Jed and Matt were walking home from school. It was the first really cold day of winter. "The 1 on the river is hard!" Matt shouted. "Let's take a shortcut (捷径) across. "

    Jed made a face. "It started to freeze," said Jed. "I don't think it's 2." "You're afraid of everything," said Matt with a laugh. "3 you want to walk all the way to the bridge, go ahead.  I'm going to 4 here." Then he ran toward the river. Now Matt was near the middle of the river. "Are you still 5, Jed?" he laughed. "Look how 6the ice is." Matt jumped up and down a few times to 7 his point.

    Crack! Loud sound filled the air. Matt looked down. In all directions, the thin ice was8away from his feet. Another crack, and Matt was in the river! "Help!" Matt screamed. His wet clothes pulled him down.

    Jed felt the ice, 9 testing the area around him. Using the feet, he pushed 10 slowly toward the hole in the ice. Gripping (抓牢) the ice with his feet, Jed took hold of Matt's 11.

    Little by little, he dragged (拖) Matt out of the water and then across the ice. After what seemed like hours, they reached the 12.

    A police car came up to them. Officer Crane helped Matt into the car. After hearing the story, Crane said, "Well, Jed, it sounds like you are a 13. Maybe I should call the newspaper. Someone from the paper can come and take your picture and write an article. "

    "Good idea," said Matt.  He was feeling a lot  14.  "I have never had my picture in the paper."

    "I was talking about 15 picture," said Crane.  "He is a hero."

    Mr. Zhang and Mr. Wang work in the same office. They're good friends.Mr. Zhang says to Mr. Wang in the office,“I would like to have a small party in my home on Sunday evening. Would you and your wife like to come?”

    Mr. Wang says,“Thanks a lot. I'd like to. Let me tell my wife about it.”So Mr. Wang goes to the other office and calls his wife. About half an hour later, he comes back and looks very worried.

    “What's up?” asks Mr. Zhang,“Is your wife at home?”

    “No,” says Mr. Wang.“She isn't at home now , but my little daughter is in .My little daughter says her mother goes out to look for her.”

Stand Straight and Stand Tall!

    High school was wonderful, but I had always felt uncomfortable as one of the taller members of my class, standing a head above the other girls and bowing at the back of the line to avoid sticking out.

    I especially hated being around large groups of people, like during the social hour after the church services.

    My grandfather watched me grow increasingly uncomfortable, but he didn't laugh at me or try to comfort me. Instead, he would warn me. "Stand straight and stand tall, " he would say, as I tried to shrink（退缩）.

    And each time, I would obey him. Even at age 15, I understood that his advice was about more than just feet and inches. My grandfather grew up in war-torn（饱受战争摧残的） Europe. When German soldiers took his hometown, the beautiful and exciting city of Tarnow, Poland, he joined the Soviet army for his country's freedom. "Stand straight, stand tall" meant something else since then. I trusted my grandfather more than anyone else in my childhood. And whenever I was afraid of something, he would tell me stories of his life.

    After the war, he took a boat for America on January 27, 1947. All alone in a new country, he was frightened about his future. Soon he met other European immigrants（移民）, each of whom tried to find his or her own way.

    If they could do it, why couldn't he? "Stand straight, stand tall," he would tell himself. At first my grandfather refused to enter an American church. He was angry with God for the loss of his whole family in Europe. But soon he felt his self-confidence returning. When he walked into the church the first time, he walked in proudly.

    I was driving after school on Monday from Dublin to Drogheda and on my way home, I saw a wallet lying on the roadside. I thought the wallet must belong to the driver in front of me, because he had smoked there. I shouted to him twice but he didn't hear. So I stopped and picked up the wallet. I checked the wallet to see if I could get any phone number to call. I found and called two numbers but I was told they were wrong numbers.

    Later, I found a driving license and decided to drive to his house in Termonfeckin according to the address on the license. It is a 30-minute drive away from Drogheda. When I got to his house, I saw his wife and the first thing she asked was if I had found a wallet. I started smiling and said yes. The lady was really happy and called her husband. He ran to us at the gate and welcomed me to their house. After giving the wallet to him, he checked to see whether everything was inside. They offered me 20 dollars for gasoline(汽油) but I refused.

    Teenager Jake Denham was sking(滑雪)with his family in the US when he fell over and lost one of his skis. His family didn't know that he had a problem. They kept on sking. When they got to the foot of the mountain, there was no sign of Jake.

    Jake couldn't find his ski anywhere. In the end, he decided to take off his other ski and walk down the mountain. But he couldn't work out the right way to go.

    It was now getting dark and he was a long way from any place of safety. He knew that he might die that night in the cold temperatures. But Jake kept calm. At home, Jake watched a lot of TV programmes about living in difficult situations. He remembered the advice from these programmes and knew that he should build a hole in the snow. He made a hole and pointed it up the hill so the wind couldn't blow into it. Outside the temperature fell to a dangerous-15℃ that night, but inside it Jake was safe from the cold.

    But he had to get down the mountain. The TV programmes always said, "If you are lost, you should find someone else's tracks(轨迹)through the snow and follow them." "I wanted to live my life," remembers Jake. "So I got up and I found some ski tracks and I followed those." He walked and walked and finally he saw lights. Nine hours after he lost his ski, he found a team of workers, who came to save him. He was safe!

    His mum was very happy when she heard the news. Amazingly, Jake didn't even have to go to hospital. He got through the terrible experience without any injuries.

    So, the next time someone says that watching TV is a waste of time, think of Jake. Sometimes TV can save your life.