1 . It was 1:20 a. m. I had just gone to bed, a bit _________ after celebrating my 31st birthday. Before dinner, I’d placed _________ outside my garden door and prepared the cell phone just _________. After all, it had been _________ that week, resulting in flood warnings.

I was awakened by the _________ of rushing water. When I swung my legs off the bed, I was shocked to feel cold water already up to my knees and _________ fast.

Shaking in darkness, I _________ my phone and turned on its flashlight. Then by the light I could _________ water was from the garden door. It must have breached (在……上) the sandbags. The river, usually such a quiet, slow moving river in my region, had _________ burst its banks. And now I had to __________!

I took __________ action. Any effects of the alcohol before sleep were gone;__________ sobers (使清醒) one up. After I went outside, I learned the river had flooded the neighbourhood. Therefore, if I had woken up just a few minutes later, I would have drowned.

In the end, I think the experience made me __________ and determined to live each day to its fullest. I came very close to drowning that day. But rather than dwell on (沉湎于)what happened, I prefer to __________ what my mother told me afterwards, “Don’t remember the day when you lost everything. Remember the day you __________. That day marked the beginning of a new chapter in your life.”

2 . Libby the cat lives at the Ashville Free Library in Ashville, NY. She is 19 years old and has brought _________ to library readers for many years.

_________, the older she gets, the more it costs to keep her healthy. “This year alone, we’ve spent nearly $900 on vet(兽医) bills for her _________ for an ear infection and a cold. For a small library with a very stressful economic condition, this is _________,” a spokesperson for the library said. “Libby is getting older, slower, and a little weaker, but we _________ to give her the best care we can. However, that care comes _________,” the library wrote on fundraiser (募捐会).

As of Friday morning, more than $2,900 had been raised—_________ reaching the $1,500 goal.

“The explosion(爆发) of _________ for our dear Libby has been so heartwarming,” Director Kristina Benson said. “We’ve had people coming in who’ve never visited our library, _________ stories of cats that were important to them, and how Libby’s story in the paper __________ their hearts.”

Libby has recently been __________ from a cold. “Libby is __________ so much better and she appreciates everyone’s visits and well wishes!” Benson wrote on GoFundMe. “Thanks to the community, we have __________ money to make sure her good care going forward, as well as paying her old bills. We love our kitty and we love our library—and your __________ support has been a great __________ that you all feel the same. THANK YOU!!”

4 . My community and state are still recovering from the disaster that hit the area recently. A wall of storms with hurricane force winds _____ late on a Friday evening knocking down trees, _____ roads, damaging homes, and destroying power lines. Hundreds of thousands of people suddenly _____themselves in the dark without water, electricity, air conditioning, telephones, internet, and television. They were _____ from the modern world suffering unbearable 90 degree plus heat with no help and no idea _____ it would be over.

The most _____ thing happened, however, as the reality of the crisis sank in: it brought out the best in us. While there were a few acts of _____ and stealing, they were overwhelmed (压倒) by the wave of _____ and compassion that came from the hearts of so many. People shared their food, ice, and gasoline. People who still had _____ opened their homes to those who had none. People rushed out to _____roads and homes of fallen trees. Selfless power crews worked around the clock to repair the damage and _____ electricity.

Life’s disasters strike all of us from time to time. No one is _____. We all get hurt. We all get _____. How we respond to them, though, is up to us. We can let them bring out the worst in us or we can let them bring out the best in us. We can _____ them like devils of selfishness or like angels of love. May you always bring the best from your heart and soul to whatever life may _____ at you then. May you live all of your days here with so much love that you sing and smile.

5 . Five years ago, I was a trail ride leader at a holiday farm in Victoria. My favourite horse was a warmblood, called Holly. Aged seven, she was _________ , sweet-nature d and well-trained; the only _________ with Holly was her vivid imagination. I was constantly surprised by Holly’s ability to be _________ by rabbits, the wind or even shadows — sometimes her own shadow!

One day, as we headed back from a ride on the beach, Holly and I were _________ the way over the hilly area. When we got to one particularly long, steep hill, Holly began to twitch (抽动) her ears and step in place. So, when she _________ to sniff (嗅) and give all the _________ that she believed the ‘horse-eating monsters’ were close, I became a little worried.

At the bottom of the hill as we rounded a corner, Holly _________ with caution, and so I followed her gaze to the path ahead. There, sunny itself in the middle of the track, was a brown _________. This time it was my _________ to get scared; I was on a nervous horse, leading a group of eight inexperienced pre-teen riders. Unexpectedly, Holly was firmly__________, ears forward. With the snake in her sight, she was no longer frightened.

