1 . A farmer owned an old mule (骡子). One day the mule _______ into the farmer’s well (井)unluckily. The farmer heard the mule crying. He tried every possible way to save the mule, but _______.

After carefully thinking about the situation, the farmer decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth greater efforts. _______, he called his neighbors together, told them what had happened, and asked them to help carry dirt to _______ the old mule in the _______ and put him out of his disaster.

At first, the old mule was mad! But as the farmer and the neighbors _______ shoveling (铲土)and the dirt hit his back, an idea _______ to him. Every time a shovelful of _______ landed on his back, he would shake it off and step up!

This he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up… shake it off and step up… shake it off and step up!” He repeated to _______ himself. No matter how painful the blows, or how ________ the situation seemed, the old mule overcame his fear and just kept right on shaking it off and stepping up!

It wasn’t long ________ the old mule, tired out, stepped successfully over the wall of that well! What seemed to have destroyed him actually ________ him…all because of the way ________ which he dealt with his adversity (逆境).

That’s life! We should ________ our problems and respond to them ________, and refuse to give in to fear, bitterness, or self-pity.

2 . A group of dolphins (海豚) just came together to save an 11-year-old dog named Turbo.

Cindy Burnett, Turbo's owner, _______ that she was out when her dog wandered outside and _______ a wall separating his home from a canal in Marco Island, Florida. She was _______ when she got home and discovered he was missing, and she immediately went out _______ him.

It turned out that Turbo had been _______ in the canal as the wall he had fallen off was too _______ for him to climb over. After 15 long hours of paddling (划水), Turbo had become _______ and it became _______ he would not be able to stay above water much longer. That's when some dolphins stepped up to save him.

When the dolphins _______ that Turbo was drowning (溺水), they started swimming around him making as much ________ as they could. ________ , a neighbor heard them and looked outside to see Turbo stuck in the water.

“In fact, they made so much noise that some people who lived ________ happened to hear them and went to find out why they were being so loud,” reported Snackay. “Then they ________ the dog trapped (被卡住) below the wall in the canal water.”

Firefighters ________ to the scene and got Turbo out of the ________ . The dog had a few cuts, ________ he was otherwise totally fine. He was immediately returned to Cindy, who was just grateful that her dog was ________ .

Dolphins have long been known to be highly ________ creatures who know how to solve complex problems. They also have self-awareness, which is a ________ of higher intelligence. Thank goodness these dolphins were in the area at the time to ________ Turbo!