Milo is a rescue dog, adopted by twenty-year-old Mary Swift. But the dog is also a rescuer.

One morning in November 2021, Swift was ready to go jogging as usual, with Milo following her happily. To her surprise, as soon as she opened the front door, Milo took off running towards the gate quickly. It was very unusual. He always ran after his master.

Outside the gate, Milo was looking around the neighborhood, looking a little alert. Suddenly, he ran straightly to the house across the street, barking loudly and sniffing around. He seemed unsatisfied with this house. He quickly ran to the one next door. He stopped there and turned to Swift, barking more loudly, with his tail swinging crazily. Swift followed him, shouting sharply “Stop, Milo!” Some passing neighbors were looking disapprovingly (不满地) at them.

Swift was kind of embarrassed. Not everyone wanted a strange dog on their property and liked hearing a dog’s barks in the quiet morning. She tried to get Milo to go back, but Milo seemed not to follow the master’s order. He started to scratch on the front door. Swift wondered, “Why is he trying to break into the house?” She looked at the house, which belonged to Sherry Starr, who was 85 years old and seldom walked out of her house. It was the time for her to trim her bushes in the garden. Somehow, she wasn’t there that day.

Although Swift was a little doubtful, she still tried to drag Milo away. But at this time she could hear a sound coming through an open upstairs window.

It was a voice yelling “Help”.

I was hit on my back as I walked down the hall. I turned around angrily, only to discover a lovely cat. His name was Oscar and he was born at the shelter I was visiting. The volunteer let me know that the mother was abandoned by her owner. She and the rest of the litter (幼崽) had been adopted quickly, but Oscar remained.

I could tell he was just what we needed. We were just married, full of love and hope, but we were also facing a few unexpected trials. Just weeks after our wedding, my husband was injured in an accident at work, which not only broke his body but his spirit. Hours of physical treatment led to sleepless nights. I hoped that this little cat would cheer up my husband.

When I brought Oscar home, I asked my husband to shut his eyes and open his hands. I handed him the cat, who reached up and rubbed his paws (爪子) against my husband’s face. It had been months since I saw my husband smile like this, and Oscar himself couldn’t stop purring (发出呼噜声).

Years passed, and our sweet Oscar continued to bring us comfort. He had an ability to know if someone was having an emotional moment; he would always try to help.

One day, I received a phone call from my mother telling me that my father had cancer. I swore to do everything I could to help him. Feeling upset, I took a bath to try to collect my thoughts. Oscar reached up, opened the closed door, and jumped directly into the bathtub with me. Hearing the loud noise, my husband ran into the bathroom to find Oscar all wet just inches from my face. That little guy was all heart.

Fortunately, my father beat cancer and recovered fully. Following his final treatment, he was given two weeks of rest at home. He asked if he and my mother could “babysit” Oscar for those weeks. We were more than happy to share.

On the final day of Oscar’s visit, my father decided to bake cookies for me and my husband to thank us for “lending” him our cat.

“Did you add these paw prints on the cookies?” I asked my dad surprisingly.

4 . Dad is a retired officer. In his precinct (管辖区) lived a family, consisting of a ________ single mother and her four sons.

The three older sons were all involved in ________ as a career. Drugs, sale of stolen items, etc. The youngest who was about 10 years old was likely to follow in their footsteps. She was always very ________ when being questioned where her sons were. During a talk with my dad, she expressed her ________ in regards to her youngest boy who was about 10 years old. She felt powerless in ________ him to the right track.

My dad asked if she would allow her “baby” to ________ the inner city and spent the summer in the rural areas at our house. The ________ agreed and thought that it would be ________ for her boy to see another side of family life which he had never been ________ to. So it was done.

My dad had three sons and a daughter (me). We had a new ________ in our family for the summer. Although we must have seemed very unfamiliar to him, he had no trouble ________. He enjoyed the pool in the backyard and made many friends. The whole neighborhood ________ him and he loved the attention. At the end of summer he ________ to his mother.

I ________ about him several years later. Dad told me he went to night school for accounting and ________ landed an office job and he was the only son who did not become a career criminal (罪犯).

5 . Silence is important for learning. I got it from my fourteen-month-old daughter Arielle.

One day, she sat on the floor with an old baby doll. Without buttons, it could neither _________ nor play music. The whole room was silent. Then Arielle began to explore the baby doll. When her hand touched a tiny _________, she used one finger to trace (勾画) its shape. Then she _________ one of her own ears and then both ears. She kept tracing the doll’s ear and her own a few more times until, _________, she turned her attention elsewhere.

