1 . I finally climbed into bed at 1: 20 in the morning. My friends had helped me celebrate my 31st birthday in the basement apartment, where I lived.

Earlier in the day I had prepared for the unlikely event of a flood. We are about a third of a mile from the banks of the Ahr River. It had been raining buckets that week and the government had sent out a flood warning, though not for where I was. Still, I’d placed sandbags on the floor outside my garden door and put electronics on tables. “Silly bro!” My friends laughed at me for doing that, but I thought, why take a chance?

As I drifted off to sleep, I was awakened by the sound of rushing water, as if I were lying beside a waterfall. When I got off the bed, I was shocked that cold water was rising fast. In darkness, I grabbed my cellphone and turned on the flashlight. When I stepped out of the bedroom, I saw water shooting through the gaps of the door.

I began to panic. I knew I had to get out—fast! In bare feet, I started to make my way to the only escape: the door that led upstairs to the main floor. Finally I made it to the door and tried several times to-pull it open even just a little bit, but the rushing water shut it again. I looked around for anything I could use to keep it open. There in the corner was a coat rack (架子). I took it and, once again, opened the door, throwing the coat rack between the door and the frame (门框) to keep the door from shutting. Finally, I managed to make a gap just wide enough to squeeze (挤) through and make it into the hallway.

I leaped on to the stairs and ran outside. I stood there in the darkness, wet through. What was once a lovely street was now a waterscape, with floating ruins instead of people and cars. The river had drowned (淹没) the neighborhood!

2 . I’m retired and not responsible for much these days. My wife’s work, on the other hand, is never-ending. Diana takes care of her parents in their mid-nineties,_________home and garden, volunteers for various community organizations. She is also a devoted cat lover, and cats have always been her___________of choice.

All that___________when two small black-and-brown dogs rushed into our yard and___________Diana’s heart. They were homeless dogs. In their___________for survival, the two had figured out a way to___________people and find food and shelter in the wilderness. Diana made an intended effort not to frighten them. She called them to dinner with a___________voice, letting them know they were safe. At first, they would not let her___________them. As days turned into weeks, their bond (关系) slowly grew.___________, she had them sitting in her lap and following her around the yard. My wife was instantly changed from cat lady to dog lady.

It wasn’t long before the dogs were considering their role as “watchdogs”. Their once-wild____________transformed into loyalty and devotion towards us. Their energy and enthusiasm are infectious (有感染力的),____________us to appreciate the simple pleasures in life. Their____________has put a sense of liveliness into our home. As we____________this chapter of our lives with our dog “friends”, I am grateful for the ____________joy they have brought us and the ____________they continue to teach us about the importance of kindness and unconditional love.

3 . Science fiction novels often turn into a nightmare (噩梦) halfway through—and for blue-collar workers who are at the bottom level of the labor force, there’s a doubt about the way the robot revolution story will end. By 2035, one in three jobs could be automated (自动化) by robots, predicts PwC, a business company.

“Robotics is traditionally applied to problems that fall into the categories ‘dirty,’ ‘dull,’ and ‘dangerous,’” says Jonathan Aitken, a robotics expert at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. “Automation of a repeated process is always achievable. The lack of variability means that the process is the same, time after time. This is the reason that robots fell naturally into automotive production.” It’s been the case since the first robots appeared on production lines.

But it’s not just blue-collar jobs that are feeling the difficult situation from the rise of the robots. White-collar roles are also affected, particularly those focused on data sorting, a task well-suited for artificial intelligence. Financial services is one area that has turned to automated robots carrying out trades. When a computer can pick stocks better and quicker than a human, it makes sense to make use of them, and almost all Wall Street firms do

Jobs where workers are less likely to be replaced by robots include those in health care, although surgical (外科手术的) robots, which are controlled by remote health-care professionals in order to carry out more precise procedures, are already being used in hospitals. However, the gentle touch and caring comfort of a well-trained nurse or doctor can’t be copied by a robot automation.

“It’s important to ask the question of whether we want robots doing certain jobs,” says Aitken. “In replacing a human, especially in a human-facing role, we’re being asked to accept the robot. This is something that’ll take time to achieve. People still like people.”