1 . Amanda and Daines Tanner’s dog jumped onto their bed a few months ago and pawed at their bodies while they were trying to sleep. It was around 5:30 A．m. on a Saturday — the day each week the couple ________ sleeping in.

Amanda Tanner had never seen Axel, their 1-year-old border collie, so ________ that early. They guessed he needed to be let outside, so that morning in August 2023, Daines Tanner ________ him downstairs. But when Daines Tanner opened the door to their backyard in Texas, Axel wouldn’t go outside. He________ rushed toward Amanda Tanner’s 17-year-old son’s room downstairs and began ________ at the door. Inside, Gabriel Silva was already awake. Minutes earlier, he was walking in the living room when he lost his ________ and fell. He said he couldn’t move, and everything around him looked ________ than usual. He didn’t know why he was feeling poorly, so he went back to his bedroom and got back in bed. Then he heard Axel at his door and Daines Tanner downstairs. Gabriel ________ Axel into the bedroom, where he began explaining his ________ to Daines Tanner — he was struggling to walk, the right side of his body was ________ and his vision was magnified (放大的). But Daines Tanner could ________ understand him because Gabriel’s speech was slurred (含糊不清的).

Daines Tanner drove Gabriel to an emergency room in Houston, where doctors determined that he was having a stroke. Gabriel has since ________ his ability to speak, walk and move his right arm, as the “Today” show first reported.

Sabih Effendi, a doctor who ________ Gabriel, said that he might have never recovered if Axel hadn’t ________ the family that morning. Amanda Tanner is planning to ________ a medal to the front of Axel’s collar (圈，箍) to honor what he did for Gabriel.

4 . In the last 100 years, the global temperature has gone up by around 0.75℃. Such a small increase is causing sea levels to rise and ________ the habitat of many species of plants and animals. A(n) ________ of 2℃ in global temperatures could result in ________ of 30% of the world’s land species.

Sea levels in the UK have increased by around 10 cm in the last 100 years and experts ________ that global sea levels could rise by up to 59 cm in the near future. ________, areas which were land a few hundred years ago are now under water.

As a result of the changing ________, the world’s ecosystems are also changing faster than ever before. So what is ________ climate change? The main cause of climate change is the huge amount of greenhouse gases like CO₂ in the atmosphere, but the reason for this is the world’s population — you and me. As the ________ increases, more land is needed to provide food, and more energy is ________ too. Burning fossil fuels for heating, lighting, transport, or electricity ________ CO₂. Furthermore, humans breathe out CO₂ and trees “breathe in” CO₂ and produce oxygen — so by ________ trees, we are increasing the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere and reducing the amount of oxygen. As a result of these ________, CO₂ levels are now at their highest for 800,000 years.

The biggest ________ we all face is to prevent further environmental disasters. We need to ______________ burning fossil fuels and start using renewable energy. If we can get enough ________ from renewable fuels, we can stop using fossil fuels completely.

5 . On May 7, “eco-mermaid” Merle Liivand _________her own world record by swimming a full marathon’s distance with a single fin (鳍) in Biscayne Bay, Florida. When Merle Liivand was a child, she had health problems, and began swimming to help her lungs get _________ . In one training session, she nearly wound up swallowing some _________ that was floating in the sea.

That _________ made her think of all the sea animals who faced _________ pollution every day. She decided to work to make people more aware of plastic pollution. Inspired by sea creatures, she began swimming with a special single swimming fin _________ both of her feet. This single fin allows her to swim by _________both of her legs together. She believes swimming with it _________“a bigger message”.

Since 2019, she’s broken records, swimming vast distances—first in California, then in Florida, and this time swimming the _________ of a full marathon. Despite encountering challenges like jellyfish stings, she __________ , collecting trash along her route. Her dedication extends beyond records; it’s about community and global __________.

During her__________, a friend kayaked (划皮划艇) alongside, providing food and water and collecting the trash she __________ . By the end of her marathon, the kayak held three bags full of trash. Liivand’s actions aim to __________ a bigger goal: it’s not just about achievements, but about making a __________ impact on the world.

7 . Dressed in a kachhad, a traditional Nepalese clothes, Umesh Balal walked into his meetings at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) on climate change in Dubai with a sense of determination.

Balal, who has physical disability, was there to publicly _________ inclusion of disability rights in the climate change conference, an aspect that he said has long been _________ by organizers of the world’s largest annual meeting on climate issues.

