1 . Braving the elements
On Dec.26, Gelinne, 60, was looking out the back windows of his home at the frozen lake. Then an airplane came into his sight. Gelinne looked up just in time to see that small air plane a few hundred yards away, losing control.
As the plane disappeared behind the trees, Gelinne, a former Navy officer, realized it was going to land in the lake. He flashed on a moment from more than 20 years earlier: Gelinne was at work in a bank. When a fire alarm rang, he escaped from the chaos but has always wondered if he could have stayed inside and helped.
On this day, Gelinne didn’t hesitate. He ran down to the waterfront. The plane had skidded (侧滑) to a stop on the broad, frozen lake, far from shore. It was now sinking. The pilot was standing on the wing. Gelinne knew from his Navy training that even a few minutes in the icy water could kill the pilot.
Gelinne tested the ice with his foot and decided not to take any chances walking on it. So he pulled a boat out from under his back deck.
Then he set off, pushing his boat across the ice. It was tough work. When Gelinne reached the plane, it had broken through the ice and sunk; only its tail was visible. The pilot was standing on a tail wing, submerged up to his chest, surrounded by open water. Gelinne pushed his boat off the ice and into the water, paddling (划) toward the pilot.
Gelinne focused on keeping the pilot calm, joking, “Just hang on to the boat as if you were hugging your wife.” The pilot grabbed the boat’s bow, but Gelinne knew he had to get the pilot out of the water and up onto the shelf of unbroken ice behind him before the man lost too much body heat.
By now a police officer had arrived and radioed for help. A lifeboat appeared, breaking through ice as it arrived. It picked up the pilot and rushed him to safety. Later the boat returned to help Gelinne, now extremely tired, to shore.
“I’m 60 years old,” Gelinne says. “There was no way I could get him to shore.” Still, he was satisfied he’d gone the right way that day.
1. Why did Gelinne run outside without hesitation?| A．He had rescucing experience. | B．He wanted to offer help in time. |
| C．He needed more time to prepare. | D．He was amazed at what had happened. |
| A．He made a call to the police. | B．He got the pilot out of the water. |
| C．He asked the pilot to grasp the bow. | D．He picked up the pilot onto the shore. |
| A．generous | B．brave | C．curious | D．strict |
| A．Think twice before action. |
| B．One good turn deserves another. |
| C．It’s never too late to make things right. |
| D．One should always be ready to seize chances. |
Driving to Palm Springs two years ago, I met a snowstorm. A car suddenly changed the direction
3 . On a sunny afternoon, Anthony Perry stepped off the train at Chicago’s 69th Street station. The 20-year-old, who worked nights in a grocery store, was on his way to see his
On the platform, something unthinkable happened: a man fell over the edge and onto the electrified train tracks! As Perry and other horrified passengers watched, he shook uncontrollably as the
“Help him!” someone cried. “Please, someone!”
Perry couldn’t just stand there and
Perry soon reached down and grasped the victim’s wrist.
“Give him chest compressions!” yelled an old lady on the platform.
Perry was no expert, but for a few moments he worked on the man’s heart until the victim regained
The evening news reported the incident,
| A．manager | B．client | C．grandfather | D．aunt |
| A．current | B．oxygen | C．wave | D．blood |
| A．imagine | B．watch | C．shout | D．record |
| A．Hoping | B．Assuming | C．Complaining | D．Recalling |
| A．Instantly | B．Slightly | C．Normally | D．Surprisingly |
| A．train | B．crowds | C．platform | D．rails |
| A．strength | B．balance | C．consciousness | D．control |
| A．look ahead | B．take over | C．get around | D．keep away |
| A．providing | B．engaging | C．assisting | D．crediting |
| A．generous | B．grateful | C．courageous | D．faithful |
Sammy Armstrong was driving to his office when he
5 . It was rush hour on the morning of June1. Heather Santellano, 36, was driving her car on Houston Harte Frontage Road with her nine-year-old daughter and ten-year-old son in the back. Suddenly, a red pickup truck cut them off. Santellano turned the wheel hard to the right, sending the car running off the road and down an embankment (路堤) that ended in a drop-off after about 50 feet. If the car didn’t stop, it would go up into the air and slide onto the road some 20 feet below. Then came a bit of luck. As the car raced towards the edge, its undercarriage got stuck on the embankment, stopping it cold. The occupants, however, were far from safe. The car had come to rest on top of a retaining wall, literally teetering on the edge of disaster. One sudden move by anyone inside could send it over.
