Two fast friends were Willie and his little dog Bounce. Willie could never think of taking a walk without Bounce. Cake and play were equally shared between them. Willie taught his dog many cunning tricks, and often said that Bounce could do almost anything in the world but talk. Then on a bright summer afternoon, Willie had strolled with Bounce down to the river, which was not more than two blocks from his father’s store — Mr. Brown’s store.

Willie began to throw stones into the water, and to watch ripples (涟漪) as they made one circle after another. Bounce lay on the grass, watching the flies buzzing around his nose, and catching any that came too near.

There were some logs floating in the river near the bank. Willie jumped upon one of them to see if he could throw a stone across the river. He drew back, sent the stone with all strength, just as it left his hand, the log turned and he fell into the water. He was frightened, for he did not know how to swim, and there was no one to hear, though he called as loud as he could for help.

Not being a big water dog, poor Bounce ran up and down the bank two or three times, barking, looking first at Willie and then around.

P1. Then he started, as fast as he could run, up the street towards Mr. Brown’s store.

P2. Bounce, seeing Mr. Brown realizing something was wrong, headed for the river.

The most delightful and unusual thing I paid for in the last summer was a pair of ducklings. One day I spotted a friend’s photo of two tiny golden ducklings in her living room. I message d her immediately. She was fostering(照料) the baby ducks for a farm. As the farm explains on its website, you can adopt the newborns and parent them until they grow into their “adulthood” when you could choose to keep them or take them back. For $165, the farm would bring us everything we needed to foster ducklings and also an activity for Leo. This program would provide us with what we’d been lacking: joy and fellowship. “Were getting ducklings!” I proudly announced.

About 10 days later, a man from the farm arrived at our home and handed over a shoebox housing a pair of baby ducks. Leo and I held them in our hands, each one a tiny, almost weightless parcel of silky gold. Leo immediately cast himself as their father, and the ducklings accepted the role happily, waddling(摇摆) at his feet and slipping on our hardwood floors. Leo kissed them on their beaks(喙)and they bit his lip slightly, which he concluded meant they loved him.

After a few weeks, the ducklings tripled in size, and the fairytale took a turn. Much as we loved them, it was time to make the choice. They were about to enter adulthood, and it was getting inconvenient to keep the many longer. It was only then that I realized I didn’t know what would happen to them back at the farm. I called the farm, and I was told that actually our ducklings would likely serve as a“wonderful supper”.

Now, we couldn’t keep them, but we also couldn’t take them back.

I was losing hope when I received an email from a woman who lived on a hobby farm.

Grady and his family go camping every summer. As it was becoming hotter, here came the camping time.

Having planned the camp long, the family finally decided the destination—the Great National Forest. With food, necessity and cookers loaded onto the car, the family squeezed (挤进) into the car. The car door closed, heat was shut outside.

In the car, Jared, Grady’s younger brother was playing with a toy, making great noise. Grady’s mother talked excitedly with his father. As soon as he sat in the car, Grady put on the earphones and turned on the music. He neither wanted to join his brother nor joined any talk. After what seemed to be hours, the car stopped where they headed. Grady threw down his backpack and slammed (砰地关上) the car door.

“This will be a lengthy week,” he said unhappily to no one in particular. He looked around the campground. Hundreds of tall and green fir trees covered the mountainside like a green carpet. The sun would be setting soon. Grady thought maybe the heat wouldn’t be unbearable. But actually now in the mountain, the hot July left him extremely uncomfortable.

Grady hated camping, but it was something his family insisted on every summer. His father liked cooking over an open air, telling stories about how to survive things like bear attacks and bites of bees. His mother and Jared liked to hike and take pictures of animals. Jared had a collection of insect pictures that he had put on the walls in his half of their room. Grady thought they were just scary and that Jared was a strange kid.

They set up camp—two tents, one for his parents and one for himself and Jared. While everyone else started preparing dinner, Grady, looking for some place to cool down, set off for the nearby river, which was deep enough to swim in.

As Grady got close to the river, he saw a cute bear cub (幼崽).

Turning around, he saw an angry bear moving fast towards him.