1 . Alan Mathison Turing was born in England in 1912. Like many talents who go on to great things, Turing showed his incredible intelligence from a very young age. In fact, by the time he was halfway through primary school, Turing’s teachers had already realized he was a mathematical genius. He could do complex calculating in his head even though he had never been taught about it.

Fortunately, Turing was the opposite of Hawking, and he absolutely loved school. Proof of this is the extreme lengths he would go just to get to class. For example, on one occasion when there was a train strike, Turing even cycled 60 miles to attend. Now that’s devotion!

However, in spite of Turing’s scholarly attitude and his obvious genius, his teachers had their concerns about his future. This is because well-known schools in Britain like the ones Turing attended regarded the Classics, such as Latin and Greek as the most important, not subjects like maths and science. Turing’s proud teachers even wrote letters to his parents asking them to convince the young man to focus more on the Classics. Imagine how different the world might be if the young Turing had listened to his teachers! Thankfully, his love for all things scientific and mathematical meant there was no chance of that.

After finishing secondary school, Turing completed a degree in mathematics at King’s College Cambridge, and then obtained his PhD from Princeton University in the USA. It was during these university years that he invented the Turing Machine, which is considered by many people to be the earliest version of a computer processing unit. It sounds unbelievable that anybody could have invented something which was similar to a computer in 1936. But that just shows how far ahead of his time Alan Turing was, even when he was still a young man.

2 . It is nearly dawn, and the yellow moon has just set behind coconut trees. Spots of pink appear in the sky and a glorious red ball of fire slowly rises. Birds have begun to gather in their hundreds in the Changaram wetland in Kerala’s Alappuzha district. George, with binoculars glued to his eyes, is busy recognizing the birds: “Little egrets, garganeys…” He pauses. “But what are those three there? Ah, spot-billed ducks,” he says when he spots the typical band of brilliant jade-green on the wings.

His binoculars are off his eyes now, but his fingers are flying over his phone screen, typing the names of the species he has sighted on eBird, an app where birdwatchers upload real-time information on species. As a citizen scientist, he has been one Bird for three years and takes pride in being the country’s “eighth best eBirder” based on the number of his check-lists.

eBird is just now drawing in ordinary people into the process of ecological (生态学的) science and conservation. Citizen scientists can ask questions, volunteer to collect data, and analyse them. For researchers, citizen scientists are a boon: with their large numbers, they can contribute extensive data over vast geographical areas, something trained scientists could not dream of gathering either individually or in teams.

While it may appear to be a new concept, the public has always participated in ecological science, said a team of American scientists in a 2012 study. Chinese citizens and officials, for instance, tracked locust (蝗虫) a tacks for at least 3,500 years although they did not know their observations would later be used for science.

Today, thanks to smartphones, the Internet and the endless possibilities of apps, citizen science has truly come of age around the world, helping create a vast and valuable collection of data.

4 . Compean was no stranger to Los Angeles National Forest. He’d hiked the park several times. But after hiking along a _________ path last April, the 45-year-old man was lost.

As dusk _________, with several hours of aimless walking, his concern _________ fear. With only a bottle of water and less than ten percent battery _________ on his cell phone, Compean was unprepared for anything more than the two-hour journey he’d planned.

Compean climbed to a higher _________, some 7, 000 feet above sea level, where he found at least one bar of _________. “Help. My phone is going to die. I’m lost, ” he texted a friend, with a photo _________, showing where he was. All Compean could do then was wait. The temperature was dropping _________. Dressed so little, he soon felt cold to the bone.

Sixty miles away in Ventura County, Ben Kuo was reading a tweet _________ the Los Angeles County Police Department, showing an image of a man’s legs. Kuo has an unusual hobby. “I have always loved __________ where photos were taken,” he says. He frequently tries to __________ where movie scenes or television shows were filmed. When he saw the image of Compean’s legs surrounded by an endless landscape of __________, he immediately pulled up a satellite map on his laptop. The police department said Compean’s car was parked near Buckhorn Campground and Compean had been lost for a whole day, so he narrowed his search to the __________ area.

