1 . A man in Elkhorn City, Kentucky is being called a “local hero” after he saved a driver from a burning car.

Justin Quesenberry was eating at home when he heard a loud ______ not far away. He rushed out, only to find a car, near the edge of a hillside, was on fire.

Neighbors gathered ______ in no time. They called 911 and waited for fire engines to come ______. Due to the smoke and heat, the crowd failed to ______ the car. Quesenberry predicted there was little possibility that the driver could ______.

Once the car windows were broken, some air made its way through the front seat, showing the driver was still alive. “You are on fire! Get out of the car!” Quesenberry ______. But the driver didn’t have any ______ and he just fell down in the driver seat. Without ______, Quesenberry fought through the fire and climbed inside the car. He ______ to pull the driver out of the driver seat ______.

Moments later, the fire grew brighter and the smoke became darker before the fire department got to the scene to ______ the fire.

If Quesenberry got ______ and let fear take him over, every second was a great ______ to the driver’s life.

The driver was sent to the ______ immediately, and the officials say that he is now ______ from the injury.

2 . Rescue teams desperately sought survivors on August 6th after two boats carrying migrants sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa.

In the immediate aftermath of the boats’ loss on August 5th, Italy’s coastguard said it had rescued 57 people and recovered two dead bodies— those of a woman from Ivory Coast and her 1-year-old child. Local media reported on Sunday that at least 30 people remained missing and were feared dead.

Italy’s Ansa news agency said survivors described how the two boats carrying people trying to illegally enter the European Union had set off from the Tunisian port of Sfax on Saturday. One boat was thought to have had 48 people on board and the other 42. Most were reportedly from sub-Saharan Africa.

Reuters said the coastguard rescued the survivors from the water about 46 kilometers southwest of Lampedusa, which is about halfway between the North African nation of Tunisia and the larger Italian island of Sicily. The island has become a major destination for migrants from Africa wanting to enter the EU and claim asylum (政治避难) .

Italy’s interior ministry said 92, 000 people have arrived in Italy irregularly by sea so far this year to apply for asylum in the EU. During the same period last year, 42, 600 made the very dangerous journey.

The ministry said at least 2, 000 migrants have turned up on the island of Lampedusa in the past few days alone. Most had been rescued by the coastguard and by various charities from small boats in the Mediterranean Sea.

The International Organization for Migration, or IOM, which is the United Nations’ migration agency, said on Sunday both boats that sank on Saturday had been hit by major storms.

Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman for the IOM, told the Agence France-Presse news agency an official examination had been launched into the circumstances surrounding the loss of the boats. He said the probe will be conducted from the town of Agrigento, on the island of Sicily. “Whoever allowed them, or forced them, to leave with this sea is equal to a mad criminal,” he said. “Rough seas are forecast for the next few days. Let’s hope they stop. It’s sending them to slaughter (屠杀) with this sea.”

Emanuele Ricifari, the chief of police in Agrigento, said the people-traffickers (人贩子) would surely have known rough seas were expected.

3 . Nicole Salgado and and her family woke up on New Year’s Day to panic knocking at the front door of their home in Avodale, Arizona. Her house was on fire, but she didn’t know it. “We were all ________,” Salgado said. “Then all of a sudden around 7:30 in the morning, we heard banging on our door and our doorbell was ________. And we kind of got ________.”

Salgado, a mother of four, ran to ________ the kids while her husband hurried to the front door. There, they found their next-door neighbour, Carolyn Palisch, urging the family to leave the house. He opened the door and their neighbour Carolyn said their house was on fire and told them to leave. Salgado ________ grabbed her kids and ________ from the burning home. No one was wearing socks or shoes ________ her oldest child.

Making sure that everyone was out, they realized the full extent of it. They were just in ________ as they watched their home burn. According to Salgado, minutes after they escaped, the ________ collapsed and smoke filled the inside of their home. ________ said if the family had still been sleeping when the roof fell down, they would have breathed the smoke and immediately ________.

“We are so grateful to just be ________,” Salgado wrote in a post to social media. The doorbell camera caught the moment when Palisch saved their lives. Salgado said the family decided to post the video to share with the world what Palisch did for them. The video has now been ________ almost 7 million times on Tiktok.

In the footage (一段镜头), Palisch is seen yelling outside the Salgado family’s door, surrounded by smoke and ________. She ________ to knock at the door loudly and repeatedly until she is able to help the family escape. “If it weren’t for her, it would be a totally different story,” said Salgado. “We feel so thankful to her. She saved all of us.”

6 . NEW DELHI—Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday inspected the bridge collapse site in the western state of Gujarat, where more than 100 people were killed, officials said. Ahead of the visit, Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Monday night during which he was briefed about rescue efforts.

