Ordinary things on an ordinary night. I wander into the kids’ room. My son, Taylor, 4 years old, sleeps, and I pull the covers around him and kiss his forehead. I walk downstairs to check the hearth (壁炉). The fire is almost out. A thin veil of smoke hangs in the air. I climb upstairs and fall back into bed, but an hour later, panic wakes me. I stand in the kids’ room. The house seems smokier than it did before, but how can that be when the fire burned out hours ago? I crack a window, return to bed, and fall into a dead sleep.
Suddenly, I hear screams. It’s my husband, Troy. “Mary! Get out of the house!”
Hearing the panic in his voice, I sit upright. I run to the bedroom door and swing it open, and I am blown back, knocked to the floor. Searing (灼人的) heat and black smoke surround me, burning my skin. I gasp for breath and crawl across the floor, shielding my mouth and nose.
Without knowing how, I have Taylor in my arms and am at his bedroom window. When I open it, ashes and smoke blow through as the heat is pulled toward us. There’s fire behind me, a 9-meter drop to concrete (混凝土) below.
Troy shouts from another window, “Hold on! I’m coming—I’m gonna jump!” Then the sickening sound of bones against concrete. I scream his name, but he doesn’t respond. I start to cry, but there is no time for panic.
I lower Taylor out his window as far as my arms will stretch so he can breathe. I hold only his tiny hands, his body dangling (晃荡). I am in the center of the firestorm. I choke, spitting out black ashes. Blisters rise on the backs of my legs; the pain becomes unbearable. I have to do something. But there is no grass below, no trees or bushes.
Paragraph 1:
My brain searches for options.
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Paragraph 2:
At that very moment, Troy shouts, “Drop him! I’m here!”
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As I walked along the sidewalk in front of Surplus Unlimited, a car that was about to change my life had just turned onto Route 82 from the CVS parking lot. I looked up and noticed the elderly couple in the car heading toward me. As the car rolled past, the driver suddenly collapsed against the steering wheel (方向盘) right in front of my eyes. His wife stared blankly out of the passenger side window. She was unaware that her car was now rolling—without a conscious driver—down the center of a busy road.
I began to jog alongside the moving car. My mind assessed the situation. Somebody needed to stop that car!
I reached forward, but there was nothing to grab. I pounded on her window. She looked confused. “Roll down the window!” I yelled, gesturing wildly. With the window down, I was able to grab the doorframe. I pulled hard against the force of the moving vehicle. On the far side of the car, the traffic streamed by in the opposite direction. Cars passed one after another. Nobody slowed down. Nobody seemed to notice.
Thankfully, the driver’s foot must have slipped off the gas pedal (踏板) when he lost consciousness. I kept pulling, and the car began to slow.
Just then, a woman appeared from behind me. She ran alongside the driver side door. She opened the door and as the car was slowing, she managed to shift it out of “Drive”. A joyful “We did it!” feeling swept over me.
But the car was now stopped in the center lane (车道) with traffic still moving in both directions around us and we need to help this man. Quickly! The woman called 911 while I checked his vital signs. He was not breathing. He had no pulse. He had about five minutes until he was dead. CPR was needed in to time.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Thoughts started running through my mind.
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In an instant, the man from the black SUV was standing beside me and said, “I am a doctor.”
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As the late afternoon sun beat down on his farm last May, Brandon Leseberg finished feeding his cows and decided to go back home. As they often did, his two sons, Louie, 6 and Everett, 3, had followed along. To have a drink, Louie stepped on a well with a covering which is easily broken.
Brandon had just finished locking the gate when he turned around and saw only his youngest son.
“Where’s Louie?” he shouted.
“He fell in the hole!” Everett said.
Brandon quickly realized what had happened. Noooo! He thought. Louie can not swim! He ran to the well and without thinking, jumped in.
As he fell some 70 feet down the well, Brandon hit the ice-cold water. He grabbed Louie, who was frightened, trying to stay afloat in water that was too deep for either of them to stand.
“All right, Dad, you can pull us out now,"Louie said.
If only it were that easy. Each second in the well meant a greater risk of hypothermia (低温症).
Looking up to see Everett’s face above the well, Brandon shouted, “Everett, you’re going to have to be a big boy and save us. Run to the road and get someone to help!”
About 15 minutes later, their neighbors, Christi and Mark Mackenny, were driving by when they noticed Everett alone by the side of the road, waving. They pulled over and asked if he was OK. “My daddy and Louie are in a hole.” he told them.
The couple drove onto the farm, and the boy pointed them to the well. Mark dialed 911 while Christi called another neighbor, Dan Athen.
After hearing from Christi, Dan ran to his barn (谷仓), grabbed a thick 85-foot rope and then with his son Ryan, 13, sped to Lesebergs’ farm. Eric Duncan, who works on Brandon’s farm, and his friend Jocob MaKenny also arrived to help.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1: They decided to work together to get them out.
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Paragraph 2: Forty minutes after he’d jumped into the well to save his son, Brandon came out of the well, cold and wet.
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