1 . Cackles was my favorite goose. I was proud of her. Few people I knew had geese. It was_________in the 80s to have geese, especially where we lived. But we_________a few on a small piece of land.

I was most _________when I had my birthday parties. They were so different from my friends’ _________ . On the way home from school, we would collect grass and return to my garden in small groups, ready to _________the beautiful birds. The children weren’t as _________as their parents. Some had a good_________ - my uncle once got bitten by our bad-tempered male goose.

I remember being scared of them before I learned to stand my ground. As they_________me from behind, I would turn and they would stop, as if they had run into a cartoon wall. “You just have to_________them,” I would tell friends. “Don’t run.” Easier said than done.

One day, I came home to find that Cackles was being __________ . She had chased a woman down the road. The woman had been “frightened”. I was__________: “Why did she__________from a goose?”

My dad said Cackles had to__________. I last saw her in my dad’s van (运货车). It was a strange and memorable sight for all the wrong reasons. I was__________.

My dad__________me that she went to a local farm for a happy retirement. I chose to believe him.

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.

4 . Have you ever heard of and seen Canadian geese? Do you know that they __ fresh grass and seeds?

Canadian geese have a good __ for their politeness. They always bow down to you whenever you walk by. However, I have recently found that they can sometimes be __ to their peers, especially on occasions when they quarrel for food——yes, these __ gentlemen do quarrel, just for something to eat

Yesterday I witnessed two Canadian Geese arguing __ for a clump(草丛) of beautiful fresh grass. The clump was __ right in the middle of them, while the two were shouting noisily, stretching their necks as long as they could to look aggressively at each other. It’s __ to witness the “impolite” side of Canadian geese. Hence, I couldn’t help __ my morning walk, standing still to watch these “gentlemen” quarreling. Interestingly, after a short while, a truck roared past their feast, disturbing their __ conversation. The two geese were equally __ by the massive “monster”, thus giving up their conversation.

Would they start quarreling again? I stood still, __ the ridiculous question and waited. Beyond my expectation, right after the truck’s passing by, the two geese immediately lost their ___for quarreling as if they had forgotten all about what had happened. Even the two turned around and left the __ in opposite directions as if nothing had happened. They left only me there, imagining what might have happened without the __.

They got along harmoniously again. Sometimes it’s not that bad to be __.

5 . On a cold morning in December, Schewel enters a community garden in Bushwick followed by his two small dogs, Sundrop and Moonbeam. The dogs feel excited with _________ but not for a game of fetch. They are here to hunt. Schewel bends down to _________ them, and they rush out, using their small size to their _________ in the search for their target: the New York City rat.

Armed with his two _________ and a smoke machine to chase rats from their holes, Schewel is a rat hunter, a trade _________ more with the 19th century than the 21st. His company provides a(n) _________ service at a time when a “war on rats” has become a top _________ for Mayor Adams. _________ competitors that use poisons, Schewel offers a different approach by reintroducing predators (捕食者) to the urban _________.

At the garden, the dogs __________ a toolshed (工具房) with an empty space beneath — a likely place for rats to __________. The space is too small, so Schewel __________ his smoke machine, which has been filled with vegetable oil to create a nonpoisonous vapor (蒸汽). __________, a rat rushes out, and Sundrop is quickly upon it. With a bite and a few shakes, the rat dies. At Schewel’s __________, the rat is dropped.

The good news is that there aren’t many rats at all here. Schewel’s strategy proves __________. But if only the same could happen in the rest of the city!

7 . A week ago, in search of an extremely _________ flower called the tagimoucia, I travelled to Taveuni, where the plant only grows.

My host Vagoni told me that many locals may have only seen the flower in pictures. He also told me that I’d be _________ to climb the mountain without a _________. “You’ll be on the steep (陡峭的) service road before you _________ the rainforest on an unmarked track to have any chance of finding the tagimoucia. There’s thick _________ and it’s always raining,” he said. “At best, you don’t find the _________. At worst, you get completely _________.”

I asked Vagoni _________ this worst case had happened before. “_________!” he said. “Just two weeks ago, a group of seven locals went up without a guide and got lost in the cloud. There was a search-and-rescue mission. What a __________!”

Soon, we set out up the service road with a guide. I’d hiked Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, and made it __________ the Everest Base Camp. __________, I quickly discovered that Taveuni’s extreme humidity and the trail’s steepness make the climbing astonishingly __________. I needed to stop to rest every 10 minutes.

An hour later, we were in the forest, ducking under fallen trees and climbing over other obstacles. Suddenly, the guide pointed up with __________. “Look! The tagimoucia!” he shouted. I couldn’t believe we’d found it — I also couldn’t see a thing, as my glasses were __________ up in the mist.

8 . Didga, the skateboarding cat

I have three cats. Didga is the most eye-catching. In terms of skills, there is no cat in the world that can be _______ to what she can do.

I’ve been an animal-trainer for 40 years. Everyone said cats can’t be trained. Thus, I wanted to _______ them wrong.

I went to an animal shelter (动物收容所). As I was walking through, a kitten _______ behind me. So I adopted her without _______.

Before long, Didga _______ to her new life, going out or swimming together with my dogs I trained. She did everything _______. I never forced her. She enjoyed the _______ of the dogs.

However, training with cats isn’t _______. As a trainer, patience _______ most. With patience and encouragement she picked up a handful of skills ________. ________ is one of her most impressive skills she acquired. She rode along with the move of the board, jumping on and over objects. That really ________ to a lot of fans.

In 2017, Didga accomplished a tough task to perform 24 different tricks in ________ a minute, which got her into the Guinness World Records.

Didga has ________ a difference to my life. She has taken me to levels I would never have dreamed of. She is really one in a million. What I do is just ________ the best in her.

9 . I adopted (收养) Didga as a twelve-week-old kitten, and now she’s nearly 11. In 2017, Didga _________ twenty-four different tricks in less than a minute while skateboarding, which got her into the Guinness Word Records.

I’ve been in the animal-training _________ for 40 years. Eleven years ago, I thought about getting a cat—everyone said cats couldn’t be _________, but I wanted to prove them wrong.

I started searching for _________ kittens to adopt. I went to a shelter, and, _________ I was walking through, a kitten caused a ruckus (喧闹) behind me. I stopped and looked _________. She was really trying to get my attention. So I _________ the kitten.

Didga knows a handful of tricks that took over a year to _________. Skateboarding is one of her most impressive skills. She rides along with the motion (移动) of the _________, jumping on and over objects. It’s an unbelievable __________ when a cat does a trick I’ve been trying to __________ for so long.

The psychology of training a cat is fascinating. Because I understand how animals think and learn, I can adjust (调节) to the cat’s abilities. If Didga doesn’t like it, I stop or go in a __________ direction.

I started some social accounts to teach people to have a better relationship with their __________. The attention we get is surprisingly impressive.

Didga has __________ my life and taken me to __________ I would never have dreamed of. I won the lotto (乐彩), finding a cat like Didga.