1 . I stared out the window,_______ the snow. Damn holidays. . . I thought as I saw the people outside caroling(唱颂歌)outside. Can’t I just be left alone!I got up from my bed and, in _______, made for the kitchen.

I made myself dinner, which wasn’t anything_______. I wasn’t the best cook so I just made myself a stir fry and_______ it a day... That was until I heard the noise. Did someone throw ice at my window? Maybe a thief? I _______ the katana(武士刀)and walked down stairs. I searched the entire house until I found a puppy, so cute and_______. I couldn’t help but _______ at this creature. I decided to keep it and named it Arthur. His eyes were blue like a husky dog. Maybe a mixed breed? I thought as I washed Arthur up and dried him with a_______. Then I spent all night_________with my new friend. It was the first ________of joy I felt during the holidays in years. For the next week, Arthur and I spent the holidays watching romance movies on Netflix, sleeping, or ________ our mouths with the food in the house. It was probably the happiest I’ve been in months. Arthur really made an impact on my life that I never thought was ________.

Arthur stayed by my side a majority of the time. My friend called him ‘mama’s boy’ or something silly like that. I didn’t________ it, though. Every year on Christmas day, I thanked God for giving me the ________. And I ________ felt blessed with My Arthur. My little boy.

3 . Third graders from Wolfsville Elementary School spent Monday afternoon getting their hands dirty and their shoes wet during an informative trout release (鳟鱼放生).

The trout, which the students had been ________in their classroom since last December, were ________ ready to be released into their natural environment. The students carefully ____ them from a big container to a red plastic cup to the creek (溪). They then ________ the trout fingerlings (仔鱼) they’d been watching over for five months.

Wolfsville Elementary has been doing a trout release ________ spring for the past decade as part of a national________called “Trout in the Classroom”, which provides students with trout eggs to ________and eventually release into water as fish.

Through the partnership, students learn various________such as water pH, animal lifecycles and environmental science, said Rebecca Butler, Wolfsville Elementary’s third grade teacher. “We try to get them outside and away from video games, and hopefully they________ that clean water is important and ________ else is going to take care of our resources, so they learn to care for them,” Butler said.

McKinna Hidalgo, a third grader at Wolfsville, said she________ letting the trout go in the water and seeing them________ away, after first meeting them as ________.

The favorite part for Hidalgo’s classmate Macie Lader, however, was getting to go into the creek. Her socks and shoes were _________, but she didn’t care. Right before moving on to her next station, Macie took off her _________, dumped (倾倒) all the water out and flashed a wide smile.

7 . There are few natural sounds more uplifting to my spirit than the bright and cheering calls and songs of black-capped chickadees (山雀). One of my morning routines is to step outside the house and listen for the voices of black-caps.

There is something comforting to me in black-caps’ presence.     1     Sometimes they are the only birds I’ll hear on my local woodland walks and for me the forest would be a lonelier place without them.

After I’d moved into a house on Anchorage’s Hillside, I placed a makeshift feeder on my home’s back.     2     For each, the routine was similar: dashed in, looked around, pecked (啄) at the tray, looked around again, and dashed out. Nervous little creatures, full of bright energy, they soon had me laughing at their funny way, By the time they moved on, I sensed an all-too-rare upwelling of fascination and joy.

Within days, a whole new world opened up as woodland neighbors I’d never known, or even imagined, joined the black-caps at my feeders: red-breasted nuthatches, common redpolls…What was remarkable was that all of those species were common residents of the Anchorage area.     3    

My newfound interest in birds grew quickly, surprising even me.     4     I visited bookstores in search of birding guidebooks. Excitedly exchanged bird descriptions with a stranger. Purchased 50-pound bags of sunflower seeds. All of this seemed very strange to a middle-aged guy who’d never been attracted by birds. Even more, I had previously judged bird watchers to be rather dull sorts.

    5     They’ve reminded me how my world can expand and become enriched when I make the effort to pay attention. What else awaits me in our world, I wonder, that I haven’t yet discovered or noticed?

Illegal ivory (象牙) hunting once posed a significant threat to Kenya’s elephants. But now the giants of the animal kingdom     1    (face) an even bigger risk: climate change.

In the past years, Kenyan     2    (official) have cracked down on hunting,     3     has targeted giraffes for their meat, bones and hair and elephants for their ivory tusks. But as Kenya battles its worst drought in four decades, the crisis is killing 20 times more elephants     4     hunting. In Tsavo National Park much wildlife     5    (flee) in recent years in search of water. To survive, elephants require vast landscapes for food. Adults can consume 300 pounds of food and more than 50 gallons of water     6     day. But rivers, soil and grassland are drying up,     7    (result) in poor and deadly environment.

In the last year, at least 179 elephants have died of thirst, while hunting has claimed the lives of fewer than 10, Kenyan Tourism and Wildlife Secretary Najib Balala told the BBC. “It is a red alarm.” he said of the crisis. Balala suggested that     8     much time and effort has been spent tackling illegal hunting that     9    (environment) issues have been ignored. “We have forgotten to invest into biodiversity     10    (manage) and ecosystems,” he said. “Something must be done to deal with climate change.”