1 . On a cold winter day, Don took his dogs, Milo and Duke, out for their usual morning walk at Bark Park. But this peaceful walk was interrupted by Mike, an anxious dog owner who was missing his best friend. His small gray dog, Jackson, had gotten lost somewhere in the park- and he'd already been gone for quite some time. Small dogs don't do very well in cold weather. Knowing that there was no time to waste, Don and his own dogs immediately started searching the park. Unfortunately, Jackson was nowhere to be found.

If Don hadn't had his own dogs with him, Jackson might never have been found in time. Don was about to give up on the search and was already heading back to his car. But as Don and his dogs were crossing the bridge, Milo suddenly noticed something in the water. Thinking that his dog had seen a duck or something else, Don tried to pull on the leash, but Milo wouldn't listen. Duke joined in, and the two dogs insisted that something was going on.

Don looked out across the bridge and saw a small, gray shape struggling in the icy river. The reality of the situation clicked, and Don immediately began running down to the water's edge. Don called 911, but he knew that help wouldn't arrive in time. Without even sparing a thought for himself, the brave man jumped into the water and moved straight towards the terrified dog. Jackson was trapped in ice and barely holding himself above water. Don used his arms to break the ice and quickly pulled the dog into his arms. The two swam out of the water and back onto dry land. Mike was waiting for Jackson and rushed him straight to a nearby vet clinic. It's reported that Jackson didn't suffer any harm from the incident and is as cheerful as ever.

2 . A song called Lonely Warrior (《孤勇者》) is always ringing in my ears. Six years ago, after hosting an annual ceremony for my school, I found that my left leg was a little swollen, and very soon I could barely walk. In fact, the swollen part became a fist-sized meatball that was so painful that I could barely sleep. Of course, I went to a local hospital, where I was given very bleak (不乐观的) news-osteosarcoma, which means bone cancer.

I underwent chemotherapy (化疗) for the next two years, and it was the worst time of my life. Physically, I felt that the side effects of chemotherapy were killing me. I lost all of the hair on my body and I became totally bald. I could barely eat anything, even if felt hungry. I no longer needed an alarm clock to wake up in the morning. Instead, what woke me was my body telling me that I needed to vomit (呕吐).

I had no idea where all this treatment would leave me, and the dreams I had once nursed about the future were entirely wiped out. I wanted to feel the world and experience more, so I stuck to the course of treatment. As time went by, however, I became weaker and weaker. The side effects now were far worse than they had been earlier.

I eventually suggested that the leg be chopped off, and the doctor said that might be the best thing to do, as long as I could cope with the psychological and social pressures afterward. I made my decision very calmly, because I knew things could not be worse than they were at that moment, and I was determined that this was just one more battle I would win.

Now, six years later, I have weathered all these difficulties. I have been so lucky to be able to find the strength to deal with all of this, and what I have to tell anyone still struggling with difficulties is this: have faith in yourself, and do not let bad moments drag you down. Just hang on and you will come through.

3 . I found a wonderful picture of Maolan karst cones online and presented it to the innkeeper. “You can’t go there,” the innkeeper ______ me. “The viewing platform has been closed due to ______ that too many visitors could cause geological damage.”

Despite our disappointment, we ______ an alternative: a seven-hour hike through the “funnel forest”. Initially, we were ______ to run the risk. However, I had ______ the tourism motto in the nature reserve: “If you don’t do it now, you won’t do it in your lifetime.” Three of our group ______ decided to venture into the forest. The innkeeper responded with a knowing ______ : “Great. Bear Grylls went there.”

The next morning, we set off with a local ______ . Rain came and went three times, and before I actually ______ to climb over the first mountain, I had already got wet to the skin. I was a walking ______ of mud and water.

Our guide, in his 50s, behaved like a botanist, introducing the locally specific plants to us, but I was hardly in the ______ . Every step sank into the muddy, sucking ground. Every log or rock in front of us was a physical ______ . “One can never reach those places without strong willpower,” I murmured, reciting that millennium-old ______ , over and over again.

Sinkholes and entrances to underground rivers kept popping up along our ______ . Thinking of them leading to an unknown world, I began to ______ the road that I can control even more.

