1 . One evening, a man was injured in an accident and rushed to a hospital. Already in shock, he was found with multiple injuries, _________ a critical head injury. Immediate _________ was needed to stop the life-threatening situation.

At 9:00 pm, the operation started and was supposed to be _________ in about two hours. When the doctors were about to sew up the patient’s head at about 10:30 pm, a (n) _________ thing happened.

The nurse watching the monitor sensed the _________ first and called out, “An earthquake.” Yet, the doctors were too _________ to notice the situation. After the nurse _________, the doctors finally lifted their heads and noticed the danger.

Everything in the operation room was _________. Yet, if the operation was stopped and the patient’s head was left _________ , his life would be endangered.

“Calm down! Calm down!” the medical staff __________ each other. At the same time, after__________ all related equipment, they decided to continue. However, it was getting worse as the operation proceeded, and the nurses had to hold the operation table tightly to __________ it. By virtue of the team’s __________ and excellent professional skills, they completed the high-risk operation __________ before a worse condition may happen. The patient recovered well later.

Many people are __________ by the great love and selflessness of the angels in white and show thumbs-up for them.

2 . Firefighters were called to the scene when fire broke out inside Crystal Lamirande’s apartment. While they worked to ______ the flame, Crystal tearfully told firefighter Andrew Klein that her 10-year-old dog, Nalu, was ______ inside the home.

Firefighters are devoted to saving lives, and Nalu’s life was no less ______ to him than Crystal’s. He _____shouldered his pack and headed inside the building, moving on his hands and knees through the ______ home quickly to search for the ______ Eventually he saw the dog, but she was ______.

Andrew said Nalu, was “totally lifeless” when he ______ her. He carried her outside to fresh air, then began life-saving ______ he acquired during his training.

For the next 20 minutes, kneeling down, Andrew performed mouth-to-snout resuscitation (复苏) on Nalu. Crystal sat near Andrew, ______ and afraid, as he tried to bring her four-legged companion back to life. Soon other firefighters ______ them, silently hoping for a positive_____.

After seemingly endless minutes, Nalu ______! Andrew comforted the dog as she ______ came back to life. The animal was ______, but otherwise unharmed. Nalu was taken to a vet (兽医) and placed inside an oxygen tent for about 24 hours. When she left ______, she was back to her normal. If Andrew hadn’t ______ so quickly and used his ______ so perfectly, what would have happened?

Nalu made a complete ______ , all thanks to this extremely kind firefighter! No matter whether Andrew ______ people or animals, he clearly puts life in the highest place.

3 . Walking by Mr. Groll’s yard is the worst part of our morning walk—the unfriendly shape nearby that shades us: Mr. Groll.

“Hello, Mr. Groll.” I _________ him as I do every morning. And he never answers me. But I know he’s there, watching, behind his fence. Why does he _________ me? It’s a mystery (迷). Maybe he’s afraid of me because I’m blind. _________ scare grown-ups sometimes. Then I _________ hearing him playing with my friend Jimmy, who’s in a wheelchair. Maybe Mr. Groll does not like Vietnamese _________. No. Every Saturday Mr. Groll and my big brother, Lien, help each other with yard work.

Me and Chó! An idea _________ my mystery. Maybe I do know why Mr. Groll doesn’t talk to me! So, I attach Chó to a post, and I _________ my way along the fence.

“Mai! Be _________!” Mr. Groll’s loud voice steadies my _________ while his hand steadies my elbow (肘部).

“You solve my mystery. It isn’t because I’m blind that you don’t like me. Or because I am a Vietnamese.” I ________. “It’s Chó who scares.”

He __________ his large voice. “I like you, Mai. And Chó, too. But up close, Chó scares my ________ away,” he says.

I tell him, “Your fear of Chó may be big, but __________ is bigger. We will help. Come with me.” I hear a smile in Mr. Groll’s voice. “OK,” he says, “I __________ you, my friend.”

Then I take Mr. Groll’s hand in mine and guide it to Chó’s head. __________, Mr. Groll pets Chó’s ears. Friendly Chó—good Chó—swings her tail. Our new friendship begins.

4 . Perhaps no issue attracts more senior leadership attention than growth does, and for good reason._______in gains and profits is the standard by which we tend to measure the competitive fitness and health of companies. Analysts, investors, and boards are especially concerned about growth_______to get insight into stock prices. _______are attracted to faster-growing companies because they offer better opportunities for advancement and higher pay. Suppliers prefer faster-growing customers because working with them improves their own growth prospects.

While sustained profitable growth is a nearly universal goal, it is a(n) _______one for many companies. Many researches conducted on the long-term patterms of growth in U.S.corporations suggest that when inflation is_______, most companies barely grow. _______in an analysis of 10,897 publicly held U.S.companies from 1976 to 2019, researchers found that firms in the top quartile grew at an inflation-adjusted average of 11.8% per year, but those in the lower three quartiles experienced little or no growth (0.3%, 0.03%, and 0.5%, respectively). And the majority of firms in the top quartile were unable to _______ superior growth performance for more than a few years.

Over the past two decades, I have tried to understand why some companies are effective at sustaining growth. I have found that while the usual explanations, such as market forces and technological changes do play a role, many companies’ growth problems are done by themselves. _______, firms approach growth in a highly reactive, opportunistic manner. When market demand is booming, they throw resources at developing new capacity, and build out organizational infrastructure without thinking through the _______— for example, whether their operating systems and processes can scale, how rapid growth might affect corporate culture and what would happen if demand slows. In the process of chasing growth, companies can easily destroy the things that made them __________in the first place, such as their capacity for innovation, their great customer service, or their unique cultures.

5 . Methane (甲烷) is a greenhouse gas. Over 20 years it has over 80 times the planet-cooking power of carbon dioxide, and is _________ for nearly 45%of warming today. Because methane is the main _________ of natural gas, much of man-made emissions comes from the energy industry. Yet because it is short-lived, controlling methane offers the world its best possible chance for _________ progress against climate change.

As COP28, the UN’s climate summit, gets _________ in Dubai, it is greatly encouraging, therefore, that the chances of such a deal on methane are good. Negotiators must _________ at a rare opportunity to strike one.

The reason a deal looks possible is that the politics are promising in all the biggest markets. China has recently announced that it will start including methane in its national climate plans. America will soon finalize regulations to _________ methane emissions from its huge oil and gas sector, including measures that cover leaky pipelines and storage. And the European Union has also agreed on tough methane standards, covering both domestic sources and _________ fossil fuels.

_________ are helping, too. A range of new technologies for monitoring methane will help _________ large sources of emissions from the energy industry. Because oil and gas firms can often sell methane (rather than wastefully burning or releasing it), many investment s to avoid __________ will pay for themselves. Most firms do not invest because of the trouble, higher returns on other projects, or wells’ distance from consumers. Whatever the reason, they suffer no __________ for adding needlessly to global warming.

Since green-washing, the process of conveying a false impression about how some products or measures are environmentally sound, is quite common, if a global methane deal is to be more than that, __________, it will need rigour (缜密). Methane-control seemed to __________ at the UN climate summit in Glasgow two years ago, when negotiators __________ came up with a proposal to cut emissions by 30% by 2030．Yet the deal was voluntary, and had no enforcement mechanisms (机制); emissions have since __________. An agreement this time round must link promises to national climate plans and, crucially, to domestic enforcement mechanisms.