2 . Curtis retired from the police force, but he never stopped being a true hero.

He was sitting in a car in the Chick-Fil-A drive-thru (汽车餐厅). Suddenly, he saw ________pouring out of the truck in front of him. Without thinking twice, Curtis leapt from the ________ and ran to help.

Inside the restaurant, employees saw Curtis pull out the terrified ________ John, mere seconds before the truck exploded.

When Chick-Fil-A owner David ________ the restaurant’s security footage (录像), he saw the full extent of Curtis’ ________ actions. Not only did Curtis pull John from the truck, but he also helped direct ________ customers and staff members once firefighters arrived. Hoping to thank Curtis in person, David________ a call for help on social media to ________ the hero.

After Curtis was found, David ________ invited him to come to Chick-Fil-A for a meal with the driver he ________ . They all celebrated Curtis being in the right________ at the right time to save at least one life! John and his family are incredibly grateful that Curtis was so ________ to help, and Curtis said he was just pleased no one was ________.

“As far as he is safe, that’s all that ________,” said Curtis.

Once a first responder, always a first responder! Curtis still has those cop instincts (本能), and we’re glad he happened to be there to put them to good ________.

3 . In Favour of Simple Writing

Do you edit text messages carefully before sending them? If so, you may be the kind of person who takes pride in _______ even the simplest message. If you do not, you may see yourself as a go-getter, one who values excitement and speed over _______: get it done decently now rather than perfectly later.

People are constantly receiving messages, from the mailbox to the inbox to the text-message alert. What to read, what to skim (略读) and what to ignore are decisions that nearly everyone has to make dozens of times a day. A new book titled All Readers are Busy Nowadays makes the argument for being the careful kind of _______, even in informal lines. The authors also present well-established _______ that have long been prized in guides to writing.

Take “less is more”. Most books on writing well advocate the advice to _______ needless words. The authors, however, have _______ the idea. In an email to thousands of school-board members asking them to take a survey, cutting the count from127 to 49 words almost _______ the response rate.

Keeping messages to a _______ idea—or as few as absolutely needed—helps ensure that they will be read, remembered and acted on. _______ the number of the available options has the same effect, too. A link in an email, ________, attracted 50% more clicks when presented alone than when it was sent alongside a second additional link.

Syntax (句法) and ________ matter, too. It is more ________ to adopt short and active sentences, with common words familiar to everyone. From Facebook posts to online-travel reviews, even brief, informal pieces of writing that follow these rules get more likes and shares.

If everyone is a busy reader, everyone is a busy writer, too. That may make it tempting to sent as many messages as ________ as possible and hope for the best. But from essays to text messages organizing dinner plans, devoting time to the needs of readers has provable ________. If you are so busy that you write an undisciplined message which readers scan, ignore and delete, then you might as well have not ________ it at all.

4 . It was January 2016, and Jeremy and his girlfriend, Molei, were leaving Denver for a weekend of fun with friends on the slopes in Colorado.

The snow came earlier than they’d ________, but Jeremy wasn’t worried. He’d driven this ________ a thousand times, and he knew ________ what to do. “Take it easy. You’ll get there, and when you do, it’s going to be ________.” As the car began the twisting climb toward the resort town, Jeremy felt an overwhelming wave of excitement.

“Life was really great,” he says. Then, within a blink of an eye, everything ________.

A truck that came out of nowhere hit them. One minute, Jeremy’s Ford SUV was ________ quickly through the falling snow; the next, he was sitting in his crushed SUV by the side of the road, ________ his seat by the wheel, his body screaming with ________. To his right, he saw Molei. He could think only one thing to say: “Don’t die. I love you.”

Statistically, Molei should have died. Inside her neck, the vertebrae (脊椎) had basically been crushed. Her head was attached to her shoulders by ________ but skin and muscle.

Henry Rodriquez, an officer on holiday, was driving on the same road not far behind the Ford and ________ instantly when he saw the accident.

________ his wife calmed the trapped and terrified Jeremy, Rodriquez worked swiftly. One wrong move could have ________ Molei dead or paralyzed. Protecting her head and neck, he carefully removed her from the twisted car and ________ her on the road by the side of the car, covering her with coats to keep her warm.

For 45 minutes, Rodriquez ________ her chest to bring her heart back to life. Thanks to Rodriquez’s timely ________, Molei made it to Anthony Hospital and recovered gradually.

7 . A cure for the future in the past?

