13．Angel in his arms
　　During summer vacations, I volunteered at the vet's, so I have seen a lot of dogs. Minnie was by far the funniest-looking dog. Her thin, curly hair barely covered her body. Her bugged-out eyes always made her seem (1)      . And her tail looked like a rat's tail.
　　She was brought to the vet because her owners didn't want her anymore. I thought Minnie had a sweet personality, though. "No one should judge her by her (2)      ," I thought. I put a personal advertisement for Minnie in the local newspaper: "Funny-looking dog, well-behaved, needs loving family."
　　When a young man called, I (3)       him that Minnie was strange-looking. The boy on the phone told me that his grandfather's 16-year-old dog had just died. They wanted Minnie, no matter what. I gave Minnie a good bath. Then we waited for them to arrive.
　　At last, an old car drove up in front of the vet's office. Two children (4)      to the door. They scooped Minnie into their arms and rushed her out to their grandfather, who was in the car. I hurried behind them to see his (5)       to Minnie.
　　Inside the car, the grandfather held Minnie in his arms and lightly touched her soft hair. Minnie licked his face. Her tail wagged around so quickly that it looked like it might (6)       off of her body.
　　"She's perfect!" the old man said (7)      .
　　I was thankful that Minnie had found a good home. That's when I saw that the grandfather's eyes were a milky white color — he was blind!
　　After that summer vacation, I missed Minnie. So I went to the grandfather's house. The grandfather was walking in the garden with Minnie (8)       the way. I could see both of them were happy. In the grandfather's eyes, Minnie is the most beautiful dog.

14．　　The film My People, My Country hit Chinese cinemas to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China last year. The film focuses on national memories and tells ordinary Chinese people's stories.

15．The Job
　　"Serena, don't forget your promise to me that you will mow (割) Mrs. Martin's yard this weekend," said Dad. "Don't let me down."
　　Serena was the oldest child in the family, and one of her chores was to mow their yard. Mrs. Martin, their elderly neighbor, was unable to take care of her yard, so Serena's Dad had volunteered Serena for this job. Since Mrs. Martin's yard was not very big, Serena knew the job would go quickly. However, she still disliked her dad's promise.
　　"Why didn't you ask me first?" Serena had complained.
　　"Did you ask me first when you volunteered me to be in the school festival last fall?" asked Serena's father.
　　"Well, no, I didn't ask you first, but you would have done those things anyway. You're always willing to help."
　　"I try when I can," Dad answered. "Serena, we have known Mrs. Martin for a very long time. She has often helped our family. Now we can do something for her. Besides, the feeling you get from helping someone makes you wonder who is really helping who."
　　"I don't know, Dad," said Serena. "The only feeling I get from mowing our yard is tired"
　　"Just you wait and see," said Dad.
　　After breakfast, Serena made her way to Mrs. Martin's yard. She was good at her job and soon had Mrs. Martin's yard looking tidy. Mrs. Martin came outside with a big glass of orange juice and offered it to her. Serena stopped her work and gratefully enjoyed the drink, while Mrs. Martin talked to her about all of the flowers in her yard. Seeing the joy in Mrs. Martin's eyes, Serena began to understand how much the yard meant to Mrs. Martin.
　　After finishing her drink, Serena returned to work with a new attitude. A warm feeling began to spread through her body. Her dad was right. It was hard to tell who was helping who!

16．　　When it comes to having perfect memories, it is clear that we humans must have had some faults in our blueprints! Why don't we remember everything that we want to remember? It can be frustrating and disheartening. Sometimes it can even cause us to lose self-esteem or others to think less of us. Truly, though, we are all forgetful. If we weren't, diaries would never be kept, secretaries would never be hired, and the "Blackberry" would not have been invented!
　　Most of us have vivid memories of our lives from about age three to our present ages. These are stored in what we call our "long-term memory". What about before age three? Sigmund Freud discovered the fact that we forget most of our early childhood. Psychologists disagree on what causes this amnesia, and the investigation (调查) has been going on since Freud's time. A very good theory, born from the results of experimentation with babies, is that absence of language ability at the time of an event stopped us from describing it to others. The memory exists in our minds, but words were not associated with it when it happened, and therefore, it doesn't become a subject in our adult autobiographies. There are some exceptions, but these are rare.
　　The other kind of memory, the "short-term memory", is what we are usually referring to when we say, "I forgot" Experts say that you can keep about seven things in your memory at once for up to three days. During that time, you may forget something in order to put something else in its place, or you, believe it or not, put it into long-term memory. What goes into short-term memory are things you've learned about recently, in the past day or two. Only if something really remarkable happens does it stay in your short-term memory for longer. For instance, you may have met your favorite celebrity last week, and this week you can tell all the details to a friend. A simple example to illustrate your short-term memory is to look at a list of twenty words for a minute or two. You will discover that you cannot remember more than about seven of them and that they are the ones in the beginning and at the end of the list (because your mind has judged them to be more important than those in the middle).

