3 . A snowboarder was feeling lucky to be alive yesterday after a helicopter rescue(直升机营救).

Ben Akintola, 30, was snowboarding in the French Alps under a clear blue sky in the afternoon when a large amount of snow fell down the side of the mountain. He didn’t have time to escape(逃脱) and it hit him with full force and knocked him senseless.

He woke in the night in total darkness. He was lying on an icy rock. Amazingly, he still had a mobile phone signal(信号), so he called a friend a thousand kilometers away in Britain. His friend called the French rescue services.

“I was waiting for what seemed like hours on that rock. I was beginning to give up hope when I heard the sound of a helicopter. It was circling around in the darkness, looking for me. I was trying my best to wave my mobile around. Fortunately the helicopter pilot saw the light.”

“I was overjoyed when the helicopter headed my way. It stayed above me and began lowering a rope.”

Ben was in hospital last night but he was not being treated for any serious injuries. He’s looking forward to going home today.

The French rescue services said: “We were very pleased that we were able to save Ben. The risk of snow slide off-piste(非滑雪场地的) is much higher at this time of year. All snowboarders and skiers should stay on the ski runs and not go off-piste. Ben was very lucky.”

4 . It was an amazing feeling to be acknowledged for the Pride Of Britain award at No 10 Downing Street.

The last thing you expect when doing something as ordinary as picking your son up from a sleepover is to end up saving three people’s lives in a plane crash—but that’s exactly what happened to me in May this year.

I think I was acting unconsciously. I jumped out, leaving Giacomo in the car.

The plane was upside down and flames were coming out of the driver’s seat and I could hear screaming. I think there must have been roughly half a minute between getting the first and last person out. Then another guy—who turned out to be Joel Snarr—arrived on the scene to help at just the right time. I don’t think I’d have been able to get the pilot out—he was a big guy. There is no way he would have survived if Joel hadn’t been there. I could tell straight away Joel had a military background by how he conducted himself. We’d just got all three of them to a safe distance when the aircraft was completely swallowed by the flames.

Giacomo and I stared at each other, almost laughing in relief.

The emergency services arrived pretty quickly, and we were at the scene for a couple of hours while they dealt with the fire and cleared the roads. Afterwards I spoke to the family,and that was the first time the emotion of the whole thing hit me.I kept randomly bursting into tears.

Thankfully, Stuart Moore, the pilot, and his nephew and niece Jack Moore, 19, and Billie Manley, 16, have all since made a full recovery. Jack and Billie were suffering a lot more than I was. Although they were safe, the memory of being inside that burning plane would have been more of an emotional scar.

5 . Alexis, 17, sat quietly in the passenger seat of her dad’s car. She let her eyes lazily scan, the landscape for wildlife. Then a deer came into view about 200 yards in front of them. “Dad, there’s a deer there!” Alexis said. It was a male deer with sharp sntlers(角) on each side of its head.

As the car moved closer, Alexis saw that the deer’s head was bent toward the ground. Then she heard a scream and saw an arm fly up near the deer’s head. Alexis realized the deer was attacking a woman. Sue, a 44-year-old mother, had been out for her morning run. The deer followed her and edged closer. “I knew I was in trouble,” Sue says. She went to pick up a stick for self-defense, and the deer charged. It lifted her with its antlers and threw her into the air. Sue could feel blood flew down her leg. Within seconds, the deer had pushed her off the road.

When Alexis and her father pulled up, the deer was throwing Sue like a doll. Alexis looked into the woman’s terrified eyes, and before her father had even stopped the car, the teenager jumped quickly out of the car and ran toward the deer. “I was kicking it to get its attention,” she says. Then her father, who had followed his daughter, pushed the deer away from the women.

Alexis helped Sue into the car, and then applied a piece of cloth to Sue’s injured leg. “We’re going to get you to a hospital,” Alexis said. Then she heard her father shout loudly. He had been knocked to the ground. Alexis took hold of a hammer from the car and ran to where her father lay on his back. She beat the deer’s head and neck, but the blows didn’t scare it away. “I was losing faith,” she says. “A couple more strikes, Alexis,” said her father. “You can do it.” Turning the hammer around, Alexis closed her eyes and beat the deer’s neck with all her strength. When she opened her eyes, the deer was running away. Alexis got in the driver’s seat and sped toward the nearest hospital.

After Sue was treated, she tearfully thanked her rescuers. “You expect a teenage girl to get on the phone and call for help,” she says, “not to beat up a deer.”

6 . A rocket problem that forces astronauts to evacuate (撤退) may appear to be a plot straight out of a Hollywood movie. However, that is exactly what happened to Russian astronaut Alexey Ovchinin and American astronaut Nick Hague.     1    

The event happened shortly after the Soyuz rocket and its Soyuz MS-to space capsule (联盟号太空舱) carrying the astronauts took off from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.     2    

The takeoff went off smoothly, but just 119 seconds later, officials from Russia’s space agency informed NASA the booster (助推器) had failed to separate from the capsule.     3     Instead, they were ordered to evacuate by separating the capsule and returning to Earth in what is known as a ballistic descent mode (弹道下降模式). The sharp drop is similar to free-falling from the skies and subjects astronauts to high levels of g-force.

