With their long tusks (象牙), elephants look strong. However, it is this feature that makes the animal endangered. Many of them1for their tusks. The crafts (工艺品) made of their tusks are 2 priceless goods that they are popular among rich people. Studies show that elephants are living under 3conditions than expected.
The elephants' tusks are actually part of their teeth. Once the teeth are lost, they 4 never grow back. Losing the tusk will not kill them, but they may find it difficult to protect themselves 5 danger, lift things and get themselves food. What really makes elephants endangered is the way they lose the tusks. Usually, to meet the demand for ivory (象牙), some poachers (偷猎者) kill6elephants and cut their faces open to remove the tusks. Because human beings kill elephants for best ivory, an increasing number of African elephants have 7evolved(进化) into elephants without tusks in order to survive. Others are still killed for ivory.
According to the experts, over the last decades, the population of African elephants 8 from 10 million to 400, 000. If the poaching continues, African elephants will die out in 20 years. To protect the elephants, 9 organization called TNC (The Nature Conservancy) held an activity "Ivory Only Belongs to Elephants" online. Users watched the videos about elephant poaching online, and expressed10they would like to say about protecting elephants. Besides, with the efforts of TNC and local African governments, laws are used to punish ivory trading to stop more elephant poaching.
Most polar (北极) bears could disappear by the end of the century because of global(全球) warming, scientists say.
According to a study in Nature Climate(气候) Change, the number of most polar bears will 1rapidly. There are two reasons. One is that the sea ice is melting(融化). Polar bears catch seals(海豹) to eat on the ice. 2 ice, they have to stay on land. But there is no3 food on land to support so many bears. The animals could die from hunger. The other reason is that mother bears may not be fat enough to4 milk for their babies, so some bears could stop having babies.
Polar bears are the5 land animals that eat meat on the planet. They help control other kinds of animals. Losing them would break the balance of their living place.
The Arctic(北冰洋) is the 6 to about 35, 000 polar bears. Arctic sea ice usually melts in spring and summer, then grows in winter. But now, the 7is taking longer to grow back. Scientists say the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planets.
The study also shows 8 it is possible to slow Arctic melting. Greenhouse gas(温室气体) could lead to climate change. In order to avoid creating greenhouse gas, the world should try to stop burning coal and riding in cars.
Saving the bears is 9 us. Holland, one of the writers of the study, says, "I believe there is hope, but humans need to act10 to make that hope come true. " Let's take action to protect our earth and save polar bears.
Dereck Joubert and his wife, Beverly, have made many films about wild animals in Africa. Their films and photographs are very popular.
A working day for Dereck and Beverly starts very early—at 4：30 in the morning! That's when they get up and start filming. And it's a long day—they often work until 8：30 in the evening. In the winter it's very cold and in the summer it can be 40℃. Dereck always does the filming—Beverly never does that, and she doesn't write. But Dereck never takes photographs or records the sound. They work very well as a team, and they both believe we should shoot animals with cameras—not with guns!
When they have finished filming and taking photographs for the day, they have dinner and Dereck usually writes while Beverly looks at her photographs. At night, they usually sleep in a small tent, but they sometimes sleep in the Land Cruiser—when you're very close to wild animals, it's sometimes safer to sleep in the car!
Dereck and Beverly have also travelled around the world and given talks about their work. Dereck says that the animals are not just something to look at—they play an important role. Beverly thinks the wild animals can teach us a lot about ourselves.
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Orangutans
Orangutans are nature lovers. They like hanging out in the tree. They spend 95% of their time up there in the tree. They sleep and eat in their nests(巢). The nests are big enough for even a 10yearold kid to play in. |
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Pigs
Pigs may not look so cute when they find mud(泥) holes. They like playing in the mud — it is like their natural playground. And when it is hot, they stay in the mud to cool themselves. They don't care how dirty they get. |
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Sea turtles
Sea turtle eggs are like pingpong balls. After baby turtles break out of the eggs, they get themselves out of the sand and hurry to leave the beach for the sea. They swim for 24 hours in the sea to stay away from danger. |
Last summer holiday, Aunt Emily took us to a safari park (野生动物园), not far from Liverpool.
I was very happy to go as I had never been to a safari park before. It's a very interesting park, full of wild animals running freely.
