2 . Natalie and Callie, both 13 years old, started raising monarch butterflies for fun in 2020.

But after realizing the monarchs were an endangered species, their _______ soon turned into a serious mission.

They learned that the population of monarch butterflies had _______ since the early 1990s, due to habitat _______ and widespread use of chemicals, which made the milkweeds (马利筋草) the monarchs _______ for their main diet dangerous to eat.

So the girls teamed up with a national nonprofit group to plant a native garden _______ for the monarchs. The garden grew organic milkweeds that _______ and kept the butterflies. To help _______ the locals to sustain the monarch population, they created an exhibition about the monarchs in the local library. They also wanted to put up an educational sign in town, but it _______ a lot. To cover the expense, they set up a stand at the Farmers Market to sell their _______ milkweeds for people to plant. Although the fundraising days were ________, they finally succeeded in earning enough money with their hard work and people’s support.

The team has won the Silver Award for their ________ of taking care of butterflies, but they are not ________ with their work. “Our next step is to cut down on the use of ________ to guarantee a safe environment for the monarchs,” said Natalie. In the award ceremony, their teacher Brian ________, “I am so proud of them for their constant ________.”

4 . The suburb I live in backs on to a large nature reserve. One morning I saw a koala (考拉) sitting in a palm tree in my front yard. I phoned around to ask what I could _________ this koala, but no one wanted to know. I ended up _________ the koala out of my tree and we crossed the road _________ for him to return to the nature reserve.

I’ve always been befriending animals. As a young kid I used to pick up lizard eggs and _________ them. It stimulated my interest as to why there wasn’t anyone wanting to come and _________ this koala in my tree. After that, I signed up for all the _________ I could find.

Once I had accreditation (合格证), I volunteered with the RSPCA in 2014, rehabilitating (使康复) wildlife. I was an ambulance driver, _________ overnight rescues. We rescued hundreds of animals and _________ more.

One day, I thought why not _________ my own rescue group focusing on my backyard? I purchased a two-acre property and built enclosures on it to __________ injured animals. Last year, I planted 300 eucalyptus trees(桉树), with seven varieties to __________ the koalas.

I cut the leaves of the eucalyptus trees for the koalas to eat and look after the __________ wildlife at our centre. If they recover, they are __________ back to where they come from.

As a kid I would never have imagined doing this. I feel like I’m the __________ girl on the planet that I get to do what I love. I believe it’s my __________.

5 . This is the story of Moyo, a rescued elephant in Zimbabwe Elephant Nursery, a local non-governmental organization called Wild Is Life. She is probably one of the ________ elephant cubs ever to be rescued. She came to the nursery when she was about three to four ________ old. Sheweighed 56 kilos, and ________ a just-born African elephant cub weighs about 90 kilos. So she was a special iconic little elephant. Under good care of the staff there, she managed to ________.

Every year, hundreds of young elephants are orphaned across the African continent and rarely have a chance of ________ in the wild and are more often than not, left to die. “We rescue babies, and we provide ________ for them. We make sure they are in good ________ here, and help them regain their ________ needed in the wild. We are trying to create a culture where people ________,” said Roxy Danckwerts, the founder of Wild Is Life.

Moyo is about four and a half years old now. She is healthy, playful, and has become some kind of ambassador to the nursery. Therefore, she’s having to take on a lot of ________ for such a young animal, almost becoming a leader at the very young age. She is gentle, calm, very very ________ to the other elephants that come into the nursery. She is also very good with people.

But unfortunately, they’re not much more than objects of money in the eyes of ivory(象牙) dealers. Zimbabwe has a ________ elephant-hunting problem. Some regions are ________ as much as 75 percent of the elephant population over the past 10 years. That is why Danckwerts feels excited at China’s decision to ________ illegal ivory sales, which he believes has become a major turning point and a signal to the world that China has made a ________.

6 . A single tremble shook beneath my feet. The trees above me began to sway(摇摆) hard. Then came the deadly_________that could only mean one thing, destruction. Every house and object was now_________. My vision blurred (模糊) even more when I saw the remains of my house. The house that used to_________all the happiness in the world was now_________a pile of ruined pieces. I_________all the times I played with my little brother and sister. Images of them were_________in my mind, so I let the darkness sweep over me completely so I could see them vividly one last time. I regained a bit of my_________after lying on the ground for some time. My eyes viewed different things, but I walked on mindlessly, with no_________to anything around me at all.

