|
due to take into account break down cut off in fear |
Trees are useful to man in three very important ways: they provide him food, wood and other products; they give him shade; and they help to prevent drought and floods.
Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, man has not realized that the third of these services is the most important. In his eagerness to draw quick profit from the trees, he has cut them down in large numbers.
Two thousand years ago, a rich and powerful country cut down its trees to build warships, with which to gain itself an empire. It gained the empire but, without its trees, its soil became bare and poor. When the empire fell to pieces, the country found itself faced by floods and starvation.
Even though a government realizes the importance of a plentiful supply of trees, it is difficult sometimes to make the people realize this. They cut down the trees but are too careless to plant and look after new trees. So unless the government has a good system of control, or can educate the people, the forests will slowly disappear.
This does not only mean that there will be fewer trees. The results are even more serious. For where there are trees, their roots break the soil up, allowing the rain to sink in, and also bind the soil. This prevents the soil from being washed away. But where there are no trees, the rain falls on hard ground and flows away on the surface, and this causes floods and the rain carries away the rich top soil in which crops grow. When all the top soil is gone, nothing remains but worthless desert.
The words "protect animals" appear everywhere in books and on screens because some animals are in danger of dying out. But sometimes the reality can be a little different from what people read or watch.
About 300 black bears were killed in Florida, the US, in October, 2015. It's been the first bear hunt since 1994.
Animal protection groups protested this decision. But local officials explained that the black bear population had grown to 3,500 and become a menace to local people. In the past two years, bears have hurt at least four people in Florida.
This brings an old question back into the spotlight — which is more important, protecting animals or protecting people's interests?
This question is asked in other countries too. In Switzerland, a wolf was sentenced to death by the Swiss government months ago. This is because the wolf killed 38 sheep and local people lost a lot of money. Days ago in China, three old men were arrested for killing a serow (鬣羚), a protected species. But they insisted they didn't know about this and killed the animal because it ruined their crops.
However, these stories don't always mean that animal protection stops due to human interests, especially involving economic development. A man named Zhou Weisen set up a wild animal base in Guilin, Guangxi. He saved over 170 tigers and 300 bears. But his base also offered jobs to local people.
"There may never be a standard answer to the question of whether we should give more attention to the environment or human development," said Robert May, a British biologist at Oxford University. "But we shouldn't push either one to the side, as the future is hanging in the balance."
One reaction to all the concern about tropical deforestation (森林砍伐) is a blank stare (迷惑的眼神) that asks the question, "Since I don't live there, what does it have to do with me?"
The answer is that your way of life, wherever you live in the world, is tied to the tropics (热带地区) in many ways. If you live in a house, wash your hair, eat fruits and vegetables, drink soda, or drive a car, you can be certain that you are affected by the loss of tropical forests.
Biologically, we are losing the richest regions on earth when, each minute, a piece of tropical forest, the size of ten city blocks, disappears. As many as five million species of plants, animals, and insects (40 to 50 percent of all living things) live there, and are being lost faster than they can be found and described. Their loss is immeasurable (不可估量的) .
Take rubber for example. For many uses, only natural rubber from trees will do. Synthetics are not good enough. Today over half the world's commercial rubber is produced in Malaysia and Indonesia, while the Amazon's rubber industry produces much of the world's four million tons. And rubber is an important material in making gloves, balloons, footwear (鞋类) and many sporting goods. Thousands of other tropical plants are valuable for their industrial use.
Many scientists strongly believe that deforestation contributes to the greenhouse effect ― or heat of the earth from increased carbon dioxide (二氧化碳) in the atmosphere. As we destroy forests, we lose their ability to change carbon dioxide into oxygen．
Carbon dioxide levels could double within the next half-century, warming the earth by as much as 4.5 degrees. The result? A partial melt-down of polar ice caps, raising sea levels as much as 24 feet; even 15 feet could threaten anyone living within 35miles of the coast. Unbelievable? Maybe. But scientists warn that by the time we realize the serious effects of tropical deforestation, it will be 20 years too late.
Can tropical deforestation affect our everyday lives? Now, you should have got the answer.
Heritage is our legacy (遗产) from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable (无可取代的) sources of life and inspiration. Places as unique and diverse as the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Great Wall of China make up our world's heritage.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This isembodiedin an international treaty called the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.
How does a place become a World Heritage Site? It takes a lot of people to decide.
1)If a country wants one of its places to be on the World Heritage List, it has to ask UNESCO. The place must be important and special. UNESCO put the Great Wall on the list in 1987 because, it said, it was a great part of Chinese culture and beautifully made to go with the land. When a country asks, it must also make a plan for taking care of the place.
2)The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO talks about different places and decides whether to put them on the list. The committee meets every June. Many experts help the committee to decide.
3)After a new place goes on the list, UNESCO gives money to help keep it looking good. If a place is in serious danger, it may be put on the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger. UNESCO gives special care and help to those places.
4)Countries have to give UNESCO regular reports about places on the list. If UNESCO thinks a country isn't taking good enough care of a place, the site will be taken off the list.
Four Goals for Perfect Life
Healthy and Fit
The first goal common to all of us is health and energy. Today, with the incredible advances in medical science, the quality of our health and fitness, and our lifespan(寿命), is largely determined by design, not by chance. People with excellent health habits are far healthier, have more energy, and live longer and better than people who have poor health habits.
