Before 1982, giant pandas 【小题1】 (give) away to other countries by the Chinese government as a symbol of friendship and 【小题2】 (kind). For instance, two giant pandas were given to the US as gifts after former US President Richard Nixon visited China in 1972.

But after assessing 【小题3】 number of extant pandas in the late 1970s, China came to realize the fact 【小题4】 the animals had become a rare and endangered species. 【小题5】 (give) these factors, it grew impossible for Chinese government to give away pandas 【小题6】 (endless).

The“on-loan” policy then started with a focus on 【小题7】 (pursue) cooperation with zoos around the world for the conservation of rare animals.

The pandas are then offered “on loan“ usually on a 10-year term from China 【小题8】 certain countries. “The on-loan program 【小题9】 (highlight) close partnerships and scientific cooperation between China and other countries. China has done 【小题10】 (cooperate) research on giant panda conservation with 22 zoos in 18 countries,” said Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, at a press conference in 2021.

Therapy dog earns degree

People graduate from college and are awarded degrees every year, but what 【小题1】 a dog finished the same?

【小题2】(recent), an 8-year-old therapy (治疗) dog named Moose 【小题3】 (receive) an honorary   doctorate (荣誉博士) from Virginia Tech’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia, US.

Moose has been at the school’s Cook Counseling Center since 2014, 【小题4】 (serve) as a therapy animal and 【小题5】 ambassador (大使) for mental health awareness.

As one of four therapy 【小题6】 (dog) in the center, he has taken part in more than 7,500 counseling sessions (咨询时段) and over 500 outreach events in six years.

“Some humans haven’t had the 【小题7】 (good) experience with other humans, or even other dogs. In both cases, Moose provides a 【小题8】 (complete) safe and comforting force in the room,” Trent Davis, a licensed counselor at the center told CNN.

“These students see Moose as someone 【小题9】 is going to accept them. They don’t worry 【小题10】 him judging them.”

It is not always simple to predict how long a task will take. 【小题1】, of course, you’re a rat. According to 【小题2】recent multinational study, rats can learn from their prior activities 【小题3】(perfect) their skills and timing.

The scientists who conducted the study have found that rats, like humans, can estimate temporal errors in their behaviors. Humans can guess the time of their actions due 【小题4】their capability for self-analysis. When they complete a 【小题5】(time) task, they can evaluate their performance and correct 【小题6】(them) to do better the next time. Now fresh research has shown for the first time that rats can do it as well!

The researchers devised an experiment 【小题7】rats were taught to press a lever (控制杆) for at least 3.2 seconds to see how well they performed while 【小题8】(complete) the job. Two feeders 【小题9】(deliver) a reward based on the animal’s performance. As a result, the rats learnt that the placement of the reward depended on their 【小题10】(accurate) and they all made the correct choice to find food!

This finding opens up new opportunities for uncovering the mechanisms (机制) and brain structures involved in our internal representation of time.