1 . My family always had some sort of animal around, but none of them were truly mine. My parents didn’t permit me to _________ my own until I was seven years old. Finally, I was _________ to have my own _________, a fish called George. I said it was my responsibility to _________ it.

Every Friday I would clean out his bowl. I found myself _________ invitations to go somewhere immediately after school, because I would have to feed my fish first. Every day he would remind me that I was _________ and that I had someone depending on me.

One day, I came home from school and headed to my room to _________George. I found a _________ thing had happened. I _________ my bag and ran over to the bowl. I saw my best friend George floating around lifeless.

My mom walked into my room. I turned around as tears started to well in my eyes. “Mommy, George d…d…died.” With that __________ word I started crying uncontrollably. My mom came to my side as I hid my face in my pillows.

Suddenly, I realized that George hadn’t just __________ me. He had taught me what __________ meant. I learned it through feeding him and cleaning his bowl. This made me feel __________ . To my seven-year-old self, this was a great __________ . Slowly, a smile crossed my face. George was gone.__________ , the lessons he taught me would forever be carved into my memory.

2 . “You can get a kitten,” I promised my daughter Cali after her father and I divorced (离婚). After _________ in our new apartment, we headed to North Bay Animal Services.

One orange-and-white kitten drew Cali’s _________.

“_________, we’ve got two of those,” said the attendant. “They are _________, Caramel and Butter.”

“Can we take them both?” Cali _________.

“We have to follow the _________ of our new apartment,” I said. “Only one cat, remember?”

“I know,” Cali _________.

We brought Caramel home. Caramel seemed _________ without his twin and Cali cried for it. Two weeks later we drove back to the _________, hoping our landlord wouldn’t realize there were two of them because they looked __________.

However, we were told Butter was __________ four days ago.

Two years later I had a new boyfriend Brain. The first time I went to his home, I saw a flash of orange and white. Caramel? I thought, __________.

“That’s my daughter’s cat Butter,” Brian said.

After comparing the adoption papers, I __________ Butter was Caramel’s twin!

“They might not __________ each other after two years,” Brian said. But when brought together, Caramel and Butter nuzzled (依偎) each other with __________.

Today Caramel and his brother are inseparable. As are Brian and I, and our daughters after our marriage.

3 . “When one door closes,” the saying goes, “another door opens.” For one _______ dog, it appears that saying is also suitable for doggy doors.

A dog named Sheldon took part in a program to _______ a service dog. Unluckily, he couldn’t quite make the _______. Whenever he would _______ something interesting, Sheldon’s concentration flew out of the window and all he wanted to do was _______ the source.

But the very thing that made him a failure as a service dog meant he was likely _______ for another dog job. Sheldon was sent to the State Farm Arson Dog Program, where his sensitive (灵敏的) nose soon put him _______ the class for detecting the accelerants (探测肋燃剂) used to light illegal fires.

_______ John Tadlock of the Saginaw fire department, after his _______ Sheldon went on to become the department’s best accelerant detection dog.

In his first ________, Sheldon and his partner Tadlock were called to a car shop to look into some cars that had been ________ under suspicious (可疑的) circumstances. After three days, no one had been able to figure out how the fire got started — but the cause wasn’t ________ to Sheldon. “I put him to ________. It took him about 30 seconds to give me an alert (警报),” Tadlock said. Sheldon found the evidence with no ________.

For a dog with a super sense of smell, we guess whether you’re tailing bad guys or hunting for a job, it’s always best to follow your ________.

4 . A hero sheep dog became the guiding light of hope for three trapped sheep as it swam across dangerous flooded fields to _________ them to safety.

Llyr Derwydd, a 44-year-old farmer coming from the area of Ruthin, _________ himself in a dangerous situation on a Friday afternoon. While _________ his sheep in Flints hire as usual, he realized a sad fact — three sheep were helplessly trapped on a small piece of land within the field, cut off by the _________ .

