Rescue

Dawn came slowly. A shaft of sunlight reached into the 4-­meter-­deep crater(弹坑), making the metal of the bomb shine. The boys were numb and tight, and hungry. They tried not to look at the huge shape of the bomb that appeared over them.

Harry suddenly opened his eyes and seized Jack’s arm. “Listen!” he whispered. Jack’s eye widened instantly, and both boys strained their ears. They could hear a man talking softly. The voice seemed a long way off. Jack went to shout, but Harry clamped his hand over Jack’s mouth. “Don’t shout,” he hissed(发出嘘声), “We’ll be blown into pieces.”

The soft voice came nearer and nearer. Suddenly, an army captain appeared at the top of crater. He was talking to a mouthpiece(话筒) around his neck. He stopped talking when he saw the boys. “What the...” he said, “Who are you?” Harry found his voice, “Jack and Harry Brown.” “Is that dog dead?” asked the captain. “No, he’s sleeping,” said Harry.

The captain spoke into the mouthpiece again, “Sergeant(中士),” he said, stopped and took a breath before he went on. “There are two kids and a dog down here.” Then the captain crouched down and stared closely at the bomb. “Don’t move and don’t speak,” he said, “or we’ll all go up.” He began talking quietly to his sergeant.

Jack and Harry were too stiff to move. They held Raf, the dog, tightly and waited. Another man appeared at the top of the crater. “I thought so,” he said, “It’s them all right.”

“It’s Old Tin Hat!” whispered Jack. Old Tin Hat was carrying a ladder. He and the captain lowered the ladder into the loose earth next to the two boys. “Keep still,” the captain warned them. As the captain held on at the top, Old Tin Hat started to come down the ladder very slowly, very gently, step by step. At last, he reached the bottom, and with one movement, he lifted Jack on his back. Harry watched as Jack was carried up. It seemed to take an age.

注意：续写的词数应为150左右。

With a sudden fall of earth, Old Tin Hat froze halfway up.   

Old Tin Hat pulled Harry onto his back, carrying Raf under his arm.

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.

One evening, a workman was exhaustedly making his way home after work. When he stopped to rest by the side of the road, a woman came by, pushing a cart full of flowers. The smell of her blossoms filled the air with sweetness, and it seemed to take away the tiredness in his bones and lift his spirits. He had never experienced such wonder from the many blooms of his own garden. “How much must I pay, or what must I do, to have some of your wonderful flowers?” he asked the woman.

“Oh, sir,” she said, “take what you wish for.”

“What return must I make for them?” he asked again.

“Your gratitude is enough,” she said, “and it’s a pleasure to share the beauty of flowers with you.”

So the man filled his arms with blossoms and hurried joyfully home. His wife and his children were also glad about the remarkable flowers. They also discovered that the sight of them was a delight and the smell of them refreshed the soul.

In order not to lose his valuable possession, the man planted the blossoms in a small plot of land behind his house. Sunlight and water kept them amazingly beautiful—they still performed their fantastic magic.

Every day, his children took delight in playing in the yard and always sang and danced around the flowers. They all liked the lovely gift their father had received and even invited many of their friends to share this fantastic magic together. When children came to play near the flowers, the man over and over warned them against carelessness and wild play for fear that they would walk on the flowers and damage them. But the flowers remained strong as long as there was enough sun and water to nourish(滋养) them. Nowhere else could the man or his wife or children find such remarkable relaxation from tiredness, such comfort in sadness, such spiritual nourishment as those remarkable flowers provided.

With the news spreading and more people coming to appreciate his treasure, the man became even more concerned about his remarkable flowers.

He was determined to protect the flowers.

However, the flowers seemed to fade day by day, so the man went everywhere for help.

Christmas was hanging around. Six-year-old David was thinking what presents he could get from Santa. He wanted slippers; he wanted a silk tie; he wanted some toys. And school starting soon, he also hoped to get something about schooling. In order to get Santa to know what he needed, he thought he would write a letter to Santa, which he believed would bring him those presents. He found a sheet and made a list of the items on it, and then bent down to post the letter up the chimney, waiting for the winds to take it up.

David got up very early on the Christmas morning. He searched his room carefully, but to his disappointment, he didn’t find the presents he hoped for. Hadn’t Santa received the letter? Was he too busy to send him the gifts? Although feeling a little upset, David was convinced that Santa would not forget him and he was bound to receive the items.

Many years had passed and 2019 came. In an old house, a young builder, Lewis Shaw was removing the fireplace with his colleagues when he suddenly found a small piece of paper, which was still in perfect condition even if it had turned yellow. He picked it up and unfolded it. It was a letter written to Santa. The touching hand-written note read:

Please can you send me a drum, box of chalks, slippers, silk tie, pencil box, any little toys you have to spare?

