That holiday morning I didn't have to attend school. Usually, on holidays, Mother 1  me to sleep in. And I would certainly take full advantage of it. On this particular morning,  2, I felt like getting up early.

        I stood by my window overlooking the 3, having nothing better to do. But as it turned out, I was soon to learn about something  4  in life.

        As I watched several people go by, get into their cars and go off, I  5an old man on a bicycle with a bucket on its  6 and a basket of rags and bottles on its back-carriage. He  7  from one car to another,  washing and cleaning them. From the water on the ground, it seemed that he had already  8  washing and cleaning about a dozen or more cars. He must have begun to work quite early in the morning.

        Several thoughts  9my mind as I watched him work. He wash't well-dressed. He had on a pair of shorts and a(n)  10  T-shirt. The bicycle he rode was not by any means the kind modern  11 would want to be seen riding on. But he seemed 12  with life. There he was, working hard at his small business,  13at passers by and stopping to chat now and then  14elderly men and women on their way to the market nearby,

        There was a noticeable touch of  15 in the way he seemed to be doing things  16 the  windscreen(挡风玻璃), then standing back to admire it; scrubbing(擦净)the wheels and  17, standing back to see what they look like after the scrub.

        It was a  18 to learn, I felt. At no age need one have to beg for a  19 if one has good health and is  willing to work hard. For a while I felt  20 of myself. Young as I am—just sixteen, and there was this old man who must have been usefully engaged perhaps before the sun appeared above the horizon.

    After a decade at the publishing company, I was fired. I had worked so hard for so long. I was always doing my job 1 , clawing my way up the ladder. And 2 ? Doing these things had 3 me in the end, very little of lasting value. I wondered what would happen if I let it all go—didn't look for a job, didn't keep my 4 ambition.

    My husband thought it was a great idea. “Just 5 .” he said. As a serious windsurfer, he suggested I try the sport as a path to clarity. I had windsurfed before , but only in 6 water. I didn't like high winds. I didn't like going fast—that was 7. But I wanted to abandon the past. My 8 was to do nothing but read and windsurf every day. I wanted to feel the fear and do it anyway. I wanted to learn how to ride the currents, and I couldn't think of a better way than to 9 myself to the invisible, ever-shifting wind.

    I decided to sail at Swell City, a favorite outpost on the Washington side of the Columbia. That July 10 to be one of the windiest months on record. I grew to find that what I was doing did 11 for my standing in the world. It won me no friends.Then again, I was 12 .

    One day, a friend and her l5-year-old son came, and after I explained my 13 , he said the simplest but most profound thing: “It's all in the 14 . ” This kid had windsurfed only three times , 15 he knew the secret. “If you go out there knowing you're going to 16 it, you will, ”he continued. “But if you go out there afraid you'll get hurt , you will. ” I smiled at him. Wasn't that 17 the same problem I'd encountered in life? I'd always been terrified l wouldn't reach the goal or 18 the job. I knew I had to let that fear go. And slowly I did.

    The wind wanted nothing from me. It cared not at all about my ambition or accomplishments. It 19 me that the beauty of life is in the trying. And that's where I am: still trying for the turnaround in life and in the 20 .

    Two student loggers (伐木者) each held an end of a saw (锯子). They set the 1of the blade (刀片) on top of an 8-by 8-inch square piece of timber (木材) and began to 2it back and forth.

    They began slowly and3 worked to a faster pace.4the piece of wood fell to the ground, the students passed the saw to the second half of their relay team, who then began to saw.

    When Nate Letarte, Julian Baldinelli, Allan Theriault and David Merrill from School of Applied Technology in Mexico, Maine, US finished the relay, people 5 applause.

    It was like that with each event at the 38th Annual Loggers Meet early this month at a field across from the Mt Blue Campus.

    About 50 students from nearby areas in forestry programs took part in the event. The programs 6 students to the many aspects of forestry-related 7, from cutting wood to using heavy equipment to managing a small business and 8wood products.

    At the annual competition, students had a chance to show their9 at using axes, operating logging equipment such as a forwarder (传送装置) and knowing 10 trees, among other things. They can also share their 11of chainsaws (链锯).

    Kyle Holman, a senior, said the event lets students see what they are 12in the forestry field.

     “Some of us didn't know how to run a forwarder and other kids did,” he said.

    During the 13event, students used a forwarder to pick up wood and move it.

    The event 14out the strengths in student loggers, and shows them the qualities and15they have, junior Matt Given said.

     “We're all one big community with the same 16” senior Christopher Cook said. “This event just gives us a chance to show what we have 17at school.”

    Marshal Elwell, a senior, said he and his friends travelled over three hours 18 the event.

     “I think I'm going to 19 in the woods for a while,” Elwell said, talking about his post-graduation plan. “I enjoy 20 equipment. I like being in the woods.”

    The moon had gone behind a cloud and there weren't many stars in the sky. As I took a glance(一瞥)at my neighbor's house, I saw a flame (火焰)in his 1. I thought he was having a midnight fast food so I went back to my2.

    Soon, there was a 3 smell in the air and I guessed something was wrong. 4, I jumped out of bed and went downstairs to 5. I saw fire coming out of my neighbour's kitchen. Right away, I 6"Fire! Fire!" But there was no one nearby to 7 my shouts for help.

