2 . You can tell a lot about a man by how he treats his dogs.

For many years, I enjoyed living with my dogs, Tilly and Chance. Their _______ was nearly enough to keep my loneliness at bay. Nearly. Last year, I started dating, but with _______. When I first dated Steve, I _______ he had a dog, Molly, and a cat, Flora. While I was _______ that he was an animal lover, I _______ that three dogs were perhaps too many, and my dogs might attack _______, the cat.

The next week we _______ our dogs together. It was a hot day. When we paused to catch our _______, Steve got down on one knee. Was he proposing (求婚)? I liked him too, but so _______? He poured water from a bottle into his hand and offered it to my dogs. ____________, I began to fall for him.

We ____________ to date, though neither of us brought up the future. And then in late November, Tilly had an operation on her ____________. I took the dogs out four times a day, and I worried that Tilly ____________ climbing the stairs could reopen the wound. Then Steve ____________ his house. All worked ____________. The three dogs formed a pack that, with coaching, ____________ Flora’s space; Steve and I formed a good team ____________ for Tilly. We made good housemates.

A year later, much to my ____________, this man produced a little box with a ring and proposed to me. He did not kneel (跪) down, nor did I ____________ him to. That’s only for giving ____________ to the dogs that brought us together.

3 . Molai grew up in a tiny village in India. The village lay near some wetlands which became his second___________. He learned the value and beauty of _________ there from a very young age.

When he was 16, Molai began to notice something _________ happening around his home. A flood had hit the area earlier that year and the _________ it caused had driven away a number of birds. _________, the number of snakes had declined as well. He _________ that it was because there weren’t enough trees to protect them from the _________. The solution, of course, was to plant trees so the animals could seek _________ during the daytime. He turned to the _________ department for help but was told that nothing would grow there. However, Molai went looking on his own and __________a nearby island where he began to plant trees.

________ young plants in the dry season was ____________for a lone boy. Molai built at the __________ of each sapling(幼树)a bamboo platform, where he placed earthen pots with small holes to____________ rainwater. The water would then drip(滴落)on the plants below.

Molai __________ to plant trees for the next 37 years. His efforts have resulted in 1,360 acres of naturally-grown land that has become home to many plants and animals.

4 . Every year about 40,000 people attempt to climb Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. They _______ with them lots of waste. The _______ might damage the beauty of the place. The glaciers(冰川) are disappearing, changing the _______ of Kilimanjaro.

Hearing these stories, I’m _______ about the place — other destinations are described as “purer” natural experiences.

However, I soon _______ that much has changed since the days of disturbing reports of _______ among tons of rubbish. I find a _______ mountain, with toilets at camps and along the paths. The environmental challenges are _______ but the efforts made by the Tanzania National Park Authority seem to be _______.

The best of a Kilimanjaro ________, in my opinion, isn’t reaching the top. Mountains are ________ as spiritual places by many cultures. This ________ is especially evident on Kilimanjaro as ________ go through five ecosystems(生态系统) in the space of a few kilometers. At the base is a rainforest. It ends abruptly at 3, 000 meters, ________ lands of low growing plants. Further up, the weather ________ — low clouds envelope the mountainsides, which are covered with thick grass. I ________ twelve shades of green from where I stand. Above 4, 000 meters is the highland ________: gravel(砾石), stones and rocks. ________ you climb into an arctic-like zone with ________ snow and the glaciers that may soon disappear.

Does Kilimanjaro ________ its reputation as a crowded mountain with lines of tourists ruining the atmosphere of peace? I found the opposite to be true.

5 . Many cities around the world today are heavily polluted. Careless methods of production and ________ of consumer demands for environment friendly products have ________ the pollution problem. One ________ is that millions of tons of glass, paper, plastic, and metal containers are produced, and these are difficult to get rid of.

________, today, more and more consumers are choosing “green” and demanding that the products they buy should be safe for the environment. ________ they buy a product, they ask questions like these: “Will this shampoo damage the environment?” “Can this metal container be ________ or can it only be used once?”

A recent study showed that two ________ five adults now consider the environmental safety of a product before they buy it. This means that companies must now change the ________ they make and sell their products to make sure that they are “green,” that is, friendly to the environment.

Only a few years ago, it was impossible to find green products in supermarkets, but now there are hundreds. Some supermarket products ________ labels to show that the product is green. Some companies emphasize that their products are clean and safe in their advertising and have made it their main selling ________.

The ________ for a safer and cleaner environment is making companies rethink ________ they do business. No longer will the public accept the old ________ of “Buy it, use it, throw it away and forget it.” The public ________ is still here, and companies are ________ their act gradually.

6 . Since 1960, considerable scientific researches have been done on chimps in their natural habitats. Astonishingly, scientists have found out that the social _________ of Chimps are very similar to humans. Chimps will _________ in certain ways, like gathering together to protect their land. But beyond the minimum requirements as social beings, they have little instinct (本能) to _________ one another. Chimps in the wild seek food for themselves. Even chimp mothers regularly _________ to share food with their children. Who are able from a young age to gather their own food?

In the laboratory, chimps don’t _________ share food either. If a chimp is put in a cage where he can pull in one plate of food for himself or, with no greater effort, a plate that also provides food for a neighbor to the next cage, he will pull _________ -he just doesn’t care whether his neighbor gets fed or not. Chimps are truly selfish.

Human children, _________, are extremely cooperative. From the earliest ages, they desire to help others, to share information and to participate in achieving common goals. The psychologist Michael Tomasello has studied this _________ in a series of experiments with very young children. He finds that if babies aged 18 months see a worried adult with hands full trying to open a door, almost all will immediately try to help.

There are several reasons to believe that the urges to help, inform and share are not taught, but naturally _________ in young children. One is that these instincts appear at a very __________ age before most parents have started to train their children to behave __________. Another is that the helping behaviors are not improved if the children are rewarded. A third reason is that social intelligence __________ in children before their general cognitive(认知的) skills, at least when compared with chimps. In tests conducted by Tomasello, the human children did no better than the chimps on the __________ world tests but were considerably better at understanding the social world.

The core (核心) of what children’s minds have and chimps’ don’t is what Tomasello calls shared intentionality. Part of this ability is that they can __________ what others know or are thinking. But beyond that, even very young children want to be part of a shared purpose. They actively seek to be part of a “we”, a group that intends to work toward a(n) __________goal.

7 . Wildlife has been greatly threatened in the modern age. There are species(物种) that are _______ every day. The white-naped crane is a typical example. So scientists are trying their best to _______ the species from going out of existence.

Chris and Tim work at a zoo, helping endangered cranes with their _______. Emma, a female crane, has been in their _______ since she arrived in 2004.

Born at an international crane foundation, Emma was _______ by human caretakers. This led to an unexpected _______, though she had a wonderful time there. Emma had _______ taken herself as a crane and become deeply attached to humans. She _______ to live with male cranes, and even had a _______ for killing some of them, which made it ________ for her to become a mother.

________, the two zookeepers didn’t want to see the extinction(灭绝) of this precious species. With their patience and efforts, they successfully developed a ________ of artificial breeding(人工繁殖) and natural reproduction. This ________ Emma to give birth to five baby cranes.

The two keepers are proud of their productive work. But before they can be ________, more efforts must be made, because the population of the crane in the wild is on the ________, and many other species appear headed toward extinction. ________, not everyone has realized that wildlife has thoughts, feelings, and most importantly, equal rights to survive.

How can we ________ the ever-widening gap that separates us from other animals? Chris and Tim offered us the ________: human beings took it for granted that their ________ held all the solutions, but maybe their hearts can be a better ________.