2 . A twenty-three-year-old Dutch student has enjoyed a short but unexpected holiday in Dubai. Mr Frank Vreede, a business student, had taken a part-time job at Schiphol Airport to help pay for his studies. He worked as a baggage handler and was responsible for loading the suitcases into the hold of passenger planes.

Last Friday night, after an exhausting day in the university library preparing for his final exams, Frank was loading a plane at the airport. He was waiting for the next baggage truck to arrive and he felt tired. He decided to have a quick rest, so he sat down in the hold of the plane and shut his eyes—just for a moment.

However, while he was sleeping, the plane took off. An hour later, Frank woke up and was frightened to discover that the plane was in the air. There was a terrible noise from the engines, and he tried not to be afraid. Frank knew the flight would be long because it was an airline from the Middle East. He also knew he could not survive the freezing temperature. It was an impossible situation.

He decided to make as much noise as possible. He banged on the ceiling of the baggage hold and shouted at the top of his voice. Luckily, a passenger heard the noise and told the pilot. Once the captain understood what was happening, he ordered hot air to be pumped into the hold.

When the plane arrived at Dubai International Airport, doctors examined him but he was unhurt. The managing director of one of Dubai’s top hotels offered him a free room for the weekend.

Frank explained that he was very lucky because it is possible to die of cold in the hold of an aircraft. He apologized to his boss for sleeping at work instead of working, and promised it would not happen again. “During the flight I was petrified. I thought I was going to die!” said Mr Vreede. “I wouldn’t want to do it again. Next time, I’ll catch a regular flight!”

3 . She had been shopping with her Mom in Wal-Mart. She must have been six years old. A beautiful brown-haired, freckle-faced girl, bearing the image of innocence.

It was pouring heavily outside. We all stood there just inside the door of the Wal-Mart. We waited, some patiently, others annoyed because nature messed up their hurried day. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world.

Her voice was so sweet that it broke the hypnotic trance (昏昏欲睡) we were all caught in. Mom, let's run through the rain," she said.

What?" Mom asked.

"Let's run through the rain!" she repeated.

"No, honey. We'll wait until it lets up a bit," Mom replied.

This young child waited about another minute and repeated: "Mom, let's run through the rain."

"We'll get soaked if we do," Mom said.

"No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she pulled her Mom's arm.

"This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?"

Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'if God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!'"

The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I dare say you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came in or left in the next few minutes. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say.

Now, some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life, a time when innocent trust can be nurtured (培育) so that it will bloom into faith.

"Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If God lets us get wet, maybe we just need washing," Mom said. Then off they ran.

We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they rushed past the cars and, yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. And yes, I did. I ran, too. I got wet. I guess I just needed washing.

4 . It was a cold January in 1925 in Nome, Alaska. The town was cut off from the rest of the world due to heavy snow.

On the 20^th of that month, Dr. Welch ________ a sick boy, Billy, and knew he had diphtheria, a deadly infectious (传染的) disease mainly affecting children. The children of Nome would be ________ if it struck the town. Dr. Welch needed medicine as soon as possible to stop other kids from getting sick. ________, the closet supply was over 1,000 miles away, in Anchorage.

How could the medicine get to Nome? The town’s ________ was already full of ice, so it couldn’t come by ship. Cars and horses couldn’t travel on the ________ roads. Jet airplanes and big trucks didn’t exist yet.

________ January 26, Billy and three other children had died. Twenty more were sick. Nome’s town officials came up with a plan. They would have the medicine sent by ________ from Anchorage to Nenana. From there, dogsled (狗拉雪橇) drivers—known as “mushers”—would ________ it to Nome in a relay (接力).

The race began on January 27. The first musher, Shannon, picked up the medicine from the train at Nenana and rode all night. ________ he handed the medicine to the next musher, Shannon’s face was black from the extreme cold.

On January 31, a musher named Seppala had to ________ a frozen body of water called Norton Sound. It was the most dangerous part of the journey. Norton Sound was covered with ice, which could sometimes break up without warning. If that happened, Seppala might fall into the icy water below. He would ________, and so would the sick children of Nome. But Seppala made it across.

A huge snowstorm hit on February 1. A musher named Kaasen had to brave this storm. At one point, huge piles of snow blocked his ________. He had to leave the trail (痕迹) to get around them. Conditions were so bad that it was impossible for him to ________ the trail again. The only hope was Balto, Kaasen’s lead dog. Balto put his nose to the ground, ________ to find the smell of other dogs that had travelled on the trail. If Balto failed, it would mean disaster for Nome. The minutes passed by. Suddenly, Balto began to run. He had found the trail.

At 5:30 a.m. on February 2, Kaasen and his dog arrived in Nome. Within minutes, Dr. Welch had the medicine. He quickly gave it to the sick children. All of them recovered.

Nome had been ________.

6 . Monty owns a house ranch (牧场) in San Sedro. Once when asked about his success, he told the story about a young man, son of a horse trainer.

One day at high school the boy was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he_________

That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his_________of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, _________the location of everything important there.

The next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he got his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a _________that read, “see me after class."

The boy went to the teacher. The teacher said, “This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You come from a _________family. Owning a ranch requires a lot of money. There's no way you could ever do it.”

Then he added, “If you will rewrite this paper with a more practical goal, I will reconsider your _________”

The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. Finally, the boy turned in the same paper. making no_________at all.He stated,“You can keep the F and I’ll keep my _________.”

Monty then said,“I was that boy. And the best part of the story is that two summers ago that_________ teacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week. When he was leaving, the teacher said, “When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During those years I__________a lot of kids” dreams. Fortunately, you had enough courage not to give up on yours.”

