A study     1    (lead) by Stanford University explores the influence microplastics(塑料微粒) have on whales. Microplastics are pieces of plastic less than five millimeters in length and are now frequently found     2     the whales live. The team found the whales mainly find food from 50 to 250 meters below the surface. At such depth, the highest concentrations of microplastic in the open ocean take place. Researchers estimate that up to 10 million pieces     3    (consume) by each whale per day.

The air is thin and we have to rest several times on the short hike from camp. To our left, snow- covered mountains disappear into clouds that seem almost close enough    1    (touch). On the plain in front of us, we can just make out a herd of graceful animals. This is why we’re here- to observe Tibetan antelopes. Tibetan antelopes live on the plains of Tibet, Xinjiang, and Qinghai.    2    (watch) them move slowly across the green grass, I’m struck by their beauty. I’m also reminded of the danger they were in.They were hunted,    3    (illegal), for the their valuable fur.

5 . Saihanba is a green miracle passed on from generation to generation.

The Saihanba Forest Farm is the world’s largest manmade forest, a 750-square-kilometer barrier (屏障), 300 kilometers north of Beijing, planted to save the Chinese capital from desertification (the gradual change of habitable land into desert, which is usually caused by climate change or by destructive use of the land).

Today, overlooking the sea of green, it would be hard to imagine that a half century ago, the area was wasteland.

The big change began 59 years ago with the effort of a group of foresters and engineers who were determined to turn the area into a forest. In 1962, the Ministry of Forestry Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm was formally established. Some 369 young people from different parts of the country went all the way north to Saihanba.

Food and shelter was in short supply, so the group grew their own potatoes and corn and set up simple shelters and tents, sometimes using only brunches and straw that gave little shelter from the freezing wind.

In the beginning, planting trees on the very cold highland was an impossible task due to the high winds. Over 90 percent of the young seedlings planted in the first two years died and the forest farm was nearly shut down. After trying different ways of planting trees, the survival rate of the newly planted young trees topped 90 percent in 1964.

Planting trees is not enough. Carefully protecting the woods and managing well the whole forest farm is even harder. That is what later generations will do.

During fire prevention periods in spring and autumn, they check the vast expanse of forest every 15 minutes during the day, and once an hour at night.

Now as third-generation tree planters in Saihanba, they need to solve even more difficult problems in the never-ending effort of planting more trees. Since there is much less flat land left for planting trees, they have to work on the rocky mountain slopes (斜坡) where the topsoil is only 10 centimeters thick. But before giving the young trees a home, they need to dig holes about 40 centimeters deep.

Three generations of hard work have turned Saihanba from a nascent (新生的) stand of trees into a million acres of forest, from a desert into an oasis.

As a nature photographer, I enjoy working outside in the wild. Last summer in Yellowstone National Park, I followed a path that took me through a dark forest.     1     I was photographing an eagle, I suddenly found that four     2     (meter) away from me was a bear. It     3     (look) back at me. A second later, the bear     4     (turn) and ran into the forest. Somehow, I forced my finger to press the button and took the picture of the moment.

7 . The bald eagle was once a dying species in the United States. This is because the bird wasn’t always held with respect. At the National Book Festival, author Jack E. Davis detailed the bald eagle’s “great conservation success story”.

The bald eagle has faced extinction twice. The first occurred in the late 19th century. “It was then that a bald eagle seen was one to be shot,” he said. He explained that the bird had been regarded as a dangerous animal, and considered a threat. But such threat tended to be overstated. Throughout the early 20th century, thousands of bald eagles were shot down. Things began to change for the bird in 1940, when the government passed its legal protection — the Bald Eagle Protection Act.

However, only five years later, the bird faced its second near extinction when DDT, an environmentally harmful insecticide (杀虫剂), was introduced at the end of World War Ⅱ. In 1963, the bald eagle hit its lowest number — totaling less than 500 nesting pairs across the U.S. “At that time, only about one-third of the nation’s water was safe for swimming and fishing,” Davis said. “That was eagle habitat, but also our habitat.” “We stepped up.” He mentioned that this situation led a nonprofit organization, Fish and Wildlife, to launch “hugely successful” eagle protection projects.

By 2007, the bald eagle was removed from the list as the species regained its health, reaching nearly 11,000 nesting pairs nationwide, and today’s number is somewhere around 500,000.