“There’s an amazing amount of information you can get from satellites, ”says Kuo. The first thing he __________ in Compean’s photo was the special grass. After comparing it to the satellite map, Kuo realized something, “He’s got to be on the south side __________ there’s not really any green valley on the north side.” That finding __________ his search, leading him to an area that was similar to a part in the image. The final step was comparing the __________ photo with 3D images of the area from Google Earth. The locations __________!

Thanks to Kuo’s __________ information, Compean was finally rescued and he was grateful to Kuo, “I __________ you my life”.

5 . At our residence, we made sure a small lawn (草坪) space remained green by watering regularly. I live in an area _________ by a fairly large garden. There are a number of fruit trees _________ here along with many plants and lots of grass. That _________ the flying beauties — the birds visiting the space regularly. At first sight, the garden appears very _________ but actually many birds live in it or visit it _________ . Some people keep birds in _________ to listen to their songs. I say it is _________ better for the birds to live freely.

Every morning I am awakened by the shrill _________ of a magpie-robin. The sound is so sweet and I just lie in bed listening to the songs _________ the bird flies away. Small plants and bushes provide good __________ for insects and very small birds, while larger trees will attract visits __________ more birds and mammals. They come to sing, __________ a bit or look for food. So it is always a(n) __________ to see them. I just sit quietly and they __________ their business undisturbed.

It’s easy to attract birds to your __________   however small and close it is to a city. I have seen the spotted-dove, pigeon and various other little birds which I cannot __________. They sing, dance and __________ their beautiful colors. It is quite a(n) __________. On the other hand there are those annoying little sparrows that come into the house to __________ food.

__________ to say, the surrounding area is being developed and the wildlife is being chased away or destroyed.

6 . Harry Smith, aged 81, and Sarah Jane, his dog, were on their morning walk around the lake. Suddenly, he lost _________ of his electric wheelchair and soon, he was nearly _________—but, “man’s best friend” jumped into action.

His electric wheelchair lost balance in the area covered with tree leaves, which caused him to _________ down the bank and flip off (翻滚) his wheelchair into water in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Mr. Smith needed _________ as he could not swim and _________ to stay afloat.

Knowing her owner was _________, Sarah Jane began barking like crazy—which _________ two bystanders across the street. Edward Suhling and his friend Jacob rushed over to the lake and _________ a local police officer. When Officer Doty arrived, he saw Smith sinking and water _________ up to his neck.

The two bystanders and Officer Doty __________ together to pull him out of the water and up the bank. __________, he was healthy enough to return home. His electric wheelchair was __________ from falling into the water, so the first __________ pushed him back to his house, with Sarah Jane wagging her tail all the way back.

“The saying remains __________... man’s best friend is his dog,” the Port St Lucie Police Department wrote on their Facebook page. “I gave her a __________,” Smith said, laughing. “I love her so much.”

Emerging evidence in humans suggests a     1     (typical) Western high-fat, high-sugar junk food diet can quickly weaken your brain's appetite control.

After offering volunteers a week-long binge (大吃大喝) of waffles, milkshakes and similarly rich foods, researchers in Australia found young and healthy ones scored worse on memory tests and experienced a     2     (great) desire to eat junk food, even when they were already full.

The findings suggest something is special in the hippocampus (海马体)-a region of the brain     3     supports memory and helps to regulate appetite. When we are full, the hippocampus is thought to quieten down our memories of delicious food, thereby     4     (reduce) our appetite. When it’s interrupted,     5     control can be seriously damaged. Over the years, extensive research on     6     (mouse) has found the function of the hippocampus is very sensitive to junk food, but recently this has been observed only in young and healthy humans.

In 2017, after a week of Western-style breakfasts of     7     (toast) sandwiches and milkshakes, researchers found participants performed worse on learning and memory tests which are typically dependent     8     the hippocampus.

Now, in this latest study the scientists of the team     9     (find) that not only do such high-fat, high-sugar diets impair memory in humans, but they appear to directly affect our ability     10     (control) our appetite.