Many have heard of a shark fin soup. This famous and expensive dish is popular in many countries.     1     do you realize that you’re killing a whole shark each time you enjoy a bowl of shark fin soup?

When people catch sharks, they cut off     2     fins and throw the sharks back into the ocean. This is not only cruel, but also harmful to the environment. Without a fin,     3     shark can no longer swim and slowly dies. Sharks are at the top of the food chain in the ocean’s ecosystem. If their numbers drop too low, it will bring danger to all ocean life. Many believe that sharks can never be endangered     4     they are the strongest in their food chain. But in fact, around 70 million sharks are caught and traded in this industry every year. The numbers of some kinds of sharks have fallen by over 90 percent in the last 20 to 30 years.

Environmental protection groups around the world, such as WildAid and the WWF,     5     teaching the public about “finning”. They have even asked governments to develop laws to stop the sale of shark fins. So far, no scientific studies have shown the shark fins are good for health, so why eat them? Help save the sharks.

Zhang Lei, a fifteen-year-old boy, is an animal lover. He saved an elephant that was     1     great danger.

On March 13th, 2020, Zhang Lei heard a baby elephant lost     2     (it) mother and the living place. He wanted to save the poor animal. Zhang Lei used his pocket money to help it. Later, the elephant was sent to a local zoo. The zoo could give it a much     3     (good) place to live in than before.

Look! What is Zhang Lei doing now?

He is playing with the     4     in the zoo.

Every weekend, Zhang Lei and his friends visit and     5     care of the elephant. It grows up healthily there.

Zhang Lei also enjoys spending time with     6     animals. He decides to help more animals. Trees are sometimes cut down by people     7     want to make money, so animals lose their homes. Zhang Lei hopes to stop this. Many children have the same     8     . They expect to join him quickly.

“Protecting animals needs many     9     (volunteer). I’ll always be one of them,” said Zhang Lei. “Though there’s a long way to go to save the endangered animals, I’ll never give     10    . My journey has just begun.”