Considering the dangerous conditions that the flood caused, the _________ required a special hero. In this serious moment, _________ that hero was none other than the quick-thinking sheep dog, Patsy.

Mr. Derwydd talked about the sad experience, stating, “We realized we needed to act _________to ensure the safety of the trapped sheep. The piece of land they were on was _________ very fast, and the great danger was increasing.”

In order to rescue the sheep, he made a _________. With a sense of urgency (紧急) in the air, he wondered whether Patsy, his clever sheep dog, would deal with the problem. A silent __________was made, and Patsy, with strong determination, took a brave try.

It was a moment filled with __________ , as the true depth of the water remained unknown. Yet, Patsy’s born swimming __________ and strong determination pushed her forward. Without hesitation (犹豫), she braved the dangerous waters to __________ the trapped sheep.

Mr. Derwydd shared his __________ , saying, “I knew she was a good swimmer, or I wouldn’t take the __________. However, I was quite surprised by her courage and skill.”

5 . I stared out the window,_______ the snow. Damn holidays. . . I thought as I saw the people outside caroling(唱颂歌)outside. Can’t I just be left alone!I got up from my bed and, in _______, made for the kitchen.

I made myself dinner, which wasn’t anything_______. I wasn’t the best cook so I just made myself a stir fry and_______ it a day... That was until I heard the noise. Did someone throw ice at my window? Maybe a thief? I _______ the katana(武士刀)and walked down stairs. I searched the entire house until I found a puppy, so cute and_______. I couldn’t help but _______ at this creature. I decided to keep it and named it Arthur. His eyes were blue like a husky dog. Maybe a mixed breed? I thought as I washed Arthur up and dried him with a_______. Then I spent all night_________with my new friend. It was the first ________of joy I felt during the holidays in years. For the next week, Arthur and I spent the holidays watching romance movies on Netflix, sleeping, or ________ our mouths with the food in the house. It was probably the happiest I’ve been in months. Arthur really made an impact on my life that I never thought was ________.

Arthur stayed by my side a majority of the time. My friend called him ‘mama’s boy’ or something silly like that. I didn’t________ it, though. Every year on Christmas day, I thanked God for giving me the ________. And I ________ felt blessed with My Arthur. My little boy.

6 . 82-year-old Willie Ortiz, an old solider, has a special love for cats. It started in 1995, when he _______ a hungry stray cat begging for food. While people were ignoring and driving the cat away, Ortiz instantly _______ that it needed help.

He started feeding the cat, which led him to a shocking _______ that there were several colonies of stray cats throughout Hartford in need of food and proper _______ . Since then, Ortiz has devoted his life to looking after stray cats. He would do it regardless of the weather; the only _______ was when it was snowing so much. Though not everyone understood his _______ , people’s negative feedback did not stop him from doing what he wanted.

However, the _______ of the cats’ medical care increased as he collected more cats. To continue his _______ , he has led something of a _______ life: by day he collects scrap metal to fund his continuing evening activity to help homeless cats. His friend Kathleen Schlentz set up a GoFundMe for Ortiz’s cats to help the kind veteran and to ________ his noble work.

“I have never met a more ________ person; Ortiz unknowingly ________ me in so many ways. I feel ________ to know a person like him. Knowing him has made my life better,” wrote Schlentz.

Willie Ortiz ________ that though he has a big and happy family, his life became even more ________ when he started feeding stray cats. While his calling is difficult, this is his life, and it brings him joy.

7 . Our dog Bree is a Staffy cross. She ________ more like a cat than a dog. Unlike other dogs, she will very happily eat up her dinner ________ what is being offered. She does not hang around us waiting for pieces to fall her way.

That is, of course, unless I am making toast (烤面包) for my breakfast. She always makes her way to the ________ and sits very straight and tall at my feet as though to say “Look at what a good girl I am!” as soon as she catches a ________ of bread toasting. I ________ her, broke off a little bit of crust (面包皮) and fed it to her before ________ some spread to my toast. This became our “thing” — if I was having toast she’d join me for breakfast. She seemed ________ and I didn’t think a little crust would ________ her. Unfortunately, the day came when I fed her a piece of toast with a generous ________ of butter and jam. Clearly, she thought it was ________ as she now turns her ________ up at dry crusts and will only eat toast topped with a tasty spread.

