阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

    With his unique black mane (鬃毛)and impressive stature(身材), 13-year-old Cecil was a popular tourist attraction at the 3.6 million-square-acre Hwange National Park(万基国家公园) in Zimbabwe (津巴布韦).

    Cecil was head of a pride of lions that includes 12 cubs(幼崽), but the well-known lion was shot and killed in early July by American dentist Walter J. Palmer.  

Cecil's death has already sparked an international outcry (强烈抗议) with many calling for an end to hunting endangered animals and for Palmer to be extradited(引渡) to Zimbabwe to stand trial.

Professor David Macdonald, the head of the Oxford University research program that monitored the daily movements of Cecil and dozens of other lions, is deeply saddened by Cecil's death. Macdonald hopes the death can inspire the public to take an interest in lion conservation.

    Macdonald says many of the lions tracked by the program have been shot  and killed. “The background to this story is that there is a crisis for lions throughout much of Africa.” He says.

    African lion populations have fallen almost 60 percent over the past thirty decades, and as few as 32,000 of them remain in the wild, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare(国际爱护动物基金会).

“And as troubling as it is, the rarer these hunted animals become, the more hunter s are willing to pay to kill them,” said Jeff Flockedn, the fund's North American regional director.

    In addition to excessive hunting, lions throughout Africa also continue to face threats that include conflicts with local farmers, loss of habitat and risk of traffic and railway collisions(碰撞).

What brings a nation together? Of the four choices — shared values, language, history, and religion, it's shared values. In our latest poll (民意调査), seven out of 16 countries chose values as the greatest factor (因素）bringing a nation together, and six preferred language. Both choices scored high in the poll, suggesting that our values and how we express them are closely linked Still, history was not forgotten in some countries, particularly in Mexico and Russia. Even Canada and the United States chose national histories as the second-most important factor uniting their people. The biggest surprise? Not one country picked religion as its top choice.

    People often ask which is the most difficult language to learn, and it is not easy to answer because there are too many factors to take into consideration. Firstly, in a first language the differences are unimportant as people learn their mother tongue naturally, so the question of how hard a language is to learn only makes more sense when learning a second language.

    A native speaker of Spanish, for example, will find Portuguese much easier to learn than a native speaker of Chinese, for example, because Portuguese is very similar to Spanish, while Chinese is very different, so first language can affect learning a second language. The greater the differences between the second language and our first, the harder it will be for most people to learn. Many people answer that Chinese is the hardest language to learn, possibly influenced by the thought of learning the Chinese writing system, and the pronunciation of Chinese does appear to be very difficult for many foreign learners. However, for Japanese speakers, who already use Chinese characters in their own language, learning writing will be less difficult than for speakers of languages using the Roman alphabet.

    Some people seem to learn languages easily, while others find it very difficult. Teachers and the circumstances in which the language is learned also play an important role, as well as each learner's motivation for learning. If people learn a language because they need to use it professionally, they often learn it faster than people studying a language that has no direct use in their day to day life.

    Obviously , British diplomats and other embassy staff have found that the second hardest language is Japanese, which will probably come as no surprise to many, but the language that they have found to be the most problematic is Hungarian, which uses a similar alphabet to English but has 35 cases (forms of a nouns according to whether it is subject, object, genitive, etc). This does not mean that Hungarian is the hardest language to learn for everyone, but it causes British diplomatic personnel, who are generally used to learning languages, the most difficulty. However, Tabassaran, a Caucasian language has 48 cases, so it might cause more difficulty if British diplomats had to learn it.

    Different cultures and individuals from those cultures will find different languages more difficult. Therefore, it is impossible to say that there is one language that is the most difficult language in the world.

    CHICAGO -- New research on vegetables and aging gives mothers another reason to say "I told you so." It is found that eating vegetables appears to help keep the brain young and may slow the mental decline（下降） sometimes associated with growing old.

    On measures of mental sharpness, older people who ate more than two servings of vegetables daily appeared about five years younger at the end of the six-year study than those who ate few or no vegetables.

    The research in almost 2,000 Chicago-area men and women doesn't prove that vegetables reduce mental decline, but it adds to mounting evidence pointing in that direction. The findings also echo（回应） previous research in women only.

    Green leafy vegetables including spinach（菠菜）, kale and collards （甘蓝） appeared to be the most beneficial. The researchers said that may be because they contain healthy amounts of vitamin E, an antioxidant（抗氧化剂） that is believed to help fight chemicals produced by the body that can damage cells.

    Vegetables generally contain more vitamin E than fruits, which were not linked with slowed mental decline in the study. Vegetables also are often eaten with healthy fats such as salad oils, which help the body absorb vitamin E and other antioxidants, said lead author Martha Clare Morris, a researcher at the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center.

    The fats from healthy oils can help keep cholesterol（胆固醇）low and arteries （动脉）clear, which both contribute to brain health. The study was published in this week's issue of the journal Neurology and funded with grants from the National Institute on Aging.

    We're Hiring Shift Workers for Our Production Plant

    Looking for a career with a company that values its employees, and promotes them from within? Then Black Cat Blades is the company for you!

    Cutting Operators

    CNC Operators

    Heat Treat Operators

    Full training provided, starting at $14.50 per hour, with the potential to move to $18.16 in one year.

    We also require a Skilled Welder(焊接工), to work 12-hour rotating shifts (轮班) in our cutting department. The successful candidate must be a registered journeyman(熟练工) within the Province of Alberta or with a Red Seal.

    We offer a great benefit package, including health and RRSPs(注册退休储蓄计划). Desirable welfare: Profit Sharing, Pay for Years of Service, Fitness Program Allowance, and fun social events for you and your family.

    Apply in person, and we'll take you on a tour of our production equipment or forward your personal information by fax or e-mail.

Black Cat Blades Ltd

    HR@ blackcatblades.com

    5604-59 St. , Edmonton, AB T6B 3C3

    Fax:

    A DREAM, for me, is like a torch to light up my insipid (平淡的)life and a pair of wings to fly me into the sky. The uncertainty of my future and the heavy burden of schoolwork had driven me into a negative situation and not until I had a dream did I get out there. I decided to become a hostess.

    It was last summer. I went to Jinan, which is famous for its natural springs, and started to learn broadcast hosting. However, I found that it was not easy.

    The weather was bad. It was too hot to stay calm, which made me homesick. I called-my parents at least five times a day. But as I tried my best to adapt to the weather and living conditions there, I became more independent.

    Another thing bothered me, too. My teacher criticized all my mistakes. Grievance (委屈)and exhaustion often reduced me to tears and sweat flowed down my checks. To get her recognition, I practiced my voice skills in a park every day, even on rainy days. You can't imagine how happy I was when she praised me for the first time.

    My dream enabled me to change a lot. Without my dream, I wouldn't have had the courage and the confidence to host the New Year party at our school. On stage, I knew that it was a good beginning to my hosting dream.

    I took the arts examination in the winter. To my delight, I did well. And I was more than excited when I received the offers from Shandong Normal University, Yunnan Normal University and Yunnan Art Institute.

    My dream has powered so much energy in me that my life has become colorful every day. So, however hard it will be to stick to my dream, no way will I give it up!