I was eating breakfast at home in Hampshire in March this year, scrolling through social media on my phone, when a story caught my eye. It was about a nine-year-old dog, Charlie, dubbed (称为) the loneliest in Britain. He had been in a rescue centre in Somerset for more than 500 days.

For some reason, nobody wanted to adopt him. I clicked on the link and straight away these huge, sad eyes stared back at me. I was emotional. I turned to my husband, Sam, and said: "We’ve got to have him.” He read the article over my shoulder and felt exactly the same way. We wanted to give Charlie a happy home and a new lease of life.

Over the past few years we have tried to adopt a few different dogs, but we haven’ had any luck — we were never top of the list. Sam and I got used to filling in forms and not hearing anything. We’d almost given up hope.

But Charlie is an older dog and we felt we’d be suited — even older dogs have a lot of love left to offer. So we took our time with the application, sent photographs of our house and garden. We explained why Charlie would be happy with us, and then forgot all about it.

A few days later we received an email from Brent Knoll animal centre, saying we’d been shortlisted. We were thrilled. They asked us to visit Charlie to be interviewed and to see if he liked us.

When we arrived we were taken to the staff room. We didn’t know what to expect. We hadn’t been told much about Charlie’s circumstances, but as he had been given up for adoption and hadn’t been placed with a new owner for so long, we thought there might be issues. But the dog that bounded (蹦跳) in was full of joy and charisma.

He came straight over to us.

We feel proud that we’ve given Charlie a new home and a second chance.

FOR SOME, putting up Christmas lights is yet another holiday activity. But in the Pascucci household, it was always a big day of celebration and it was a family affair. Every year on the day after Thanksgiving, Anthony Pascucci and his older sister, Connie Pascucci, would visit local stores to check out new decorations. Anthony’s son, Anthony Jr., and daughter, Sara, shared the home, and helped with the decoration every year.

In 2020, as in every year, Anthony Sr. Strung(悬挂) colorful lights all around their roof until it looked as if sparkles(火花) were dripping(滴). The whole house twinkled with lights, and gifts were piled under the tree.

Anthony Sr., 60, had outdone himself, as if the brightness of the lights could counter(抵消) some of the darkness of the past year with COVID-19. On Christmas Eve, everyone was looking forward to enjoying another Christmas together as a family.

Then Connie got a call: Someone she worked with had tested positive. Though Connie didn’t have any symptoms, she decided to get tested right away. Her rapid test came back positive.

Anthony Sr., Anthony Jr., and Sara decided they should all get tested too. When their results came back, they all learned that they also had COVID-19. Sadly, everyone agreed their Christmas celebration would have to be canceled.

Right after the new year, Anthony Sr. started having trouble breathing and was admitted to the hospital. Five days later, Connie began feeling weak and wouldn’t eat. She died before getting to the hospital. Less than a week later, Anthony Sr. passed away.

It was the worst of Sara’s life. She felt as if she was in a fog. Grief left her doubled over in pain. Every day she went back after a long day, the twinkling Christmas lights brought her a spark of joy. “It made us happy to see them,” she says. “I couldn’t bring myself to put them away.” Taking the lights down felt like a final act of closure(结束), but she and her brother weren’t ready to take. So they just kept them up.

One day in February, Sara received an annoying envelope in the mail.

Days later she found her inbox quickly filled with messages showing support as well as criticizing the mean mail.

After twenty years of marriage, Melissas lost her husband, who was a brave soldier and passed away while defending his country.

They had a son, Mathew, who was 18 years old and very considerate. In his spare time, instead of paying, he worked at a local shop so he could help his mother reduce the financial burden.

When Mathew got his first pay cheque from the part-time job, he bought Melissa a beautiful dress and flowers. During the next few months, he often bought something to make his mother smile because he knew she still hadn’t recovered from the death of her lover.

As Christmas neared, Matthew’s friends began planning what to do during the holiday. Soon, they decided to go to a party, but Matthew refused to go with them. He didn’t want Melissa to feel lonely at home on Christmas. For him and Melissa, the day was special and significant, not only because it was their traditional holiday, but also because it was Melissa’s birthday.

