On the roof of an apartment building in one of Gaza’s most crowded cities live two baby lions. One is male, the other female. They walk among the water tanks and eat chicken for food. Children play with the animals and some take selfies (自拍) with them. The baby lions have become pets for a 27-year-old bakery owner Naseem Abu Jamea. They have become popular playthings for many people in the neighborhood.

However, as children in his family and from the neighborhood played with the animals, Abu Jamea had little concern about the risks. “When you raise them as babies”, he said,“a harmony will grow between both of you.” This harmony, he added, would keep the lions from hurting him and others.

Abu Jamea said he got the baby lions from a local zoo but would not give more details. He did, however, share a dream of his.“It is my hobby. I was attached to them and I love to have them,” he said. He added he hopes one day to have his own zoo.

One animal doctor, Amir Khalil, has a different opinion. He has led several trips to Gaza with the animal welfare organization Four Paws to rescue mistreated zoo animals. “I advise the Gaza authorities to take away those lions,” he said. “At the age of six months a lion becomes more dangerous as his size gets bigger and his muscles become stronger.” Khalil also fears for the baby lions’ own welfare. He said lions raised in a home may not get the food and medical care they need. This could result in long-term health problems, especially difficulties with muscles, joints, and bones.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, zoos in Gaza have experienced a drop in the number of visitors. Without paying visitors, they are struggling to feed and care for the animals. Hassan Azzam is an official with Gaza’s agriculture ministry. When asked about the baby lions, he said the ministry does not know about any public objections to the animals. But he said the ministry would investigate.

With the Covid-19 virus sweeping the globe, the science on quitting smoking offers welcome news for smokers who want to build up their defenses in case they contract the virus. Though it may still take many months for a smoker's lungs to heal from damage caused by long-term smoking, your health can noticeably improve in the days and weeks after quitting in ways that could make a difference against the virus. Covid-19 creates an added sense of urgency, and there's enough reason to believe that quitting smoking during the pandemic（流行病）could increases your opportunities of fighting off the virus.

If you make the decision to quit, the cilia（纤毛）in your lungs are one of the first parts of your body to heal. These hair-like projections wave back and forth like a brush as air moves in and out of your lungs. They help your body fight off colds and infection. They also help clear mucus（黏液）, so if they're not functioning as well as they should, mucus can build up in the lungs. Your body's tendency to cough during an infection helps inspire the bodily process of clearing out mucus. That's vital in fighting the Covid-19 condition. The elderly are at a greater risk for too much lung fluid that often limits breathing following coronavirus infection because they don't have a strong enough cough to clear it up.

A second short-term gain from quitting smoking comes from reducing ongoing inflammation（炎症）in your body, which can make you infect Covid-19 more easily. Having your lungs in as good of shape as you can in case of a corona virus infection is key.

Besides lung-related issues, quitting smoking can also deliver healthy benefits to the heart that could help prevent possible heart attacks, which are another cause of death in Covid-19 cases. After you quit smoking, your blood becomes thinner and less possible to setting. Heart attacks are less likely. One reason this happens is because smoking makes it harder for the heart to distribute blood throughout the body.

In the future, people will work fewer hours a week than today, right?【小题1】Too much work takes up a most all of their time. They are busy and feel very tired. Many people are asking,“When will I get some free time?”

【小题2】One reason is the increase in the cost of living. In order to support a family today，many people have to work longer hours or work at a second job.【小题3】She works in New Jersey as a social worker from 8:30a.m.until 12:30p.m. In the late afternoon and in the evenings， she sees private customers. On the weekends, she works as caterer(宴会承办者) . It costs so much to support her family, she says, that working less is not impossible.

But there is a second reason for peoples overwork. 【小题4】Employees feel that they have no choice. If they don't agree to work overtime, they are afraid that they will he fired by their companies. Changes in technology make it easier for people to be working all the time.With faxes， cellphones, and e-mail, people can work even when they are on holiday.

【小题5】If things continue this way into the future, we may never get to leave the office, at least not for long. Or people may begin to say, “This is enough. I need my relaxing time.”