3 . On Dec.26, Gelinne was at home. Suddenly, his daughter cried “Look!” Gelinne looked up just in time to see a small ________ a few hundred yards away, losing ________.

As the plane disappeared behind the trees, Gelinne, a former ________, realized it would land in the creek. ________, he ran down to the waterfront. The plane had slid to a stop on the broad, frozen creek, far from shore, sinking. The pilot was standing on the ________. Gelinne knew from his previous training that even a few minutes in the ________ water could kill the pilot.

Gelinne ________ the ice with his foot and decided not to take any chances walking on it. So he and his son, John, pulled two kayaks (皮划艇)out. “If it can float on the water, it can ________ on the ice,” Gelinne said.

The kayaks’ paddles (桨)proved too weak, so the ________ tried using sticks to push the boats along. When Gelinne reached the plane, the pilot was standing on a tail wing, surrounded by open water. Gelinne pushed his kayak off the ice and into the water, thinking, “What if he panics? What if I fall over?”

With his son nearby, Gelinne focused on keeping the pilot ________, joking, “Just ________ the kayak as if you were hugging your wife.” The pilot grabbed the kayak’s bow. Gelinne knew he had to get the pilot onto the shelf of ________ ice. But each time Gelinne tried, the kayak ________ the ice. He needed help.

Soon a police officer arrived and radioed for help. A boat appeared and ________ the pilot, Steve 71, and rushed him to safety, who would be treated for minor injuries.

The boat had arrived just in time, Gelinne recalled. “I’m 60 years old,” he says. “There was no way I could get him to shore.” Still, he was ________.

5 . Every Christmas, the firm I worked for raised money for disadvantaged kids. I’d dress up as Santa and _______ out with some colleagues to deliver gifts. Some years ago, we were returning and _______ right in front of the lights as they turned red.

I became aware of a car coming up behind us at speed. It ran _______ another vehicle and then they both came to a stop. I asked my workmates to _______ the police and fire department. In order not to put others at risk, I turned my truck sideways (向旁边) to block the traffic. Then I jumped out and ran to the cars. There was a loud bang and _______ shooting from one car’s front. As a volunteer firefighter, I knew the car’s battery had _______ and that there was no time to lose. Still wearing my costume, I _______ to tear the door open and walked the driver over to the safety of my truck.

Other than some cuts, he was fine. I left him with my workmates and went to check on the driver of the other car. _______ , he was also unhurt. Then I headed back to direct traffic around the burning vehicle _______ the emergency services arrived. The first two police officers on the ________ laughed as they jumped out of their car. “What’s happened here, Santa? OK, you probably have ________ to make,” one of them said. “We will ________ from here.”

Weeks after the accident, I agreed to meet the guy I’d ________ from the car in a local park, where he was sitting with a girl, his daughter, Amber. It ________ out that she had been estranged (疏远的) from her mum and dad, but ________ home after the accident. What’s more, she was the girlfriend of Jordan, my son.

7 . Peter, 60, loved his job as a bus driver. He had been one almost all his life, loving the little children who rode his bus daily. It made him feel much younger. His record was clean, without one accident, which made him a trustworthy driver.

However, Mr. Clark, Peter’s boss, was worried and thought that it was time for him to retire (退休). “You don’t have a choice here, Peter.” he said seriously. “We don’t want to invite any risk to the children.”

“But I have a perfect record,” reasoned Peter. “You know, for an elderly man like me, my job is the only thing that keeps me alive. I want to keep my job.”

“Would you take responsibility if something bad happened to those children?” Mr. Clark said.

Peter thought it over, and very reluctantly, he gave in to Mr. Clark’s request. Peter decided to retire a week later.

The day before his last day, Peter was dropping of the kids at his first stop when he looked out of the window and saw a lady who had passed out. He asked the kids not to leave the bus and got down to help the woman.

Just when he finished, he heard cries behind him. The children were looking out of the window and shouting. “Fire! Fire! Help!” “How could that have happened?” Peter was shaking in fear. With shaking hands, Peter dialed 911 and rushed to help the children. Covering himself with his jacket, Peter rushed into the burning car and took the children out one by one. Thankfully, the firefighters arrived soon and helped Peter, saving all students.

The next day, Peter found the whole school standing in front of his home. When Peter got close to them, Mr. Clark started clapping and everyone joined him. “You are a hero, Peter! You saved the lives of those young children.” he said. “You are the best driver. We hope you can keep the job!”

9 . After their business trip, John and Mary returned, eager to see their lovely children. As they drove into their hometown feeling glad to be back, they noticed ________, and they went off their usual route to see what it was. They found a ________ in flames. Mary said, “Oh, well, it isn’t our fire, let’s go home.”

But John ________ closer and screamed, “That home belongs to Fred Jones who works at the plant. He wouldn’t be ________ work yet, maybe there is something we could do.” “It has nothing to do with us,” Mary ________.

But John drove up and stopped and they were both horror-stricken to see the whole house in ________. A woman on the lawn was screaming, “The children! Get the children!” John ________ her by the shoulder saying, “Get a hold of yourself and tell us where the children are!” “In the ________,” cried the woman. “Down the hall and to the left.”

In spite of Mary’s disagreement, John ________ for the basement which was full of smoke and ________ hot. He found the door and two children. ________ he left he could hear some more sobbing. He ________ the two badly frightened children into ________ arms and started back asking how many more children were down there. They told him ________ more and Mary grasped his arm and screamed, “John! Don’t go back! It’s ________! That house will fall down any second.”

________ he ran into the smoke-filled hallway and at last he found both children. As he climbed up the ________ stairs, the thought went through his mind that there was something strangely ________ about the little bodies next to him, and at last when they came out into the ________ and fresh air, he found that he had just ________ his own children.

The baby-sitter had left them at this home while she did some shopping.