1 . It was the first night of a tiring seven-day 250km race across the Gobi Desert a year ago. Mr. Leonard___________a little dog going around his camp trying to ___________herself.

“Cute, but I’m not giving you any,” Leonard thought. Like all ___________, he had packed just enough for the whole ___________. He’d been running competitively for three years, and he had a___________ to win.

The next day, at the starting line, the dog ___________ him again. He waved her away, worried that she might be stepped on by the runners. ___________, the dog followed him all the way until the day’s race ___________. That night the dog snuggled (偎依) up to Leonard and even___________ to get a little food from him. By then, he was determined to name her Gobi.

The pair went on to finish the seven-day race, with Gobi____________ a distance of 125km on her own, and winning Leonard over, enough for him to make a____________ — he would take her home to Edinburgh. “Seeing Gobi on the race ____________my attitude to things. It made me think more about stopping and helping her, rather than just focusing on winning, ” said Leonard, who finished second. “It also made my running more enjoyable , giving me a lot of pleasure.”

As Leonard was preparing to get Gobi home, she was missing. With a group of 20 local volunteers coming to his ____________ , he finally found her. After that, Leonard never let Gobi out of his____________. Now Gobi’s favorite activity is still running, and she__________ does at least 8km a day with Leonard up the hills.

5 . Last summer, we went to Hawaii for holiday. During my week-long trip with my husband, we spent most of our time _______during the day in the sea, and then enjoying walks along the beach in the evenings.

We didn’t take any _______because we had enough. We had visited the island many times _______. On our way to the _______we joked that other than our sun-burnt skin, we had no way to show that we had _______there!

As we stood in line at the check-in, we noticed the _______who had been on our plane the week before. _______, they all had tear-filled eyes this day. On the plane, we sat directly behind them: a mother and her four children without Dad’s attendance. We learned that the father had been _______in a jet-skiing accident that week, and his wife and children had to _______make their way home without him.

We watched the children become unworried while they were playing cards. But the mother stared at her knees, ________to believe her husband’s death. We could ________feel her pain as we realized that this could have happened to any of us. While we were laughing and playing in the water, this poor family had been ________the sufferings. The vacation they had dreamed about had ________the terrible dream they would never forget.

I suddenly ________that we had no pictures for this vacation together. I closed my eyes, hoping that my mind had recorded all the wonderful moments that I had ________with my husband that week. What a trip!

6 . There was a man playing the piano in a bar. He was a good piano player and always performed in this bar. People came in just to hear him play. But one night, a customer told him that he didn't want to hear him just play the piano any more. He wanted him to sing a song.

The man said, "I don't sing." But the customer was persistent(执着的). He told the bar manager, "I'm tired of listening to the piano. I want that man to sing!" The manager shouted across the room, "If you want to get paid, sing a song. Our customers are asking you to sing!" So he did. He sang a song. A piano player who had never sung in public did so for the first time. And everyone was surprised by his song Mona Lisa. He got lots of applause that night. He had such a talent for singing, but he just had been sitting on his talent for the past years! If without such a chance, he may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar. However, now he has become one of the best-known singers in America.

You, too, have skills and abilities. Maybe your "talent" is not as great as the singer above, but it may be better than you think! And with effort, most skills can be improved. So, in your life, you should be brave enough to try doing different things and find out what talents you really have!

7 . As a first-aid responder, you never know what type of situation you might walk into, or who you’ll meet along the way. That’s definitely been the case for Jeffrey Lanenberg, a 51-year-old first-aid responder since 1984.

Ten years into the job, Jeffrey received a call that reported that a man in his early 30s had fallen down in the Mall of America. When Jeffrey and his partner arrived at the scene, they found the young male face down on the ground. He had gone unconscious, making weak attempts to breathe. His wife stood beside him holding their small son in horror. They quickly rushed to calm the man to keep him under control and offer necessary first aid. After Jeffrey dropped the patient off at the neighboring hospital, he thought about the man and his family for a long time.

Jeffrey thought he had experienced everything under the sun until one random visit to Office Max three years ago, where he met a man repeatedly walk back and forth while staring at him. As it turned out, the man was the patient he had saved 20 years earlier.

“You gave me 20 years more than I ever thought I’d have,” the man said. He thanked Jeffrey repeatedly and told him he had someone he wanted him to meet. He stepped around the corner and reappeared with a 20-something-year-old man. Jeffrey instantly knew that it was the son he had seen standing by his mother all those years ago.

“That day changed my life,” Jeffrey said. “Before that, everything was about work…When I talk to my beginner-training class, I tell them you never know the impact you can have on someone’s life.”

Jack wanted to find a job in the summer vacation after graduation from high school, so every morning he read the    1    (classify) ads in the newspaper. He scanned even the smallest ad. One morning his patience paid    2    when he noticed an ad which said: “An executive wants a boy     3     (assist) in his office. He should at least be a high school graduate.”

Jack cut the ad     4    quickly took a bath. He put on a clean suit,    5    (brush) his short hair neatly, and proceeded to the office. When he reached there, the office was filled with young people. He felt he had a very slim chance. Very soon the office became empty and Jack found     6    (he) being interviewed by the executive. Finally, he was told to report at eight o'clock the    7    (follow) morning, which meant he got the job.

After Jack left, the manager asked the executive, “What made you select that boy who didn’t have a    8    (recommend)?” “That is where you are mistaken,” explained the executive. “Before entering the office, he wiped his feet and closed the door    9    (quiet). It shows he is careful and gentlemanly. I noticed that he stood up instantly and offered his seat to    10    old man who entered the office. It shows he is kind and considerate. And we had a good talk. This is the boy I need.

9 . You just can’t imagine what a brave mother is like. She was a mother of three, who just _______ an earthquake, couldn’t tell if her children were _______ for help. Or what if you knew you couldn’t yell at her for help because she couldn’t _______ you? That was what happened to Connie and her three children _______ the 6.1-magnitude earthquake rocked Napa, California. Connie is _______ and communicates with her children using sign language.

At midnight, Connie and her three children were _______ on the first floor of their two-story home. She and her 16-year-old son, Juan, were shaken awake. Instantly, they realized there were no disaster supplies downstairs. Connie, also _______ one-month-old Raul and 8-year-old Adriana, called Juan to come close to her in the darkness and _______ for him to go upstairs to get a _______.

Juan slowly __________ the stairs. He heard a loud creak (嘎吱声). Arriving on the top floor, he moved quickly but __________ to get what he needed. Using the flashlight to guide his steps back __________ the stairs, the family was able to take a few items from the first floor and __________. Their home was almost in ruins.

Being deaf was not deterrent (妨碍物) for this __________ mother. The family made it to the __________ safely, which comforted everyone.

10 . A Trip to the Forest

One day Bob took two of his friends into the mountains. They put up their tents and then rode off to a forest to see how the trees were growing. In the afternoon when they were about ten kilometres from their camp, it started to snow. More and more snow fell. Soon Bob could hardly see his hands before his face. He could not find the road. Bob knew there were two roads. One road went to the camp, and the other went to his house. But all was white snow. Everything was the same. How could he take his friends back to the camp?

Bob had an idea. The horses! Let the horses take them back! But what would happen if the horses took the road to his house? That would be a trip of thirty-five kilometres in such cold weather! It was getting late. They rode on and on. At last the horses stopped. Where were they? None of them could tell. John looked around. What was that under the tree? It was one of their tents!