On a cool morning, Wilson Kasaine heads out along a dirt path in southern Kenya. His calmness makes it easy to forget that he’s tracking one of the most dangerous animals in the world. Kasaine is tracking lions—especially one lion called Marti, who is the real-life Lion King of Selenkay Conservancy.

Tracking lions on foot may sound like a death wish, but Kasaine has been doing it for most of his life. Born into a traditional Maasai family he quickly grew to understand the beauty and danger of wildlife. Living with big wild animals forces him to develop a good sense of where they have been and where they may be going. During his 12-kilometer walks to and from school, he learned how to tell the paw prints (爪印) of a lion from those of other animals.

Growing up, Kasaine knew that improving his tracking abilities would help him avoid surprise meetings with dangerous animals. For many Maasai, tracking is mainly a matter of self-protection. But Kasaine is tracking lions to meet them and to protect them. He leads a small group of wide-eyed tourists over the red sandy path, searching for the lion that has left upon it his prints.

Each year, thousands of tourists crowd Kenya’s national parks to try to have a look at the＂big five＂; elephants, rhinoceros, leopards, buffaloes and lions. The international draw of these animals matters a lot because the nation’s economy is tied to the protection of its wildlife. If Kenya’s wildlife disappears, so does its second-largest source of income.

Wildlife protection efforts in Kenya meant marking off land exclusively(专门地)for animals. But it also meant that the people who had originally lived in the area were forced to leave their land and into smaller surrounding areas. They are also finding it increasingly hard to keep a traditional Maasai lifestyle. But people are glad that it really makes a difference to wildlife protection.

【小题1】How did Kasaine track lions?

A．By working together with tourists.

B．By running after them all the time.

C．By going to school every day.

D．By studying their paw prints.

【小题2】What can we learn from Paragraph 4?

A．Maasai people are born animal lovers.

B．Tourism is a big threat to Kenya’s wildlife.

C．Kenya benefits a lot from its wildlife protection.

D．Small animals are not included in their protection policy.

【小题3】What does the underlined word ＂it＂in the last paragraph refer to?

A．Kenya’s economic development.

B．People’s leaving their original homes.

C．Kenya’s second-largest income source.

D．Kenyan people’s traditional Maasai lifestyle.

【小题4】What is the best title for the text?

A．Wildlife protection in Kenya

B．Meeting a dangerous animal

C．Wilson Kasaine’s wise choice

D．Learning to live with lions

语法填空

83-year-old Antonio Vicente has spent the last four decades of his life bringing the jungles of his childhood back to life. Today, his efforts are being rewarded, as the 【小题1】(complete) deserted land has become a beautiful jungle with wildlife again.

It was 1973 when Antonio began his work 【小题2】 a weekend hobby. However, it soon became a permanent way of life. Antonio spends whole days and nights in his jungle, 【小题3】(surround) with rats and foxes and eating banana sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Over the last 20 years, he 【小题4】(plant) about 50,000 trees on his land. As the forest grew, the water returned. Then the animals started making a home there. Today, the forest is alive with the sounds of birds and 【小题5】(insect) living there, and more species are settling in every year. “If you ask me 【小题6】 my family are, I would say all this right here, each one of these that I planted from a seed ,”he said.

Impressive as his lifelong 【小题7】(contribute) to reforestation(重新造林) is, his story is a very rare one. Data shows that nearly 19,770 acres of Brazilian rainforest 【小题8】(destroy) between August 2015 and July 2016. That makes Antonio’s work seem like 【小题9】 drop in the bucket(桶), but just imagine if we had more people like him, who cares 【小题10】(many) about water and clean air than money.

   During most time of the 1930s, the Great Plains region was destroyed by drought and high winds. Howling across the Great Plains, these winds swept up the soil of the over-farmed land and created serious sandstorms of dust. These black sandstorms were so thick that daylight seemed more like dusk. Year after year having passed without rain, the winds continued to blow, and the dust swirled endlessly. During this terrible period, the region came to be called the Dust Bowl.

But the causes of the sandstorms weren’t just drought and winds. In a strange way, patriotism（爱国主义）was partly to blame. During World War Ⅰ, the U. S. government encouraged farmers to support the war by planting more wheat. As farmers increased their production, their own profits increased. Following the invention of the farm tractor, farmers plowed up thousands of acres of grassland and planted wheat. Wheat production rose fast, but nature soon turned success into disaster.

When the drought began, farmers didn’t realize that, by plowing up the grassland, they had destroyed the land’s natural protection against soil erosion（侵蚀）. As the drought continued, one powerful windstorm after another blew across the Great Plains. Crops dried up and were blown away.

Nothing grew for years. Eventually most of the rich topsoil（表土层）was blown away. As years passed, all the moisture（水汽）in the ground disappeared, leaving even the deep roots of trees in dust.

The Great Plains became a deserted place, as thousands of people fled to California to escape the dust and look for work. Most found only low-paying agricultural jobs. But there were those who refused to leave. For these farmers, a program encouraged them to make use of new ways that would protect the precious topsoil from eroding. But bringing the soil back to life took time, and the farmers still needed rain. Rain meant more to the farmers than it ever had before. It meant a future.

【小题1】Which of the following is the main cause of turning the Great Plains into the Dust Bowl?

A．The land was over-farmed.

B．The high winds blew away good soil.

C．There was lasting drought for years.

D．There were many thick black sandstorms.

【小题2】What does the underlined phrase in the second paragraph mean?

A．Show up the grassland for farming.

B．Open up the grassland for farming.

C．Give up the grassland for farming.

D．Give out the grassland to the farmers.

【小题3】The third paragraph is mainly developed by __________________.

A．the time order	B．giving examples
C．exploring causes and effects	D．explaining the process

【小题4】What is mainly discussed in the last two paragraphs?

A．Measures to be taken.	B．Future of the destroyed region.
C．Results of the disaster.	D．People’s reaction to the disaster.

阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
I'm not sure 【小题1】 is more frightened, me or the female gorilla(大猩猩）that suddenly appears out of nowhere. I'm walking on a path in the forest in the Central African Republic. Unexpectedly, I'm face-to-face with the gorilla, who begins screaming at 【小题2】 top of her lungs. That makes her baby scream, and then a 400-pound male appears. He screams the
【小题3】(loud)of all. The noise shakes the trees as the male beats his chest and charges toward me. I quickly lower myself, ducking my head to avoid 【小题4】(look) directly into his eyes so he doesn't feel【小题5】(challenge).
My name is Mireya Mayor. I'm a 【小题6】(science)who studies animals such as apes and monkeys. I was searching 【小题7】 these three western lowland gorillas I'd been observing. No one had seen them for hours, and my colleagues and I were worried.
When the gorillas and I frightened each other, I was just glad to find 【小题8】(they) alive. True to a gorilla's unaggressive nature, the huge animal 【小题9】(mean)me no real harm. He was just saying: "I'm king of this forest, and here is your reminder!" Once his message was delivered, he allowed me 【小题10】 (stay)and watch.