Some years ago, a ship headed for China. All the passengers boarded the ship, including an officer, his wife, their only child—a little boy five years old, and a large Newfoundland dog called Bobby. Everybody in the ship liked Bobby, he was so good - tempered and playful, but the boy was the dog’s constant playmate. He was a happy little guy, and the two are so fond of each other.

One evening while the little boy and the dog were playing together, the ship shook suddenly, and splash (扑通一声) went the child into the sea!

A cry was raised, “A hand over! A hand over!” and the brave dog jumped over the side of the ship, and swam towards the boy.

The little boy’s father, half crazy, jumped with others into a small boat; but it was too dark to see far before them. All gave the child up for lost.

At last they heard a splash on the left side of the ship. “Pull on, quick!” cried the father. The boat was turned, the men pulled with all their strength, and in a moment brave Bobby was alongside, holding up the child in his mouth! Joy! Joy! Joy!

The boat was rowed back to the ship; the half-drowned (差点淹死的) boy soon got better; the parents were delighted; and brave Bobby was caressed (抚摸) by all.

At the Cape-of-Good-Hope, the passengers were to be landed. The officer going to the boat, with his wife and child; but he told the sailors to hold the Newfoundland dog tight by the collar till the boat was some distance from the ship. “You will then see,” said he, “what a strong swimmer he is.”

Brave Bobby pulled again and again to get loose, but all failed; for they held him till the boat was near the shore. But as soon as the officer gave the signal, the dog was set free, and away he went into the sea to chase after (追赶) his masters.

Suddenly the poor animal set up a shrill howl, and threw himself out of the water.

Just at that moment the shark, which had got very close to the dog, turned on his back and opened his frightening mouth!

3 . Two students were eager to get off their bus at the end of the school day when their driver saved them from a_________tragic(悲惨的) accident in East Syracuse,New York,on February 3.

Jay Leo, who has been driving a school bus for 28 years, told Newsweek that he saw a_________car behind the bus as he was stopping at the children’s house with his red lights_________.

The car_________the open bus door and kept going. Leo stopped the children from going down the stairs by holding out his arm to stop them, saying, “Woah, woah.”

Afterward, the two students Lily and her younger brother Lincoln—_________walked off the bus when Leo saw the road was_________“That’s why you check your step when you get off the bus,” Leo said as they got off. “Check your steps, kids. Have a good_________.”

The children’s mom, Jennifer Blowey, saw the_________from her window. She thanked Leo for his quick_________, posting on the Internet: “__________, my children were not hurt but this could have ended so terribly ! Pay attention while driving and STOP for buses!”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the school bus is the safest means of__________on the road. However, Leo said that after nearly thirty years of driving a school bus, he knew that close calls happen “more than everybody thinks.” Students are often__________to get home and see their parents, he said, and no matter__________often he reminds them of safetysteps, they are__________to forget those steps in their rush from the bus to the house. “People need to pay more attention to the most valuable treasure we transport,” he said. “That’s a__________.”

5 . 200,000 miles from Earth, the crew (机组成员) of the third manned mission (飞行任务) to the Moon faced an astronaut’s worst nightmare: an explosion on the spacecraft. It’s what happened in the Oscar-winning film Apollo 13, but it’s also a true story.

The lift-off of Apollo 13 took place on 11th April 1970. Two days into the mission, the three-man crew were in big trouble. They had been carrying out routine checks when there was a loud bang. Warning lights were starting to flash. Looking out into space, they could see a trail of gas — the spacecraft was leaking (漏) oxygen. They sent out a short message to the scientists back on Earth: “Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” At first, they thought that a meteor (流星) had hit them, but they later found out that a short circuit (短路) had caused an oxygen container to explode. Whatever the cause, they knew there was no time to lose. Their electricity supply in the command module (指令舱) depended on that oxygen and pretty soon they would run out of both.

The only solution was to move into the lunar module — the section of the spacecraft that would have landed on the Moon. Now though, they were using it as a kind of lifeboat. With its own power supply, oxygen and water, the three men could survive in the lunar module and return to Earth. There was another problem though. In an enclosed space like a lunar module, the carbon dioxide the crew was breathing out was dangerous. The equipment to clear the air of carbon dioxide was only built for two people. Now it had to deal with three. Amazingly, the crew managed to build an adapter out of materials onboard to reduce the carbon dioxide to a safe level.

There was one final obstacle. The lunar module wasn’t strong enough to reenter Earth’s atmosphere so the crew had to go back into the damaged command module. To everyone’s relief, the crew of Apollo 13 arrived safely in the South Pacific Ocean on April 17th. Although the crew didn’t land on the Moon, NASA still considered the mission a success.

9 . Airplane accidents always attract attention because of the damage and loss of life they cause. Sometimes, however, an air crash is especially sad and remembered for many years afterwards.

On 6 February 1958, the Manchester United football team had played a match in Yugoslavia and were flying back to England. The plane stopped in Munich, Germany to get more fuel. There was a snowstorm. The pilot tried to take off twice without success. Finally, the airplane took off, but less than one minute later, it crashed into a fence and burst into flames. Twenty-three people of the forty-three passengers on the plane died, including eight football players.

What made this accident especially sad was that Manchester United was just beginning to become the great football team. With Matt Busby as their manager, the team was developing an exciting style of play and was enjoying a successful season. The average age of the players was just 22. Three of the players who died left young wives and children, and two others were planning to get married. These players’ lives were cut short, and we will never know how great they could have been.

Several months after the crash, someone wrote a song ‘Flowers of Manchester’ in honour of those who lost their lives. In 1960, a memorial was placed on the wall of Old Trafford, Manchester United’s stadium. On the memorial are the names of the players who died and a picture of a football field. Every year, on the date of the accident, hundreds of fans gather together at the memorial to remember the lost team members. In 2000, a new tradition started when Manchester United fan Gez Mason performed ‘Flowers of Manchester’ before a match at Old Trafford. That year, he sang by himself, but the next year, and every year since then, on the day of a match closest to the anniversary, hundreds of fans gather together to sing this song.