was racing against the clock. He knew he only had a(n) _________ period of time to get there before the water rose above Karen’s _________. It took him 40 minutes to swim four blocks. The sound of Karen yelling was __________ to his ears! She was still alive!

Everyone in Johnny’s family is now __________ although they’ve lost everything they owned. But they’re __________ just to be here.

“I didn’t lose __________. Life is like a computer. There’re two __________: a reset and a power — and we are blessed that it was just a reset button, not the power, that got __________,” he said.

【推荐1】One morning, Bill McDonald read in the paper that a local man, Joe Day, was sick with lung cancer. That meant it would be Christmas without Joe’s _________. So he decided to do _________.

33 Christmases ago, when Day came home in the afternoon, he found his five-year-old grandson, Nicholas, _________. “What do you want to do today?” Day asked. “Let’s _________ a reindeer (驯鹿),” Nicholas said. They made one using wood from a fallen tree, then set it out on the lawn and lit up its cherry-red nose for the _________. Each year, Day added to his _________, placing the reindeer on a track above his roof and _________ lights as if they were electric vines (藤蔓) around his _________.

However, Day’s cancer had spread to his liver now. He was too _________ to celebrate Christmas. Until McDonald called.

“I want to __________ you get your lights up,” McDonald said. He gathered local firefighters, friends, and strangers to __________ Day’s displays. For two days, over 100 volunteers climbed in and around Day’s house, following his hand-drawn diagrams that __________ where everything should go.

On the evening of December 12, with crowds of volunteers cheering him on, Day __________ the switch and lit up the spectacle (奇观).

Day is __________ that his brilliant displays will continue to light up the darkness for many years to come __________ Bill McDonald has promised that he’ll get the job done.

【推荐2】When I was twenty, I had a dog named Trixie. She loved me dearly but_________anyone else.

One afternoon, I was sitting on my porch (走廊) reading a book with Trixie by my side when my colleague Jason walked by. He stopped and asked, “May I come in.” I had no_________in him, and I wanted to finish my book, so l said, “So long as you can get past my dog.” I was quite _________ that this wasn’t going to happen, so I_________reading.

He opened the gate, walked in and closed it. Trixie remained strangely _________ . Jason walked confidently toward me. Trixie got up and_________Jason and licked his hand. It seemed as if they were friends for a long time. He asked, “May I sit down?” In shocked silence, I _________. He said, “This is a very nice dog,” looking at her_________. Trixie sat with us the entire time staring at him, tail wagging.

Two years later, Jason and I got married. He told me that our story_________ a dog and a cookie. Seeing the____________on my face, he told me this: He’d known from my brother that if he could make friends with my dog, then he might have a ____________to marry me. So, every day, without my____________, he’d walk by our fence. When Trixie barked to scare him away, he’d____________her a cookie. This lasted for about six months until the day he asked if he could come in and sit on the porch with me. Of course, she ____________him in because, although I was her first love,____________was her second!

We’ve been married for thirty-six years. Thank you, Trixie!

【推荐3】The writers of murder stories go to a great deal of trouble to keep us guessing right up to the end. In actual fact, people often act more ________ in real life than they do in ________.

The following advertisement once appeared in a certain newspaper: “Do you hope to earn $250 in a few minutes? A man, willing to ________ chances, wanted for an ________ job which can be done only once.” A reader found this ________ very special and asked to be given the ________. But not trusting the advertisement completely, he gave a ________ name. Soon afterwards, he received a reply, enclosed (内附) in the envelope was a typed note ________ him to ring a certain number if he was still ________. He did what he was asked to do and ________ on the phone that the advertiser wanted him “to get rid of somebody” and would discuss it more ________ with him the next day. But the reader reported to the police and from then on acted ________ their instructions.

The police saw two men meet and watched them as they ________ away together. In the car the advertiser came to the ________ at once: he wanted him to shoot his wife. Giving the reader some ________, the advertiser told him to buy a gun. He also gave him a photograph of his wife ________ he would be able to recognize her. After that, the advertiser suggested that the man “do the ________” the next morning. After the murder, they would ________ again outside a railway station and the money would be paid as ________. The second meeting never took place, ________ the advertiser was arrested afterwards and put into prison.