與動物為“伍”

江海連

主題語境：動物保護篇幅：326詞建議用時：6分鐘

1 Do you dream of a career working with animals？ Dr Elena Hoellein Less has made her dream a reality. Less is an associate animal curator （監(jiān)護人） at the Cleveland Me? troparks Zoo in Cleveland， Ohio.

2 Less studied biology in college. She earned her PhD at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio， where she did research on animal care and conservation. Less has worked at the Cleveland Zoo for 18 years. For the past 10 years， she has served as one of the zoo？？s four associate cu? rators. She heads a team of 14 zookeepers who care for animals in the Primate， Cat， and Ac? quatics area. Primates， including gorillas and monkeys， are her specialty.

3 Less makes sure that the animals get the best care. She and her team also develop training routines for new animals.“What？？s exciting is that I think we ？？re really starting to lead the country， maybe even globally， in gorilla research and animal training. Training ani? mals is not what a zoo visitor might think. We don ？？ t train them like in a circus to do a trick，”she explained.“They？？re trained to get vaccines， blood draws， blood pressure， things like that. We train them for the benefit of their own health，”Less said.

4 Less is also involved with special projects. These include a proposed Primate Forest and structural repairs at the zoo. The best part of her job is spending time with the animals. “That？？s the highlight of my week，”she said.

Zoos have changed a lot over the years. They now focus on animal health research and the protection of wildlife. Less hopes that such efforts will inspire zoo visitors to get in? volved in protecting endangered animals.“There are a lot of animals that are struggling to survive out in the wild. We ？？re developing empathy （同理心） and getting people to care about what？？s happening with our Earth and what？？s happening to the wild places that are be? coming smaller everywhere.”

ReadingCheck

1. Where did Less do research on animal care and conservation？

A. At Case Western Reserve University.

B. At the Cleveland Zoo.

C. In a forest.

D. In the wild.

2. What does the underlined word“them”in paragraph 3 refer to？

A. Training routines.

B. Zoo visitors.

C. Circuses.

D. Animals.

3. Whats Lesss attitude to her working with animals？

A. Unclear.

B. Happy.

C. Doubtful.

D. Dismissive.

4. What does paragraph 5 mainly talk about？

A. Lesss expectation of animal protection.

B. Special projects set up by Less.

C. Highlight of a week in zoos.

D. Development of Earth.

LanguageStudy

Ⅰ. 日積月累

reality n. 現(xiàn)實

conservation n. 保護

globally adv. 全球地

specialty n. 專業(yè)；特長

explain v. 解釋

pressure n. 壓力

trick n. 詭計；竅門；戲法

involve v. 包含；牽涉；使參與

endangered adj. 瀕危的

struggle v. 奮斗；艱難行進

survive v. 幸存

serve as 擔任

for the benefit of 為……的利益

be involved with 參與

get involved in 參與

inspire sb to do 鼓舞某人去做……

struggle to do 努力做……

Ⅱ. 單句填空

1. She left the meeting room without （explain）.

2. We want to involve as many people as possible the celebrations.

3. The sea turtle is an （endanger） species.

4. The sofa will serve a bed for a night or two.

5. By visiting schools， the actors hope to inspire children （put） on their own productions.