“I’ll stay at home with my mother,” he told his friends, “We rarely get to spend time together because she’s mostly on her flights when I’m home.” But later that day, Matthew learned his mother wouldn’t be home on Christmas. “Mom? Why are you working on the big day?” he asked. The airline company Melissa worked for was quite short of attendants recently because many were sick. Besides, there was sharp increase in flights due to the holiday. So Melissa decided to continue working on Christmas to support her company and help serve passengers.

Melissa said, “I’m sorry, Matthew. You’ll have to spend the holiday alone.” She felt sorry that she could not enjoy the holiday with Matthew. Matthew was also upset. But before going to bed that night, Mathew got an idea to stay with his mother on Christmas. He would surprise her on the plane where she worked.

“I can still spend Christmas with her,” he thought. And he turned on his computer to check if the light his mother would be on still had seat left. “Yes! It still has seats!” he yelled.

Immediately, he booked himself a ticket for Christmas.

Later, while passing by Matthew’s seat, Melissa yelled, “Matthew? Is that you?”

In a coastal village named Seaford, lived a courageous young woman named Amelia. Amelia was known throughout Seaford for her adventurous nature. From the moment she could walk, she would eagerly run towards the crashing waves, feeling the sand between her toes and the cool spray of the ocean mist on her face. She was a woman with a strong will and possessed a heart full of kindness. Amelia’s love for the ocean was intense, and she spent most of her days exploring the beautiful beaches and sparkling waters that surrounded her house.

One sunny morning, while Amelia was walking along the shore, she noticed a group of restless seagulls abnormally circling above the crashing waves. Their unusual calls echoed (回) through the air. Concerned for their well-being, she followed their flight pattern, her instincts guiding her toward danger.

As she approached a towering cliff, Amelia gasped in horror. On a narrow ledge (岩架), high above the violent waves, was a young dolphin trapped in a thick fishing net. Its shiny body shone under the golden rays of the sun, but its freedom was cruelly limited by the trap. With each struggle, the net tightened around its delicate body, leaving painful marks on its skin. Its tail flapped helplessly, each movement a request for help, while its desperate cries for assistance echoed through the air.

A sense of urgency filled her, pushing her forward with determination and resolve. Realizing that time was tight, Amelia knew she had to act instantly to free this innocent creature from its difficult position before it submitted to exhaustion or the force of the tides.

Alexis Langlois, who manages a large farm, heard her neighbor crazily knocking on her front door on a Monday afternoon.

“There’s an emergency”, Amber Countryman yelled. “The horses are stuck in the water.” Langlois was struck with “absolute panic”. She threw on her winter boots — without socks — and rushed toward the small pond on the 80-acre property. She was surprised by what she saw: four horses were in the water up to their necks in 10 feet of ice water.

She immediately called 911.While waiting for help to arrive, “people just started showing up,” she said. “Neighbors were pouring in. People came with ropes, chainsaws, shovels and pick axes.”

“I grabbed a bunch of supplies,” said Countryman, whose two teenagers and their friend also as sited with the effort.

“It was-8℃that day,” she said, adding that she brought out handwarmers and water for the helpers.

Everyone was determined to get the horses out of the pond — which is about 15feetwide.

Beneath a six-inch layer of ice, the water was “just barely above freezing”, said Chris Yerkes, the South Kalispell Fire Department chief who rushed to the pond with about a dozen volunteer personnel.

When the firefighters arrived, neighbors had already attempted to pave a path through the ice toward the edge of the pond using pick axes, sledgehammers and shovels, and “we continued with that effort.” Yerkes said. Unfortunately, “as we got closer to the edge, we realized there was about three to four inches of mud.”

The thick layer of mud — which the rescuers couldn’t cut through — blocked the horses from climbing out. Firefighters enlisted additional support from Flathead County Animal Control, as well as staff from local equestrian organization Rebecca Farm.

“There had to have been at least 60 people here,” Langlois said. “It was very swift action on everybody’s part.”

It took nearly two hours to find a workable solution that could bring all four horses to safety.

To get the horses out, they used a powerful tractor (拖拉机) to get the animals out of the mud and ropes to pull them over the edge.