The heart-warming story of Thor

四川双流中学 蒋建平

生命的意义，不在于长短，而在于深度。我愿尽我一生所能，每天都对你忠诚。无论你贫穷或富贵，无论你疾病或健康，我都会永远爱护你、守护你，直到死亡将我们分开!忠犬索尔的故事令无数人感动流泪。

题材 人与动物 体裁 记叙文文章词数316 难度 ★★★ 建议用时6′

Do you remember the heart-warming story of Hachiko，the Akita Inu who spent nine years in waiting for his owner to return without knowing his 1.?His being faithful to his owner is being challenged by Thor．

In December 2015，Thor's owner died at 58，and his loyal companion fell into sorrow.The owner's family looked after Thor，but they didn't give him the same love and attention.Seeing the miserable dog，a neighbor called Saionara asked if she could take him in，and maybe help him get over the death of his owner.Then under her loving care，Thor started getting better.About a year ago，he started following the same route he had 2.alongside his owner．

Every morning Saionara gets up early，makes his food and then opens the gate for him to take the 3.he was already familiar with.Thor has a good memory，and he stops at all the usual places where his owner used to stay for a while，and lets those who know him pet him on the head.That's become his routine for the last year or so.And it seems that he is waiting for his owner to come back．

Wherever he goes，Thor always receives love and affection.Everyone knows his story and is eager to make his loss more bearable.People stop to pet him.His food and water bowls are always full at the shoe store he walks by every day，and some people even stop to take 4.with the famous dog so that they can have a look at him whenever they want to．

One day，after completing his walk and spending time outside the places his owner used to spend time in，particularly the lottery office，which he visited every day，Thor met his new 5.，Saionara.“I'll tell you that I love him，but I'm also concerned because I'm old.But I'll take good care of him，”she says．

Reading Check

Fill in each blank with only one word according to the context.

Language Study

Ⅰ.Important vocabulary in the text

1.fall into sorrow 陷入悲伤

2.get over 从疾病（或震惊、断绝关系等）中恢复常态

3.pet...on the head 拍打……的头

4.routine n.常规；例程

5.affection n.喜爱；钟爱

6.bearable adj.可忍受的；能应付的

7.lottery n.抽彩给奖法

Ⅱ.Sentences for writing

1.It seems that...“似乎/好像……”，引导名词性从句

而且，他似乎在等他的主人回来。

2.wherever“无论在（到）哪里”，引导让步状语从句，相当于no matter where

无论走到哪里，索尔总是受到人们的关爱和喜爱。