1 . Skydiving has always held a fascination for me. Despite the fear, there is something that _______ me to it. It is an adventure, making me feel _______ but thrilled, with the world opening up before me in mere seconds.

November 24, 2021, a day perfect for my solo skydiving — sunny, with little wind.

After going through safety rules with my coach, I _______ with faith. As I flew through the air, the adrenaline (肾上腺素) ran through my veins.

However, after 30 seconds, I realized I was lower than anticipated. Urgently, without stabilizing my body position, I _______ to pull my parachute, only to have it wrap around my leg. I tried to untie the lines, but my efforts were _______.

With the ground getting closer, I prepared to _______. As an optimist, I didn’t think it would be destructive. _______, the automatic reserve (备用) parachute opened. I gained some control, directing myself toward grass, which I hoped would _______ a softer landing.

The _______ turned out far from gentle. I lay in ________ pain, screaming for help. The skydiving club members arrived quickly but they didn’t dare do anything due to the risk of ________ my injuries. Soon, the air ambulance crew came with ________, offering temporary relief.

Severe injuries cast ________ on my future. No one could guarantee if I would walk again. Sticking to my determination, remarkably, I took my first steps in three months.

My enthusiasm for skydiving ________ after that horrifying experience. As I embark on another journey later on, I will carry with me the undefeated ________ that pushed me to challenge my limits.

3 . On Dec.26, Gelinne, 60, was gazing out the back windows of his home in Edgewater, Maryland, at frozen Beards Creek. That’s when Gelinne’s daughter, Aimee DeMayo,_______ the plane Piper Cherokee.

“Look!” she cried. Gelinne looked up just in time to see a small aircraft a few hundred yards away, losing altitude. As the plane _______ behind the trees, Gelinne, a former Navy commander and current cybersecurity expert, realized it was going to land in the creek. He didn’t _______ and ran down to the waterfront. The plane had crashed to the broad, frozen creek, far from _______. It was now _______. The pilot was standing on the wing.

Gelinne tested the _______ with his foot and decided not to take any chances walking on it. So he and his son, John Jr.,37, pulled two kayaks (皮划艇) out from under their back deck. The two men set off, taking their boats across the ice. It was _______ work. When Gelinne reached the plane, it had broken through the ice; only its tail was _______ . The pilot was standing on a tail wing, submerged up to his chest, _______ by open water. Gelinne ________ his kayak off the ice and into the water, paddling to ward the pilot. Then the pilot ________ the kayak’s bow. Now the two men were floating together, and Gelinne knew he had to get the pilot out of the water and up onto the shelf of ________ ice behind him before the man lost too much body heat. He attempted to keep the pilot calm, saying ________, “Just hang on to the boat as if you were holding your wife.” But each time Gelinne tried to land atop the ice shelf, the kayak broke through. He needed other men’s help.

By now a police officer had arrived and radioed for help. A boat from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources appeared, breaking through ice as it arrived. It ________ the pilot, Steve Couchman, 71, and delivered him to safety. Later the boat returned to help Gelinne, now exhausted, to shore.

The cavalry had arrived just in time, Gelinne recalled. “I’m 60 years old. There was no way I could get him to shore.” Still, he was ________ he’d done the right thing that day.

4 . Last summer, my fiance Eugeniu and I decided to drive to Provence for a holiday. The weather was beautiful, but then, about 700km into the journey, it suddenly _______. I’d never seen the sky go so dark; the rain was heavy. We _______ a tunnel and when we came out onto a _______, the visibility was so bad that we could hardly see a meter in front of us.

_______, we had the odd sensation that the car was lifting at the front. The next second, we were _______ into nothing. On the way down, Icould hear rock pieces hitting the car and my heart pounding to my chest. After that, there was _______

Our car ended up landing on a road below the bridge. We were still _______, but I was in shock. I hadn’t _______ what was happening and was still thinking about my holiday. I had no idea the bridge had _______ — thought it might have been an earthquake.

At first we shouted, but then stopped because we didn’t want to lose ________ and pass out. We tried calling an ambulance, but there was no ________ under the rock pieces. My leg was bleeding and I was too tense — because of the ________ I didn’t feel pain. My fiancé had broken his neck. Rescue workers eventually found us while saving a man whose van was ________ from another section of the bridge above us. We’d been down there for four hours by the time we were pulled out.

It was only afterwards in the hospital that I realized the ________ of the tragedy — 43 people had died. Before, we had focused on earning money. When we went on this holiday, I had lovely clothes and shoes in my suitcase, and they were all buried under the ruin. Maybe that was a sign that these things don’t really ________.