Excellent Relationships
Fully 85% of your happiness will be determined by the quality of your relationships at each stage, and in each area, of your life. How well you get along with people, and how much they like, love and respect you, has more impact on the quality of your life than perhaps any other factor.
Do What You Love
The third common goal is to do work that we enjoy, to do it well, and to be well paid for it. You want to earn the very most that is possible for you at each stage of your career, whatever you do.
The fourth goal we all have in common is to achieve financial independence. You want to be completely free of financial worries. You want to be able to order dinner in a restaurant without using the price listings to determine what you want to eat.
A. We don't want to get the job that we aren't well paid and we don't promote faster.
B. Achieve Financial Independence
C. Money is the most important for we can't go without it.
D. You want to reach the point in life where you have enough money so that you never have to worry about money again.
E. You want to be able to get and keep the job you want, to get paid more and to get promoted faster.
F. The second goal that we all have in common is to enjoy excellent relationships with the people we like and respect, and who like, love and respect us in turn.
G. We all want to be healthy and fit, to have high levels of energy and to live free of pain and illness.
"Hurry up, Chris," my dad said in a low voice. "He's going to get away. You need to 1him now." I was pointing my 2 at a duck. It was a(n)3 day for me. Shooting those ducks would make my father 4, but I just couldn't. My father 5 fishing and hunting ducks. I thought fishing was boring, 6 Dad hardly ever asked me to go with him. I had gone hunting with Dad before but 7 brought a gun, because I didn't own one, and his was too big for me. The gun was a present for my birthday. I'd been 8 almost every evening.
I 9 I could hit that duck, but I didn't want to. I had never 10 killing things, and I hated people who killed animals for no reason at all. I liked 11. I didn't want to hurt it.
I pointed the gun at the duck. He was trying hard to find food and had to keep a careful eye on his 12 at the same time, and now my dad asked me to kill him so we could have one nice 13. I hated myself for 14 pointing the gun at the duck, but I hated to 15 my father's feelings too.
"I... I can't tell which is the duck," I explained.
"Just try, Chris. I know you can do it," Dad 16 me.
"Thanks, Dad." I 17 to myself. "Your words just make it harder for me." My eyes filled with tears as my brain had made a (n)18— I wouldn't shoot the duck.
"You really don't want to shoot him, do you?" Dad quietly cut in on my 19. I was too choked (哽咽的) to say anything. 20, a nod was enough.
It was a moving moment at the National Zoo in Washington. Thousands people came to say goodbye to the zoo's most popular star, is actually a panda. Bao Bao, the panda's name, left for her new home back in Chengdu, China on Feb. 22, 2017. She's the first female panda born in the US and (win) the hearts of many Americans since her birth three and a half years ago. Bao Bao must be sent back to her (origin) hometown due to an agreement between China and the US that demands every baby panda should return to China by the age of four. Pandas' lovely black-and-white appearance (make) them popular around the world. In fact, in the past they were sent to other countries as gifts, known as "Panda Diplomacy (外交)". Now, pandas face the problem of (die) out and we can (rare) see them in the wilderness. Therefore, China has stopped giving away pandas for free because of (it) decreasing number. Oncontrary, any zoos outside China wanting a panda must offer a fee (protect) this kind of precious animal.
My mother was a supporter of physical punishment, but for all her talking she has never spanked (打屁股) my siblings, and me only once. Instead she found ways of punishment that left a more lasting memory than giving us a spanking. One of the most memorable of these occasions occurred when I was four.
In the early 70's my mother attended college during the day and I was in day care. One day at day care I watched an extremely tired mother attempt to pick up her daughter. The little girl asked, "Momma, are we going to McDonald's for dinner?" The mother replied, "Honey, not tonight. Momma has to run a few errands (差事) and then we have to go home and cook dinner for Daddy." "But I wanna go." "Susie, I said not tonight. Maybe, if you are a good girl, we can go tomorrow." Susie immediately dropped to the floor, kicking and screaming, "I want to go to McDonald's."
No amount of pleading (恳求) or scolding her mother tried stopped Susie's tantrum (发脾气). Finally her mother gave in, "Okay, Susie, let's go to McDonald's." Susie stopped yelling. With a smile on her face she grabbed her mother's hand and they left. To say I was amazed would be inaccurate (不准确的); I was delighted that anything I wanted could be had by throwing a tantrum.
That day my mother picked me up early from day care because we were going to a store to purchase some Christmas items. I was excited by the lights and decorations, and as we walked through the toy section on the way to the counter, I saw a toy I had to have. It was a white and red telephone whose bells rang as it was pulled along on a string. Looking lovingly up at my mother I asked, "Mama, can I have that telephone?"
She replied, "Baby, not now, but if you are a good girl, maybe Santa will bring it to you." "But Mama, I want that telephone right now." Her eyes narrowed and her hand tightened on mine. "Becky, you can't have that telephone today, but if you misbehave, you can have a spanking."
注意：
1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2）应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph l:
By now we were standing in the long holiday line to pay the bill, and I figured it was a good chance. ……
Paragraph 2:
"Mama, stop. Mama, get up," I tearfully pleaded.……