7 . When I was growing up in America, I was ashamed of my mother's Chinese English. Because of her English, she was often treated unfairly. People in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.

My mother has long realized the limitations of her English as well. When I was fifteen, she used to have me call people on the phone to pretend I was she. I was forced to ask for information or even to shout at people who had been rude to her. One time I had to call her stockbroker (股票经纪人). I said in an adolescent voice that was not very convincing (令人相信的)，“This is Mrs. Tan. "

And my mother was standing beside me, whispering loudly, “Why he don't send me check already two week late. "

And then, in perfect English I said: "I'm getting rather concerned. You agreed to send the check two weeks ago, but it hasn't arrived. "

Then she talked more loudly. "What he want? I come to New York tell him front of his boss. "And so I turned to the stockbroker again, "I can't tolerate (容忍) any more excuse. If I don't receive the check immediately, I am going to have to speak to your manager when I am in New York next week. "

The next week we ended up in New York. While I was sitting there red-faced, my mother, the real, was shouting to his boss in her broken English.

When I was a teenager, my mother’ s broken English embarrassed me. But now, I see it differently. To me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It is my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, and full of observation and wisdom. It was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed ideas, and made sense of the world.

8 . At first glance Esther Okade seems like a normal 10-year-old. She loves dressing up as Elsa from “Frozen”, playing with Barbie dolls and going to the park or shopping. But what makes the British-Nigerian youngster stand out is the fact that she’s also a university student.

Esther, from Walsall, an industrial town in the UK’s West Midlands region, is one of the country’s youngest college freshmen. The talented 10-year-old enrolled at the Open University in January and is already top of the class, having recently scored 100% in an exam.

“It’s so interesting and super easy,” she laughs. “My mum taught me in a nice way.” She adds: “I want to finish the course in two years. Then I’m going to do my PhD in financial maths when I’m 13. I want to have my own bank by the time I’m 15 because I like numbers and I like people and banking is a great way to help people.”

And in case people think her parents have pushed her into starting university early, Esther disagrees. “I actually wanted to start when I was seven. But my mum didn’t agree.” After three years of begging, Mother Efe finally agreed to explore the idea.

Esther has always jumped ahead of her peers. Her mother noticed her daughter’s gift for figures shortly after she began homeschooling her at the age of three. Initially, Esther’s parents had enrolled her in a private school but after a few short weeks, the usually-energetic youngster refused to go back to that school because the teachers didn’t let her talk in class. In the UK, education is not compulsory until five, so Efe started to do little things at home by teaching basic number skills but Esther was miles ahead. By four, her natural talent for maths had seen the eager student move on to algebra (代数学) and quadratic equations (二次方程式).

And Esther isn’t the only maths miracle in the family. Her younger brother Isaiah, 6, will soon be sitting his first A-level exam in June.

9 . The first two years of Stuart Singer’s retirement were pure play, killing time in the New York City by bike and visiting museums and art galleries.

“At some point, I realised I should do more than this,” said Mr Singer, a former high school teacher.

Now Mr Singer, 74, and his wife Madine, 69, are involved in the Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme. Mr Singer volunteers with the Community Health Advocates Programme, which started in 2010. The programme helps consumers to know better about the health insurance coverage(医疗保险). And it helps them to find access to low-cost or free care. Mr Singer’s main task is to answer phones for the Community Health Advocates’ helpline.

“There are lots of calls from different people who need medical care, but they can’t get it because their insurance company won’t pay for it,” he said. “And you got to go through doctors, and get the papers filled out. But when you get it done, yeah, it feels good.”

The helpline helps about 250 callers each week and has saved consumers $12.1 million since it began. Mr Singer comes in once a week, helping 10 callers every shift. In total, he estimates he has saved New Yorkers $443,000.

Despite the challenges, the work is a joy, not drudgery for Mr Singer, which inspired his wife to sign up for volunteer training after she retired in late 2014 as vice president of the Insurance Information Institute. It put her fear of retirement at ease.

Mrs Singer trained with the Advocacy, Counseling and Entitlement Services Project before being placed with the Actor’s Fund, a national human services organization for performing arts and entertainment professionals founded in 1882. “It just seems so unfair that these people have trouble finding housing,” said Mrs Singer. Since she started in early 2015, Mrs Singer has had more than 270 appointments with clients, from ticket takers to screenwriters to dancers. “Having someone help them really means a lot to them,” Mrs Singer said.

Much of her work is helping clients who are applying for affordable housing sort through a variety of income sources they receive. “It keeps the mind going,” Mrs Singer said. “It keeps the social life going, and I’m doing something.”

Time capsule is a container     1     (store) some objects chosen as being typical of the present time, buried for discovery in the future. But what was inside a 132-year-old time capsule? Just follow us to learn more.

A 132-year-old time capsule was found in Utah. It was first buried in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1887, after     2     (put) together by a school committee. When that school was pulled down in 1959, the time capsule was uncovered. Inside there was kind of a little bit of everything: photographs, a student autograph book, and newspapers.     3     the folded newspapers appeared to be in good condition, it was not possible to tell the dates. There were even small items like a button, ribbons and a pebble. “The capsule tells the story of early education in Utah, but it also goes     4     (deep), in showing the ways people want     5       and their work to be remembered. I think that's what time capsules are about. Those who buried the time capsule thought it     6     show their real life to people one day. It's a way of keeping the memory of     7     they felt really matters.” said Alan Barnett, the local government archivist who led the public unveiling.

The news     8    (report) throughout Utah now, and we will keep you updated.