As a student, Balal was _________ about science and involved himself in research on environmental science. Those were his first few interactions that _________ the climate related issues to him. Being from a mountainous region, Balal _________ more about how climate change had _________ people there, which led him to develop climate anxiety.

The more Balan _________ himself to climate science, the more he learned about the impact of climate change. People with more resources have better chances of _________ the climate crisis. But the less developed countries, for the _________ communities, usually don’t have the same opportunities, which will push them further into the __________

And it is even harder for people with __________. Many people with disabilities in Nepal don’t have __________ to proper education or opportunities for growth. As a result, they aren’t able to advocate for their rights.   

In an interview, Balan said, “__________, I am honored that I come from a supportive family, where I had a chance of good education which __________ me to grow in life. This is what I __________for others, to change the way they live their lives.”

8 . Pregracke grew up in Illinois, where the Mississippi River was in his backyard. Communities along the river use it to ________ freshwater and drop their industrial and household waste. As a teenager he began to notice the piles of ________ in the waterway. “I got ________ of seeing it and just wanted to do something about it,” he said.

With persistence and sincerity, Pregracke got a small ________ from Alcoa, the largest aluminum (铝) company in the U.S., in 1997 and spent that money ________ a 35-mile of the river by himself that summer. He would transport the trash by boat and ________ it on his parents’front yard for recycling. By year’s end, he had ________ pulled around 45,000 pounds of trash out of the river, with 90% of it recycled properly.

It began as an individual effort, but over the years Pregracke turned it into a ________ movement. To date, about 70,000 volunteers have joined his ________ . His operation has become much more advanced since those early days, as his nonprofit Living Lands & Waters now has a group of ________ boats. Besides the river cleanup ________ , Pregracke has launched a floating classroom, where his staff ________ high school students and teachers about the ________ that pollution brought to river ecosystems.

Picking up garbage is ________ , but Pregracke believes it is worthwhile and that volunteers get a huge sense of ________ from seeing the garbage piled up and recycled.

9 . When Lauren Schroeder, a teenager from Iowa, US, showed up to a community food drive last year, she didn’t see much food that actually provide people with nutrition — just a lot of canned goods. Determined to make a(n) _______, she took action. With the _______ of her parents, who provided her with half an acre (英亩) of land, she _________ 7,000 pounds of produce and gave it all away to local food banks and non-profits.

Although Lauren had no prior experience _________ a garden, she took up studies of agronomy (农学) and gardening, and really put her _________ into it. Her work soon drew the _______ of an organization called Future Farmers of America, which awarded her a small grant (补助金) for _______ and seeds.

Lauren _________ 2 to 3 hours daily to the tasks of watering and weeding (除杂草), and her efforts soon _______. She began __________ 15 types of vegetables to organizations like Wheatland Nursing Home. “It was really __________ for me to know that anyone who wanted fresh vegetables would be able to get them,” Lauren said.

Now, she has turned her half acre into a full acre and ________ the number of vegetables to 20 different species. “How could you not be ________,” said her mother, “she really chose to ________ learning about agronomy, and took it a step further by genuinely ________ those in need.”

10 . Like many families, we had a dog — Little Joe. We all loved him dearly. He always trotted (小跑) around the streets. We tried to teach him about the ________ of the road, and finally locked him in the yard. However, one day, Little Joe dug a hole under the fence and ________.

Sometime later, the ________ news came that a truck had seriously injured Little Joe. We children ran to the ________ of the accident. Apparently unable to move, he lay with his eyes open, awaiting death by a policeman’s bullet, the ________ method in those days of dispatching (处决) injured animals. Tears filling our eyes, we ________around him, frustrated by our inability to respond to the ________ for help in his eyes. The policeman ________ us away from the dog and drew his gun. Wide-eyed, we began to back away with feet that seemed to be made of ________.

Suddenly the crowd began to ________ . My father elbowed (用肘推) his way through and spoke with ________ to the young policeman. “Put that thing away!” Then, ________, he removed his worn jacket and carefully ________ it around Little Joe. Little Joe’s broken body could not have been moved with more ________.

I’ll never forget that homeward journey. My father led a group of admiring children. We held our heads high with pride as we ________ behind the man who had saved our dog.

After struggling for several days, Little Joe finally survived. He went on to live a long life.