For over fifty years, the people of Britain have relied on the welfare state to make sure they have adequate health services. But now the National Health Service is sick. Government _____ and underfunding are forcing hospitals to close, and waiting lists for treatment are getting longer. Under such circumstances, it is no surprise that more people are turning to private (but expensive) healthcare.

For some, however, there are _____. They are turning their back on modern pills, tablets and resorting to other conventional medicine. It seems paradoxical, but in an age of microchips and high technology, traditional medicine, the old-fashioned cures that our grandparents relied on, is making a _____.

Consider these case studies:

Maude is 76 years old and has been suffering from arthritis for almost ten years. “The pain in my joints was almost _____, and my doctor referred me to a surgeon at the London Hospital. I was told that I needed _____, but would need to wait for at least two years before I could have the operation. In _____, I started having massage sessions. To my surprise, these were very therapeutic, and while they didn’t cure the disorder, they did _____ it to some extent”.

Ron is 46. His high-powered city job was _____ for a series of stress-related illnesses, and the drugs he took didn’t work well on the nervous strain. “I read about _____ which involve the whole person rather than the individual symptoms, but I had always doubted about such kind of medicine for all diseases. However, my friend _____ a dietician who told me that part of my problem was diet-related. Basically, the food I was eating was _____ to my disorder. She gave me a list of foods that would provide the right vitamins and minerals to keep me in good health. At the same time, she advocated a more _____ lifestyle-running, swimming, that kind of thing. I’ m a bit of a couch potato, and this kind of lifestyle I had lived was _____ the problem. Now I feel great!”

So is there still a place in our lives for modern medicine? While it is true that some infections and viruses may be _____ by turning to traditional medicine, more serious illnesses such as cancer need more extreme measures. We do need our health service at these times, and we shouldn’t stop _____ in its future. But we mustn’t forget that for some common illnesses, the cure may lie in the past.

8 . The very unusual series of events finished as Sondrup was heading home from an extended work shift. She had just completed her fourth continuous night shift, and _________ was coming over her. Little did she know that July 26, 2023, would become a day unforgettable in her _________.

While driving home, Sondrup _________ a truck had overturned on State Route 143 near Sky Harbour, with a man _________ inside. Despite her tiredness, she made an inspiration—of-the-moment decision to help.

“It’s _________, but there were so many reasons that led me to that fine moment,” recalled Sondrup. “_________, I wouldn’t have been there.”

Under what she described as a turn of fate (命运), Sondrup _________, joined by a couple of other individuals who happened to be passing by. With unquestionable timing, no other cars were on the road, allowing her to cross over safely and reach the _________ scene.

Sondrup courageously _________ under the truck to check the injured man. In an act of __________, she used a bystander’s belt as a makeshift tourniquet (止血带) to stop the bleeding. Months have passed since that fateful day, and on October 18, the Phoenix Fire Department __________ Sondrup for her life-saving actions.

“I really feel that my guiding __________ led me to that very moment,” she told Fox 10Phoenix. “I’m not without imperfections, but I believe that at that __________ moment, I received a guiding premonition (预感).”

The man Sondrup rescued recently reached out to express his __________ for the second chance at life. “I wish him nothing but the best,” Sondrup said. “I hope he experiences a new __________ and a future filled with success.”

9 . On a hot afternoon Rhiannon was driving her old van down the highway. As she ________ her window to let in some fresh air, her car registration paper blew off the sun visor (防晒板) and onto the floor inside. When leaning down to ________ it, she accidentally drifted into oncoming traffic. In panic, she over-corrected and pulled the ________ sharply in the other direction. ________, the van rolled over three times, and Rhiannon was thrown onto the road, lying in the middle of the road and bleeding, nearly ________.

A medical student witnessed the accident and came to her ________. He covered Rhiannon with his coat and gave her emergency first aid, including ________ the wound on her left arm before the ambulance arrived.

________, Rhiannon was rushed to a hospital where an emergency room doctor spent hours ________ all the pieces of windshield (挡风玻璃) from her arm, and gave her three dozen stitches (缝针).

Luckily, Rhiannon was saved. Not for the bandage, she would not have ________long enough for the emergency personnel to arrive. Though Rhiannon didn’t know him, she was grateful to the medical student who saved her life. So she ________ the words online, “It’s a pity that I don’t know your name. If you happen to see or hear this story and recognize yourself, thank you for your kind ________.”

Rhiannon also had a message for the other ________ heroes, “Please consider this a pay-it-forward letter of ________— a letter from the ________ you helped who, for whatever reason, couldn’t thank you themselves.”