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 . “Fire! Fire! ” What terrible words to hear when I _______ in a strange house in the middle of the night! It was a large, _______ house — the sort that burns easily — and my room was on the top floor. I jumped out of bed, opened the door and stepped out into the passage. It was full of _______.

I began to _______, but as I was still only half awake, instead of going towards the stairs I went in the opposite direction. The smoke grew thicker and I found it hard to _______. The floor became _______ under my feet. I ran into another room and tried to reach the window for fresh air. Suddenly, one of my feet got caught in something _______ and I fell down. The thing I had fallen over felt like a package of clothes, and I picked it up to protect my _______ from the smoke and heat. Just then the floor broke under me and I fell through to the floor below with pieces of _______ wood all around me.

__________, there was a doorway in front, so I put the package over my face and ran. My feet were terribly burned, but I __________. As I reached the cold air outside, my package of clothes gave a __________. I nearly dropped it in my surprise. Then I saw there were many people in the street. A woman screamed (尖叫) as she saw me and came running __________.

“My baby! My baby! ”she cried. Those people cheered loudly __________ she took the smoke­blackened package out of my arms. I almost failed to see who she was — my boss's wife. I had __________ her baby, and I became a hero!

4 . It was 10:15 p.m. when Esposito arrived at the train station. She jumped into her Honda and began her_______ home. Out of nowhere an unexpected car _______ crashed into Esposito’s, pushing her backward onto the tracks. She got _______ in her vehicle, shocked by the impact.

As it happened, Dipinto, a volunteer _______ , was going to bed. He was crawling under the _______ when he heard the crash of metal on metal coming from outside. Unhesitatingly, he grabbed a _______ and rushed out the door still in pajamas(睡衣).“Any firefighter would have done so. We’re always on _______.” He explained later.

The first car he _______ 500 feet from his front yard was the one that had hit Esposito’s.

Soon, by the light of his flashlight, he _______Esposito' s car lying messily on the tracks. Then he heard a(n) __________ sound breaking through the sky: the bells signaling a(n) __________ train. "I could see the headlight of the train." He __________. DiPinto, an experienced rescuer, immediately bent to __________ Esposito’ s side window violently. "Where am I?" Esposito voiced weakly with her __________ unfocused.

“You' re suffering a car crash and __________ pulling out at once, madam.” DiPinto __________. He struggled against the door handle, but the door was __________ shut. The train loaded with oil, at 65 miles per hour, was __________ near. DiPinto turned to the passenger side and threw open the door. He __________ the airbags, grabbed Esposito' s arms, and pulled her toward him across the passenger seat before speed-walking her to __________. Within six seconds, the train ran over Esposito’s car.

“It was like a Hollywood movie.” the reporter joked.

5 . Survival in the Andes

On October 13, 1972, a small plane flying to Chile accidentally crashed into a mountain in the Andes. How some of the passengers __ to live is one of the greatest survival stories ever told.

The survivors   ___ inside the remains(残骸)of the plane, using seat covers for blankets, and waited for a ___   that never came. Days turned into weeks. It was urgent to find a way to __ . Three of the passengers— Canessa, Parrado, and Vizintin—volunteered to ____ through the mountains to search for help. When they left, each man wore similar clothes: three pairs of socks, a plastic bag around each foot to ___ the water out, boots, four pairs of trousers, and four sweaters. The three men ____that they would survive and bring back help.

For part of the first day, they were glad to make some __   . But as the land and weather changed, climbing became ___ . After several days, they reached what they thought was the top. They had ___ this moment for days. On the other side of the top, they hoped, would be a __ leading down and out of the mountains. However, they saw the same snow–covered tops. All hope wasn’t ___. Although they were still in the middle of the mountains, Parrado ___two low tops far away that didn’t have snow. If they could get there, they would be out of the Andes.

Within the following days they walked toward the two low tops. Snow___ completely , and flowers were everywhere . “This is the valley,” Canessa said.     “This is the way___ .” Then things of humanity started to appear—a few cans on the ground, and some farm animals in a field. By December 21, the extremely __ men made it to the town of   Los Maitenes, and a rescue team was sent immediately to __ for the survivors who were still high in the Andes.

Finally all of the remaining survivors were __. Their terrible __ was over. They had made it out— ___.