The century-old British-era pedestrian suspension bridge (吊桥) collapsed on Sunday evening, with hundreds of people falling into Machchhu River in Morbi town, about 241 km west of the capital city, Gandhinagar. Reports said that 177 people were rescued and over 100 people were undergoing treatment at the Morbi civil hospital.

Soon after the bridge visit, Modi reached the civil hospital in Morbi to meet the injured. The prime minister was seen asking the survivors about their health. According to officials, search and rescue operations, carried out by teams of the State Disaster Response Force and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Indian navy, the Indian air force and the Indian army, were called off (取消) on Monday evening and began again on Tuesday morning. Officials said Modi also met with those involved in rescue and relief operations.

The local government of Gujarat has already ordered an investigation into the deadly collapse of the bridge. The bridge is a popular tourist attraction in the area. It was shut for renovation (整修) for seven months and was open for the public on Oct 26, the Gujarati New Year.

Reports said that around 500 people, much beyond its capacity, were on the suspension bridge at the time when it crashed into the river.

Police have arrested nine people including officials of Oreva, the company that carried out the repair work, ticket sellers and security men. However, the owners of the company have not been arrested. Oreva group is actually a Gujarat-based watchmaker company. Reports said that the watchmaker reportedly outsourced (转包) the “technical aspect of the renovation” to a smaller construction company, Devprakash Solutions.

Oreva has been accused of violating multiple safety rules, leading to the huge tragedy just four days after the bridge reopened to the public. Questions have been raised over why Oreva with no experience in construction was given responsibility for maintaining a bridge.

At least 151 people were killed and 82 others were injured in a stampede (踩踏) accident on October 29th in Itaewon, a district of the Republic of Korea’s capital Seoul, during a Halloween gathering, local authorities said    1     the early morning of October 30th.

Many victims are largely in their    2    (twenty). About twenty-six foreign nationals     3    (be) among the dead. The incident is believed to have happened near a narrow alley in the district. Several Halloween gatherings took place in Itaewon, and the police estimated that     4    (rough) 100, 000 people had participated in the Halloween parties in the area,     5    is known for its nightclubs. More than 140 first-aid vehicles    6    (send) to rescue the injured.     7     (hold) two emergency meetings, the Republic of Korea’s President ordered officials    8    (arrange) enough hospital beds for the injured and establish an accident management headquarters, and properly deal with the aftermath (后果),    9    (include) identifying the dead and investigating the cause of the accident. According to some local media, the accident occurred when some people were rushing to a bar where an unidentified celebrity visited,     10    it is not confirmed yet. The exact cause of it is under investigation.

8 . As Rena was driving home in the rain. “I can hardly see!” She worried. Just a few miles more, an electrical pole in front of her car was getting bigger and bigger. The car shot forward. Crash! Rena felt the force tear her from the seat. She felt a sharp pain in her lap. “I went through the windshield but I’m alive!” She realized.

Then she heard a sharp crack, looked up and saw the pole had broken in half and was plunging (下落) toward her! But luckily, the pole landed three feet from her head. The broken pole had torn down electrical wires and they were dangling (悬垂) just inches away from her, trapping her in between them! “An electric current... water... if those cables touch me, I’m dead!”

Less than a mile away, New York State highway officer Juan Diaz saw a flash in the sky followed by a loud crack. “Lightning must have hit,” he thought turning his car around. A few minutes later, he saw Rena’s crumpled car. “I’ve got to help this young woman!”

“Are those footsteps?” Rena thought, hope rising as she lay there. Through the cocoon of wires, she saw a blue uniform. “Please help me!” she cried weakly. “Don’t move!” Diaz shouted, “I’m going to get you out!” But how? He worried.

Suddenly, the base of the pole burst into flames! Diaz felt a chill of fear. He knew it carried thousands of volts. He thought of his wife and five-year-old son at home. “But I can’t leave her here,” he thought. In a flash he swallowed his fear and stepped toward Rena. As he did, the powerful current stung his feet. But he didn’t stop.

At that moment, one of the wires jumped, leaving a three-foot opening in the cables around Rena. “Maybe I can drag her through there. It’s the only chance we have.” Cables hissed (发出嘶嘶声) inches from his feet, but Diaz just kept on walking, four steps, then five... finally he was by her side.

“Don’t worry,” he said gently, “We’ll make it.” Diaz grabbed Rena’s ankles, then dragged her through the narrow opening in the tangle of wires. “We’re almost there,” he said over and over. The sureness of his voice checked Rena’s terror.

Suddenly, Diaz took her up in his arms and ran 20 feet more, taking shelter behind the patrol car. “We did it!” he shouted. Just then the transformer exploded, engulfing the area in flames. They both realized: We didn’t have a second to spare.