17．　　 "Fear is good. "
　　Fear is the bad feeling that one has when he is in danger or when a particular thing frightens him. A German proverb goes, "Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is." This is absolutely true as fear will often cause people to imagine the worst and act irrationally. In that case, can fear be any good?
　　Personally, I think a small amount of fear is good and even necessary as it not only acts as a form of control and prevention but also serves to motivate oneself. Nevertheless, being overly fearful is bad as it will severely hamper man's progress. In this essay, I will discuss how fear can be a double-edged sword, bringing both advantages and disadvantages to man.
　　Fear is good as it prevents people from doing dangerous acts and prompts them to control and regulate their behavior. Next, fear is good as it is a powerful motivator. For individuals such as students and businessmen, the fear of failure will prompt them to work hard and put in their best effort in their studies and business undertakings. This will lead to results and progress.
　　Although fear is good, man must keep in mind that too much fear may be harmful to his development. Being overly fearful of the unknown and intangible will prevent people from venturing into areas previously unexplored. For example, in the area of space exploration, Apollo 11 would have never landed the first humans on the moon if they had let fear get in the way of their dream. As the late John F. Kennedy once said, "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. " To achieve great feats, man must learn to conquer (战胜) his fear and find the courage to overcome the difficulties that life presents. Only then can the human race continue to make progress and enjoy the sweet smell of success.
　　In sum, fear is good as it will finally lead to a well-controlled and motivated society. Nevertheless, people must keep in mind that they should not be clouded by fear as it will stop their progress. I believe that a small dose of fear and a good deal of courage will make a great man as such a man will have the spirit to pursue his goals and the sense to act responsibly in the process.

18．Recycling Pioneer Milly Zantow
　　Many of us accustomed to looking for the numbered triangle stamped on the bottom of plastic products. For that, we can thank Milly Zantow, who was named recycling pioneer.
　　In 1978, Milly visited Japan and noticed how people there sorted their waste materials each day. Back then, only paper and metal were recycled in the U. S. , in very few places.
　　When Milly returned to her home in Wisconsin, she heard that the local landfill was running out of space. She went there and watched the trash trucks dump their loads. She was shocked to see so much plastic waste.
　　Nobody knows how long it takes for plastic to break down. Some scientists think it is at least 500 years. Others say never! Milly wanted to find a way to recycle plastics. She called Borden Dairy Company and asked a representative how the company made its plastic milk jugs. Then she asked what happened when a jug was damaged. The representative explained that the company would melt the plastic down and pour it back into the mold. At that moment, Milly realized that plastic could be melted and made into something new. At 55 years old, Milly had found her passion.
　　Milly talked to the owner of Flambeau Plastics. He told Milly plastic couldn't be recycled because there were seven different kinds. So Milly took chemistry classes at a local college. She learned to do scratch, burn, smoke and water weight tests to identify the various plastics. Then she went back to Flambeau and offered to provide plastic for his company to make its products. The owner agreed, and Milly got to work. In 1979, she and a friend started E-Z Recycling Center. The women used a pickup truck to gather plastics locally.
　　Soon they had a way for the public to drop off recyclable materials. Milly sorted glass, paper, metal, and ground-up plastic, and she searched for companies to buy the materials. E-Z Recycling processed nearly a quarter of a million pounds (113, 400 kg) in its first year. Milly wanted countrywide plastic recycling but knew it would happen only if there were a simple way to tell the different plastics apart.
　　Milly created the little triangle with a number inside it that we see on plastic products. In 1988, the Society of the Plastics Industry agreed to have it pressed on every plastic item. Plastic recycling quickly spread across her country. And plastic recycling is now a way of life for people across the world.

1. When did Milly visit Japan?
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2. Where is Milly's hometown?
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3. Did Borden Dairy Company recycle plastic before Milly called them?
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4. What did Milly start in 1979?
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5. Why was Milly named recycling pioneer?
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