Daniel Hove spent years serving his community in Wisconsin as the Assistant Fire Chief for the Burnsville Fire Department. In 2012, he _________ from the job he loved after doctors diagnosed him with pancreatic (胰腺的) cancer.

Daniel spent years fighting the _________ disease. And he had tons of _________ from friends and family. But his beloved 11-year-old Labrador (拉布拉多猎犬), Gunner, _________ by his side every step of the way.

As Daniel’s _________ grew more difficult, Gunner became ill, too. And he _________ highs and lows right along with his favorite human.

“When my dad would get restless, the dog would be _________,” Daniel’s daughter Heather explained. “So once we   _______ how the dog was doing—he wasn’t moving much anymore and not doing well—we knew, it was coming.”

As Gunner’s suffering hit its peak, Heather _________ knew the dog’s time on Earth was done. Gunner was __________ an animal hospital where the veterinarian put him to __________ forever. And soon after Gunner passed away, Daniel found his __________ was close. About an hour and a half later, Daniel was gone too. __________ in life, the dog and his beloved owner also remained that way in death.

Special friends are placed in our lives. And the story of this dog and his owner is a beautiful __________ that sometimes those furry friends offer lifelong __________ without words.

A farmer owned an old mule(骡子) One day the mule _________ into the farmer’s well(井)unluckily   The farmer heard the mule _________ He tried every possible way to save the mule, but _________ .

After carefully thinking about the situation, the farmer _________ that neither the mule nor the well was worth greater efforts _________ , he called his neighbors together, told them what had happened, and asked them to help carry dirt to cover the old mule in the _________ and put him out of his _________ .

At first, the old mule was mad! But as the farmer and the neighbors _________ shoveling(铲土) and the dirt hit his back, an idea _________ to him.   Every time a shovelful of ____________ landed on his back, he would shake it off and step up!

This he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up!” He repeated to ____________ himself.   No matter how painful the blows, or how ____________ the situation seemed, the old mule overcame his fear and just kept right on shaking it off and stepping up!

It wasn’t long before the old mule, tired out, stepped ____________ over the wall of that well! What seemed to have destroyed him actually ____________ him all because of the way in which he dealt with his adversity(逆境)

That’s life! We should face our problems and respond to them ____________ , and refuse to give in to fear, bitterness, or self-pity.

Karen, Judy and I returned to the classroom after lunch, only to find that all our classmates were playing on the playground.

“Wow! How ________ it would be to write on the board especially while everyone is ________,” Judy said, with her eyes lighting up. “We’re all right-handed. Let’s see who can write her ________ best using her left hand.” Then Judy and Karen started ________. I also picked a piece of white chalk from the box and began to write.

After a while, eying the clock, Judy quickly picked up the ________ and began cleaning the board. But to our ________, everything was gone except my name! “How ________ the words are still there?!” Judy’s face was full of questions.

I ________looked at what I used and found it was a white crayon in fact! My knees felt ________. What should I do? What if Mrs. Eiffler knows? Panically, we tried many ways. However, my name ________ there. At last, Karen got a knife... It ________ finally, but we left an abrasion (磨损处) on the board ...

Mrs. Eiffler never asked about the abrasion and maybe she ________ minded. But I did. Every time I walked past the board, I ________.

Although over forty years have passed since the event, I still remember the lesson. “No one will ever know” is never ________. Even if no one else knows, I myself know. Living with a guilty conscience (良知) is a ________ big enough.