When we got there, we bought our tickets and drove into the park. We were very excited at the thought of going to see the lions. But to get to the lion's place we had to go through the monkeys' land first. And that was a bad experience because they climbed all over the car, ate apples and bananas, and threw all kinds of things at us. They seemed very unfriendly.
Anyway, we went on our way to the lions' place where we had to lock ourselves in the car as we knew lions could be dangerous. A lion came up very close to us. The next thing, it was on the bonnet (车盖). It looked calm but we felt terrified. Aunt Emily, who isn't very brave, started to call for help. The kids started crying. Only my brother, George, stayed cool. I sounded the horn (喇叭)but nobody heard us.
In the end a guard arrived in his car, and the lion just got off our car and started smelling the guard's hand as if nothing was the matter.
Koalas are lovely. Most of them live in Australia. Koalas have short front legs and long strong back legs. Their fur is brown and thick. A baby koala is very small when it is born. It is not bigger than your little toe. It lives in its mother's pouch(育儿袋) for 5 to 7 months. When the baby koala leaves its mother's pouch, it has lots of fur. And it is as big as your shoe. Koalas sleep during the day and eat at night. They have leaves as their food.
During the 1920s, however, people kept killing them for their fur and lots of koalas died. Later, laws were made to stop people from killing koalas and make the population of koalas increase. Today, there are fewer than 100, 000 koalas in the country and they are still in danger of dying out. Life is still not easy for them.
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A. They have fewer and fewer places to live in and many of them die from diseases. B. As adults, koalas grow to be about 60 cm tall and weigh from 9 kg to 13 kg. C. Once, there were millions of koalas in Australia. D. It keeps them warm during the cold weather. E. It has no fur and can't see anything, either. F. It's important for us not to buy things made of koala fur. G. Koalas are one of the most popular animals among young children. |
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more, thing, cruel, for, endanger, amaze, face, save, population, and |
Between the Sea and Shore is a threepart documentary(纪录片) that calls for quick action to sea turtles from dying out. Around the world sea turtles are known their beauty and as one of the Earth's oldest animals. However, pollution and coastal development have made them .
To help bring this message to people of the world, the Wild Aid ambassador(大使) Eddie starts a long difficult adventure(冒险) to learn about many problems sea turtles face around the world. Eddie has long used his voice to warn people of environmental problems. "This is my chance to learn about the problems sea turtles face and be a voice for these animals," says Eddie.
In recent years, the of sea turtles has fallen down greatly because of pollution, and the trade in their eggs, meat and shells. How it is of people to make parts of the shell and whole bodies of turtles into artworks!
The oceans are very serious challenges to stay healthy. Eddie asks people to save sea turtles by starting with simple such as saying no to sea turtle products and plastic.
Just like mothers take care of everything at home, Mother Earth takes care of everything around the world. We all celebrate our mom's birthday, don't we? Do you know when Mother Earth's birthday is? It is on April 22nd, also known as the Earth Day.
People around the world celebrate it to make her feel special. How do you think she will feel special? She will feel special if all of us love nature, keep it clean and use all of her seas, mountains and other natural resources(资源) in the right way.
There is good news now that there are a lot of people saving and protecting the Mother Earth. But still the bad news is that it is not going to be easy. So it will be a long way for people to work together.
Here are some ways to keep her happy, healthy and smiling：
▲Teach others about the importance of the environment.
▲Build parks to protect animals and plants.
▲Walk or ride a bicycle. Cars will make the Mother Earth sick, because they make pollution.
▲Don't cut down forests—animals' homes. Animals are children of the Mother Earth like us.
It's .
They celebrate it to make the Mother Earth feel .
It's that there are a lot of people the Mother Earth.
There are ways.
They are .
A: Hello, Tom! I didn't see you yesterday.
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B: Oh, I went to the cinema and saw a movie.
A: ？
B: It's about animals.
A: ？
B: It was wonderful. But it also made me sad.
A: Did you learn a lot from the movie?
B: . I learned a lot about the endangered animals. There are fewer of them now.
A: I'm sad to hear that.
B: I think we should do something to save them. Let's join the Love Animal Club first.
A: ！ I think the club must be helpful.
B: Then we should do it as soon as possible.
A: That's right.
