Many years ago in a zoo，I was shocked by finding that chimpanzees could behave in a more civil manner than youths. Great apes（类人猿）are always one of the favourite attractions in any zoo. The main reason for this is that they are so similar to us.

This similarity has persuaded a group called the Great Ape Project（GAP）to campaign for these animals to be afforded“human rights”.

This has resulted in laws in New Zealand，which could mean that great apes would become the first animals in the world with basic rights protected by the law.

Not everybody is happy with this idea，however. Scientists using animals for scientific research fear that this is just the first stage in a process that will lead to a ban on using all animals for research.

The GAP declaration claims great apes should have“human rights”due to scientific evidence about their abilities. But if we compare the abilities of humans and great apes，then why not the abilities of great apes and monkeys，monkeys and lemurs，and so on until insects are granted“human rights”？This is not foolish. There are people without basic human rights. How long ago，for example，did women not have the right to vote？

Yet another argument by those who don't support GAP is that the human-like qualities of great apes have been exaggerated（夸大）for certain reasons，and that this has led people to exaggerate the similarities but ignore the differences between humans and great apes.

In a fascinating book entitled What It Means to be 98% Chimpanzee，Jonathan M. Marks points out that，although a human and a daffodil（水仙花）share the common ancestry and their DNA matches more than 25% of the time，it is plainly ridiculous to claim that we are one-quarter daffodils.

He goes on to demonstrate that，if looked at from one angle，it is true that we are apes phylogenetically. But also fish from another angle！“It doesn't sound quite so profound now，does it？”

   According to a study published last week in the journal Science，scientists have found a way to change a plant's genes（基因）in order to make it use sunlight more quickly. Someday，the results could increase the amount of food produced around the world.

By changing a plant's genes，the scientists were able to increase leaf growth on plants by 14-20 percent. Specifically，scientists changed the plant's protective（保护的）system. “Normally，this system is activated when a plant gets too much sunlight，”said scientist Krishna Niyogi，co-author of the study. “When the plant senses the light，it gets rid of extra energy and creates more leaves. When the plant is in the shade，the protective system is turned off. But the process is slow.”

Stephen Long is the lead author of the study. He compared a plant's protective system to light-adjusting glasses.“When a person wears the glasses outside during the day，the lenses（镜片）darken and lighten depending on how sunny it is. Plants do the same thing，”he said.“But in plants the adjustment can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. This makes it hard for plants to get the right amount of sunlight needed to create food.”

The new study sped up the process. By changing the plant's genes，it's more quickly than normal to turn on and turn off the protective system. As a result，leaf growth on the plants scientists used in the study increased. Leaf growth on two plants increased by 20 percent, while leaf growth on a third plant increased by 14percent. Scientists conducted the study on tobacco plants. But they thought the genetic modification would produce the same results in corn or rice.

   The sea is home to billions of plants and animals. Many live only near the sunlit surface. Oceanographers sort marine (海洋的) living beings by dividing them into two main groups: plants and animals.

There are two general types of plants found in the ocean, those having roots that grow in the ocean bottom and those not having roots which simply float around with water. The rooted plants in the ocean are only found in shallow waters because there is not enough sunlight to maintain photosynthesis (光合作用) in deeper waters. Since sunlight does not pass more than a few hundred feet into the ocean, most of the ocean is unable to support rooted plants.

The most plants in the ocean are known as phytoplankton (浮游植物群落) . These are usually single-celled, small floating plants that float throughout the surface waters of the ocean. To grow, phytoplankton need nutrients from the sea water and lots of sunlight.

Marine animals are divided into three groups: zooplankton, nekton, and benthos. Zooplankton are floating animals and are usually small; however, they can grow to fairly large size. The jellyfish and the Portuguese man-of-war are examples of larger types of zooplankton which are unable to move themselves effectively.

Nekton are the free swimmers and probably the largest part of familiar animals found in the ocean belong to this class. Common fishes, octopuses, whales, eels and squid are all examples of nekton.

The third type of sea animals spends their entire life on the bottom of the ocean. This group of marine animals is called benthos. Some of these creatures, such as lobsters and snails, may be able to move about on the bottom but their lifestyle is so closely linked with the ocean floor that they are unable to survive away from this environment.

Last year I 【小题1】 (work) in Nepal for three months. When I had a few days off，I decided 【小题2】 (go) into the jungle (丛林) . I asked a Nepalese guide，Kamal Rai to go with me.

We started our trip at six in the morning with two elephants 【小题3】 (carry) our things. It was hot, but Kamal made me wear shoes and trousers to protect me 【小题4】 snakes. In the jungle there was a lot of wildlife, but we were trying to find tigers. We climbed onto the elephants' backs to see better. However, 【小题5】 is unusual to find tigers in the afternoon because they sleep in the daytime.

Then, in the 【小题6】 (distant), we saw a tiger, and Kamal told me to be very quiet. We moved nearer and found a dead deer, 【小题7】 was the tiger's lunch! Suddenly, I started to feel very 【小题8】 (frighten), then a huge tiger jumped out suddenly. It caught Kamal's leg between its teeth, but I managed to pull Kamal away. One of our 【小题9】 (elephant) ran at the tiger and made it go back into the grass, so we 【小题10】 (quick) ran away.  That night it was impossible to sleep!