Experts say the bee population is getting smaller because of climate change and other human-caused 【小题1】（activity） . We are building houses and cities on land where they live, and using chemicals 【小题2】 are killing them. Last winter, U.S. beekeepers 【小题3】 （lose ） almost 40% of their colonies （蜂群）.

Thiele, 【小题4】 beekeeper, says the usual ways people raise honey bees 【小题5】（ be ） bad for their health. He rejects the white boxes that 【小题6】（tradition ） beekeepers use. He also refuses to use chemicals, smoke or protective clothing when he works with bees. He touches them 【小题7】 his bare hands. Thiele says his hives （蜂巢）are both a way to save bees and a personal project.

While bees crawled （爬）over his hands and arms he said, "It feels so close and I feel how 【小题8】（deep） we belong and how important it is 【小题9】 （keep） them safe from harm."

He added that honey bees show how fragile life is. He made a 【小题10】 （far） remark, "As if they are really mirroring where we are on this time on this planet."

A red panda climbs along the branch of a tree, placing one paw in front of 【小题1】 other. But then ... whoops! The panda loses 【小题2】 (it) balance. A fall from this height — about a hundred feet — could be deadly. But, 【小题3】 (ultimate), the panda quickly holds the branch.

Red pandas and giant pandas share a similar name, but they are not closely related. 【小题4】 makes red pandas different is that they spend most of their time in the trees instead of walking on the ground and looking for food like giant pandas.

Red pandas are now in the 【小题5】 (danger) situation of dying out. Their forest homes are being cut down and poachers (偷猎者) hunt them 【小题6】 their fur. Luckily, people are trying to help. For example, last year, the Red Panda Network 【小题7】 (employ) local people to be forest guardians. These pandas’ human friends kept watching over the red pandas, replanted bamboos and helped tourists observe them quietly without 【小题8】 (trouble) them. High-tech methods are adopted 【小题9】 (track) poachers. By taking a DNA sample (样本) from a red panda 【小题10】 (rescue) from the black market, the scientists can learn where the animal was taken from.

Surprise! A New Penguin

A team of scientists in New Zealand recently came across the remains of a previously unknown species of penguin—by mistake. The discovery of the Waitaha penguin species, which has been extinct for 500 years, is exciting news for the scientific community 【小题1】 it gives new insight into how past extinction events can help shape the present environment.

The researchers uncovered the Waitaha penguin remains while studying New Zealand’s rare yellow-eyed penguin. The team wanted to investigate the effects 【小题2】 humans have had on the now endangered species. They studied centuries-old bones from 【小题3】 they thought were yellow-eyed penguins and compared them with the bones of modern yellow-eyed penguins. Surprisingly, some of the bones were older than 【小题4】 (expect). Even more shockingly, the DNA in the bones indicated that they did not belong to yellow-eyed penguins. The scientists concluded that these very old bones 【小题5】 have belonged to a previously unknown species, which they named the Waitaha penguin.

By studying the bones, scientists further concluded that the Waitaha penguin was once native 【小题6】 New Zealand. But after the settlement of humans on the island country, its population 【小题7】 (wipe) out.

Based on the ages of the bones of both penguin species, the team discovered a gap in time between the disappearance of the Waitaha and the arrival of the yellow-eyed penguin. The time gap indicates that the extinction of the Waitaha penguin created the opportunity for the yellow-eyed penguin population 【小题8】 (migrate) to New Zealand.

【小题9】 yellow-eyed penguins thrived （兴盛） in New Zealand for many years, that species now also faces extinction. The yellow-eyed penguin today is considered one of the world’s 【小题10】 (rare) species of penguin, with an estimated population of 7,000 that is now the focus of an extensive conservation effort in New Zealand.