1 . Barbara was driving her six-year-old son, Ben, to his piano lesson. They were late, and Barbara was beginning to think she should have called it off. Barbara, a nurse at the local hospital, was very tired at that moment. The coldest season and the terrible weather just brought them more difficulties.

“Mum!” Ben cried suddenly. “Look!” Just ahead, a car had lost control on the icy road and crashed（猛撞）into a telephone pole. Barbara stopped her car quickly and opened the door. She said to Ben, “Dear, promise me you'll stay in the car!” “I will, Mum,” Ben said as his mum ran. She was a nurse-she might be able to help the unlucky people. It was terrible. Two girls aged about 18 were in the car. One was dead and the other was still breathing. Barbara quickly cleaned the wounds in the driver's head. Ben called for help on his mum's phone. Soon an ambulance came. “Good job, Barbara, you've saved her life,” one doctor said as he examined the driver's wounds. Barbara walked back to her car with a feeling of sadness, especially for the family of the girl who had died. Later, Barbara was able to meet the family of the driver. They expressed their thanks to Barbara for the help she had provided.

2 . Three lifeguards were hailed as (被誉为) heroes last night after they rescued dozens of teenagers from the sea. The quick action and bravery of the lifeguards saved several of the youngsters from certain death.

The group of thirty-six youngsters were on an outdoor activity holiday in West Wales. On Saturday afternoon, the group, accompanied by four adults, went down to the sea. Some of them did not know how to swim and had never seen the sea before the trip. They were taking part in an exercise to help build confidence and teamwork. As part of the exercise they were walking backwards into the sea. At the time the tide (海潮) was out and the water was not deep. The tide began to come in and the group started walking back to dry land. Suddenly the sandbank underneath them collapsed (坍塌) and the sea flooded in. Some of the teenagers were soon in dangerous waters.

Fortunately, three lifeguards were nearby and came to the rescue. David Miller, manager for the local coastguard, said that although the sea was fairly shallow, it was still very dangerous in that sea. “It is just fortunate that the brave lifeguards were quickly on the scene and lucky that lives were not lost,” he added.

5 . Chase Poust is a 7-year-old boy. He and his dad Steven, and his 4-year-old sister, Abigail were out for a family boating trip on Florida’s St. Johns River near Mandarin Point. Chase and Abigail were swimming at the back end of the anchored boat while Steven was on deck (甲板) fishing.

It was an idyllic (悠闲的) outing — until a strong wave came. It was too strong for Abigail to hold onto the boat. Instantly realizing his sister would be swept away, Chase let go of the boat as well to try and reach her.

Steven jumped into the water but after realizing he couldn’t keep up with both kids, he was faced with a hard decision. “I told them I loved them because I wasn’t sure what’s going to happen,” Steven told News-4 JAX. “I tried to stick with both of them. I wore myself out. She drifted away from me.”

Directing Chase to swim to shore for help, Steven stayed behind, keeping as close as he could to Abigail as the life-vest that was keeping her above the waves floated further and further from his reach.

It was a tough go for the 7-year-old, but rather than attempting to swim all out, Chase wisely paced himself. Stopping to float or dog paddle when he was tired, he’d rest and then set off again. It took Chase an hour to reach the shore. Once on solid ground, he ran to the nearest house and called for help.

Rescuers arrived soon to search for Steven and Abigail. Miraculously, the two were found and rescued about an hour later-more than a mile away from the family’s abandoned boat.

6 . The Lomax family needed a dog. Though their house was already full with seven people, they knew a dog would truly make the house a home. So they settled on a dog whom they named Jack.     1    

It was Jack’s protective instinct (本能) that would eventually save the lives of Lomax family. Indeed, if it wasn’t for him, the family may never have survived the terrible accident that would eventually befall (降临到头上) them one cold January day in 2017.

It was a night like many others. Autumn, the family’s youngest child and her mother Ashley had settled into bed in one of the bedrooms on the second floor. Jack, who rarely left Autumn’s side, had settled in there as well.     2     At some point during the night, while the family was fast asleep, a fire had started in one of the other second-floor bedrooms, Jack had picked up a whiff (些微的气味) of the smoke in the next room. In an instant, the brave dog jumped into action.

The four-legged family member knew something was wrong but had no way of telling his owners.     3     She pushed him off her and tried to roll over but he began again. Then he went to Autumn and did the same thing until both were up.

    4     She screamed at the top of her lungs as she ran from the room, alerting (使警觉) the rest of the family to the disaster that was taking place. Jack did his part again too, barking as loudly as he could. Ashley’s scream woke the four other adults and two more children.     5    

In no time at all, the fire had engulfed (吞没) nearly the entire home, but luckily, all of the Lomax had made it out alive, with Jack leading the way.

9 . JIANLI, Hubei Province, June 2 (Xinhua) — A cruise ship carrying more than 450 people sank in the Yangtze River overnight, which could be China’s worst sinking disaster in decades. As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, 14 people had been rescued from the capsized vessel, with five others confirmed dead. The rest are still missing, although rescuers said there could be more survivors. Strong winds and heavy rain are hampering rescue efforts.

The Eastern Star sank in only 15 meters of water “within one or two minutes” of being caught in freak weather in Jianli, according to the ship’s captain and chief engineer who survived the incident. The ship left the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing on May 28 bound for Chongqing Municipality.

The ship was carrying 403 passengers, five tour guides, and 46 crew, rather than the previously reported 47. Most passengers were tourists from Shanghai and its neighboring province of Jiangsu, aged between 3 and 83, with most in their 60s and 70s.

The 76.5-meter-long and 11-meter-wide vessel has been in service for nearly 20 years and can carry up to 534 people. It is owned by Chongqing Dongfang Shipping. Waterway officials said they have no record of the company being involved in any previous sinking incidents.

According to weather forecast, most of the Yangtze basin will be subject to downpours over the next 10 days, with heavy rain expected in the area where the search is underway.

Police, waterway authorities and fire departments have sent more than 150 boats and over 4,000 personnel to the scene. The Chinese Navy has sent diving forces to search for the missing. The team is composed of soldiers from the navy’s fleets in the North Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea, as well as students of the Naval University of Engineering. In addition, five helicopters were dispatched from Beijing and Hubei’s provincial capital of Wuhan on Tuesday morning, along with an IL-76 transport plane.

10 . The ground we walk on seems firm, but deep under the earth and under the sea the rocks change and move. In some parts of the world there are “fire mountains”， which we call volcanoes. From time to time they burst open and throw out fire and burning ashes. These volcanoes are very dangerous.

Hong Kong does not have any volcanoes but there are many volcanoes in Indonesia and Philippines. There is also a famous mountain near Tokyo, Japan, which is a volcano too. Its name is Mount Fuji. For much of the year it is covered with snow.

One of the most famous volcanoes which erupted in recent times was Krakatoa, on an island in Indonesia. The first explosions took place on 20th May, 1883, but the biggest eruption did not come until the 26th and 27th August of that year. The people on the island were used to the explosions by that time, and so they were completely unprepared for this terrible happening. Almost all the people on the island died and the explosion also made huge waves in the sea, which drowned (淹死) many people on the other island nearby. After the eruption was over, people saw that the whole northern part of the island had completely disappeared. Scientists say that 15 cubic (立方) kilometres of rocks and ash were thrown up in the explosion. The noise of the explosion was heard nearly 5,000 kilometres away in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and the city of Jakarta was completely dark for about two and a half hours.