One summer night, the whole family of Irene was asleep with the windows open. It was very quiet when there was a loud noise from the stable(马厩）.Irene woke up from her sweet dream,and the noise continued.Then she heard a horse running fast towards the house.The next thing she saw was her horse,Thunder,standing outside of her window,neighing(嘶叫） and shaking his head.She knew something was wrong.Irene quickly got everyone out of the house before the earthquake hit.Thunder saved her life.

As amazing as this story is,it is not as uncommon as you may hear of the story of Doris and her cat Maggie.One night,Doris was in a deep sleep when she was woken by her cat Maggie.Maggie was meowing wildly outside Doris's bedroom and throwing herself against the closed bedroom door.When Doris opened her eyes,she saw her bedroom full of smoke.As she escaped her house,she saw a fire was burning in her kitchen.Even though Maggie could have escaped the house through a cat door,she wouldn't leave Doris.

There are also stories of wild animals coming to the rescue of humans.Once,Lyndon was surfing with his friend when he was attacked by a four-meter shark.During the attack,a group of dolphins came to his rescue by forming protective ring around Lyndon until be could get safely to shore.Without the help of the dolphins,there is little chance that Lyndon could have escaped.

No one is sure why animals have so often come to our rescue.However,it is clear that most of us haven't realized their kindness.It is important that we care for them as much as we can.

I really enjoy autumn’s display of golden leaves, but as a bird lover in the UK, the real thrill at this time of year is the arrival of migratory birds(侯鸟) from Iceland, Siberia and Canada.

The UK is lucky—in winter, we get a wide variety of birds heading here to escape tough conditions further north. And in summer, we are visited by birds from Africa such as swallows and cuckoos(杜鹃) that make the most of our long, light days for having their young. While the long flights are undoubtedly impressive, there are some species that fly considerably further, spending much of their lives at the extreme ends of Earth.

The Arctic tern(北极燕鸥) has the world’s longest migration: a round-trip of 35,000 kilometers annually. Arctic terns break up their long journeys though, so if you are looking for, he world’s longest non-stop flyer, that record is held by the bar-tailed godwit(斑尾塍鹬).

So why do birds migrate? It makes sense to head somewhere warmer for winter, but it can be harder to explain why some African species then return to Europe for summer when food is still plentiful in their wintering grounds. It could be because there is less competition here, or because our longer, cooler days are useful. Some trips are even harder to explain. For example, the ancient murrelet(海雀) flies almost 8,000 kilometers from Canada to China , despite very similar conditions.

Although there is still much we don’t know, we do know that our changing climate is making birds lose the benefits of such long journeys. Arctic terns survive on sand eels(沙鳗) when they arrive in the Shetland Islands. In 2004, the UK saw a sudden drop in sand eels due to climate change. The islands usually host more than 20,000 pairs of Arctic terns, but didn’t see a single chick survive to adulthood that summer. I have so much admiration for the world’s furthest fliers, and I just hope they can cling on and that we can come to fully understand them.

Scientists have always been interested in the high level of organization in ant societies. American researchers have watched ants build life-saving rafts (筏子) to keep afloat during flood. They also have recorded how ant colonies choose their next queen — the female whose job is to produce eggs.

New technology is helping to improve researchers’ understanding of the insects. But there is still a lot to be learned. Fire ants living in Brazilian forests are perfectly at home in an environment where flooding is common. To save themselves , the insects connect their legs together and create floating rafts. Some ant rafts can be up to 20 centimeters wide.

David Hu who is a mechanical engineer with the Georgia Institute of Technology , also known as Georgia Tech, says, “If you have 100 ants, which means 600 legs, 99 percent of those legs will be connected to a neighbor. So they’re very, very good at maintaining this net work.”

David Hu and other Georgia Tech researchers wanted to study ants and the secret of their engineering. They froze ant rafts and then look at them with the help of computed technology , or CT images. The pictures showed that larger ants serve in central positions to which smaller ants held. The larger ants form pockets of air that keep the insects afloat. Scientists say small robots or materials that can change shape could be programmed in a similar way, working towards a shared goal. Researchers at North Carolina State University are also studying ants. They examined how Indian jumping ants choose the leader of the colony when they lose their top female or queen. Researcher Clint Penick says all the worker ants in the colony are females. His team found that the worker ants start a series of competitions or battles and that some workers become physically larger.