Today we are going to celebrate the coming of winter with an adventure story.

Our story begins on a distant mountaintop. It is in the coldest part of winter, with the wind【小题1】 (howl) outside. Snow mixed with freezing rain has wiped out the 【小题2】 (safe) of the roads for travel. Even walking outside is dangerous. So, the four chandlers of our story, as well as a small group of other travelling bird-watchers, 【小题3】 (stick) indoors at the Ice Castle Inn. 【小题4】 the name suggests, the inn, located at a remote mountaintop, is an old castle that is now a vacation spot for bird-watchers.

These four people are total 【小题5】(strange). The only thing they have in common is a 【小题6】 (share) interest on snow birds. But for now, they all have to postpone their plans 【小题7】 the winter storm passes. What they don’t know is that the 【小题8】 (violence) storm outside is just the tip of the iceberg. More danger exists, but they cannot see 【小题9】.

As the days go by, the snow only falls harder 【小题10】 the Ice Castle Inn. The land line phones no longer work. Neither do cell phones. No rescue vehicles have come to clear the roads. They are truly snowed in.

Craig Foster was diving in bitterly cold waters off the southern Africa 【小题1】 he saw her - an octopus (章 鱼) hiding under a shelter of shells and stones. Deeply 【小题2】 (attract), he began following this incredibly shy creature, trying to prove he wasn’t a predator (捕食者) by staying very still in her 【小题3】 (present). And then, after 26 days of crazy pursuing, she reached out and touched him.

“The octopus trusted me and allowed me 【小题4】 (step) into her secret world, showing me many behaviors【小题5】 were completely new to science,” Foster says.

Foster 【小题6】 (spend) the last ten years diving in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of South Africa. He began this daily diving as a way of dealing with a depression that had left him raw and disconnected. Immersing (沉浸) 【小题7】 (he) in this underwater world has calmed his mind. Over the past few years, other animals have reached out to make contact, including otters, whales, and even sharks, 【小题8】 nothing has compared to his “once — in — a — lifetime” bond with the octopus, he says.

Foster says the greatest lesson she taught him is that humans are part 【小题9】 the natural world around us, and not 【小题10】 (simple) visitors. “Your own role and place in the natural world is the most precious gift we have been given.”

Pioneering underwater photographer David Doubilet is a master craftsman, 【小题1】combines technology and capture (捕捉) life underwater,     【小题2】(bring) images back to the surface for those who might never see those sights with their own eyes. Entering the sea as a journalist, artist, and     【小题3】 (explore), Doubilet documents both the beauty and the   devastation (破坏) in our oceans.

He believes that the photography has the power     【小题4】 (educate), and influence change. Doubilet is deeply concerned about the future of the oceans. When he 【小题5】   (ask) what sort of powerful stories he’d like to tell through his work, he says, “Right now, we’re   telling the most 【小题6】(meaning) story in the world. Doubilet and his wife, Jennifer Hayes, are working on a National Geographic project 【小题7】 (name) “Coral Status, the Science and the Future”.

They are looking at coral worldwide to see how it’s changed, and changing. “A lot of climatologists are thinking coral may be one of 【小题8】 greatest indicators (指示者), the thermometer of the health of this planet. We’re looking at reefs that are thousands 【小题9】years old, and in the last four and five years they have 【小题10】(complete) died. That’s what happens when you have a warming ocean.