6 . The back door of the ambulance (救护车) was suddenly shut and the driver ran to the front, jumped into his seat, and started the engine. Inside were the _______ parents, Mr. and Mrs. Green, the mother holding their baby daughter Ally. The little girl had ________ food stuck in her throat(喉咙) and could hardly breathe.

The driver, Mr. White, _____ his siren (报警器) and flashing light, and started speeding towards the nearest hospital, fighting against ________. The cars ahead of him pulled out of the way as he drove through the ________. From the back of the ________ the parents were shouting at him to _____, since Ally had almost _________ breathing. In front of him he saw some traffic lights, with the red “STOP” light shining. Mr. White knew that he had no time to _________, so he drove straight past the traffic lights, looking _________ his left and right as he did so.

Coming towards him from his right was a taxi. The driver had the windows ______, since the car was air-conditioned(空调开放的), and he was playing his radio. He did not _______the ambulance. The lights were green, so he drove straight ________ into the path of the ambulance.   Mr. White tried to stop his ambulance but it was too late. It hit the taxi. Everybody was shaken but no one was hurt. Mr. White looked to see _________Ally was. He was astonished to see relief (宽慰) instead of _______on the faces of the parents.

“Look!” cried Mrs. Green. “She is ______ again.”

“It must have been the _______.” said her husband. “It ______ the food out of her throat.” The baby’s color was turning to normal(正常的), and she was crying in a loud but healthy ____ . They were all joyful, and quite forgot about the accident, the taxi, and the lines of _______ all around them.

7 . A Hero in Pajamas

It was late, about 10:15 pm when Janice Esposito jumped into her car and began the 20-minute drive home to her husband and seven-year-old son. Out of nowhere, a car ______ hers on one side, pushing her backward some 100 feet onto the railroad ______. She sat in the car, injured and ______ by the impact.

Pete DiPinto, a volunteer firefighter and ______ teacher, was getting ready for ______ when he heard the loud noise and ______ glass coming from not far outside his bedroom window. Without ______, DiPinto, 64, ran out of the door with his pajamas (睡衣) on. “Any firefighter would have done what I did,” he said later. “We’re always on ______.”

The first car he came upon was the one that had hit Esposito. Once DiPinto ______ the driver was OK, he looked around and spotted Esposito’s car ______ the railroad tracks. Suddenly he heard a loud roar signaling an on­coming ______. He even saw the headlight of the train. DiPinto ran to Esposito’s car and knocked ______ on the driver’s side window. But she just looked at him, her ______ unfocused.

“Honey, you’re on the railroad tracks,” DiPinto ______. “We have to get you off right now!” He pulled on the handle, but the door was out of ______ and couldn’t open. The train, traveling at 65 miles per hour, was ______ toward them. DiPinto ran to the passenger side and opened the door. He ______ the airbags, seized her arms, and pulled her toward him across the passenger seat until he could help her out and walked her to ______. Within six seconds, the train ______ into the car. “It was like a Hollywood movie,” DiPinto said.

The next morning, a report of CBS said, “Last night, the ______ arrived in pajamas, not in a fire truck.”

8 . I left early to avoid the traffic, driving north from London. The motorway was nearly ____. The sun was coming up when I saw ____ up ahead.

My first thought was that it was something ____ — burning straws, perhaps. As I got nearer, I saw that it was a car that had ____ a tree and was on fire; the driver was still at the wheel. Flames were ____ of the broken front of the car. The inside was so full of smoke that it was almost impossible to see ____. But I could make out the driver. I stopped as quickly as I could and tried to open the door but ____. I took out the extinguisher on my car and ____ to open it, but its parts came away (脱落), and it was ____.

By now, another driver had also stopped. We knocked at the door ____, but couldn’t open it. Then, from a tiny 　　____ in the window, some fingers ____ towards us. The other driver used the extinguisher to ____ the glass around the “gap”. We ran into the smoke, pulled the driver out through the window and led him to ____. His clothes were on fire and smoking, but he was ____.

A police officer on his way to work stopped a few minutes after us and ____ the emergency services by phone. I felt reassured that the situation was under ____. After it seemed there was ____ more I could do, I went back to my car and drove to the next service — Though I felt ____ that the driver was rescued finally, I was still shaking, so I needed a cup of tea to help make myself ____.