At that moment I discovered how human _________ took place. Something stimulated (刺激) Arielle’s _________: Is her body like her doll’s? With no outside stimulation, she satisfied her curiosity by comparing the doll’s body and herself. _________, for many kids, experiences like Arielle’s are less and less frequent _________ children are surrounded by those so-called _________ toys which can talk and move at the push of a button. This __________ them to push buttons repeatedly without thinking and may rob (剥夺) children of opportunities to problem-solve.

Like adults, children need times that are __________ to experience the difference between just reacting to outside stimulation and __________ their own ideas by exploring the world.

Indeed, the toys most likely to encourage creative play are not those that make __________ or have lots of unnecessary’ functions. __________, they are simple, quiet and can be used in lots of different ways. So next time, when __________ what to buy your child, make a wise choice.

6 . It’s a beautiful day in Jaen capital of Jaen Province of Southern Spain. The September ________ beats down on a sea of wedding(婚礼)guests. As Dave makes a final toast(祝酒词), the guests ________ applause(掌声), because he just ________ his speech in Spanish, which he couldn’t speak a year ago.

Dave and his wife Carol were in South Wales when their son Stewart called from Spain and asked them to meet a(n) ________ lady-Atanea and her family. ________, Dave and Carol traveled to Spain to meet them, where they felt very ________, because they couldn’t speak Spanish. It was Atanea who acted as ________ to make everyone understood. One week later Stewart asked Atanea to ________ him, and she said yes. Dave wanted to ________ his son and connect with his in laws on a deeper level, so the mom and he arrived in the UK, Dave ________ Spanish lessons in the local learning center.

Dave’s months of hard work and ________ come together in one wonderful expression of ________ for Stewart and Atanea. No wonder he receives warm applause. ________ Atanea’s family are applauding more than Dave’s speech. They are applauding the respect Dave shows for their ________. Through learning Spanish, Dave shows his new in-laws that he wants to be part of their lives and that he ________ his daughter-in-law deeply. After all, she couldn’t translate for them forever.

7 . At the age of 17 years 64 days, Mack Rutherford has become the youngest person to fly around the world alone! Mack’s journey around the world lasted five months and he flew across 52 countries in total. His record-breaking flight began in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, on 23 March, 2022. He was 16 years old when he took off and celebrated his 17th birthday by himself in his plane.

Mack faced many challenges during his adventure. Because of his small-sized aircraft, he had to land whenever the weather got too rough. However, at some points he literally (确实地) couldn’t land, such as when flying non-stop for 10 hours over an ocean. At other points, he faced extremely hot weather, such as in Dubai. In Sudan, a country in Africa, Mack also faced sandstorms which made it hard for him to see where he was going. Mack battled strong winds and pouring rain during his flight, but he never stopped smiling, joking and updating his flowers on his social media account along the way, and managed to expertly pilot his plane to safety.

And if Mack’s surname “Rutherford” sounds familiar, it’s because his elder sister Zara also flew around the world earlier this year, and still holds the female version of the record! The Rutherford siblings (兄弟姐妹) were inspired by their parents to become pilots. “I have known for certain I wanted to fly since I was eleven,” Mack said, “My dad Sam is a professional ferry pilot, my mum Beatrice is a recreational private pilot.”

Mack hopes to inspire young people to begin working towards their own goals, “No matter what background you have, I believe it is never too early to work towards your dreams and you shouldn’t limit yourself by others’ expectations.” With both feet firmly back on the ground now, it’s time for Mack to turn his attention towards catching up on his schoolwork!

8 . Steph Clemence had good grades and always intended to go to college. But her poor family couldn’t _______ it. Steph had to find a job and tried to figure out what to do with a life that was greatly different from her plan.

The answer came one afternoon when she was cleaning her bookshelf. Inside a box she _______ two pages titled “Mrs, Clark’s Book List” from the English teacher in her high school, Dorothy Clark. “She’d spent months creating a list of 153 books,” says Steph. “She knew most of us would not go to college, but we could continue to learn. She was _______ about that.”

Steph was _______ and determined to improve herself. So it began in 1970. Starting at the top, she read every book in the order they appeared. People around her didn’t find much _______ in her journey, as some of the books were hard going. But she felt _______. Each of those books inspired her to learn more about the world.

Now Steph is 70 and she never did get to college. But she has only four books left to read from the list. She expects to _______ them sometime in 2023. “I don’t race through a book, as I want to fully _______ it. Each of the books has added something to who I am and how I see the world,” she says. “I’m no expert, but I am working for my own _______. I now have the background to see how the world works.

In Steph’s eye, Mrs. Clark felt it was her particular __________ to offer young students a road map in a changing world. Thanks to a book list, at least one young woman who couldn’t pay for college was the better for it.