Jacob Rodriguez, a veteran, watched the scene unfold from the company where he works. Then, he and four other men ran to the car. They leaped onto the trunk to balance the weight as the terrified kids in the back seat watched.
Meanwhile, Julio Vasquez and his nephew, Marco Vasquez, were driving to their jobs at nearby Premier Automotive. Julio jumped out of the car to help while Marco went to the shop, grabbed a heavy-duty strap and returned to the dangling car. He tied the car to and F-350 truck that had been driven over by one of the other rescuers. With the car secured the group carefully opened the back doors and helped the children out.
But their departure shifted the car’s weight, causing it to lean forward. The men, still on the trunk, implored Santellano to jump into the back seat to re-balance the weight. She did and then inched out from the back door. Finally, the men carefully got off the trunk Everyone was safe. “Another foot,” Rodriguez told the media, “and this would be different story.”
1. What happened to Santellano’ scar after a red pickup truck cut it off?| A．It ran into the truck and was holed. |
| B．It rushed to the roadside and was broken. |
| C．It went into the air and fell sharply onto the road. |
| D．It slipped off the road and down an embankment. |
| A．Because everyone got off the car. |
| B．Because Santellano jumped into the back seat. |
| C．Because the helpers ran to the car and leaped onto the trunk. |
| D．Because the weight of the car was unbalanced when the children left. |
| A．Generous and outgoing. | B．Friendly and humble. |
| C．Helpful and professional. | D．Ambitious and optimistic. |
6 . Alexis, 17, sat quietly in the passenger seat of her dad’s car. She let her eyes lazily scan the landscape for wildlife. Then a deer came into view about 200 yards in front of them. “Dad, there’s a deer there!” Alexis said. It was a male deer with sharp antlers (角) on each side of its head.
As the car moved closer, Alexis saw that the deer’s head was bent toward the ground. Then she heard a scream and saw an arm fly up near the deer’s head. Alexis realized the deer was attacking a woman. Sue, a 44-year-old mother, had been out for her morning run. The deer followed her and edged closer. “I knew I was in trouble,” Sue says. She went to pick up a stick for self-defense, and the deer charged. It lifted her with its antlers and threw her into the air. Sue could feel blood flew down her leg.
Within seconds, the deer had pushed her off the road. When Alexis and her father pulled up, the deer was throwing Sue like a doll. Alexis looked into the woman’s terrified eyes, and before her father had even stopped the car, the teenager jumped quickly out of the car and ran toward the deer.
“I was kicking it to get its attention,” she says. Then her father, who had followed his daughter, pushed the deer away from the women.
Alexis helped Sue into the car, and then applied a piece of cloth to Sue’s injured leg. “We’re going to get you to a hospital,” Alexis said. Then she heard her father shout loudly. He had been knocked to the ground. Alexis took hold of a hammer from the car and ran to where her father lay on his back. She beat the deer’s head and neck, but the blows didn’t scare it away. “I was losing faith,” she says. “A couple more strikes, Alexis,” said her father. “You can do it.” Turning the hammer around, Alexis closed her eyes and beat the deer’s neck with all her strength. When she opened her eyes, the deer was running away. Alexis got in the driver’s seat and sped toward the nearest hospital.
After Sue was treated, she tearfully thanked her rescuers. “You expect a teenage girl to get on the phone and call for help,” she says, “not to beat up a deer.”
1. What was Sue doing when she was attacked by the deer?| A．She was driving home. | B．She was taking exercise. |
| C．She was resting on the road. | D．She was feeding wild animals. |
| A．She pushed the deer away. | B．She beat the deer with a hammer. |
| C．She drove the car to hit the deer. | D．She hit the deer with her feet. |
| A．A Woman Was Seriously Injured |
| B．A Girl Saved Her Father Successfully |
| C．A Dangerous Deer Attacked a Woman |
| D．A Teenager Rescued Others from a Deer Attack |
7 . As 17-year-old Norwood drove through St. Petersburg, Florida, last February, the laughter and chatter from the four teenage girls inside her car quickly gave way to screams. As they approached a crossroad, another car T-boned them, sending their black car sailing into the yard of a nearby house, coming to a stop only when it crashed into a tree.