Wandering in a green chaos without any obvious landmarks is also breathtaking.

4 . It began in November 2016,when Hinton, then 17, got a text message from an ________number inviting him to Thanks giving. When he asked who it was, the person responded:“Your grandma.”

“Grandma? Can I have your________?” the teenager replied. He received a photo of a woman he had never seen before. It was Dench, now 64.

Hinton wrote back,“You’re not my grandma,”________a laughing face. Still playing along, he jokingly asked:“Can I still get a________though?”

Dench replied:“Of course you can. That’s what grandmas do. Feed everyone.”Hinton soon realized her________invitation had turned ________, and he decided to take Dench up on her   ________. He went to her home in Mesa, Ariz., about a 25-minute drive from his house south of Phoenix, for a Thanks giving meal with her family,including her actual grandson, whom she________intended to text instead of Hinton.

Every year since then, the two friends and their families have gathered together for an annual Thanksgiving meal, and this year will be no________,despite the virus. Hinton, who shares regular________on social media about his Internet-famous friendship with Dench,________that the Thanksgiving tradition will ________this year, as well.

Although Dench was________about the misdirected text in 2016 at first, she said, both she and Hinton feel very________that it happened.“Family is more than________ ,” Dench said.“It’s the people you want to be with.”

5 . Dilys Price is not a typical 85-year-old grandmother. She might look like a _________ teacher from Cardiff — which, technically, is exactly what she is — but she’s also made a (an) _________ of jumping out of planes.

Known throughout Wales as “Daredevil Dilys”, the _________ woman made her first parachute jump at the age of 54. She has now completed more than 1,139 jumps for _________. _________, Dilys was afraid of heights before her first jump, but 30 years later, she _________ the Guinness World Record as the Oldest Female Solo Sky Diver, and she has _________ tens of thousands of pounds for charity.

Dilys has _________ her life to helping young people with disabilities. In 1996, she _________ The Touch Trust from her kitchen in Cardiff, and it soon ____________ into a renowned centre for “touch therapy (疗法)” for people with disabilities. With her new ____________, they help more than 1 , 000 adults and children every week.

She ____________ from running the charity in 2015 — but she’s still helping to fundraise its work through her parachute ____________.

Dilys says, “I’ve had a lovely ____________! I’m extremely stubborn and I won’t give up in what I believe in. Life should be fun, be ____________ and have a purpose.”

8 . Wang Yaping’s dream of becoming an astronaut was inspired by Yang Liwei’s 2003 space flight, which was China’s first manned space mission.

Born in a small village in Yantai, Shandong Province in 1980, Wang had been an enthusiastic long-distance runner since primary school, and competed in local sports meetings.

In 1997, Wang, a high school student, was encouraged to register for the pilot recruitment program by her classmates because she was good at sports and didn’t wear glasses. The 17-year-old had been considering applying to a teaching college, as her parents suggested.

Given her strong build and ability to stay calm under pressure, Wang passed all tests as well as physical examinations and became a female pilot in China. After four years of systemic education and tough training, Wang eventually learned to fly four different types of aircraft before graduation.

During her service as a military pilot, she accumulated 1,567 hours of flight time and was involved in major tasks such as the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake relief effort and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

In May 2010, Wang became a member of China’s first batch of female astronauts. The joy of being selected did not last long as the hard training quickly sank in.

In the first year, Wang could not get the top level in the high-G training, during which she had to endure eight times the force of gravity in a spinning centrifuge. The training imitates the environment when the spacecraft takes off, enters orbit and returns. Wang improved her performance by doing extra core-strength exercises every day to strengthen her back and abdominal muscles. She got the top level at the end of 2011. Wang realized her space dream in 2013 as part of the Shenzhou-10 mission.

Over the past two years, Wang has logged in over 6,000 hours of strict training. The most tiring exercise was the seven-hour underwater training session during which she had to wear a special suit that weighed over 100 kilograms to simulate extravehicular activities in a weightless environment.

Wang has become the first female taikonaut to work in China’s Tiangong space station as well as the first Chinese woman to perform a spacewalk.