Being a veterinarian(兽医), I had to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their boy Shane, loved Belker very much.

    I examined Belker and found him {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (die) of cancer. I told the family we couldn't do {#blank#}2{#/blank#} for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia(安乐死) procedure in their home.

    As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought  {#blank#}3{#/blank#} would be good for six-year-old Shane to watch. They felt Shane might learn something.

    The next day, Belker's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting(拍) the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood {#blank#}4{#/blank#} was happening. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (peaceful) away.

    The little boy seemed to accept it without any difficulty. We sat together after Belker's death, {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(wonder) why animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, having listened quietly, said, “I know {#blank#}7{#/blank#}.”

    {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (surprise), we all turned to him. What he said next amazed me. It has changed my life.

    He said, “People are born so that they can learn how to live {#blank#}9{#/blank#} good life—like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?”

    The six-year-old boy continued, “Well, dogs already know how to do that, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} they don't have to stay as long.”

    On May 9, James Givens was sitting in the car when he{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(hear) what sounded like a knock. He turned around only{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(find) a goose pecking (啄) at the car door. This was highly unusual given that the birds normally preferred to observe humans from a{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(distant).

But on this day, the goose appeared to be determined to get his attention and didn't stop pecking{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Givens opened the car door and stepped out .Though the bird then began to walk away,{#blank#}5{#/blank#}kept turning around to make sure he was following. When they finally stopped, Givens realized{#blank#}6{#/blank#}the mother goose did so— she needed help to free her baby goose that had got{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(trap) in some balloon string.

    Worried that the mother goose would attack him if he got close{#blank#}8{#/blank#}the baby, Givens called the local SPCA chapter. Unfortunately, they were{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(able) to help right away. Concerned that the baby goose would not survive the delay, Givens decided to take on the task himself.

    The mother goose watched{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(patient) as Givens saved the little bird. As soon as the little goose was free, it ran to its mom. Givens said this was the most unforgettable incident in his life!

Meet Alexa, Your Digital Roommate

    Who is Alexa? She is a digital assistant that is part of the voice-activated Echo Dot "smart speaker" produced by Amazon. This year Saint Louis University in Missouri has placed one of the speakers in every dorm room {#blank#}1{#/blank#} its campus. Students can ask the virtual assistant anything from "When are the football teams playing?" to "What's the square root of 1440?"

    SLU student Brendan McGuire said: "Instead of searching on the Internet while I {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (tap) away at my computer, I can just ask Alexa: Hey Alexa, ask SLU what's the molecular(分子的)weight of water? And I can have the answer without {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(interrupt) my process." That's exactly {#blank#}4{#/blank#} school officials had in mind when they decided to provide the smart speakers free of charge for students.

    "The students we attract {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (drive) to achieve success in and out of the classroom," David Hakanson, SLU's vice president, said. "Every minute we can save our students from having to search for the information online is another minute {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (commit) to their education."

    Saint Louis University is the first in the U.S. {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (include) an Echo Dot smart speaker in every campus living space. Other colleges have also found ways to offer the technology to students. This year Northeastern University in Boston installed 60 speakers in public places {#blank#}8{#/blank#} students could get answers to common questions.

    At Arizona State University, engineering students living in the brand-new residence hall have the option of adding an Amazon Echo Dot to their rooms. "Our focus is putting this technology into the hands of our students in a way{#blank#}9{#/blank#} will build an ecosystem. {#blank#}10{#/blank#} supports voice technologies throughout the ASU campus," said Heredia, a director at ASU.

    Jane Goodall was born in London, England {#blank#}1{#/blank#}April 3, 1934. When she was a young girl, Jane {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(spend) as much time, outside as she could. She loved the Tarzan stories. At {#blank#}3{#/blank#}age of eleven, Jane decided to go to Africa. As a young lady, her passion grow {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(strong), and when a close friend invited her to Kenya in 1957, Jane immediately accepted. After earning her PhD, she returned to Tanzania to continue observing chimpanzees(黑猩猩).There, through her hard work, chimpanzees {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (record) for the first time as eating meat.

Photographers Turn Their Cameras on Pets

In 2019 photographers Kendrick Brinson and David Walter Banks visited 14 countries on assignment. When the couple described the adventures {#blank#}1{#/blank#}they had experienced when photographing, people invariably asked, "But who takes care of your four cats and dogs?" They joked that the pet siter made a lot of money.

But 2020 couldn't have been {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(different). Due to COVID-19, Brinson and Banks never left the United States. Often, they didn't even leave their Los Angeles neighborhood. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} {#blank#}4{#/blank#}spending long hours in airport security lines and waiting-for the perfect lighting, the pair stayed along with dogs Tux and Tia and cats Rex and Kudzu. "Our pets became emotional therapy animals, and our only friends we could safely hug in a world {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(strike) by a deadly pandemic," Banks said.

As COVID-19 lockdowns swept across the world in March of 2020, the change made an especially great impact on photographers, who are accustomed to {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(spend) long periods abroad. And so many cameras {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(turn) on a domestic subject: the pet.

Research suggests that pets have offered emotional support during the pandemic, helping {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(make) the long days of isolation more bearable, says Emily MeCobb, a clinical associate professor at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. In fact, the pandemic has sped up a trend, according to McCobb's and other scientists' observation, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the pet is becoming a member of the family. "In the past 20 to 30 years, the role of the pet in the family {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(take) on a whole new role," says MeCobb." It really hasn't been that long {#blank#}11{#/blank#}these furry child substitutes gained this kind of importance in American society."