    I 8into my house, called the Fire Department and went back to my neighbour's house. I rang the doorbell, hit on the door and 9 my neighbour's name but there was no 10. I managed to 11 the house and rescued a cat and a rabbit.

    I tried to throw water through the kitchen window 12 it was no use; the fire was too strong. 13, a fire engine arrived and soon the firemen put out the fire. They arrived just 14 as the fire was going to 15 to the other rooms in the house.

    When my neighbor came back, he was 16 because his kitchen was burnt down, but he thanked me for calling the Fire Department and for saving his 17. He wanted to give me some money in return but I did not 18 it.

    Weeks later, my neighbor repaired and restored his kitchen. He 19 me to see his new kitchen and there he gave me a medal(奖章) that he had 20 ordered from a factory. It made me feel very happy.

    Kids who live a happy childhood dream about what they will be when they grow up. But less 1 kids, who live in poverty, sometimes wonder why they were born in the first place.

    Children like these 2 Lebanese director Nadine Labaki's new film Capernau (《何以为家》), which arrived in Chinese mainland 3 on April 29 , 2019.

    In the slums (贫民窟) of Beirut, Lebanon's capital, Labaki saw kids selling gum or flowers or 4 carrying heavy gas tanks. Some of them were alone on the street, unfed and 5.

    One of these kids told her, "I don't know 6 I was born if no one is going to love me, if no one is going to 7 me before I go to sleep, or if I'm going to be beaten up every day."

    This is how Capernaum begins: A 12-year-old boy named Zain who lives in one of Beirut's slums, charges his parents for giving 8 to him, even though, he says, they knew they couldn't 9 him.

    Capernaum is fictional but ifs as 10 as it gets. There are no 11 actors in this film. Zain, for example, is 12 by a boy with the same name, a Syrian refugee (难民) called Zain Al Rafeea. He had never slept in a 13 before the film, or gone to school. He didn't even have papers to 14 he was a human being—just like his character in the film.

    By making the film, Labaki wanted to "become the voice of these kids", according to The Guardian. The voice is being heard. It ran first at Cannes Film Festival in May, 2018, and 15 the Jury Prize. Soon after the festival, under the 16 of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Zain and his family got the chance to resettle in Norway. They now live in a house by the sea, and Zain is going to school.

    When Labaki told The New York Times that she wanted the film "to go beyond the borders of just being a film" and be "a 17 for help", she wasn't 18 how big an impact it would have. "I might never get anywhere, but 19 I want to try," she said.

    But she has certainly gone somewhere indeed—to say the least, the real-life Zain is now able to 20 his future.

We met Bailey 5 yeas ago. He was a standard poodle (髦毛小狗) born on Valentine's day in 2020, and came to us in a small blue box. His previous owner posted the news online and we adopted him. Our only request was that he behave calmly and be able to put up with the pushing and hugging of our eight-year-old daughter and six-year-old son. 

We were a sweet family: me, my husband, our children Angela and Tony. But for years. I'd felt that we wouldn't be truly whole if we didn't have a dog. Also, my husband worked for a commercial company and traveled around 200 days a year. and I knew that having a large animal sleeping by the door made me feel safer. 

The last piece of our purzle fell into place when we opened the box. With his dark hair and smart eyes, Bailey was beautiful. He was so small that he could fit in the palm of my hand, his big paws (爪子) resting at his sides. He was a little scared, too. As I pulled him close, I felt his heart racing, and 1 wondered if we had done the right thing by taking him away from his mother. But it was too late. Angela and Tony were already arguing about who would carry him and who had the right to bathe him. 

Over the following months, we spent countless hours watching Bailey play with his toys or roll around on the living room floor. Like most poodles, he was smart. He quickly mastered house-training and never chewed (咀) on our furniture or shoes. He considered himself one of us. 

One night we were sleeping in the bedroom when I heard some strange noise. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

At that time, Bailey ran towards me. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

A. I thought it was Bailey running and hitting something, so I kept lying in the bed and made an attempt to fall asleep again. However, the noise became louder and louder, which had already annoyed me. Quickly l got up from my bed. I opened the door and found Bailey running around the living room, trying to let all the things fall down. These abnormal behaviors really made me confused and a little afraid.

B. He firmly grabbed my trousers and pulled me to the kitchen. As I approached the kitchen could obviously smell a strong burning smell and immediately knew what had happened. When¹ aw the fierce fire in the kitchen, I dashed into my children's room like an arrow(前), waking them up at my maximum voice. Rushing out of the house together with my family. I called 911 and asked our neighbors for help at the same time. Fortunately both my family and my house were saved Thanks to our smart Bailey, we did escape from death.

C. Angela and Tony completed the delicious breakfast and they could not wait to bring it to me who slept in the room. Their father praised their hard-earned work with his thumb up, informing them that I was sleeping on the second floor. To my surprise, their hand-made food was so delicious that l would never forget it. Obviously. what they had done for me would be rooted in memory.

D. I nodded with a smile and encouraged the children to get started. Quickly. Angela volunteered to get the big box of com and prepared to make popcorn. At the same time, Tony. my smart boy. went to buy some paper bags. I ran to Bailey's home to invite him. Not surprisingly. Bailey was amazed at this great project and couldn't wait to come. To our delight, the popcorn they made looked great and tasted delicious. Finally. they packed the sweet popcorn in the paper bags together. Laughter and happiness filled this house.