1 . My husband, Tom, has always been good with animals, but I was still amazed when he befriended a female grouse(松鸡). It’s ________for a grouse to have any contact(接触)with people. In fact, they’re hard to see, because they usually ________ when they hear humans walking nearer.

This grouse came into our lives in ________. Tom was working out in the field when he ________ her walking around at the edge of the field. She was ________ unafraid and seemed to be ________ about what he was doing.

Tom saw the________ bird several times, and she got more comfortable around him. We quickly grew. ________ of the bird and decided to call her Mildred.

One day, as Tom was working, Mildred came within a few feet of him to watch. Tom________ he didn’t see her and kept working to see what she would do next.

Apparently, she didn’t like to be ________. She’d run up and peck (啄) at Tom’s hands, then ________ off to see what he would do. This went on for about 20 minutes, until Mildred became tired of the ________ and left.

As spring went and summer came, Mildred started to ________ more and more often. ________ Mildred felt comfortable enough to jump up on Tom’s leg and stay long enough for me to get a________ of the two of them together. This friendly grouse soon felt ________ not just with our family, but with anybody who walked or drove by.

When hunting season opened, we put a________ at the end of our driveway(车道) asking ________ not to shoot our pet grouse. My father, who lived down the road, also ________ people not to shoot her. ________, hunters would stop and take pictures, because they had never seen anything like her.

The Great Barrier Reef (大堡礁) is one of the seven     1     (wonder) of the natural world. Pulling away from it and viewing it from a greater distance, you can understand why. The reef, between 15 kilometers     2    150 kilometers off shore and around 65 km wide in some parts, is a collection of colorful coral     3     (provide) divers with the most excellent underwater experience imaginable.

A closer encounter with the Great Barrier Reef’s impressive coral gardens presents a number of     4    (extreme) amazing underwater attractions, which include the     5     (large) gathering of corals (珊瑚), coral sponges, rays (鳐鱼), dolphins, over 1,500 species of tropical fish, more than 200    6     (variety) of birds, etc.

The reef is    7     area for humpback whales to breed (繁殖), and is also a habitat of a few endangered species including the Dugong (Sea Cow) and large Green Sea Turtle. In recognition of its significance, UNESCO     8     (list) the Great Barrier Reef as a World Heritage Site in 1981.

Because of     9     (it) natural beauty, both below and above the water’s surface, the reef     10     (become) one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations to date.

3 . Endangered species

An endangered species is a group of animals that could soon become extinct.     1     Many species are nearly extinct and could disappear off the face of the earth very soon if we don’t do anything to save them. There are many reasons why species become endangered.

Habitat destruction is the main reason why animals become endangered and this happens in two ways. When humans move into a new area, the animals’ habitat is destroyed and there is nowhere for them to live and nothing to eat because humans chop down trees and build houses and farms.     2     Chemicals in rivers and poisons on farms cause the destruction of animals’ homes and food supplies.

    3     Animals have been brought to the edge of extinction because they are killed for their highly-valued meat, fur, bones or skin, or just for sport. Overfishing has resulted in many large sea creatures like whales and sharks becoming endangered species.

    4     We should take care not to pollute natural areas, and farmers or companies who destroy animal habitats should face severe financial penalties. The public can help out by refusing to buy any products made from these animals’ body parts. Governments can help, too, by making it against the law to hunt, fish or trade in endangered species. They can also provide funding for animal sanctuaries, to protect animals from extinction by breeding more endangered animals, which they later release into the wild.     5    

4 . Every year on April 22,Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.It gave a voice to an emerging public consciousness about the state of our planet.The founder was Gaylord Nelson.

What moved Gaylord Nelson to action was the1969massive oil spill（溢出）in California,the largest oil spill in the United States at that time.The spill proved to be an environmental nightmare as it had a strong impact on marine life,killing an estimated3,500sea birds,as well as marine animals such as dolphins,elephant seals and sea lions.Inspired by the student antiwar movement at that period of time,Nelson found it was a right time to channel the energy of the students towards a fight for environmental protection.He decided that it was time to educate the Americans on the need to protect the environment.Thus,Earth Day was born in1970,and public environmental consciousness took centre stage.