For those looking to assist in the ongoing comeback of the bald eagle and other endangered animals, Davis said, almost every state has a center that accepts donations and welcomes visitors and volunteers.

8 . Pet owners are always concerned about the well-being of their cute friends. But once you’re away from home, there isn’t much you can do. Wouldn’t it be great to have something that could take care of your pet and allow you to interact (互动) with it while you’re out? Petcube Bites is a good choice.

Petcube Bites comes in two parts. The lower half is equipped with a camera and a feeding opening, while the upper half is used to store nearly half a kilo of food. It looks beautiful in any setting. You just have to decide on the most convenient place to fix it.

Besides being a home video camera that shows live HD (高清) views of the house, it supports two-way voice delivery, meaning that you can hear your pet moving around the house, call to your pet from your phone and have a “heart-to-heart” talk with it from anywhere in the world. Using the Petcube app, you can catch your pet’s images and share them on social media.

Petcube Bites offers a more fun way for you to interact with your pet wherever you are. When you want to feed your dog, simply call him over and click the bone on the screen. Then the Petcube Bites will let out food through the feeding opening. You can control the amount and distance.

For dog and cat lovers alike, this is the best tool on the market for playing and spending time with your pet. Find more information at: https://www.lifewire.com/petcube-bites.

9 . About 6 million to 12 million creatures are dissected (解剖) in U. S. classrooms every year, according to the National Anti-Vivisection Society, an animal rights group. While many students eagerly look forward to the chance to examine real animals up close, others say that there’s no educational value in cutting into animals’ bodies. Should students dissect real animals?

David Evans, the director of the National Science Teachers Association, argues that students should be given the chance to dissect animals in the classroom. Students learn best in a hands-on environment where they can work together to explore and discover. Interacting with organisms (生物) is an effective way to help students develop skills of observation and comparison and learn the unique structures (结构) and processes of organisms. As good as many models or simulations might be, they are very different from real organisms. And he believes they fall short of producing the respect for living things that comes from the actual dissection experience.

Jonathan Balcombe, a biologist and a life-long animal rights supporter, says, “I spent many years as a biology lab teacher. I remember the horrible feeling I had when it came time for my class to dissect animals. The lesson required that students cut open and examine dead frogs, fetal pigs, sparrows, and other creatures. I felt pity for these animals, who probably suffered before being killed. And I knew their pain could have been avoided. If students and teachers saw how these animals typically end up on their desks, I believe that dissections would soon stop.”

He points out there are many effective choices for learning animal dissection and physiology, including 3-D models, videos, and computer software. Hundreds of programs are free through lending services like The Science Bank. The simulated dissections can be repeated, and the programs provide feedback. Several studies have shown that computer models and other choices teach students just as well as or better than traditional animal dissection.

I’m not surprised that no state requires dissection to graduate from high school, and no college or university demands it as part of the admissions process. In fact, laws in 18 U. S. states and Washington, D. C. support a student’s right to use other choices. However, dissection could have a legal place in education if the animals did not suffer and were not intentionally killed. For example, some schools have students dissect animals that “were put to sleep” for medical reasons and whose bodies were donated to science.

10 . Brothers Cole and Blake Meyer, aged 10 and 8, were on their bikes to go fishing in June when they saw something_______down the road from their northern Iowa home.

There were a lot of dead baby turtles,_______by cars on the main road between two wetlands, Ventura Marsh (沼泽) and Clear Lake. The two boys felt_______for them, so they climbed off their bikes and began_______other small turtles that were slowly crossing to the other side of the road. They_______one in each hand and took them across, then went back for some more.

The boys kept up their task of_______turtles for the rest of the summer. They_______watched for turtles from a nearby bike path and crossed the road themselves only when there was no_______. But sometimes they would hold up their arms to stop a car if there were turtles on the_______.

In some days they could see as many as 40 or 50 turtles________themselves in the middle of the road. There were times they went out at 8:30 in the morning and came back at 6. To reduce turtle deaths, they even put up several________saying “Careful! Turtle Crossing!” to warn the passing cars along the road.

“We do it because they’re________things—we don’t want to see them run over and killed,” the boys said.

Their mother was proud of what they were doing and was out there several times with water and snacks to show her_______. Biologist Grummer said, “It’s heartwarming that they were using their summer break to help________and protect turtles. These boys give me________for the next generation.”