When people hear the word "rat," they may think of dirty animals spread disease. And if you are an English learner, you may also connect the word "rat" with bad (express). For examples, calling someone a "rat" is a big insult and "rat race" describes joyless, hurried ways of living. So rats generally are not beloved animals either in life or the English language. However, the rat trainers at the nonprofit organization, APOPO, see the animals very (differ). They consider the rats lifesavers.
Based in Tanzania, APOPO trains pouched rats (find) landmines(地雷). And the rats their extraordinary sense of smell are very good at the job. APOPO calls their animal team HeroRats. "Everybody should know that these rats, they're not stupid. They're not terrible animals. They're really (intelligence) and they can be trained to do some amazing things." says American Ellie Cutright, an APOPO trainer from Charleston, South Carolina. APOPO estimates that worldwide there are 110 million hidden explosives (leave) by the war. These explosives are still "live," or able to explode. Experts say such landmines kill or wound 5000 people a year. APOPO says its rats (discover) more than 107,000 landmines and unexploded explosives so far, (make) life safer for almost a million people.
