On a small island called Middle Island near the Victorian coastal town of Warrnambool, sheep dogs are hard at work protecting little penguins(企鹅).

Middle Island is a _________place for little penguins. 30 years ago, it was home to thousands of penguins, but by the late 90 ‘s that number had halved and by 2005 there were only four birds _________ .

At _________ tide(潮汐), Middle Island becomes accessible to an introduced species, the European red fox, with terrible _________. The foxes did great damage to the island. So, Alan Marsh, a local chicken farmer, _________ that sheep dogs should be used to_________the penguins.

“The whole idea was taking a farming practice of having dogs protecting your farm animals and then_________them to the island where the penguins _________that were being constantly _________ by foxes,” Marsh said.

Sheep dogs have been protecting animals for centuries. Sheep dogs live with them, __________social bonds.The Warrnambool City Council __________ the idea and Marsh stayed on the __________with his sheep dog, Oddball, for the first week during the month-long__________. “It did what I hoped it would do __________,” said Marsh. “The__________of the dog kept foxes from __________ the island.”

The project has been __________ ever since and the penguin population on the island continues to__________. It is now about 180 little penguins returning to Middle Island.

“When the dogs have been on the island, there has been no__________on the island. So we know the dogs work. It’s __________!” says Trish Corbet of the Middle Island Penguin Project.

With a consulting room, an intensive care unit and a rehabilitation center, the Wucheng wildlife rescue center near Poyang Lake has become a place for sick and injured wintering birds to recover.

”We have _________76 birds over the past two years. People send sick and injured birds to us whenever they find one,” said Shu Guolei, director of the rescue center in Yongxiu county, Jiangxi province. The rescue center is part of the Wucheng station, under the administration of the Poyang Lake Wetland Nature Reserve. With a surface area of over 3,200 square kilometers, Poyang Lake _________up to 700,000 wintering birds every year. The lake is an important wetland ecosystem and the largest _________for wintering migratory birds in Asia.

Shu said meals are provided for the sick birds according to their species and _________habits. “For example, a corn and rice combo is given to ducks, geese and swans, and a fish and shrimp combo is for the oriental storks.” After a full _________, the birds are released into the wild, Shu added.

Nearly 98 percent of the world’s white cranes, over 80 percent of the oriental storks and more than 70 percent of the white-naped cranes spend their _________at the lake before flying to warmer regions. To explore a more effective mechanism to protect the flocks of birds, Jiangxi province coordinates the work of the nature reserve, local public security bureaus and health departments. More and more local residents are also joining in efforts to rescue injured birds as their awareness of _________protection grows.

Li Chunru, 75, has cared for injured birds for nearly four decades. _________a doctor at a hospital in Jiangxi’s Duchang county, Li founded a clinic for birds in 2013 that is capable of taking care of 200 at a time. The clinic is _________consulting rooms, an intensive care unit, inpatient wards, recovery rooms and outdoor sheds. Bird rescue centers across China also work together to ensure safe trips for migratory birds after their treatment and recovery.

On Jan 2, migratory bird protection centers in Jiangxi and Tianjin released nine recovered birds in Duchang, including oriental storks, gray cranes, swans and geese. Seven of the birds had been brought from Tianjin for treatment. The birds were released in Poyang Lake so they could more easily __________their flock, said LiZhenzhuo, director of a wildlife conservation center in Tianjin.

__________improving the habitat and beefing up rescue efforts, local governments in the province have also increased forage(饲料)supplies for the birds. Hu Wei, the Party secretary of Yugan county, Jiangxi, said since November nearly 3,000 white cranes had gathered in a paddy area covering 60 hectares to look for food. “Last summer, a major flood in the Yangtze River __________the natural food supply for the birds, so we urgently secured dozens of hectares of unharvested rice for the flocks,” he said.

Liu Xinxi, an official with the Poyang Lake Wetland Park, said the birds are becoming less __________. “They used to only forage in the remote lake area, but now they can be seen in the fields and pools that are __________to people,” he said.

Dai Nianhua, a researcher with the Institute of Bioresources at the Jiangxi Academy of Sciences, said the implementation of a 10-year fishing ban in Poyang Lake has better protected aquatic organisms and created __________conditions for birds to breed.

“With people’s increasing awareness of environmental protection, the ecological environment of Poyang Lake has been improving,” Dai said.

I fell in love with Yosemite National Park the first time I saw it, when I was 13.My parents took us there for camping.On the way out, I asked them to wait while I ran up to EI Capitan, a   ______ rock of 3, 300 feet straight up. I touched that giant rock and knew immediately I wanted to climb it.That has been my life’s passion (钟爱) ever since— ______   the rocks and mountains of Yosemite. I’ve long made Yosemite my ______.

About 15 years ago I started seeing a lot of ______ , like toilet paper, beer cans, and empty boxes, around the area. It’s beyond me why visitors started respecting the place ______ and treated such a beautiful homelike place this way.

I tried ______ trash (垃圾) myself, but the job was too big.I would spend an hour or two on the job, only to find the area trashed all over again weeks later.Finally, I got so ______ it that I decided something had to change.

As a rock ­climbing guide, I knew nothing about organizing any big event. But in 2004, together with some climbers, I set a date for a ______. On that day, more than 300 people ______. Over three days we collected about 6,000   pounds of trash.It was amazing how much we were able to ______. I couldn’t believe the ______ we made—the park looked clean!

Each year volunteers come for the cleanup from everywhere. In 2007 alone, 2,945 people picked up 42,330   pounds of trash and ______132 miles of roadway.

I often hear people ______ about their surroundings. If you are one of them, I would say the only way to change things is by ______ rather than complaining. We need to teach by ______. You can’t blame others unless you start with yourself.