2 . If you want to watch and know something about birds, you must find a good place near the bird nest (巢).

Birds sit on eggs and take care of their babies from April to June. Because the baby birds are too young to leave the nest, parents often go to look for food and come back in several minutes. So it is good to watch birds. When we watch birds, we’d better hide ourselves in a close place to the nest, and it’s better to use binoculars (双筒望远镜).

But how to make a bird nest? A good bird nest must be very fine, strong, thick and comfortable. If you want to make one, please follow these:

a) Each nest must have six boards (木板). Don’t make the boards too slippery (滑).

b) Dig a small hole in the front of the nest as a “door”. The “door” can’t be too small, so birds can fly in or out easily.

c) Make sure the rainwater can’t go into the nest.

d) One piece of the board should be easy to open.

e) Don’t forget to colour the nest.

3 . The geese are back

Canada geese do not live only in Canada. They spend spring and summer in Alaska（阿拉斯加加州）and northern（北方的）Canada. In autumn, many of the geese migrate（迁徙）to warmer places. They usually fly to northern Mexico（墨西哥）, but lately many began to fly to the south of the USA. This may be because it is warmer there now than it was in the past.

Canada geese fly very fast. They can fly as fast as 100 kilometers per hour. The geese usually travel in groups of about 100, but groups of 1,000 are common. On cloudy days, the geese will fly lower, but on sunny days they can fly as high as 2,500 meters.

Canada geese know when to migrate by checking how long and how warm the days are. They also wait until the young geese learn to fly. When the day becomes shorter and the temperature（气温）gets lower, they know it is time to leave. This is usually at the end of August. A few days before leaving, all the geese get very excited. They start honking（雁叫）and making a lot of noise.

The Canada geese make a “V” shape in the sky when they fly south. This helps them fly more easily through the air. The first goose pushes through the air, and this makes it easier for the other geese to follow. Each goose takes a turn being the first goose.

No one is sure how the geese find their way. Some scientists think that geese use the stars at night to help them know where they are.

5 . I see the nursery (苗圃). It is like a sea of green. There are trees of all kinds, and a huge vegetable garden. I step inside the gate. It is quiet here, and it smells so good.

A voice says, “Hello! I saw you at school today.” I whip around to see the person who came to talk to me. She came to talk to my class today.

“Welcome,” she says, holds out (伸出) her hand. “I am Makena.”

“I’m Kemzie,” I say.

At the back of the nursery, people are putting small trees into bags. One of them is my friend, Anne. We help put the trees on the back of a truck.

Makena comes and gives us some drinks and bananas. We sit down.

“When I first come here,” says Makena, “there is nothing, just dirt (泥土). We make a dam (大坝) and there’s a lot of water now, then we make a small nursery and grow our first trees.”

Makena says again. “Years ago, this country is very green. But people start to cut down trees to make way for farms, and soon it becomes a dry, dusty (有灰尘的) place. People don’t understand how much we need the trees.”

7 . I had two pets in my house, a dog named Sam and a cat named Katty. They loved each other so much that they were always together. When I played with one, the other joined in. If Sam barked at something, Katty ran to see what it was. When I took either one out of the house, the other was always waiting by the door when we returned. That was the way it was for years.

But one day, without any warning, Sam died of a heart attack （心脏病突发） at the animal hospital and I had to walk back to our house alone. This time, there was no Sam for Katty to greet and no way for me to explain why she would never see her friend again.

In the days that followed, Katty seemed heartbroken. She could not tell me in words how she felt, but I could see the pain and disappointment in her eyes whenever anyone opened the front door and the hope whenever she heard a dog bark.

As the weeks went by, the cat seemed to feel much better. One day as I walked into our living room, I happened to have a look at the floor next to our sofa where we had a statue （塑像） of Sam that we had bought a few years before. Lying next to it, one arm around the statue's neck, was Katty, happily sleeping with her best friend.

8 . Cats are great hunters. Mice are often on their top five kill list. But sometimes, a cat will not kill the animal it catches. ① __________, the catch becomes kind of a toy or plaything.

The first expression is “play cat and mice with someone”.The cat seizes a mouse. Then lets it go. Catches it. Lets it go. Over and over again! It is good fun for the cat but frightening for the poor mouse. So, if you play cat and mouse with someone, you play a power game with them. You, the person with the power, are the cat. Maybe you pretend to give the other person something they want but then take it away. You toy with them.

Now, let's leave the game of cat and mouse and talk about playing in a different way. Let's imagine a classroom filled with young children. The teacher must leave the room for a couple of minutes. At first, everybody is well-behaved. ②But the longer the teacher is gone, the naughtier the class will be. It starts out slowly. Someone throws a piece of paper. A couple of students get up and walk around. Others start laughing loudly. Someone yells! Suddenly, all of the students are doing things they would never do with the teacher in the room.

But you know what we say: When the cat's away, the mice will play!

③_____________ So, the teacher is the cat and the students are the mice. We often use this expression when talking about children and parents, employees and office supervisors and even people in committed relationships.

9 . Eight years ago, 1-week-old Diandian was left behind. When people found her in the reeds (芦苇) of a lake, she looked too weak to survive. Now she is the mother of three milu, thanks to the workers’ attention and care at the East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve.

Li is the president of a milu conservation association in Yueyang and head of a local milu and bird rescue center, where 11 deer, including Diandian, have their families. Li and his workmates need to work extra hours to take care of the animals from March until mid-May. He remembers March 18 this year. He fed Diandian some fresh shoots and leaves for breakfast as usual, and moments later when he returned, a newborn milu was right beside her. Since it is her third baby and born in the third month of the year, people named it Sansan, referring to “three-three”. Li has developed a deep affection for milu and made up his mind to protect them. “As our country is paying more attention to environmental and wildlife protection, people are increasingly aware that milu are state-protected animals,” Li said.

Milu habitats (栖息地) are usually centered around water, and fishing equipment that used to be a threat to the animals is no longer seen in nature reserves. On May 27, a team of experts went to watch milu near Dongting Lake. It takes time and luck to meet one and count them especially when they live in the thick reeds that are 4 to 5 meters tall. The team leader Song, saw a milu for the first time when he was studying for his doctorate in zoology early in 2009. Since then, he has helped protect the habitats at Dongting Lake. As the flood season is coming, Song and his workmates will go around the lake area day and night to save deer in trouble, and provide feed for the animals when needed.

As the environment improves in and around Dongting Lake, China’s second-largest freshwater lake, the wetland has become cover once again for wildlife. “We will continue to protect these rare animals and their living environment,” Song said.

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10 . In order to get away from the busy life in the big city, two young men decided to spend a holiday in the countryside. They enjoyed the beautiful scenery and fresh air there. One day, while taking a walk together, they crossed a large field.

“Look out!” one of the young men shouted, because a bull（公牛） appeared and began to chase（追赶）them. The bull looked like a monster and made a terrible roar（咆哮）, rolling its big eyes. They were very scared. They ran as fast as they could, but the bull kept running after them.

Finally, one of the men climbed up a tree. The other jumped into a hole, but soon he came out of it. And then the bull chased him back into the hole.

“Stay there!” his friend shouted, but soon the man came out again, and again the bull chased him right back.

The same thing went on another three times.

At last, the man in the tree got angry and shouted to his friend, “How foolish you are! I have told you to stay in the hole for a while! Why are you always coming out?”

“It's easy for you to say,” the other man said more angrily. “But there is a bear in the hole!”

So you see, sometimes things are not what they appear to be. We should always try to stand in others' shoes and look from there.