Have you ever heard of a rattlesnake? It is a poisonous (有毒的) American snake.When it is angry or afraid, it makes a noise like a rattle with its tail. It's very scary. But Heather Ramirez and her husband, from California, in the UnitedStates, make a living in an unusual way. They are self-employed (自雇的) snake catchers!They catch snakes, especially rattlesnakes which have gone indoors, and returnthem to the wild.

    Heather describes her work as “protecting people from rattlesnakes — andprotecting rattlesnakes from people!” In the area where they live, rattlesnakesoften come face to face with people. They are found in stores, offices, housesand gardens. Heather explains that it's not the snakes that are moving into places where people live, but it's the other way round. The snakes lived in these places first and then the people built houses.

Most people who see a rattlesnake are feared. If you keep your distance,however, the snake won't bite (咬) you. In twelve years as a snake catcher, Heather has nevertouched a snake. She doesn't take the risk. She picks up the snakes with aspecial tool. This doesn't hurt them,but it keeps them at a safe distance so that they can't bite her.

    Heather and her husband are very busy because they are never off duty.Catching snakes is a full-time job and they don't often have a day off. Peoplecan get to them at any time of the day or night. Not everyone can do this job,but Heather doesn't want to do anything else. “I just love my job,” she says.

阅读下列材料，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

    People often ask why "Uncle Sam" is a nickname (绰号) for the United States of America. The reason is strange but simple.

    Once there was a man called Samuel Wilson. He was born in Arlington, Massachusetts, on 3 September 1766. His nickname was "Uncle Sam". When Sam Wilson was 14 years old, he joined the army and fought in some battles (战役). At the end of the war (战争) he went to live in the state of New York. He opened a meat-packing business (生意) there.

Sam Wilson worked hard and loved his country. People in the city liked him. One day in 1812, a reporter from a newspaper visited his business. The reporter looked at some boxes of meat. He saw the letters "EA-US" on the sides of the boxes.

    "What do those letters mean?" he asked one of the workers.

    "The ‘EA' stands for (代表) ‘Edward Anderson'," the workman replied. "The boxes of meat are for him."

    "What about the letters ‘US'?" the reporter asked.

    These letters really stood for "United States", but the workman wanted to have a laugh. "Oh," he said. "They stand for Sam Wilson. He has this company(公司). We call him ‘Uncle Sam'."

    The worker did not think that the reporter would believe him. But the reporter wrote a story about his visit to Sam Wilson's business. He wrote that his workers called him "Uncle Sam" and that "Uncle Sam" meant the United States.

Many people liked using the name "Uncle Sam" as a nickname for the United States and soon they were all using it. In 1961, almost 150 years later, the United States government(政府) made the nickname "Uncle Sam" official (官方的).

    January is a great month. I only need to go to school from the first to the fifteenth. Every year, our school has an art festival. This year it is from January 13^th to January 15^th. All the students and parents can come to the festival. My mother says she can go to the festival with me, but my father can't. He is busy. All people can sing, dance and play games at the festival. After the festival, the term is over. I don't need to go to school and can have a long holiday. My parents and I want to take a trip in Sanya, Hainan. And we want to spend (度过) our Spring Festival(春节)there. We will come back to Beijing on February 15^th. I'm sure we'll enjoy it!

    At just 17 years old, Pakistan's Malala is the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

    Malala came to international attention when she spoke up for the rights of all children to have an education. Malala's father was a teacher who ran a school. For her early life, her family lived in the school so she was used to sitting in the classrooms before her school age. Now, she can speak three languages and loves learning.

    She grew up in Pakistan. The living conditions in her area were very poor and unsafe. Many people were hurt and many schools were closed. Especially girls were not allowed to go to school.

    Reporters from Britain told the world what was happening with the help of Malala. In 2009, 12-years-old Malala wrote 35 diaries on the Internet. She wrote about the difficulties of her life, and about her strong hope for education. Soon after that, Malala's family was chosen to be in a TV program to show ordinary children's education because both father and daughter spoke good English, and they cared about children getting an education.

    From then on, a few people hated her and hurt her. Though terribly wounded, Malala became a courageous fighter for the education rights of millions of girls worldwide. "I don't want to be remembered as the girl who was hurt, I want to be remembered as the girl who stood up," she said.

    She has now written a book about her life called I am Malala. The book shows that one person's voice has the power to inspire change in the world. In her speech, she spoke warmly about her aims for education and peace. One sentences she said one day became famous: One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can greatly change the world.

    Cross- country skier Man Dandan won the women's 1.4 km individual sprint here on Monday, earning China's first gold at the eighth Asian Winter Games in 2017.

    "I was in good form today," said the 28 year-old girl after winning the title in the final round with 3 minutes and 48. 29 seconds. "I didn't think much, but just focused on the games. As an old member, I want to set a good example to my younger teammates by doing my best no matter what the result is."

    Mikko Olavi Virtanen, the head coach of the Chinese cross-country skiing team, said after the game he was satisfied with Man Dandan's performance. "She is a super talented sprint skier. Her biggest problem before was to maintain the speed for four rounds of the competition. We have been working on that for the past seven months. I have been giving her advice, such as how to save the energy till the final round," he said, adding that Man is a good learner.

    He also said that the Chinese cross-country skiing team had a huge potential. "We have quite a young team. We still have five more years to Beijing Winter Olympics. I hope we can continue this good work for a long term," he said.

    Yelena Kolomina from Kazakhstan took the sliver and Ju Hyeri from South Korea got the bronze. Australia's Casey Wright finished the third in the final round but did not get a medal as a guest athlete.