Years have passed since the disaster that_________me years ago. I never thought I would be okay again after this__________event.

Today I am going on a trip to California to help__________of a recent earthquake. Then, I see her. A young girl is weeping into her arm. I walk toward her. Losing family was__________, but because of my life changing experience, I am strong, and I can__________the lives of those who are suffering as I was. When I reach the girl, she stares at me with sad eyes, and I gently stick out my hand for her to hold to. One day, she may__________others the way I did for her. She holds my hand tightly, and together, we look for a brighter future where we can help those around us and__________the world starting with one disaster at a time.

7 . It was a cool and breezy night. As I stood on the deck, I could feel the warm tangy smell coming from the sea. Earlier on, the ocean liner (邮轮) was still full of people who ________ and drank on the deck. Everyone was ________ asleep now and as I stood there, I could hear the hypnotic (催眠的) ________ of the waves.

I sat down at a corner and decided to rest my ________ head on my backpack. Slowly, my eyelids grew heavy and I dozed off. Suddenly, I was awaken by the rain ________ that fell on my face. The wind was blowing stronger and the waves got higher. The calm sea had turned ________. I struggled to stand up but lost my balance and fell as the ship was rocking ________. Many rushed out but they ________ from one side of the ship to another. The raging waters were crushing the ship and thunder seemed to smash upon our heads. People started to run about to seek shelter. After a long battle with the storm, it appeared to ________. We breathed in ________.

Suddenly someone shouted, “The ship is sinking!” Waters were rushing in as the side of the ship was damaged. I was ________ for words and stared blankly. “Hurry, John! There is no time to ________ !” I was ________ upon hearing my name as I was totally absorbed in the worries in my brain. I turned around and saw the rest of the passengers began to ________ a lifeboat. Without second thoughts, I joined them.

Until today, that terrifying ________ is still imprinted in my memory.

8 . In 2013, my husband Robin took a new job in Ghana. We relocated from London, where I worked as a photographer, to the capital, Accra.Robin worked,but my visa didn’t permit me to, and I was left homesick and lacking_______.With few people around, I turned to_______.I photographed horses and considered the outdoors the place where I felt most_______.

In September 2018,after one bad thunderstorm,I found a bird,barely a month old,on the ground. He was_______by his flock(群).His eyes were shut, too young to_______alone. I placed him in a cardboard box and stayed up all night, researching how to_______him.I spoke to an expert who said it would take 12 weeks to prepare him for the_______.

For the next 84 days, the_______bird lived on me. He would fly alongside me. As he learned to fly, he’d make short_______from my hand, to my shoulder, and then settled on my hair.I________ named him because I had to________myself that he needed to return to the wild. In return for putting his life back on course, he________me by giving me purpose. Three months later, he was ________ enough and flying farther from me. It was time for him to go. Then on a clear day when his flock returned,Robin and I took him out and the little bird flew away with them.

________him taught me how to live in the present. Last year,I joined local conservation efforts. That, along with the________that any little creature can make a difference, is what he left me.

10 . It was snowing hard. Gus Kiebel, a county wildlife officer, was driving home from work when he ________ the pair in the flash of his headlights. The father-to-be scanned the roadside so that his struggling ________ might rest safely for the night. He looked over at her ________. They needed a warm ________ from the bitter wind.

Gus parked his truck and ________ the animals. He stretched out his hands to the beagles (比格犬), which made no effort to ________. Then he dialed the number from the dogs’ tags (标牌). A man answered and immediately grew ________ when Gus told him why he was calling. “I gave those dogs away,” the man said. “They’re not mine anymore.” Then he hung up.

Obviously, these beagles were ________. Then he brought the tired beagles home. As a boy, owning beagles had been his ________, but keeping this pair was out of the question now—the Kiebels already had a family dog. So he ________ the League for Animal Welfare to drop them off—on one ________. “I’m not signing the dogs over to you if you’re going to ________ them,” he said. The shelter workers promised him they’d keep the couple together.

In the following days, Gus phoned the shelter ________ to check up on them. Soon, the beagles were adopted as a pair, to a loving family. It’s a simple story, but it ________ the best of our nature. And when kindness weighs more than ________, it becomes the greatest miracle of all.