1 . Did you know that horses talk? Well, they do, and you can lean to understand “horse talk” if you pay close attention to the horses you see.

When horses live in the wild, other animals try to eat them, so a lot of horse talk is about staying alive. Even now, when most horses live on farms, they watch for danger. For this reason, never walk behind a horse. If you surprise it, the horse might mistake you for a mountain lion or wolf and give a dangerous kick.

By watching the ears of a horse, you can get clues to what it's hearing. A horse can turn each ear in a different direction. For a wild horse, this trick is important for survival. The horse can hear something sneaking up behind it while also checking out a threatening noise in front. When a horse lets its ears down, it's feeling safe and relaxed. If horses become isolated, they neigh, or “whinny,” calling for company. They're saying, “Where are you? I'm over here!” If a horse snorts(哼) while holding its head high and staring at something, it's saying, “That looks dangerous. Get ready to run!” When two horses meet, they put their noses together and smell each other's breath. It's their way of asking, “Are you a friend?” Horses nicker, too. Nickering is a quiet sort of sound. This friendly noise means they're feeling secure and saying, “Clad to see you.”

In the wild, horses live in herds, with all members watching for danger. In a herd, only one horse is the leader, the “boss hoss”. The “boss hoss” is usually an older female. She watches for threats and teaches younger horses how to behave. However, others may want her job. When that happens, she pins her ears back against her head and may even bite or kick to get challengers to back off. She's using body language to say, “Hey, I'm in charge here!” All horses know that the one who makes others move is the leader. Horses relate to people that way, too.

Horses have a language of their own. Now you know a bit of what they might be saying.

2 . An abandoned(被遗弃的) dog, now named Gershwin, was recently rescued by a rescue team. The story started to unfold when someone ______ a dog somewhere without any food or water. Then a person noticed the dog living behind a gas station building and ______ called Hope For Paws, a nonprofit organization.

The rescue team arrived soon and went to ______ when they got there. First, they tried to block the dog on a path near the building, but the dog ______ from them in fear. The dog wouldn't go near the rescue team and seemed to be ______ by the men. However, Loreta, the ______ in the team was able to get close to him.

The other ______ stayed in the car as Loreta approached him. Loreta sat down in the grass and waited ______ for the dog to get used to her. The dog felt ______ after a long time and Loreta quietly reached over and ______ him with the rescue belt.

Then the dog got nervous again and tried to run away, ______ Loreta on the ground with him. However, Loreta ______ to let him go though it was tough. Her hands were shaking as she got out of the scary ______. After the rescue was finished, the dog, named Gershwin by them, jumped right into the rescue vehicle.

Besides hunger, they found that Gershwin was hurt in the shoulder. Thankfully, his treatment was a ______ and now he is completely recovered. But, he still needs a forever home to live a steady life. Hence the rescue team found a responsible ______ for Gershwin.

3 . Lots of people dream of a beach vacation, but hesitate to take one because they don't want to leave a pet behind.     1     You can enjoy some fun in the sun on a beach vacation with your pet. It is easier than ever to find a beach that welcome your pets, and a little extra planning and preparation is all that is required to have a wonderful time on vacation with your pet.

    2     Use the Internet to determine whether a beach is pet friendly. You can look at a beach's website, lists of pet-friendly beaches where you will be traveling. They will tell you about any rules on pets at the local beaches.

Find a hotel that is pet-friendly. Most hotels that accept pets will advertise themselves as pet-friendly on their websites.     3     It's better to know if your pet will be welcome before you make an order.

Clean up after your pet. When vacationing with your pet it doesn't mean that all responsibility is gone. Picking up after it, whether that is when it goes to the bathroom or it makes a mess with its food, is still your responsibility.     4    

Be considerate of others.     5     Some people are scared of animals, especially children, so just be aware of other animals and people on the beach and keep your pet away from them if necessary.

4 . Plenty of harvests of corn and other major crops rely on a mysterious phenomenon known as hybrid vigor (杂交活力). When highly naturally-born varieties are crossed, their next generations are taller, hardier, and bear more grain, Researchers report that this vigor is somehow influenced by microbes (微生物) in the soil, perhaps through a plant's immune system .

Charles Darwin was one of the first researchers to describe hybrid vigor. In the early 20th century, biologists began to apply this effect to agriculture by creating naturally-born parent plants that produced hybrid seeds. By the 1940s, almost every farmer in the United States was planting hybrid corn, and the harvests multiplied.

Biologists have proposed several theories about the cause of hybrid vigor, but no definitive explanation has emerged.

Maggie Wagner, plant biologist at the University of Kansas, and her colleagues wondered whether microbes might be it involved. Last year, Wagner and her colleagues found an interesting clue in a field study. They discovered that the leaves and roots of hybrid corn had microbial communities that are different from those living on naturally-born varieties of corn. “Something about being a hybrid makes a plant interact differently with microbes,” Wagner says. It could be that the naturally-born corn's immune systems react more actively to beneficial microbes, compromising their growth. Alternatively, hybrid plants may be better able to defend against weak pathogens (病原体) in the soil.

Wagner says the finding highlights the need for plant growers to match the hybrid crops to the microbial communities with which they live. The findings help scientists realize the importance of understanding the role of soil microbes in making agriculture more productive and sustainable, “This holds great promise.”

5 . Oceans hold a lot of mystery, even for people who study them. But it's no mystery why they're in trouble. We've been using them to hide our waste -such as pouring oil, plastic, and poisonous chemicals into them for decades. We've over exploited (剥削) many fish stocks to levels so low that they can no longer be harvested.

Oceans are also a primary source of protein for millions of people worldwide. If we want to continue to enjoy what oceans provide, we need to do everything we can to protect them and the life they support. We should ensure the seafood we eat is sustainable.