Love David

It was then signed off with lots of kisses.

This was the very letter written by David and the house was where he had lived during his childhood! The letter struck Shaw so much. How simple Christmas once was! David didn’t ask for much, just the things he just needed. Nowadays kids always want expensive gifts and take it for granted.

Shaw decided to find out the author of the letter. He shared a photo of the note on Facebook.

It was 1st January, the first day of the year and a holiday for me. What luck! I decided to withdraw some money from the bank. The bank person, an elderly gentleman with a white beard, replied indifferently as usual to my polite “Happy New Year”. He nodded and I sat in front of him.

Minutes passed but he didn’t raise his head.

Then very hesitantly I put my form and booklet in front of him. He was busy filling up entries in his register. After a few minutes he took my form and from his cabinet he took out a very thick file, from which he started filling in my details, I sat there wondering why we had computerized banking if we were still filling in forms and registers.

After waiting for a few more minutes, in which I showed all signs of being impatient, I asked him if my work was done. The moment I said the words, I felt as if a bomb had fallen on him. He shouted, “Nothing is done; it will take time!”

Just then I saw his morning cup of tea which had been lying there for the last ten minutes, untouched. The tea had turned almost cold while he was doing his work. Suddenly I felt what this man, who had been working at this counter for the last God-knows-how-many years, must be feeling when customers like me come who are always in a hurry to get their work done. We do not even feel the need to thank them for being there. He must be feeling so anxious that “Here comes another person who will push me for doing his work first.”

Thinking of this, I told him, “Sir, you please have your tea. I am not in a hurry.”

What he said really touched my heart.

Once, when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus(马戏团). Finally, there was only one family between us and the ticket counter.

This family made a big impression on me. There were eight children, all probably under the age of twelve. You could tell they didn’t have a lot of money.

Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly talking about the clowns, elephants, and other acts they would see that night with their brothers or sisters in a low voice.

One could sense they had never been to the circus before. It should be highlight of their young lives. The father and mother were at the head of the pack, standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband’s hand, looking up at him as if to say, “You are my knight in shining armor.”

He was smiling and responding in pride, looking back at her as if to say, “You got that right.” The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly responded, “Please let me buy eight children’s tickets and two adult tickets so I can take my family to the circus.”

The ticket lady gave the price. The man’s wife let go of his hand; her head dropped, and his lips began to shake. The father leaned a little closer and asked, “How much did you say?”

The ticket lady told the price to him again. The man didn’t have enough money. How could he turn and tell his eight children that he didn’t have enough money to take them to the circus?

In fact, we were not rich. So I understand how the kids would feel. I felt sorry for them.

Seeing what was going on, my dad put his hand in his pocket.

That day my father and I went back to our car and drove home without any tickets.

Last summer when my family was road tripping 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 to 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 was 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.

It was an Art lesson. Rachel sat at the desk watching her classmates busy preparing the water jars and paints. She understood why Mrs. Weston asked her to sit down and got Lisa to fetch everything for her. It was always a disaster when Rachel tried to do Art！

Rachel sighed and reached out to dip her brush in some black paint and—oh， no！ She knocked over the jar. The water spread across the desk and drowned the paper. Lisa called Mrs. Weston to see what Rachel had done. Rachel went red in the face， She jumped to her feet to get a cloth. Her chair fell over backwards. She turned round and her paintbrush caught Lisa across the face， giving her a black moustache. Lisa was so surprised that she fell back against a wire bookstand. It came crashing down and the books went all over the floor.

How clumsy （笨手笨脚的） ！ Rachel thought as she went home on the bus： The bus stopped outside her house. She jumped up and her elbow （肘部） knocked a woman's hat right over her eyes. Oh， no！ Rachel said sorry， got off and ran indoors. Mum wasn't in the kitchen but lay in bed as she caught an awful cold. Rachel offered to make a cup of tea but Mum would rather wait for Dad. Rachel sighed. She understood Mum was afraid she would spill （洒出）it.

“But would you go to Mrs. Willow for some cold cure？” asked Mum. Rachel turned to the door at once.“But Rachel， Mrs. Willow's house is full of beautiful things like china figures （瓷器） and delicate （精致的，易碎的） vases， so if she asks you to come in， you'd better say no.” Rachel sighed and ran out.

Mrs. Willow was an old lady with white hair and sharp blue eyes living in an old house. She opened the door and invited her in. Rachel said why she came and that she preferred to wait outside remembering her mother's warning. Mrs. Willow insisted Rachel come inside. Rachel took a deep breath and stepped in. She looked round Mrs. Willow's sitting room and saw at once why Mum had been worried.

There were beautiful things everywhere—pretty china figures and delicate vases.

With a smile Mrs. Willow comforted her saying it had been broken before.