I have heard that horses have a better sense of __________ than dogs. I hadn’t seen it __________ before that moment. __________ , while we waited in reality for just a second or two but for what felt like a century—the snake awoke and moved calmly off into the bush.

Holly then __________ , leading the horses with caution and care. She had been alert (警觉的) to danger and had been __________ for the safety of us all. Following in the footstep of their lead horse, not one of the other horses showed any fear.

6 . Adam found a baby squirrel (松鼠) in his yard. He decided to ________ him in and named him Joey. In just a few months, he ________ a family member.

“He’d let anybody ________ him,” says Adam, “Right up until the kid broke in.”

That was the day Adam came home to obvious signs of a(n) ________. Strange, snowy footprints tracked around the ________. His safe was scratched up (刮擦). A few items of value were ________. He alerted the police about the break in, and officer Ashley came to the house to make a ________.

“Joey had run in the bedroom...and kind of ________ her,” says Adam.

Ashley asked if Joey bites. “Not usually,” Adam explained, “but he is, after all, a ________ animal. You never know.”

Hours later, Ashley returned with a remarkable story: She’d ________ a suspect, based in part on the cuts all over his hands.

“She asked him, ‘Did you get that from a ________ ?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, it kept ________ me and wouldn’t stop until I left.’” says Adam.

“The attack scared him, obviously, because he wasn’t ________ to have a squirrel come flying out of nowhere at him,” says Ashley. “So basically he said he took what he could and ________ as fast as he could.”

Adam’s family got their stuff back, and Joey got his favorite ________: nuts.

8 . Ariel Cordova-Rojas rode her bike to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, New York, planning to go hiking and bird-watching. A mile into her walk, she __________ a female mute swan near the water’s edge. Cordova-Rojas, who had been __________ at the Wild Bird Fund rehabilitation (康复) center in Manhattan, knew that mute swans can be aggressive (富于攻击性的). But as she__________ this one, it didn’t move.

She was certain that the bird needed medical attention. Cordova-Rojas covered her jacket over the bird’s head to keep it calm, __________ picked it up, and held it in her arms. And then a thought __________ her: What do I do now?

Her best bet was the rehab center. __________, that was across the East River on the other side of town. How was she going to __________ a 17-pound swan on her bike all that way? Luckily, some strangers driving by __________ her, her bike, and the swan a lift to a nearby subway station.

On the subway, no one seemed particularly annoyed by the feathered passenger. They were busy with their own things. Cordova-Rojas called the rehab center on the way, and Tristan Higginbotham, an animal-care manager, picked her up at the subway station and drove bird, bike, and __________ to the facility. There, staff members __________ that the swan might have lead poisoning (铅中毒), caused by swallowing (吞下) weights used on fishing lines.

The staff got the swan back up on her webbed feet. She even made a boyfriend at the center—another injured swan. Sadly, even with all that care, the swan __________ a bacterial infection. Two months after Cordova-Rojas came to her rescue, she __________.

It’s a __________ ending, but the real story is just __________ some people are willing to go to save a swan in the big city—literally. “In all, Cordova-Rojas traveled two hours by foot, car, and subway,” says Higginbotham, “That’s the perfect __________ of who she is.”

10 . Elephants have a good memory and they can recall the smell of a relative even after a decade apart.

When Franziska Horner and her team _______ planned reunions (团聚) between two mother-daughter pairs at zoos in Germany, they took advantage of the chance to test the elephants’ _______. One pair had been _______ for two years, _______ the other had spent 12 years apart.

Franziska _______ faecal (排泄物的) samples from these African elephants and others at German zoos, carrying the smelly 10-to-15-kilogram faeces around in her tiny car. Her team _______ these samples one at a time to the four elephants _______ their reunions.

When they encountered faeces from _______ elephants, either those in the same zoo or unfamiliar animals, they sniffed (闻) the faeces piles and walked away. But when presented with a _______ from the mother or daughter they were due to be reunited with, the female elephants ________ sniffed the samples and showed a variety of ________ , from making deep sounds to swinging their ears.

Such reactions may be linked to positive emotions, the researchers say. “That was amazing and intense,” says Franziska. “We were sure they did ________ , and they knew exactly what they were ________ there. The sample size was small, but it would be ________ to do similar tests on elephants that weren’t being reunited. ”

“I am not surprised that elephants have memories, especially in social contexts, that ________ a long time,” says another scientist.