Do you like animals? There is a kind of animal in the South Pole (南极). It has wings (翅膀) and feathers (羽毛), but it can’t fly. Its name is penguin (企鹅).

People found penguins in 1488. Hundreds of years later, people gave them this nice name. They are not tall and they are a little heavy. When they walk, they look very funny. They have a lot of black and white feathers. They make penguins look cute and keep them warm. So they can live in the very cold place.

Penguins can’t fly in the air, but they are great swimmers. Penguins spend quite a lot of their time in the water. Sometimes they can stay under the water for eighteen minutes. Are they practicing swimming? No, they are searching for (搜寻) food. What do they usually eat? Little fish are their important food.

A new study shows that negative ( 消极的) punishments to dogs while training can bring long-term bad effects to the animal. The latest study paid attention to some dogs for humans. Such dogs are often thought of as part of the family and need training on how to behave around people.

Researchers from Portugual’s University of Porto led the study. The researchers carried out experiments including two kinds of dog training methods — reward-based and aversive( 令人厌恶的). Reward-based methods include giving the dog food or praise when the animal completes wanted behavior. Aversive methods depend on the use of some kinds of negative actions, such as shouting, pushing or pulling the dog to let it do something.

The study included 92 dogs. 42 of them got reward-based training and the others received aversive training. Researchers did these experiments to find both short-term and long-term effects of the two training methods.

Researchers recorded the training. They reported that dogs from the aversive training group have more stress-related behavior than those in the reward-based group. It clearly shows the short-term effects of aversive training methods.

In order to find the long-term effects, the dogs took part in an exercise for about a month after the training. The dogs were put in a room with food bowls. Researchers looked at how quickly and excitedly the dogs went to the bowls. The researchers reported that after getting aversive training, the dogs were more “pessimistic (悲观的)” in behavior than those getting reward-based training.

Giant pandas are Chinese ambassadors (使者) and are loved by people worldwide. China used to give away pandas as gifts to other countries as a symbol of friendship. But some pandas are coming home soon. 【小题1】 I watched the news about panda Xiangxiang. I am so happy Chinese people value these pandas abroad.

Last summer, I joined the SSP Panda Volunteer Camp and travelled to Chengdu, Sichuan. Our volunteer work began on August 7. Early in the morning, my teammates and I arrived at Wolong National Panda Nature Reserve. 【小题2】 The workers there told us many interesting facts about the animals. Pandas are lovely, but they are very lazy. 【小题3】 Yes, they only spend two hours doing exercise! 【小题4】 They eat bamboo as much as they can. No wonder they are very fat!

We helped the workers at the reserve feed the pandas and clean the yards. Our volunteer tour came to an end on August 11. Having spent five days at the reserve, I was very unwilling to leave. I learned a lot during the trip. 【小题5】 I hope all of us should shoulder the responsibility of protecting the environment and make an effort to prevent pandas from dying out.