1 . Long ago there lived a poor man named Naoko. He had a large wart(疣)in his_______Wherever Naoko went, people_______his wart. He became so shy that he would take walks only at night.

One night Naoko put on his only robe and went for a walk in the woods_______he was lost. At midnight Naoko_______a group of elves(精灵)gathering in a nearby clearing. Although Naoko was _______, he tiptoed to see what the strange beings would do.

The chief elf clapped his hands, and the elves began to_______, but there never seemed to be any less on the table. As quickly as the food was eaten,_______appeared in its place.

Naoko crept closer and closer to the enchanted party._______he lost his fear and stepped into the clearing. The elves welcomed him joyfully and treated him as a(n)_______guest.

When morning came, the chief said, “My friend, you must come again. I will take this as a pledge (抵押)to________your return.” With that,the chief elf picked the wart from Naoko’s forehead.

Naoko returned home and told his neighbors about his wonderful night with the elves. They all congratulated him on the________of his wart. However, one neighbor, Yukio, was jealous. He wanted to visit the elves and________in their food and fun. While Naoko was out, Yukio________into Naoko’s house, put on Naoko’s robe and slipped into the woods.

________happened the way Naoko had described. The chief elf________him and said, “We are so glad you returned. We will give you back your pledge.” With that, he put wart onto Yukio’s forehead.

2 . At around 3 p.m. on Monday, Erin Wilson stopped at a picnic area along Highway 299. She began walking her two-year-old sheepdog, Eva, along a path when a mountain lion _________ and attacked Wilson, who screamed — catching the _________ of her 2-year-old Belgian Malinois, Eva, who had been wandering ahead, immediately returned to _________ her owner. The mountain lion then _________ the 55-pound dog and bit onto the bodyguard’s head. Wilson _________ without success to fight off the lion with stones, so she ran up to the road, frantically trying to flag someone down.

Sharon Houston, who was driving by, saw Wilson and _________. After learning about the mountain lion attack, without _________ Houston jumped out of her car with her pepper spray (喷雾剂) and also grabbed a stick. The two women _________ to the scene in the forest, where the struggle was going on, with the mountain lion still _________ to let go of the dog. They both started hitting it and yelling __________ it finally set loose the bleeding dog.

Eva eventually __________. Houston pepper sprayed the mountain lion in the face, and it immediately turned away and __________. Eva was gravely injured, and Wilson __________ drove Eva to a vet (兽医). After spending several days there, the dog was __________. Now Eva, lying on her own bed with her favorite toys, is on the road to __________. “My dog is my hero and I owe her my life,” Wilson said.

4 . Five years ago, I was a trail ride leader at a holiday farm in Victoria. My favourite horse was a warmblooded called Holly, a chestnut mare. Aged seven, she was _________, sweet-natured 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, sunning 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 worried.

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 glided calmly off into the bush.

Holly then__________, leading the horses with caution and care. She had been alert to danger and had been __________for the safety of us all. Following in the footsteps or their lead mare, not one of the other horses showed any fear.

5 . Dogs are more faithful than other animals, so they are considered as man’s best friends. Recently a dog named Capitan has shown us why dogs are a symbol of _______ and friendship.

In 2005, Capitan was _______ by a man named Miguel Guzman in Argentina. Miguel got Capitan as a(n) _______ for his son Damian. In 2006, Miguel passed away, and _______, Capitan disappeared. They thought he was _______ or had been adopted by another family. _______, when Damian and his mother went to visit Miguel’s grave, they were _______ to see Capitan at the cemetery(公墓). They couldn’t believe it because they had _______ brought Capitan to the cemetery before. They didn’t know how he had _______ the grave, but the dog was there barking and ________. Damian’s mother said, “We went back the next Sunday, and he was there again. This time, he ________ us home and spent a few hours with us, but then went back to the cemetery before it got ________. It was probable that he didn’t want to leave Miguel on his own at night.”

Later, they tried to bring the dog home many times, but each time Capitan would ________ and return to the cemetery. For eleven years, he ________ there and was taken care of by the cemetery staff. In 2018, Capitan’s life came to an end. He was ________ buried next to his master he loved so much.

6 . One morning, I called our pregnant cat Socky to be fed, but she didn’t come. I thought she’d probably found somewhere to _________ her kittens (小猫) and would turn up later. But when Socky didn’t come at dinnertime, I really started to _________.

Socky had a _________ of having her kittens in strange places, so I _________ all her hiding-places but no Socky. The next day was Saturday and I had the _________ day to search for her. I rechecked under the house, but no luck.

After lunch I took some _________ with me in case I found her, and then began searching the back shed (棚), which was filled with _________ boxes. After about an hour of moving boxes from one place to another and back again, I was extremely _________. I sat down to have a rest when I heard _________ mewing. I pressed my __________ against each of the boxes to catch the sounds.

__________, I found Socky and her three newly-born kittens. As the boxes weren’t in __________ condition, I imagined that when Socky jumped into one of the bottom boxes, it must have caused the higher ones to fall, __________ her in.

Socky was very __________ to see me and although she was weak, she managed to eat the food I brought her. I named the three kittens. They were all healthy and __________ to be great mouse catchers just like their mother.

7 . Growing up in Scotland’s largest city, Eilidh Malcolm had never really considered a career in forestry. _______, she first choose for a life in rather damp surroundings. But after helping to establish Sea Life Loch Lomond, a career in the wood s soon came _______ the former aquarist (水产养殖者).

“I started to realize I was passionate about _______,   getting people outdoors and into the natural world, _______ for those who are living in urban areas,” the Glasgow native said.

Now based in and around her home city, Eilidh is _______ to working with those who have less opportunity to engage with nature. She said, “I think the last few years have really brought home for many people a _______ of the importance of getting outside for our health and wellbeing. You can see that people _______ it even more because of restrictions in recent years’ pandemic (流行病). That’s even more terrible in our cities, and we have to _______ that, no matter where you grow up, you have access to woodland and forests. We are lucky in Scotland that even in big cities there are green _______ close by for people to take advantage of. I love being able to bring people together and get them ________ about taking care of our forests in Scotland—it’s really energising.”

Working on the new Junior Forester Award has been a stand-out recent ________ for Eilidh. It gives children and young people some ________ into a career in forestry as well as the ________ ability to assist in woodland management in their schools and local communities.

She added, “The award is another way to ________ transferable skills in young people, and even if they don’t go into forestry as a career, they will always have knowledge about ________ the natural world.”