3 . The Road Less Travelled

Pennsylvania is one of the oldest states in America, and it’s full of mysterious (神秘的) places! One of those places has been _______for decades. My dad loves _______, and he learned that it was _______ to the public. So, when I was 14, we took a bike trip to_______ this historic road!

My dad chose a 16-mile section of the road for us to ride. Part of it included an_______ tunnel (隧道) called the Sideling Hill Tunnel which is over a mile long! To _______, we checked our tires and made sure our bike lights had batteries. In the morning, we_______our bikes into the trunk of the car. Then we set off.

After a two-hour drive, we reached the road. It was a _______afternoon in early fall. I didn’t think we would sweat too much. But our trip started with a_______ uphill climb!

As we approached the Sideling Hill Tunnel, I felt ____________ as it was black inside! But my dad____________ me. He said he would be right beside me. He reminded me to stay ____________ all the way and keep my ____________on!

When we entered the tunnel, the sound of our bikes spread through the____________.I shined my flashlight around and saw____________ covered in graffiti (涂鸦). I was pretty scared, but____________following my dad helped me relax. That gave me ____________ to keep going. And I was so happy to ride out into the bright afternoon!

Whenever I am____________hardships in life, I remember this ____________. It reminds me that my dad is always beside me. He turns on the light of ____________ in my heart. And he gives me courage to keep riding through life’s dark tunnels.

4 . I was driving home with my son Giacomo, 15, on the A40 when I suddenly saw a small plane coming down. Out of nowhere, it_______   some   200 yards   away from where we were ________ , overturning and bursting into   flames.

We were going 70 miles an hour and I managed to______;   otherwise   we would have   crashed into   it   ourselves. I jumped out, ________   Giacomo in the car. I remember _________   at him to stay there since we really     didn’t have time to mess around.

Flames were coming out of the cockpit (驾驶舱) and I could hear screaming, so I climbed under the wing and tried to   __________   the windows in but failed, and with the heat of the   __________   coming over the top of the plane, I ______   I might have to give up or I’d be in great danger myself. I found the small windows at the back of the     plane had cracked ( 破 裂 ), so my best bet was to kick those through. It___ and, looking back, we were unbelievably____; otherwise, it would have been a completely different____.

I pulled a teenage girl and boy out. Then another guy, Joel Snarr, arrived on the_______   to help at just the       right time. I don’t think I would have been able to get the ________   out — he was a big guy.   _________ , Joel seized him by the arms and got him out just in time. I could _______   straight away Joel had a military background by        how he ________   himself. We’d   just got all three of them, Stuart Moore, who’d flown the plane, and his nephew     and niece, to a safe___ when the plane exploded.

The emergency services   ___________     pretty quickly, and then they did their   duty. When I got   back to my            ______, Giacomo   and I stared at each other, almost laughing   in _________. It was a very   strange moment — things like this only happen in films.

5 . Geese live to be around 25 years old, are very loyal, and never forget their first home. Even so, it came as a total shock to me when, in 2019, an aging adult wild goose made his way back to my family home. Geese love houses with large, green grassland to eat on; the flat area also makes it easy for them to watch out for predators (捕食者). So, at first, I assumed it was just another goose.

And yet, something about the lone male seemed oddly familiar to me. After two weeks of the goose coming back repeatedly, it became clear to me that this wasn’t a random goose. He did all of the same things Peeper used to, like trying to come in through the front door and sleeping in our enclosed pool area. In addition to following Peeper’s old ways, this goose also responded to the name Peeper. Much to my amazement, my old best friend had returned, 20 years later.

Why did Peeper return? It’s hard to say. Perhaps his mate died, leaving him lonely. If s also possible that he is approaching his twilight (薄唇) years and knows it, making him long for his early home. This behavior is typical of geese. Whatever the reason, Peeper continues to live with me. It’s a good thing that I stayed in my childhood home.

He doesn’t come home every single night the way he did as a baby. Some nights he may seek out the comfort of his own kind at the lake nearby. Geese in the wild typically sleep on water. But he’s here a lot, making his presence known and giving me joy. Many years later, the goose still remembers the true meaning of family. So do his people.

6 . As the train picked up its speed, the passengers slowly settled down on their seats, I _________ the lower berth(铺位), so that I could enjoy the _________ of outside from the moving train. I don’t know why I always preferred to get the _________ seat. An elderly lady _________ the front seat of mine. I looked at her. She must be in her eighties, I guessed. At one point, we met our _________. She smiled at me and I gave her a response. Both of us were _________. By that time, the train was in its full speed.

It was 4:50 pm, evening time. So, _________ time was still in a long way, I couldn’t _________ myself any longer and asked, “Auntie! Where are you going?”

She looked at me and friendly said, “_________ camp, dear.”

Suddenly my enthusiasm __________ to know the reason. I politely said. “Auntie, you are __________ someone?”

She smiled and said, “Yes!”

Just to continue the conversation, I talked to her in a very cheerful __________. “Auntie, you must be feeling so __________ to see your child and your grandchildren.”

________, this question hurt her a little but boldly (大胆地) she answered, “Oh, dear! You are so sweet! Anyway, I had only one son who was __________ and was killed in a battle just a few days before. I bought so many new clothes for him. So, I thought why not __________ my son’s clothes for some other soldiers, so that I would control my __________ and would be happy thinking that my own son has __________ it.”

I was shocked hearing her heartbreaking story! But I __________ the old lady from the core of my heart, I was thinking of her __________ heart!

The Pillow

At the age of sixteen, I joined a volunteer group with my dad. I went on my first volunteer project in West Virginia. On the night we arrived, we discovered that “our family” was living in a trailer(拖车) that was in poor condition. A crew had been working on it for two weeks, but every time they finished one problem, another surfaced.

We decided the only reasonable solution was to build a new house — something unusual but necessary under these circumstances. The family was overjoyed with their new house that was twenty by thirty feet with three bedrooms, a bath and a kitchen.

On Tuesday of that week, while we ate lunch together, I asked the family’s three boys, Josh, Eric and Ryan, “What do you want for your new room?” Expecting toys and other gadgets that children usually ask for, we were surprised when Josh responded, “I just want a bed.”

The boys had never slept in a bed! They were accustomed to plastic mats. That night we had a meeting and decided that beds would be the perfect gift. On Thursday night, a few adults in our group drove to the nearest city and bought beds and new bedding.

When we saw the delivery truck coming, we told the family about the surprise. We could hardly contain ourselves. It was like watching excited children on Christmas morning.

That afternoon, as we fitted the frames of the beds together, Eric ran into the house to watch us. Too dirty to enter his room, he observed with wide-eyed enthusiasm from the doorway.

As my father slipped a pillowcase onto one of the pillows, Eric asked, “What is that?”

“A pillow,” he replied.

“What do you do with it?” Eric continued to ask.

“When you go to sleep, you put your head on it,” I answered softly. Tears came to our eyes as she handed Eric the pillow.

“Oh . . . that’s soft,” he said, hugging it tightly.

Now, when my sister or I start to ask for something that seems urgent, my Dad gently asks, “Do you have a pillow?”

We know exactly what he means.