1 . I love everything about animals. Today, I went out for a simple walk to my library, when I _______________a dog! The dog looked like a German Shepard, and I, being an animal _______________, approached it. I noticed it had a _______________, but no leash. I tried asking multiple people around the dog if it _______________them, but everyone said no. I felt so bad, and didn’t know what to do. She was so friendly and sweet that I felt _______________about just leaving her there.

Then, what do you know? She started _______________me! I couldn’t help but smile at that. I was the only one who showed any _______________in her, petting her, talking to her, walking with her. So, together, we walked towards the _______________. I finally got a chance to _______________the number on her collar, but no one picked up! I was so ________________about this animal, and I was determined to not just leave it ________________around. I planned to head to a pet store.

However, before I even got to a store, a car ________________up in front of me with a father and two kids. It turns out that she was their dog, and had gotten ________________when the little boy opening their fence! They were so relieved to find her, and ________________me non-stop. I was relieved too! The dog ________________jumped into the car and I said goodbye to her.

2 . My name is Maggie and I am a big red maple tree in the center of Central Park in New York. Every part of me is _________ shaped. I love seeing all the people _________, stare at me, and say “That tree is beautiful!” Those _________ make me feel special.

One day, I see a big storm _________ my way. I can hear all the frightening sounds nearing, but the most frightening one is the sound of almost half of my bark being torn off. I feel _________. What will people think when they walk up to a worn-down tree in the middle of Central Park? Will they cut me down? This _________ makes my branches ache.

Hours later, when the storm _________, a nice opossum family comes to me and asks _________ they can spend the night in one of my holes. The baby opossum is so cute that I can’t _________. Soon, round two of the storm comes. It __________ another part of my bark, but it doesn’t __________ me as much because I have a distraction: the opossum family. Other animals see my __________ act and come to me, too. Even though I feel great for __________ all the animals, I still haven’t completely forgotten about what people might think about my __________. Beyond all expectations, people love me even more for protecting all those animals from the terrible storm. This serves as a __________ to me that “beautiful” doesn’t always refer to looks.

5 . Snow had just melted off the ground that April day at our house in Regina Beach. My husband, Carl, had just cleaned up the pool in preparation for selling our _______. The year before, Carl had lost his job, and our economic situation was _______, so we had finally put our home on the _______. The thought of losing our beautiful home was almost more than I could bear.

Deep in despair(绝望), I sat _______ a job application letter for Carl. Out of the corner of my eye I could see our thirteen-month-old son, Forrest, playing near our two beloved dogs, Nana and Sasa. I hadn’t typed more than two sentences when Nana, began _______ violently at the pool and running back and forth.

I _______ to see what was happening. Suddenly, I realized Forrest was nowhere to be seen. Then to my _______, my eyes _______ Forrest’s yellow sleeper in the pool. Sasa was _______ doing her best to keep him afloat by holding on to his sleeper with her mouth. I realized that Forrest had somehow fallen into the ________.

In a split second, I dove in, lifted my precious baby out and carried him inside. But when I realized Forrest wasn’t breathing, I began to go into shock. ________, Carl, who was trained in CPR, arrived and then took over. I stood by with my heart in my ________, and after about three minutes, Forrest began to ________ again.

Things in our lives are much better now. Most importantly, almost losing Forrest —and then ________ — erased any despair I might have had about losing our home.

A house can always be replaced, but knowing we have each other is the greatest ________ of all.

6 . When it came to weather, I was always complaining about wind or rain. Although it was _________ unusual for the arrival of wind or rain, it caused _________ for me to go out, and sometimes it even created an awful atmosphere, so I _________ it strongly.

On a rainy day, I met a meteorologist（气象学家）, who was very _________ at my great anger caused by rain that made a little inconvenience for me. He asked, “Have you ever seen typhoon? Do you know what would happen to the world if there were no typhoon?” I _________ my head.

“Well, let me tell you,” the meteorologist said. “Without it the _________ of freshwater will be more serious, for it is a great source of water supply on the earth. Without it, there would be a greater _________ in the distribution（分布）of warmth. The equatorial （赤道的）area that receives the most sunshine on the earth _________ on typhoon to disperse（驱散）heat. Without typhoon, the tropics would be even hotter, while the frigid zones much _________. As a result, the temperate（温带的）zones would __________ from the world.”

Ignorance made me __________. I disliked wind only because it ruffled（吹乱）my hair. I hated rain only because I had to carry an umbrella. But I had no idea at that typhoon—something a thousand times more violent and disturbing than wind or rain—was a __________ to the existence of mankind.

It __________ to my mind that hard as it is for people to guard against typhoon, it is advisable for a man to stop to think for a moment before he complains. “What if typhoon disappeared altogether? What would the world become then?” The __________ will keep him calm and lead him closer to the truth—he will be better __________ of the world he lives in.

7 . 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 Eva. 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.