1 . 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.

2 . 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 ________.

A great fire has destroyed the old cathedral (大教堂) of Notre Dame (巴黎圣母院) in Paris, one of France’ s     1    (famous) landmarks.

Thousands of people gathered in the streets around the cathedral, watching the flames in silence. Some of them could be seen crying. Watching such a famous old building     2    (destroy) is extremely     3     (shock) to any French person.

No other site represents France like Notre Dame Cathedral,     4     receives almost 13 million visitors each year, more than the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower, is little more than a century old while Notre Dame Cathedral     5     (stand) tall above Paris since the 1200s. It has given     6     (it) name to one of the country’s literary masterpieces. Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (《钟楼怪人》) is known     7    the French simply as Notre Dame de Paris.

The three large rose windows have been destroyed     8     the fire. Fortunately, the main structure,     9    (include) the two bell towers, has been saved. Also the most     10    (value) cultural relics have survived.

6 . Last year in a cross-country race in Sanqing Mountain, Gentian left everybody far behind, but unexpectedly he felt a sharp pain and saw that there were teeth marks and blood on his calf (腿肚子).    1    But he didn't know that it was a poisonous snake called ''five-step snake'' in Chinese that bit him.

Deep in the mountain, with no phone, Gentian kept running with the injury on his leg for 15 minutes and finally met a local farmer.    2    He happened to know about herbs and medicine. Immediately, he used some herbal medicine to deal with it. Later, the organizing committee's ambulance rushed to take him to the local hospital.

What should you do if you encounter a snake while outside? Remember: first of all, do not excite it. Data show that people who excite snakes are easily bitten.    3    Second, avoid the places where snakes like to stay. Snakes like to bathe in the sun during the day, and usually stay on gravel and cliff edges. Third, if you happen to see a snake crossing through the road, you must stop and wait for it to pass.

    4    First, sit down and try to avoid the acceleration of blood circulation. Then tie the limb 10-30cm above the wound with a strong rope, and curitopenabout1cm above the wound. The cut should be 1-2cm wide, and squeeze blood from top to bottom. Generally, snakebites occur at the ankle.     5     Also, make sure to call the ambulance ASAP.

7 . Every Christmas,the firm I worked for raised money for disadvantaged kids in the area,and every Christmas I'd drive out with colleagues to deliver gifts.Some years ago,   we were returning to work and stopped at an intersection as the lights turned red.

We were in the middle lane and I became aware of an SUV(越野车）coming up behind us at speed;at the last moment,it switched to the righthand lane and carried straight on past the red light into traffic moving west to east.It crashed into another vehicle,causing it to veer off(转向），then they both skidded to a stop.

There was a loud"Bang"and flames leapt from the SUV 's front.I had been a volunteer firefighter for many years and had attended automobile accidents before.As the flames grew fiercer,I knew the car's battery had exploded and that there was no time to lose.I dashed round to the passenger side.The door was locked,but by pulling on the window frame,I managed to tear it open.I leaned in,unbuckled the driver's belt and pulled him across to the passenger side.

Other than some cuts,he was fine.I left him with my workmates and went to check on the driver of the other car,who was also unhurt.Then I headed back to the intersection, where I directed traffic around the burning vehicle until the emergency services arrived.

On the way back to work,I said to my colleagues:"What you saw,keep it under your hats,OK?"But an hour later I had a call from a friend on a local TV station."Brad,"he said,"I have a picture here that someone's sent in of you helping out at a traffic accident."

I hoped that would be the end f it,but the story was to have an unexpected ending. A couple of weeks after the accident,I agreed to a televised reunion with Michael Walker, the guy I'd pulled from the car.He thanked me,and then he introduced me to his daughter, Amber.It turned out she had been separated from her mum and dad,but returned home after the accident.Knowing this family had been reunited was greatly comforting to me-a real Christmas gift.