During COVID-19 lockdown, my husband, Peter and I needed something 【小题1】 (brighten) up our day. Peter found some flower pots, 【小题2】 (hope) flowers would attract some birds.

At a flower shop, I saw lavender flowers (薰衣草花) matched beautifully with some yellow flowers. The saleswoman said,” Hummingbirds (蜂鸟) love those flowers.” I liked the idea of small 【小题3】 (visitor) flying around flowers, so we brought both flowers home and put them on 【小题4】 balcony.

Every day, we’d look out onto the balcony and enjoy the vivid 【小题5】 (arrange). The best part was the hummingbirds’ showing up. They brought joy that we 【小题6】 (great) needed. Being apart 【小题7】 family, I was concerned about 【小题8】 would happen if we were infected with the virus.

One morning, I noticed that a hummingbird’s tiny head 【小题9】 (stick) between two boards and another was trying to free it by pulling its tail. I ran to fetch Peter, but when we returned, the birds were 【小题10】 (go)! I let out a sigh of relief, recalling the saying “He who endures (忍耐) to the end shall be saved.” Those hummingbirds didn’t give up. Why should I?

Do Animals Dream?

You can't see your sleeping pet's brain waves, but its behavior can tell you when Fido or Fluffy might be dreaming. If you watch closely, you'll see that as she falls asleep, her breathing becomes slow and regular and her body still. She has entered the first stage of sleep, 【小题1】 slow - wave sleep. After about 15 minutes you'll notice a change 【小题2】 her eyes move under her closed lids, Fluffy has entered the REM(Rapid Eye Movement),or dreaming, stage of sleep. Although she moves and makes little grunting noises, messages from her brain to the large muscles in her legs 【小题3】 (block), so she can't run about.

Back in 1963, Michel Jouvet, a French scientist who was studying sleep in cats, 【小题4】 (interrupt) their sleep paralysis, the state of being unable to act or function properly.   【小题5】 they were completely asleep, the dreaming cats began to chase balls that Jouvet couldn't see and bent their backs in invisible enemies. He figured he was watching them act out their dreams!

What were they dreaming about? Mostly, the dreaming cats seemed 【小题6】 (practise) important cat skills: stalking, pouncing, and fighting.

In 【小题7】 study, Matt Wilson, a neuroscientist, recorded rats’ brain waves while they learned mazes (迷宫). One day, he left the brain - wave - recording machine on while the rats fell asleep. The pattern of brain waves in the sleeping rats matched the pattern from the maze so closely that Wilson could locate exactly which part of the maze each rat was dreaming about!

Many researchers now think that in both people and animals, one purpose of dreams is to practise important skills and nail down recent learning. This may explain why so many people dream about fighting and escaping, skills 【小题8】 were probably vitally important to our ancestors, and why dreaming affects our ability to learn.

Do all animals dream? From looking at the brain waves of sleeping animals, scientists think that all mammals dream, such as humans, dogs, lions, and whales, but fish 【小题9】 not. (They're not sure about birds.)

How often animals dream seems to be tied to body size. Cats dream about every 15 minutes, mice every 9 minutes, and elephants every 2 hours. And though cows and horses usually sleep standing up, they only dream when 【小题10】 (lie) down.