A Four-legged Guardian Angel

Snow had just melted off the ground that April day at our house in Regina Beach, Saskatchewan. I had just cleaned up the pool in preparation for selling the house. The year before, I had lost my job with the provincial government, and now our financial situation was grim. In despair, I had finally put the home on the market, and a real estate agent was due to show up later that day. Even worse, I would have to give up my beloved Great Dane (大丹犬) Brigitte, because I could no longer afford the cost of feeding it. The thought of losing the dog and our beautiful home was almost more than I could bear.

Deep in despair, I sat typing up resumes and cover letters. Out of the corner of my eye I could see my thirteen-month-old son, Forrest, as he lay on the carpet, playing near our big, gentle nanny-dog, Brigitte. It seemed as if Brigitte was always meant to be in this family and she turned out to be a perfect companion.

Brigitte came to our house on Christmas eve when the doorbell rang and I was sure some of my Christmas packages had arrived. I ran to the door and swung it open, but no one was there. I sensed something and looked down, only to find a beautiful Great Dane sitting there, looking up at me with big, intelligent eyes. There was no way that she could have rung the doorbell by herself, was there? Perhaps, someone had found the puppy somewhere and left her there, and then rang the doorbell and ran away. They accurately guessed I would welcome an additional family member and take care of her.

Thinking of these, I couldn’t help heaving a sigh and went straight back to work. However, I hadn’t typed more than two sentences when Brigitte began barking furiously and running back and forth to the sliding glass door overlooking our pool.

I raced to see what was happening and noticed that the sliding door was slightly open. Suddenly, I realized Forrest was nowhere to be seen. In panic, I opened the door and ran outside.

There I was surprised to see Brigitte, who was terrified of water, dive into the pool.

Finally, the doctor said Forrest was all right and could be released from hospital.

2 . CPR saves lives. It can really change someone’s life, as I found out for myself three years ago.

On October 14, 2009, my mom had an accident while playing soccer and was taken to hospital. The next morning, I was told that my mom had had a cardiac arrest (心脏停搏). I later learned that two players on the opposing team kept breathing air into my mother’s mouth and pressing her chest for seven minutes, as they waited for the ambulance to arrive. My mom stayed in the hospital for only ten days. I know that I am very lucky to have my mom here, because most people who have cardiac arrests and do not receive CPR within the first six minutes die.

My mom has used this experience to spread the word about CPR. She joined the Sudden Cardiae Arrest Support Group, which was set up to help survivors and their families through a difficult experience. The support group also takes part in the Heart Walk every year, raising money for the American Heart Association. And she attends Lobby Day each year, convincing the New York State Legislature to pass a law that would make basic CPR and first-aid training a graduation requirement for high school students.

This task is not as difficult as it may first appear to be. Every student in New York State must take health class in order to graduate. Just one or two days of health class each year will ensure that every student in the state will learn this important skill. This training is also nearly free. There is no need for a professional CPR instructor because the American Heart Association has online videos that show the newest techniques in CPR. Also, most local EMS services will lend training models to schools.

My mom and her fellow survivors go to a high school each year to talk to the students about the importance of learning CPR. This training will not get you the official CPR certification (证书), but as my mom says, “You don’t need a little card to save someone’s life.”

3 . Most of us associate learning with younger people — kids in school and college or recent graduates early in their careers. But at Udemy, an open university, offering online courses, Artist Anneke Camstra is engaged in the pursuit (追求) of lifelong learning and _______ her potential for teaching. She loves the _______ of gaining new knowledge and also loves _______ it with others.

She reaches countless people with her online courses and exposes them to what they can _______ on their own using animation software, such as Go Animate and PowToon. Her target for teaching on Udemy is “to get the _______ to the people.” She hopes people can go such a long way to make things that look _______ but still have their own voice.

Most of Anneke’s students start out thinking they’re not creative and can’t draw. Anneke understands how _______ can get in the way of so many things people dream of _______. With her five-day challenge courses, she helps them _______ the fear. Anneke loves the effect she has on her students. What makes her more ________ of them is that they have gone from their first animation to ________ their own works.

She encourages people of all ages, ________ older people, to develop their ________ for life. Grandparents, for example, can learn to use Go Animate and make animations together with their grandkids.

