My wife Laura and I were on the beach, with three of our children, taking picture birds near our home in Alaska when we spotted a bear. The bear was thin and small, 【小题1】 (move) aimlessly.

Just a few minutes later, I heard my daughter shouting, “Dad! The bear is right behind us!” An aggressive bear will usually rush forward 【小题2】 (frighten) away its enemy but suddenly stop at the last minute. This one was silent and its ears pinned back --- the sign of an animal that is going in for the kill. And it was a cold April day. The bear behaved abnormally, probably 【小题3】 hunger.

I held my camera tripod（三脚架）in both hands to form a barrier as the bear rushed into me. Its huge head was level with my chest and shoulders, and the tripod stuck across 【小题4】 mouth. It bit down and I found myself 【小题5】 (support) its weight. I knew I would not be able to hold it for long.

Even so, this was a fight I had to win; I was all that stood between the bear and my family, 【小题6】 would stand little chance of running faster than a brown bear.

The bear hit at the camera, cutting it off the tripod. I raised my left arm to protect my face: the beast held tightly on the tripod and pressed it into my side. My arm could not move, and I sensed that my bones were going to break.

Drawing back my free hand, I 【小题7】 (strike)the bear as hard as I could for five to six times. The bear opened its mouth and grasped its fur, 【小题8】 (try) to push it away. I was actually wrestling with the bear at this point. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the fight ended. The bear moved back toward the forest, before returning for another attack -- The first time I felt panic.

Apparently 【小题9】 (satisfy) that we caused no further threat, the bear moved off, destroying a fence as it went. My arm was injured, but the outcome for us 【小题10】 hardly have been better. I’m proud that my family remained clear-headed when panic could have led to a very different outcome.

Last weekend we celebrated Jacob turning nine【小题1】his friends with an art party. Instead of hosting it at our house, we【小题2】(decide) to try something new to celebrate it. It cost US $5,000 to rent a small restaurant. I worked with a store manager. And I bought【小题3】(balloon) and a few other things from him.

On the day of the party, the tables in the restaurant 【小题4】(cover) and waiters and waitresses were ready to get to work when we arrived. We started with helping the children paint their own canvases(油画)【小题5】then create their own T-shirts. I should have advised parents 【小题6】(take)some old clothes.【小题7】 (unlucky)we did not. When one child got paint all over【小题8】(him), I felt bad about that.

Overall, Jacob had【小题9】wonderful time. We were able to do the art parity for minimal cost. The smile on his face at the end of the day was all【小题10】mattered to me.

Tene Konate takes pride in telling relatives about her job driving a 72-ton truck at the Hounde gold mine in western Burkina Faso. She is one of 111 women at the mine 【小题1】 (teach) for jobs like moving rocks, or 【小题2】 (drive) heavy vehicles which are more traditionally done by men in West Africa. They remain firmly in the minority, however, with women making up just 11 percent of 【小题3】 workforce at Hounde which is run by Canada's Endeavour Mining. Konate had struggled to provide for her two young daughters. This 【小题4】 (eventual) led her to the mining industry and she acknowledged the mine had changed everything in her life since she worked at Hounde. Konate now lives in a large house in Hounde and can pay for her daughters’ schooling. In the beginning, the mother 【小题5】 (train) on how to operate trucks 【小题6】 wheels are so large that drivers must climb a ladder (梯子) to get into the cabin. Konate said that the work was tiring 【小题7】 she liked it very much. She encourages those around her 【小题8】 (forget) gender (性别) and judge colleagues by the quality 【小题9】 their work. “As I always say to my 【小题10】 (operator), as soon as you cross that gate, we are no longer women. We have become men, because we do the same job.”