On 22nd April 1970,millions of Americans took to the streets to demonstrate for a healthy,sustainable environment and thousands of students marched in protest of the terrible situation of the environment.Businesses were forced to follow environmental standards if they wanted to continue their operations.The year1990 saw Earth Day reach out to many more countries around the world.It helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro,bringing together many nations,for a joint effort towards protecting the environment.In 2009,the United Nations decided to officially set April 22 as Earth Day.

For his role as founder of Earth Day,Gaylord Nelson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom（1995）,the highest honour given to civilians in the United States.We honor the man,as the fight for a cleaner environment continues.

5 . One evening, Catherine was at home as usual. As her____swung between what she was going to do with her life and their dinner plans for the evening, she was unexpectedly ___by an urgent call from her sister “Get over here! Turn on NBC and check these guys out. They are just like you…” One Facebook message and a phone interview later, Catherine____herself on a bus with 8 strangers in the middle of the sweltering desert heat of Utah, picking up trash and ___awareness about zero-waste and climate change.

With a deep____of the environment and a desire to make a __ , Catherine, Davey, and a group of self ___“environmental pick-up artists” went on a coast to coast road side trash pick-up. As they walked, sometimes only______0.9 miles in an entire day, they ____ and steadily made their way across the United States for three years, picking up a total of 201,678 pounds of trash.

Catherine and Davey____with us wonderful stories of hope and inspiration that fueled their___to continue their journey. After spending weeks silently______how she would have enough _____to fly home for their two-week spring break, Catherine found a blank, unidentified envelope____with $850 cash in the desert. Just enough to get her home and back. After their bus____outside of Denver, they unexpectedly got ____ and arrived in Yosemite National Park three weeks later, just in time for the “Yosemite Facelift” where____ from all over the state came together with a______of cleaning up trash all over the park.

Being at the right place at the right time became almost normal, and they realized that much of what they ____was more than just a coincidence. Together, their team learned to simply ____themselves to their task, and surrender to the journey.

7 . I used to be crazy about the hunting season. The excitement of waiting for a prey(猎物)and the pride of showing off the kill fascinated me. However, everything changed after that cold morning.

Early on that day of the late fall, I set off alone for the woods, packing a gun, a bottle of hot coffee and three thick sandwiches. After finding the fresh deer’s tracks in the snow, I settled down behind a little bush.

I sat there for about an hour. It was then that I saw him. A deer, a big beautiful deer! There was no cover nearer to him than 30 yards. Surely I couldn’t miss! I waited for him to realize I was there. I waited for him to be shocked and run away. But he fooled me completely. He came towards me! He was curious, I suppose, or maybe he was stupid---how else can you explain it? Well, that deer walked right up to where I was sitting. Then he stopped and looked at me!

What happened next is hard to believe, but it’s true. And it all seemed quite natural. Just as when a friendly young deer comes near you, I reached up and scratched his head. And he liked to be scratched. In fact, he practically asked for more. Then, I fed him my sandwich! Yes, I know what a deer eats, but that deer ate my sandwich. Well, he finally went his way, down the hill and up the deer trail. Shoot him? Not me. You wouldn’t have either, not after that. I just watched him go.

When I was about half way back, I heard two shots, followed by a dull slam(撞击)a few seconds later. Those two shots usually mean a kill. I had forgotten there were other hunters that day.

Those hunters would never know they could have scratched his head.

10 . Melbourne Girls' College is getting rid of all dustbins and asking students to take their rubbish home to encourage them to move towards zero waste.

Starting next Monday, the college will gradually_______all the rubbish bins in five weeks in classrooms and the yard, _________1400 students and 140 staff to find their own home for chip packets and juice boxes. Volunteer students will _______ daily non- compulsory food inspections in which children bringing “zero waste" lunch boxes will be _______. Students using only _______ packaging will receive a token (礼券）to win prizes such as keepcups.

The rubbish that students take home may still go to landfill(废物填埋场）via their home bins, _______the new policy will help persuade_______to buy fewer packaged items and reuse containers. Most issues around carrying rubbish home, such as smell and mess, can be solved._______tuna （金枪鱼）in a tin, for example, can_______ the school's compost（堆肥）bin and the tin can be __________ before it's taken home.

The college principal Karen Money acknowledges that some parents may not have the time or means to avoid   ________ in single-use packaging, “but it's________to get as many people as we can to avoid it. We talk a lot, ________ educators, about the bad problems the world ________, and if we don't start putting some actions ________ that beautiful idea, then it's just empty."