1 . Bruno went into the kitchen and got the biggest surprise of his life. He could barely believe his eyes. “Shmuel!” he said. “What are you doing here in my kitchen?”

Shmuel looked up and his terrified face _________ a broad smile on seeing his friend. “Bruno!” he said. “They asked me to polish the glasses. They said they needed someone with tiny _________.”

He held his hand out and Bruno noticed that it was like the hand of the pretend skeleton. In reply, Bruno held his own hand out, which appeared _________ and full of life. The veins (血管) weren’t visible through the skin, the fingers weren’t little more than dying twigs (细枝). Shmuel’s hand, however, told a very _________ story.

“Shmuel! Here!” said Bruno, stepping forward and putting some slices of chicken in his friend’s hand. “Just eat them.” The boy stared at the food in his hand for a moment and then looked up at Bruno with wide and _________ but terrified eyes. He threw a _________ in the direction of the door and then thrust all the slices into his mouth in one go.

“Thank you, Bruno.” said Shmuel, giving a faint smile.

Bruno smiled back and was about to offer him more food, but just at that moment Lieutenant Kotler reappeared. Bruno stared at him, feeling the _________ grow heavy, sensing Shmuel’s shoulders sinking down.

_________ Bruno, Lieutenant Kotler marched over to Shmuel and glared at him. Shmuel looked up at Lieutenant Kotler, who frowned, leaning forward slightly as he examined the boy’s face. “You have been eating,” said Lieutenant Kotler. “Did you _________ something from that fridge?” Shmuel looked toward Bruno, his eyes pleading for __________.

“Answer me!” shouted Lieutenant Kotler.

“No, sir. He gave it to me,” said Shmuel, tears welling up in his eyes. “He’s my friend,” he added.

“Do you know this boy, Bruno?” he asked in a loud voice.

Bruno’s mouth __________ and he tried to say the word “yes”, but then he realized that he couldn’t because he was feeling just as __________ himself.

“Tell me, Bruno!” shouted Kotler, his face growing red. “I won’t ask you a third time.”

“I’ve __________ seen him before in my life,” said Bruno immediately, “I don’t know him.”

Hearing that, Shmuel wasn’t crying any more, merely staring at the floor and looking as if he was trying to __________ his soul not to live inside his tiny body any more, but to __________ away and sail to the door and rise up into the sky, gliding through the clouds until it was far away.

3 . People are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Purchasing property that is environmentally responsible is a good investment for those who are _______ their own health and the well-being of the earth. Based on this trend, eco-communities are being designed with a green _______ in mind. Dockside Green in Victoria, British Columbia is one of them.

If everything goes according to plan, Dockside Green will be a _______ community along the harbor front of British Columbia’s capital city. The community will be home to 2,500 people and will _______ residential, office, and retail space. Builders of Dockside Green have the environment in mind with every choice they make. They ensure proper ventilation (通风), and guarantee residents 100% fresh indoor air. Building materials, such as paints and wood, are _______ and non-poisonous. Eco-conscious builders use bamboo wherever possible because it grows fast and does not require _______ to grow.

Energy efficiency is one of the _______ concerns in eco-communities, such as Dockside Green. Not only do energy-efficient appliances and light fixtures (照明设备) reduce the environmental _______ of heating and hot water, but they also save residents and business owners money. Dockside Green claims that homeowners will use 55% less energy than average residents in Canada. Residents will have individual water metres (水表) _______ studies show that people use around 20% less energy when they are billed for exactly what they use. ________, water is treated at Dockside Green and reused for flushing toilets.

Planners of eco-communities such as Dockside Green must take the ________ into consideration. Dockside Green plans on reusing 90% of its construction waste. They also plan to continue using local suppliers for all of their transport and maintenance needs. This is a great way to reduce ________.

Dockside residents will be encouraged to take advantage of a mini transport system and buy into the community’s car share program. Finally, plans are underway for a high-tech heating system that will use ________ energy instead of fossil fuels.

Dockside residents will ________ excellent local services with high-quality healthcare, shopping and education at the heart of the community, along with excellent leisure facilities and plentiful green open spaces. Eco-communities will prefer the use of locally-sourced goods and services; they will be ________ places to live, promoting a sense of civic pride, responsibility and, as the name suggests, community.

4 . Rising sea levels and the potential impacts to huge coastal populations worldwide rank near the top of concerns when it comes to consequences of a worsening climate emergency. But a lesser-known danger poses an equal or arguably more urgent threat to millions around the world living at much higher altitudes: flooding from glacial lakes.

With average temperatures rising around the world in recent decades, a number of these lakes high above population centers in South America and Asia have become swollen and unstable as the reserves of snow and ice that feed them melt ever quicker.

For the first time, an international team of researchers has quantified this threat. It reports that 15 million people are in the path of potential floods from these swollen bodies of water. “Understanding which areas face the greatest danger from glacial flooding will allow for more targeted and effective risk management actions, which in turn will help minimize loss of life and damage to infrastructure downstream,” said co-author Rachel Carr, head of physical geography at Newcastle University.