As smoke rose from the other car, a bystander shouted, “It’s about to blow up! Get out!” .The impact had caved in Norwood’s driver’s side door, jamming it shut. Shaken, but still OK, she crawled out through the window. Along with two of her friends, who’d also managed to free themselves, she ran for her life.
But halfway down the street, she realized that her best friend, Simmons, wasn’t with them. Norwood ran back to the seriously damaged car and found Simmons lying in the back seat. “She wasn’t moving,” Norwood told the reporter. She threw open the back door and pulled her friend out, avoiding the broken glass as best she could. She dragged Simmons a few feet to safety and laid her on the ground. “I checked her pulse.” Nothing. “I put my head against her chest.” No sign of life. “That’s when I started CPR.”
If the accident had happened a few weeks earlier, she might not have known what to do. But Norwood, who wants to pursue a career in medicine, had earned her CPR certificate just the day before. Kneeling on the lawn and looking down at her dying friend, Norwood knew she had precious little time to practice what she’d learned.
She started pressing Simmons’s chest with her crossed fingers and breathing into her friend’s mouth in hopes of filling her lungs with the kiss of life. No response. And then, after the 30th press, Simmons began coughing and gasping for air. The CPR had worked!
Soon, an ambulance arrived and rushed Simmons to the hospital, where she received stitches(缝合) for a wound in her forehead. And then she heard how her best friend had saved her life. “I wasn’t shocked,” said Simmons. “She will always help any way she can.”
1. Norwood ran back to the damaged car just in order to ______.| A．practice CPR | B．help her friend out |
| C．open the back door | D．stop the explosion |
| A．Brave. | B．Creative. | C．Ambitious. | D．Optimistic. |
| A．Pursuit of dream | B．Breath of life |
| C．Recovery from injury | D．Loss of memory |
A group doctors,
9 . As 17-year-old Norwood drove through St. Petersburg, Florida, last February, the laughter and chatter from the four teenage girls inside her car quickly gave way to screams. As they approached a crossroad, another car T-boned them, sending their black car sailing into the yard of a nearby house, coming to a stop only when it crashed into a tree.
As smoke rose from the other car, a bystander shouted, “It’s about to blow up! Get out!” The impact had caved in Norwood’s driver’s side door, jamming it shut. Shaken, but still OK, she crawled out through the window. Along with two of her friends, who'd also managed to free themselves, she ran for her life.
But halfway down the street, she realized that her best friend, Simmons, wasn't with them. Norwood ran back to the seriously damaged car and found Simmons lying in the back seat. “She wasn't moving,” Norwood told the reporter. She threw open the back door and pulled her friend out, avoiding the broken glass as best she could. She dragged Simmons a few feet to safety and laid her on the ground. “I checked her pulse.”Nothing. “I put my head against her chest.” No sign of life. “That's when I started CPR.”
If the accident had happened a few weeks earlier, she might not have known what to do. But Norwood, who wants to pursue a career in medicine, had earned her CPR certificate just the day before. Kneeling on the lawn and looking down at her dying friend, Norwood knew she had precious little time to practice what she'd learned.
She started pressing Simmons's chest with her crossed fingers and breathing into her friend's mouth in hopes of filling her lungs with the kiss of life. No response. And then, after the 30th press, Simmons began coughing and gasping for air. The CPR had worked!
Soon, an ambulance arrived and rushed Simmons to the hospital, where she received stitches (缝合) for a wound in her forehead. And then she heard how her best friend had saved her life. “I wasn't shocked,” said Simmons. “She will always help any way she can."
1. On a day of last February, Norwood and her friends ________.| A．witnessed a crash |
| B．drove into a house |
| C．ran into an accident |
| D．got stuck in a traffic jam |
| A．practice CPR | B．help her friend out |
| C．open the back door | D．stop the explosion |
| A．Brave. | B．Creative. | C．Ambitious. | D．Optimistic. |
| A．Pursuit of dream | B．Breath of life |
| C．Recovery from injury | D．Loss of memory |
A Kentucky pizza driver, Ralph Letner, is a hero after he helped to evacuate people from a home