As an older woman, ________ and having fun learning again, Anneke wants others later in their ________ to catch up with her on this journey.

This morning, my parents left on a long trip to Hawaii. They were as     1    (excite) as if it were their honeymoon.

When my parents married, they had only enough money for a three-day trip fifty miles from home. They made an     2    (agree) that each day they would put a dollar in a special metal box and save it for a honeymoon inHawai for their fiftieth anniversary (周年纪念).

Dad was a policeman, and Mum was a school teacher. They lived in a small house and did all     3    (they) own repairs. Raising five children was a challenge, and sometimes money was short,     4     no matter what emergeney came up, Dad would not let Mum take any money out of the “Hawaii account”. As     5     account grew, they put it in a savings account.

My parents     6    (be) always very much in love since the day they got married. I can remember Dad     7    (come) home and telling Mum, “I have a dollar in my pocket,” and she would smile at him and say, “I know how     8    (spend) it.” When each of us children married, Mum and Dad gave us a small metal box and told us their secret,     9     we found charming (有魅力的). All five of us are now saving for our dream honeymoon. Mum and Dad never told us how much money they had managed to save, but it must have been     10    (fair) large.

6 . After thinking it over for several weeks, I finally decide to say yes to a big life decision. The woman (me) who hasn’t _______ a bicycle even once in the past seven years is going to take on a challenge to _______ from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle.

Anyone who knows me will think this is just _______. I don’t enjoy sports challenges. As I am _______ my mid-40s, I am eager to prove my body is still useful and can _______ things. And I want to work towards something bigger _______ the daily travel to and from work.

I have _______ run marathons or done things alike. I just _______ friends on the sidelines when they ran the London Marathon. But in all _______, there has been an element of________ when I see their achievements. What I see on their faces when they cross the finish line are the joy and the sense of ________. They know that they have pushed themselves beyond their limits and done something ________. Now I am 43 and have a(n) ________ to know what that feels like.

Now it is the perfect time to ________ something more than the classes in the local gym, or a jog around the park and show what I can do. So I’m ________ to jump on a bike again as long before and take to the road.

7 . One day before the last Christmas, my wife, Charlotte, was busy decorating our Christmas tree. I reached for my _______ to capture (拍摄) the tree. After only a couple of minutes, I started complaining, “I can’t make the _______ right. I wish Sophie were here telling me what to do. I miss her.”

Several months before, my daughter, Sophie, had gone to New York. She was not here to give me _______. Charlotte was working in silence while I clicked and _______. I took quite a number of photos, but none of them was taken well, so I’d had enough, _______ my camera onto the sofa. Each Christmas light seemed to refuse to _______. Somehow, I found the tree didn’t look _______ without much colour.

“I think I did things differently this year,” Charlotte looked at me and added, “I think the tree looks great.” But I didn’t. I wanted a _______ tree. More importantly, I wanted Sophie to be _______ with us.

The morning after that day, I got up a little earlier. I plugged in (连接) the ________ and turned towards the tree and stood in silence. In the semidarkness, the Christmas tree was ________ like a diamond. At that time, I realized I was ________. My wife had decorated the tree ________. It was magical and came ________ in the morning light. The tree drew my eyes, reminding me to be grateful to those around me and look for the beauty ________ in life.

8 . When I was 16, I worked at a fast food restaurant. That was when I came across two new family ________.

One afternoon in the fall I happened to find a little cat crying outside. He got a little wet because of the morning rain. I picked him up into the kitchen, ________ him and fed him water and food. My boss was ________ when seeing a stray cat (流浪猫) in the kitchen and asked me to take him out immediately. I quickly got some towels and a box and made him a little ________ and put him in my car.

After work, I hurried to my car to ________ him. I found another cat scratching (抓擦) my car door to________her brother. So I picked her up too. I had to carry them into my house ________ because my mother didn’t ________ a cat. Our cat had died earlier that year and she was in ________ and determined that she would not keep any cats.

I ________ the two cats in my room for four days. One day my mother caught me feeding the cats. Seeing her, I was ________ but I told her I had no choice but to ________ them. I told her we could just keep the boy and find another ________ for the girl. She shouted at me that we couldn’t ________ them. I knew I had her ________.

My family had Penny and Rizzo for the next 15 years.