1 . A month ago, my friend Nick and I experienced a(n) _______ event. It was the evening of the fourth day on our hitchhiking(搭便车) trip to Morocco. We were stuck on the side of a main road in the cold _______ . It was nearly dark. To our disappointment, there wasn’t a single bit of grass where we could put up our tent.

Finally, we reached a small town after _______ for about an hour and a half. We found a bar where we thought we might be able to _______   ourselves first. Then we would _______ where we are going. We each bought a coffee, but the barman, Jose, brought over some bread _______ . Full of thankfulness for his generosity, we explained to him what we were doing. He showed much interest in our journey.

Then, we asked Jose if we could _______ on his floor. We were very worried he would refuse. _______ , he said yes! Thinking he lived upstairs, we waited for him to lock us in _______ he could be sure we didn’t steal anything. To our surprise, he gave us the keys! He showed us how the door worked, said goodnight and was off.

We all stood in ________ . In only a few hours we had gone from standing in the cold rain to owning a ________ bar. All the fridges were ________ and there was a fair amount of money on the sideboard. We were amazed at how much he ________ us. Then it was a good night’s sleep. The next morning, he ________ and we let him into his own bar. ________ , he gave us a free meal, and then we were on our way.

2 . I was coming back home late at night in a “Sharing” minivan. In Hyderabad, India, it is a cheap and quick means of transport. The van drivers ply (揽客) as many as 13 people at times in a vehicle which is designed for the transport of 8 people. Our van was ________ as well. People were getting off and on at many places.

On the journey, one girl signaled the driver to ________. While getting down, she tripped and

_____. None of us noticed it, as it was ________. The driver was waiting for her to pay. It was

_____ that we saw the girl was on her knees by the side of the road. Another passenger and I got

_____ and held her up.

Even in pain, the girl held up a note and asked us to ________ the driver. The other passenger took the note and paid the driver. My stop was a few hundred meters away. I decided to stay with her till she was ________. I paid the driver for myself and he took off with other passengers.

I neither knew ________ nor did I know what to do, ________ I was there, saying some comforting words to a stranger in ________. I asked her to stand still for a few minutes. We then looked for a place for her to sit. From out of nowhere, her friend joined us.

We made her sit in a nearby lawn and her friend rushed to get a(n) ________. In the meantime, she examined her leg and her ankle had swollen up (肿胀). It looked like a minor sprain (较小的扭伤). Once her friend came back, they took the taxi and rushed to a ________. Before they left, the girl thanked me and said they could ________ as it was only a minor sprain.

I do not know if I did enough. But I feel I gave some ________ to her in a small way.

Two years ago, my husband bought me a bicycle. If you live in a town, it is often faster than a car and you don’t have to _______ about parking. You can _______ it anywhere. As it has a seat at the back and a basket at the front, I can take my small daughter to school, to the library, shopping, _______ in fact.

I use it most in summer when the weather is warm and dry. It can be very unpleasant in winter when it is cold and the rain is _______ down. It can also be very _______. You must, of course, be careful on a bicycle. Accidents are not the only problem, though. One day I went shopping and came back to _______ my front wheel missing. It was a long _______ to bicycle shop! Now I have three strong locks.

My husband uses my bicycle sometimes for short journeys. He says it is better than waiting for a bus. He still uses his _______ for longer journeys, but I think that all this sitting down is making him ______ and lazy. On my bicycle I get a lot of __________ and fresh air, and this makes me feel a lot younger.