This incident ________ me of a smart Chinese proverb: It is ________ to pass from a poor life to a rich one, but difficult to go back in the other direction. When it comes to ________ children, we should watch out for this. ________, they might be spoiled (宠坏) easily.

8 . Flooding was fairly usual for a Queensland summer. This time, however, there had been a lot of rain and flash flooding further north which _________ ran down to the river.

My younger brother was getting _________ and thought we should evacuate. We spent hours trying to _________ him down. The water had never gotten to less than 1 to 2 meters away from our street level. After a few more _________, the water levels were getting much higher than we’d seen before and we thought it best if we moved our cars to the higher _________ just in case it got to the street level. Later, we _________ a lot of furniture and electronics upstairs.

Finally, we decided to _________. The water was getting close to the street level, which only meant another foot from _________ our bottom floor. We left to spend the _________ with my cousin who lived in a neighborhood close by. We heard that the water had __________ further, but had no idea how far as it was dark and we couldn’t see anything from our cousin’s house.

The __________ moment was when we finally got to see our house. There is a high school behind our house, which __________ at the base of this large hill, with an elevated sports oval (高架椭圆形体育场) right behind our house. The water at its __________ was about 2 inches from being level with the oval. We __________ it to survey our house. Seeing water lapping (轻拍) at the windows of our bedroom on the second floor of our house was the most unbelievable __________ I had ever seen.

9 . In 1978, Avril and Christopher Rowlands paid £6 for a fir (冷杉), brought it to their new home in the pretty village of Inkberry. After ________ their first Christmas together, they planted the tree in their front garden to ________ their first Christmas in their new home. It has ________ grown over the years and nowadays, it ________ over their four-bedroom property—measuring about 50 feet. Each December the couple decorate their giant fir with thousands of fairy lights which they switch on for the ________ .

The tree is so ________ that a cherry picker is used to reach the top branches and add the star to the top. The lighted tree is one of the brightest landmarks (标志性建筑) in Inkberrow, which is one of UK’s darkest villages ________ there being no street lights.

Avril and Christopher’s fir now attracts thousands of people who ________ their tree every December. As a retired TV writer, Avril said, “We love doing the Christmas lights. The ________can be seen from miles around on nights and people ________ to see it. It’s become something of a (an) ________ for people in the village and beyond. It even ________ me to write a children’s book about the tree called The Laxford House Christmas Tree.“ The couple ask for people who admire the tree to make a ________ and over the years they have raised thousands of pounds for charity.

“The tree is really ________,” said the retired BBC editor Christopher. “During COVID, it was lit, like a beaco (灯塔) of ________.”

10 . My parents have a boxer dog called Boris which is as badly behaved as his name might suggest. He is known to ________ on a chair at the kitchen table expecting full ________. Whenever the dishwasher is being stacked, he likes to add a personal prewash to the ________.

Even my mother might ________ that Boris is the worst-behaved dog she has ever had, but on the plus side, he is very ________.

The sofas and chairs in their sitting room are covered in books-not because my parents love to read, but in an attempt to ________ the dog climbing on the furniture. ________, any human who wants to sit on a sofa has to ________ a library of books. I’ve suggested a removable cover would be more attractive, or training, but it’s too late for that.

The story between my parents and Boris is repeated across our community. Usually, our gang of dogs gathered almost daily, ________ did we. A group of folks of different ages, backgrounds and interests—all ________ by our dogs. Friends are therefore made through dogs, creating a ________ that lasts far beyond the lifespan of our canine(犬的)family. Sunny, Jess and Archie have all ________ now, but the friendship between us humans remains.

I have met so many people whose daily ________ with their group of dog have been their mainstay and helped them deal with ________. They are medicine for the_________. Dogs are actually man’s best friends.