Of course, not everyone is lucky enough to be able to catch their own fish, which means having sustainable options at the store is critical. As public and companies awareness about the risks caused by overfishing and uncontrolled sea farming expansion have grown, food tradesmen in Canada have developed sustainable seafood policies and commitments.

Seafood Progress, an online resource, is designed to help provide rewards to tradesmen and information to seafood lovers. It makes it easier for consumers in Canada to find out tradesmen's policies on sourcing sustainable seafood, whether they're sticking to those policies and how they're performing compared to their peers.

But tradesmen must do more to ensure their seafood products are environmentally sustainable and socially responsible. This means expanding the scope of their commitments to cover all seafood products they sell, in all their stores. It also requires continuing to work with suppliers and producers to improve practices and make sure the sustainable seafood supply meets consumer demand.

It's no mystery that if we want to continue to eat fish, we must do it responsibly. Seafood Progress has invited seafood tradesmen, suppliers and consumers to join in pushing to this goal.

6 . The Battista family of New York City was on vacation in Ocean City, Maryland when their 2-year-old Boston terrier Fisher went lost on July 4, 2020.

The Battistas immediately blanketed the area with missing posters, barraged (炮击) social media, and even got Fisher face-time on a local floating billboard.

With no leads, the family decided to remain in the area for an extended stay. They hired a tracker and even went so far as consulting with an “animal communicator” in hopes of tapping into Fisher's whereabouts—all to no avail.

The family also set up a findfisher Facebook page, which quickly gathered 8, 000 followers, and launched an online fundraiser to raise awareness and aid them in their efforts to bring their beloved fur baby home.

“Signs have been posted, and we've extended our stay in Ocean City and arranged to bring in a professional dog tracker, in addition to making continuous searching trips in a car, on foot, and on a bike,” Matthew Battista wrote.

Bravely, the Battistas kept the wheels of the Internet grapevine turning, refusing to let the details of Fisher's disappearance be forgotten. As a result, Fisher became something of a media darling in absentia.

On April 20, 2021, 290 days after Fisher made his unauthorized Independence Day exit, Baltimore City resident Wayne Horn was performing maintenance on his motorcycle when he noticed a stray (走失的) dog in the road. When a friend of Horn's posted picture of the found dog to Facebook, the responses of “That's Fisher!” came back faster than a boomerang.

Informed of the news, Elissa Battista recognized Fisher immediately. “From the moment I saw the photos I knew it was him from the markings and his little tongue sticking out,” she posted to Facebook.

The reunion was quickly arranged. The Battistas had some local friends pick him up from the Horns, and then Elissa made the five-hour trip to retrieve Fisher and bring him home. Apart from minor signs of possible frostbite, Fisher was in excellent shape.

7 . Almost every morning for the past two decades, Juliet the macaw (金刚鹦鹉) has been visiting the local zoo in Rio de Janeiro to interact with others of her kind through the metal enclosure.

Macaws are social birds, so being lonely is a tough burden to bear for Juliet, a beautiful blue-and-yellow macaw who calls Rio home. No one really knows much about her. Zoo staff named the bird Juliet, but they don't even know if she is actually female. It's really hard to tell with macaws, and to determine her true gender (性别) they would need to capture the bird, and either examine her gonads (生殖腺) or take blood or feather samples. And there's really no need to put Juliet through all that stress just to satisfy human curiosity. All that everyone knows is that Juliet loves coming to the zoo every morning to be with others of her species.

Macaws have an average life expectancy of about 35 years, and Juliet has been around for at least two decades. Yet, she has never had a mate, built a nest or had chicks, and she probably never will, because there's just no one to do it with.

Luckily, there is hope for Rio's loneliest bird. Through Refauna, an initiative which reintroduces species into protected areas, scientists want to raise some 20 chicks that will, receive training on wild food sources, as well as enemies and power line avoidance, before being released into the wild.

The birds will be released into Rio de Janeiro's giant Tijuca Forest National Park, where Juliet is believed to spend her nights. Scientists hope the birds will help keep balance in the local eco-system, by breaking seeds that other birds can't, thus spreading those seeds. But they will also become welcome company for Juliet, allowing her to fly with others of her kind for the first time in 20 years. And maybe she'll even find love.

8 . British sculptor Jason Taylor has made it his mission to use his talent to conserve our ecosystems by creating underwater museums. Over the years, the environmentalist has put over 850 massive artworks underwater worldwide. On February 1, 2021, Taylor launched his latest work---The Underwater Museum of Cannes.

“The main goal was to bring attention to the fact that our oceans need our help,” Taylor told Dezeen. “Ocean ecologies have been destroyed by human activity in the Mediterranean over the past few decades, and it is not obvious what is taking place when observing the sea from afar.”

The Underwater Museum of Cannes contains 6 sculptures featuring local residents of various ages. They range from Maurice, an 80-year-old fisherman, to Anouk, a 9-year-old student. Towering over 6-feet-tall and weighing 10 tons, the faces are sectioned into two parts, with the outer part like a mask. The mask indicates that the world’s oceans appear powerful and unbeatable from the surface but house an ecosystem that is extremely fragile to careless human activities.

Though the waters surrounding the sculptures now appear a pristine blue, the seabed was filled with old boat engines, pipes, and other human-made trash when the project began about four years ago. Besides removing the trash, Taylor also restored the area’s seagrass. Just one square meter of the seagrass can generate up to 10 liters of oxygen daily. The seagrass also helps prevent coastal erosion and provides habitats for many ocean creatures.

“The idea of creating an underwater museum was to draw more people underwater and develop a sense of care and protection,” Taylor told Dezeen. “If we threw unwanted waste near a forest, there would be a public outcry. But this is happening every day in our surrounding waters and it largely goes unnoticed.”