【推荐1】I am very thankful to the cat and it always makes me think of the time I was with him.

Five years ago, when my father was _________, I traveled a thousand miles from my home to be with him in his last days. I felt very _________ and it was one of the most difficult and painful times in my life. After he passed away, I was _________ in his apartment. There were so many things to _________. I was lonely and I hated the _________ of the apartment.

But one evening the silence was broken. I heard crying outside. I _________ the door and found a little cat on the floor. He was thin and poor. I brought him inside and gave him a can of fish. He ate it and then soon _________.

The next morning I asked the neighbors and learned that the cat had been left by his owner. His owner had moved away, _________ the little cat was there all alone, just like I was. As I walked back to the apartment, I tried to work out what to do with _________. I had something else to do, so taking care of the cat seemed like the very _________ thing I could do. But as soon as I opened the door, he ran to me and lay _________ my feet. It was clear from that moment that he didn’t want to go anywhere. I started calling him Willis in order to remember my father’s best friend.

From then on, things grew _________. With Willis, time seemed to pass much faster. _________, when the time came for me to return to my own home, I had to decide _________ to do about Willis. There was no way I would leave without him.

It’s been five years since my father died. Over the years, several people have said I was so nice to _________ the cat. But I know that we saved each other. I may have given him a home but he gave me something greater.

【推荐2】Jack’s love for birds started when he made his first bird-feeder about six years ago. He filled the feeder with seeds, put it in his backyard and then ________ started coming. He got really ________ in birds as more came. Then he joined a local society. As he realized that more and more birds were dying very ________, he wanted to try his best to help them.

Besides what he has done, he has his own group called Protecting Our Birds. He does ________ about birds, runs a website to teach people about birds and how to help them, and ________ boxes for birds. Not long ago, he found that the bluebirds were nesting （做窝） in the dead trees which were often cut down, ________ he began to make bluebird boxes for the birds in order to save them. Now he wants to use these boxes to ________ the dead trees. He ________ these boxes up in trees and takes them down every week to see if the birds are nesting in them. He also writes articles, hoping that more people will ________ protecting natural ecosystems（生态系统）.

“Researching birds is ________ to protecting birds,” Jack says. “In order to protect birds, we have to learn and really know about the birds.”

【推荐1】Bo, a golden retriever, won this year’s Dog Hero Award from the Ken-L Ration dog food company. Bo acted _______ last June.

Bo and his owners, Rob and Laurie Roberts, were going down the Colorado River in a 16-foot boat. The June _______ was Bo’s first time in a boat.

Laurie Roberts said, “Things were fine _______ a 6-foot wave broke in front of us and filled the boat with water. Another big wave caught us from the back and turned the _______ over.” Rob was thrown clear, but Laurie and Bo were unable to move out _______ the boat. “Every time I tried to   _______, my head hit the boat.” Laurie said. “I hit the bottom of the river several times. I _______ I was drowning (溺水).”

Rob picked up the story, “I reached the land and _______ Laurie.” he said. I saw Bo swim out from under the overturned boat. Then he _______ and dived (下潜). Soon he came back up, pulling Laurie by the hair. Laurie, who was ________ and breathless, tried to catch Bo. But the dog stayed out of reach as if knowing both of them would drown if Laurie pulled him under. Finally, Laurie caught Bo’s tail. He pulled her 30 yards to the land. Laurie was cut and bleeding, but she was safe.

A man keeps three monkeys in his house. The monkeys are very ________ and they can do many things. The man loves his ________. And he thinks they can try something new, so he begins to ________ them to dance. The monkeys don’t like dancing at first, but the man is very strict and make a lot of ________ for them to follow. They have to ________ hard every day. Soon they can dance very well. The man is very happy about that.

One day, the man dressed the monkeys up in beautiful clothes and masks (面具), and took them to a party. He wanted people to ________ his smart friends.

The dancing monkeys were welcome at the party. Nobody knew that they were monkeys, and people ________ them. The monkeys were very happy to have lots of delicious food there.

All of a sudden (突然), a child put some bananas in front of the dancing monkeys. The monkeys ________ everything then. All of them ran to the bananas and began to eat quickly. All the people at the party laughed. “They aren’t ________ at all”, cried one man. “They are ________ monkeys!”

Another man said, “What we see isn’t always true.”