4 . UPS deliveryman Ryan Arens was making his rounds near a pond, when he heard a strange sound. It was December, and about 15 feet from the frozen bank was the _________ of that sound — a brown-and-white wire-haired hound（猎犬）had fallen through the thin layer of ice. An elderly man was already on the _________, determined to save her. He was trying to _________ the pond and was striking the ice with a rock to create a(n) _________ to the dog, but seemed to be struggling.

Arens, 44, thought he _________ a better chance. “Animals are my weakness,” he said, explaining _________ he chose to take off his overcoat, even though the temperature was minus 15 and _________ the rescue task.

After breaking the ice using the man’s rock, Arens jumped into the icy water. He surfaced in time to see the dog going under. Arens swam about five feet toward the dog, grabbed hold of her collar, and _________ her out of the water and onto the ice. He then put the dog into the boat and slid it back to the bank, where _________ bystanders carried the dog to the home of the rowboat’s owner, a retired vet. __________ in the house himself, Arens jumped into a warm shower with the dog. A few more minutes in the pond, the vet told Arens, and the dog would have likely __________.

The next day, Arens was again making his __________ in the neighborhood when the dog’s owner came __________ to thank him for saving Sadie. “Would you like to meet her?” he asked. Then he opened the door of his pickup, and Sadie jumped out. She went __________ toward Arens, leaping around him and kissing him. Arens said that special delivery was the __________ of his UPS career.

6 . When I was 12, I went on a 720-mile cycling trip with my brother and father. Before the trip, we ____ for the journey by having smaller rides. We were all ____ cyclists. When setting out, I ____for an adventure and wanted to see beautiful sights. But what I hadn’t expected was that trouble was ____ the corner.

One night, we were getting to a campsite and cycling down a large hill with ____ to take a rest from ____ up a mountain with aching legs. Suddenly, my brother’s front tyre slipped and he ____ into the middle of the road. My father and I stopped, asking if he was okay. Obviously, he was not hurt too much, but his leg was ____ the bike frame. From the top of the hill, we saw a light coming. Realizing a car was speeding, my father and I were in ____.

Instinctively, I rushed out in front of my brother in the middle of the road, and ____my hands wildly. The car rushed forward, but abruptly turned ____, bypassing my brother and me. My brother was saved from being run over by the car.

My father said I was ____ brave then, but for some reason, I didn’t think I was ____ my life because it seemed like the only thing to do. And I believe that in times of danger we should do what we know is right rather than consider ____ carefully. If I had thought about what I was doing that night, my brother might have been ____from this world.

8 . Sixteen-year-old Corion Evans made a daring rescue to save three teenage girls. The 16-year-old was hanging out with two_______in a parking area near the Pascagoula River in July when a_______with three teenage girls inside propelled off a boat ramp (斜坡) and into the river. It came to rest some 20 feet from land, then sank. Actually, the driver had_______followed wrong directions from her GPS.

It was around 2:30 a.m. by the time Evans and brothers Karon and Caleb got to the river’s _______. In the darkness, they could barely_______the girls holding onto the roof,the only part of the car still,_______, above water. But they could hear_______.

Evans took off his shirt and_______,threw his phone down, then_______into the water, a river he knew alligators (短吻鳄) called home. He helped the first girl he saw and, ________ her head above water, led her ashore.

Just then, Police Officer Garry Mercer________. He dived into the river to help another of the   ________. But halfway back to shore, she ________and went underwater, pulling Mercer down with her.

Evans jumped back in the water and helped them get to the shore until they could stand. “If he hadn’t been there, who knows?” Mercer told the Washington Post.

There was still one girl in the water. Cora Watson, 19, could not swim. She was gulping (吞) water，________, struggling to stay afloat. “I heard Cora screaming ‘Help!’ and I thought she was done for,” Caleb told WLOX in Biloxi. Then, a jolt. “Corion had grabbed her.” The three girls and Officer Mercer were taken to the hospital and released. They’re alive because Corion Evans ________ his life to save them.

9 . Where probably are the speakers?

10 . When the Titanic sank, approximately 1, 509 of its 2214 passengers passed away. A majority of them died because the ship carried lifeboats for only half of the people on board. By all accounts, most died either by drowning or of hypothermia, since the temperature of the water was -2° C (28° F), in which death occurs in about fifteen minutes. The survival rate for men was 19%, for women 72%, and for children, 50%. Most survivors were first class passengers, followed by second class, and finally third class. Six of the seven children in first class survived, and all of the children in second class survived, but only about 31 percent were saved in third class.

In short, the available evidence from the Titanic disaster suggests that we often care for others, even at some cost to ourselves. But why? Do we in fact psychologically tend to be altruistical? Or are we blank slates (白板) on which culture and education draws our character, for better or worse? The survival rates of women and children appear to support the former explanation; but the culturally prejudiced explanations of those facts appear to support the latter. Is there a way to judge between them?

The blank slate theory of human nature is related to the seventeenth-century English philosopher, John Locke. He argued that the mind should be considered as a blank sheet of paper until it is furnished by experience, which varies from person to person. Locke’s theory was a particularly effective way to weaken the influence of the church and of king’s right to rule, both of which were held to be self-evidently true.

The belief of the blank slate has proved to be greatly influential, extending far beyond the field of political theory. The social sciences generally have tried to explain human behavior as a product of the socialization of children by culture and education.

Which group has the highest survival rate in the Titanic accident?