    4     They appeared to be in excellent condition when they crash-landed about 20 kilometers east of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, just 34 minutes after they stopped the task. Upon arrival, they were quickly found by the rescue team from Baikonur Cosmodrome and taken to the hospital for a quick check-up to ensure they had not suffered any injuries during their rough ride back to Earth.

It will take a few weeks for experts to determine what caused the problem of the usually reliable Soyuz rocket.     5     Hague, who was on his way to the space station for the first time later joked, “I imagined that my first trip to outer space was going to be a memorable one. I didn’t expect it to be quite this memorable.”

7 . Every Christmas,the firm I worked for raised money for disadvantaged kids in the area,and every Christmas I'd drive out with colleagues to deliver gifts.Some years ago,   we were returning to work and stopped at an intersection as the lights turned red.

We were in the middle lane and I became aware of an SUV(越野车）coming up behind us at speed;at the last moment,it switched to the righthand lane and carried straight on past the red light into traffic moving west to east.It crashed into another vehicle,causing it to veer off(转向），then they both skidded to a stop.

There was a loud"Bang"and flames leapt from the SUV 's front.I had been a volunteer firefighter for many years and had attended automobile accidents before.As the flames grew fiercer,I knew the car's battery had exploded and that there was no time to lose.I dashed round to the passenger side.The door was locked,but by pulling on the window frame,I managed to tear it open.I leaned in,unbuckled the driver's belt and pulled him across to the passenger side.

Other than some cuts,he was fine.I left him with my workmates and went to check on the driver of the other car,who was also unhurt.Then I headed back to the intersection, where I directed traffic around the burning vehicle until the emergency services arrived.

On the way back to work,I said to my colleagues:"What you saw,keep it under your hats,OK?"But an hour later I had a call from a friend on a local TV station."Brad,"he said,"I have a picture here that someone's sent in of you helping out at a traffic accident."

I hoped that would be the end f it,but the story was to have an unexpected ending. A couple of weeks after the accident,I agreed to a televised reunion with Michael Walker, the guy I'd pulled from the car.He thanked me,and then he introduced me to his daughter, Amber.It turned out she had been separated from her mum and dad,but returned home after the accident.Knowing this family had been reunited was greatly comforting to me-a real Christmas gift.

8 . It’s a good idea for families to talk about what they would do to escape a fire.You’ll want to talk about escape plans and escape routes,so let’s start here.

An escape plan can help every member of a family get out of a burning house.The idea is to get outside quickly and safely.Smoke from a fire can make it hard to see where things are,so it’s important to learn and remember the different ways out of your home.If you live in an apartment building,you’ll want to know the best way to the stair or other emergency exits.If you’re in a room with the door closed when the fire breaks out,you need to take a few extra steps:

Check to see if there’s heat or smoke coming in the cracks (裂缝) around the door.

If you don’t see smoke — touch the door.If the door is hot or very warm — don’t open the door!

If you don’t see smoke and the door is not hot — then use your fingers to lightly touch the doorknob (门把手).If the doorknob is hot or very warm—don’t open the door!

If the doorknob feels cool,and you can’t see any smoke around the door,you can open the door very carefully and slowly.When you open the door,if you feel a burst of heat,or smoke pours into the room,quickly shut the door and make sure it is really closed.If there’s no smoke or heat when you open the door,go toward your escape route exit.

9 . A great number of people can get injured or even killed resulting from a human stampede (踩踏).The bad thing is that a peaceful group of people can quickly become concerned and panicked(恐慌).     1    . If you are in a crowd, the most important thing is to make yourself familiar with your surroundings and mentally notice the exits. No matter where you are, make sure you always know how to get out.     2    . If you are in a crowd of moving people, wet ground can be slippery or dangerous, causing you to fall.

Be aware of the general atmosphere of the event, as panic situations can often be expected. When in danger, a few seconds can make all the difference. If you find yourself in the middle of a moving crowd, do not fight against the pressure, do not stand still or sit down.     3    . Take advantage of any space that may open up and try to move sideways to the crowd movement where the flow is weaker.

    4    .—It gives you movement and protects your chest.

If you fall, get up quickly. If you fall and cannot get up, keep moving by crawling in the same direction of the crowd, or if that is not possible, then cover your head with your arms and curl (蜷缩) up.     5    . Sometimes, finding a right posture(姿势) can save your life.

10 . “Bad luck always comes in three” and last Saturday seemed to prove it. After trouble with the car, the television, we spent the evening waiting for the next trouble.

Shortly after dinner we both smelled smoke.

My wife, who was often careless when cooking, ran to the kitchen but returned looking puzzled. I rushed up the stairs to see smoke coming from under our bedroom door. I went to the bathroom and tied a wet cloth over my face.

Then I returned to the bedroom, opened the door andcrawled (爬) in—there would be less smoke at floor level. With one hand reaching out in front of me I advanced carefully feeling for the switch to turn off the electric blanket.

At that moment I heard the bell of a coming fire engine. Thank goodness my wife had not been wasting her time.