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!

3 . 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.