In 1941, a glacial (冰川) lake outburst flood, or GLOF, from Lake Palcacocha killed thousands in the town of Huaraz below and largely inspired the beginning of research into the phenomenon. Dams and other infrastructure were put in place to relieve the threat from the lake in the 1970s, but its volume is now over 30 times greater, requiring new improvements to safely drain and release water pressure.

Lead researcher Caroline Taylor says the researchers also found that understanding the danger requires more than just counting lakes and measuring their volume. “Instead, it is the number of people, their distance to a glacial lake and importantly, their ability to cope with a flood that determines the potential danger from a GLOF event.”

In recent years, a warning system was set up at Lake Palcacocha that could give residents of Huaraz enough time to get out of the way of an incoming flood. Meanwhile, other threatened villages with no such alert system continue to rely on hope and luck.

It was the closing time of the mall. But there was still an hour’s work to get everything cleaned up. It would be 11:00 pm after I finally got home.

I hadn’t even had time to have dinner. I was starving. My feet ached. My whole body, from head to foot, was filled with tiredness. I couldn’t wait to crawl into bed. I had to get up at 5:00 am the next day.

Things had been tight for over a year. My husband Paul’s business had taken a huge hit. Without me taking my second job, there wouldn’t be enough money at the end of the month to pay the bills, let alone buy any Christmas presents for our 15­year­old daughter, Marie. No one wanted to wake up on Christmas morning with a bare tree.

Even so, I wondered how I could possibly handle everything — I worked full­time at a day care, then I worked nights at the mall, and somehow I did my homework for my college class, too. Not to mention what it was doing to my family.

I barely even saw Paul and my daughter anymore. Marie was growing up, but a teenage girl still needed her mom. I worried about her, about us. Was she eating enough? Keeping up with her school work?

I wasn’t afraid of hard work or sacrifice (牺牲). Everyone had to dig deeper these days and put in extra hours. I knew I was blessed to have two jobs when millions of people couldn’t find one. How I hoped to quit my job at the day care and complete a degree full­time. I’d dropped one class for a semester (学期). If I quit that, there was no way I’d find the willpower to try again.

Besides, wasn’t I always telling Marie to keep hoping, keep working and never give up? What kind of example was I setting for my daughter? Suddenly, someone was banging hard at the back door of the mall. Then I went to the door and cautiously cracked it open...It was Marie. She had just finished babysitting.

Last summer when my family had a road trip to Montana, we arrived in Great Falls late one night. The kids had fallen asleep in the car, so my husband went and checked in while I stayed with the kids. When he returned with the room keys, we woke up our children and took them out of the car, through the hotel, up the elevators and into our guest room. We kept the room dark, leaving only the entry light on, and quickly put the kids into bed hoping they’d drift back into sleep.

My husband went to put our waters in the mini-fridge only to notice some beers. “That’s strange,” he said and I agreed, but having discovered left-behind drinks in hotel fridges in the past I didn’t think much about it. I figured the housekeepers had forgotten to check it. In the meantime, my husband ran to the store and I went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. As I washed my face, I looked down to see cardboard beer containers in the trash. I felt my heart begin to pound. We were in someone else’s room!

Now panicked, I checked the closet. Nothing. I then went to the dresser drawers. Nothing. My eyes scanned the door room’s floor and there it was: A black bag that looked like one of ours. But it wasn’t!

I immediately called the front desk and the waitress in charge responded with an “Oh,my God! This is not good!”

By now the kids were wide-awake, jumping on the beds as I was trying to put all of our things back into our oversized suitcase. Just while we were packing our things, I heard someone unlocking the door, which made my heart beating wildly.

The door opened and in came a young man.

I didn’t know how to deal with the matter but luckily the waitress arrived out of breath.

After watching my son Todd run in a race, I made my usual comment, “Todd, I can walk faster than those women run.” Todd laughed as he knew I wasn’t a runner. “Mom, how about you running with me next year in this race?” Without thinking, I quickly accepted this challenge. I felt this was going to be a piece of cake!

When it was almost time for the race to occur the next year, Todd had been in hospital for a long time because of a car accident. Todd and my friends started to encourage me to run the race. I decided I should keep my promise to Todd and run the race. The first thing I did was go out and buy some running clothes. I might as well look good even though I hadn’t trained at all.

The day of the race came. I wished Todd could be there with me, but I had to start off alone. It wasn’t long before some racers started to run next to me and talk to me. I wouldn’t like to talk because I wanted to focus on my running. However, one guy was very talkative. He kept saying how tired he was, and that I must be tired too. He talked on and on. The race was over and this guy’s wife won! I didn’t mind this result. I was just happy to finish the race and keep my promise to Todd.

Todd asked about the race when I went to the hospital. I told him what had happened and how this guy would not stop his negative talk. Todd laughed and set me straight, “Don’t you know what this guy was doing? He thought you were the competitor by the way you were dressed. He wanted his wife to win.” Only then did I figure out the truth, so I decided to continue taking part in the race the next year; I wanted to win this time.

The following year I did train. I even bought some tapes called “Win at Sports” and listened to them daily. These tapes gave ideas about staying behind and knowing when to make your move.

When it was time for the race, I was all dressed and ready.       

I stayed behind this guy’s wife in almost the whole race.