Alison, was this Victor’s first i　　   s　　  (纵列式滑冰) marathon?

No, it wasn’t. He started it three years ago.

One spring day in 1950 in New Mexico, the United States, someone saw s 1. coming from a forest and called the fire station at once. The firemen saw a big fire on the ground between the trees, which was spreading(扩散)quickly because of a s 2. wind. Many people t 3. to fight the fire, but as soon as one area was under control, the fire spread to another area. S 4. , a firemen saw a baby bear close to the fire. It was t 5. in the bushes. The fireman bravely ran over and took it away from the f 6. .

After the firemen put o 7. the fire, a farmer took the bear to his farm. A reporter wrote about this lucky bear in the newspaper and soon many people knew his story. Soon he was given a home at the National Zoo in Washington DC. People wanted to remind everyone in the USA about the dangers of forests fires so they put up big signs with p 【 小题8】 of the bear, which said, ‘Only you can p 【 小题9】 forest fires from happening!’ The little bear became the most f 8. animal in the country.

首字母填空（根据短文内容及首字母提示，补全空格内单词，使短文完整、通顺。（10）

Barack Obama, a black man, is the p___1.____ of the United States now. He was born o__2.__August 4^th,1961, in Hawaii(夏威夷）and has lived in many places. His mother was from Kansas(堪萨斯州）and his father was from Kenya(肯尼亚）。 Obama went to Columbia University in New York and got a law degree at Harvard University in Massachusetts. His w__3.___ is Michelle Obama. She also w___4.___ as a lawyer(律师）and later worked for the University of Chicago. They have two young d___5.__. One is called Malia Ann, she is 12 years old. The o___6.__ one is Natasha, she is 9 years old.

Obama w__7.____ a book Dreams from my father. “I always live in the dream of my father and American people,” Obama once said. He was born in a poor family. And he was t__8.___ good care of by his grandparents when he was young. He also lived and worked in Africa. Then he got good e____9.___ in Harvard University. On November 4^th,2012, he became the new president of A__10.____ for the next four years.

缺词填空(10分)

 It was June 15, and in two days I would be turning thirty. I was afraid that my best years were now behind me. So I a  1.  my neighbour Nicholas, a 79-year-old man, “What was the best time of your life?”

Without hesitation(犹豫), Nicholas said: “Well, Joe, this is my philosophical(哲学的) answer to your philosophical question:

“When I was a child in Austria and everything was t  2.   care of for me by my parents, that was the best time of my life.

“When I was going to school and learning the things I k  3.   today, that was the best time of my life.

“When I got my first job and had responsibilities(责任) and got paid for my e  4.  , that was the best time of my life.

“When I met my wife and f  5. in love, that was the best time of my life.

“When World War Ⅱ came, my wife and I had to flee Austria to save our lives. When we were together and s  6.  on a ship to North America, that was the best time of my life.

“When we came to Canada and started a family, that was the best time of my life.

“When I was a young father, watching my c  7.   grow up, that was the best time of my life.

“And now, Joe, I am seventy-nine y  8.  old. I have my health, I feel good and I am in love with my wife just as I was when we first m  9.  . This is the best time of my life.”

Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not b  10.   they never found it, but because they didn’t stop to enjoy it.