2 . The 16-year-old Australian Shalise Leesfield couldn’t think of a better creature to meet than a gray nurse shark when diving off the coast. “I know how scary they can look, but I promise they are the sweetest animals ever,” she says. But they are under threat.

Leesfield is working with Cate Faehrmann, member of parliament (议会) and marine spokesperson for the Australian Greens party in New South Wales, to legalize protection of the sharks. Faehrmann says that she’s proud to have worked with Leesfield. “Shalise is part of a new generation of campaigners speaking up for the environment and our future is a lot brighter as a result of their passion and determination to save our planet and our precious wildlife.”

For someone who hasn’t yet left high school, this sounds like an impressive achievement, but Leesfield’s track record in conservation goes beyond protecting gray nurse sharks. Aged 11, after noticing the damage plastic pollution can do to the marine environment, she started a campaign that called for fishing line collection bins to be set in her local area to reduce ocean pollution. It resulted in a government environmental grant worth more than $48,000.Since then, she has founded “Shalise’s Ocean Support” which aims to inspire people to take care of the environment, and started a “Plastic Free Schools” website which advises teachers and students on reducing school waste.

Leesfield’s devotion to the cause comes from a deep love of the ocean that grew from her experiences of diving. “Falling in love with the sea made my passion grow and made me stand up for what I really love,” she says.

She believes that the younger generation needs to get out of the mindset that saving the environment is something that should be “left up to the adults”. “We are the ones that will take over the Earth and the ocean,” she says.

Antarctica is one of the hardest-to-reach places on Earth. But a recent report shows ships     1    (sail) to Antarctica have connections to ports around the world. That greatly raises the chance that plants or animals     2    the outside could invade (入侵) this protected area.

Invasive species are animals or plants that arrive in a place where they don’t normally live. When invasive species     3    (bring) to a new place, they can often spread quite quickly, which can force out other plants and animals that live there     4    (natural).

In other parts of the world, invasive sea animals and plants have caused trouble after     5    (they) arrival. They often came     6    (attach) to the outside of ships. The conditions in Antarctica are tough, and many animals could never live there. But scientists worry whether the species     7    live at the North Pole and are already used to extremely cold conditions could survive in Antarctica. As the oceans warm, even     8    (many) kinds of plants and animals may be able to survive there.

The report makes several     9    (suggestion) for improving the situation. One idea is for ships to be coated in a special covering that makes it hard for invasive species to stick to them. Ships without this kind of coating could be cleaned regularly. Moreover, countries could require ships to have an     10    (inspect) or some other proof that they aren’t carrying invasive species before they leave the port.