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).

    While watching the Olympics the other night, I came across an unbelievable sight. It was not a gold medal, or a world record broken, but a show of courage.

    The event was swimming and started with only three men on the blocks. For one reason or another, two of them false started, so they were disqualified. That left only one to complete. It would have been difficult enough, not having anyone to race against, even though the time on the clock is important.

    I watched the man dive off the block and knew right away that something was wrong. I'm not an expert swimmer, but I can tell a good dive from a poor one, and this was not exactly medal quality. When he resurfaced, it was evident that the man was not out for gold—his arms were waving in an attempt at freestyle. The crowd started to laugh. Clearly this man was not a medal competitor.

    I listened to the crowd begin to laugh at this poor man who was clearly having a hard time. Finally he made his turn to start back. It was pitiful. He made a few desperate strokes and you could tell he was worn out.

    But in those few awful strokes, the crowd had changed.

    No longer were they laughing, but beginning to cheer. Some even began to stand and shout “Come on, you can do it!” and he did.

    A clear minute past the average swimmer, this young man finally finished his race. The crowd went wild. You would have thought that he had won the gold, and should have. Even though he recorded one of the slowest times in Olympic history, this man gave more heart than any of the other competitors.

    Just a short year ago, he had never even swum, let alone race. His country had been invited to Sydney.

    In a competition where athletes remove their silver medals feeling they have somehow been cheated out of gold, or when they act so proudly in front of their competitors, it is nice to watch an underdog.

    “A room without books is like a body without a soul,” observed the Roman philosopher, Cicero. It can also be a sign of financial problems to come. New research has uncovered a strong connection between the earning of adults and whether they grew up surrounded by books as children.

    Three economists at the University of Padua—Giorgio Brunello, Guglielmo Weber and Christoph Weiss—studied 6000 men born in nine European countries and concluded that children with access to books could expect to earn more money than those who grew up with few or no books.

    They studied the period from 1920 to 1956, when school reforms saw the minimum school leaving age raised across Europe. They booked at whether, at the age of 10, a child lived in a house with fewer than 10 books, a shelf of books, a bookcase with up to 100 books, two bookcases, or more than two bookcases.

    Over the period studied, the research, published in The Economic Journal, found that an additional year of education increased a man's average lifetime earnings by 9%. Men brought up in houses with less than a shelf of books earned only 5% more as a result of the extra year's education, compared with 21% more for those who had access to a lot of books. And those who had access to books were more likely to move to the better-earning opportunities in cities than those without books. The men's first job was also much more likely to be a white-collar job.

    The economists offer a number of theories for the results. “Perhaps books matter because they encourage children to read more and reading can have positive effects on school performance,” they said.

    The number of books in children's homes can effectively predict their cognitive(认知的) test scores. This may indicate a home that encourages cognitive skills, which are important for economic success in life.

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内。

    This is a photo of a similar car I own. It's a photo of a Skoda Fabia, I drive one too. A young guy also got out of a similar car as I was getting close to mine. I laughed and was prepared to leave. The young guy continued to have a conversation with me.

    He asked me how I found the car. It turned out that it was his first day to drive the car and it was new and it was a gift from his parents and he'd just passed his driving test today! What a coincidence (巧合)!

    Well, this was a special moment for Nicholas. Who gets a new car the day they learn to drive and then drives into a garage and has a talk with a woman who's driving the same model of car? Yes, beautiful synchronicity (同步性) in full view.

    I wanted to make this moment special for Nicholas, and I wanted to gift him something. Thinking on my feet, I thought I'd buy him a lottery ticket (彩票) but it wasn't special enough.

    I got into my car and removed my Guardian Angel key ring which I had attached to my front mirror. It was there to keep me safe. My birthday is on Guardian Angel's Day too, so this is very special to me. I gave it to Nicholas and he was happy to receive it. Nicholas gave me a big hug.

    Nicholas was not an overconfident guy. He also told me his mum was only out of hospital and now he'd be able to help her get about.

I'll order myself another Guardian Angel key ring for my car for fear that my Guardian Angel will not be protecting me without the key ring. As for Nicholas, well, I wish he and his passengers a lifetime of safe driving.

The young boy saw me, or rather, he saw the car and quickly ran up to me, eager to sell his bunches of bananas and bags of peanuts. Though he appeared to be about twelve, he seemed to have already known the bitterness of life. "Bananas 300 naira. Peanuts 200 naira." He said in a low voice. I bargained him down to 200 for the fruit and nuts. When he agreed, I handed him a 500 naira bill. He didn't have change. So I told him not to worry. He said thanks and smiled a row of perfect teeth.

    When, two weeks later, I saw the boy again, I was more aware of my position in a society where it's not that uncommon to see a little boy who should be in school standing on the corner selling fruit in the burning sun. My parents had raised me to be aware of the advantage we had been afforded and the responsibility it brought to us.

I pulled over and rolled down my window. He had a bunch of bananas and a bag of peanuts ready. I waved them away. "What's up?" asked him. "I…I don't have money to buy books for school." I reached into my pocket and handed him two fresh 500 naira bills. "Will this help?" I asked. He looked around nervously before taking the money. One thousand naira was a lot of money to someone whose family probably made about 5,000 naira or less each year. "Thank you, sir." he said. "Thank you very much!"

    When driving home, I wondered if my little friend actually used the money for schoolbooks. What if he's a cheat? And then I wondered why I did it. Did I do it to make myself feel better? Was I using him? I didn't know his name or the least bit about him, nor did I think to ask.

    Over the next six months, I was busy working in a news agency in northern Nigeria. Sometime after I returned, I went out for a drive. When I was about to pull over, the boy suddenly appeared by my window with a big smile ready on his face.

"Oh, gosh! Long time."

"Are you in school now?" I asked.

    He nodded.

"That's good," I said. A silence fell as we looked at each other, and then I realized what he wanted. "Here," I held out a 500 naira bill. "Take this." He shook his head and stepped back as if hurt. "What's wrong?" I asked. "It's a gift."

He shook his head again and brought his hand from behind his back. His face shone with sweat. He dropped a bunch of bananas and a bag of peanuts in the front seat before he said, "I've been waiting to give these to you."

    The American Craftsman style is a type of design. It was popular from 1900 to the 1930s. It changed the style of building in the United States.

    The craftsman style originally began in Europe. The British Arts and Crafts style arose in the 1860s. The unique designs of this movement tried to offer dignity to the common person. Handmade items were preferred because they were thought better than items that were mass-produced. But this British style was still Victorian. It still only served the wealthiest clients.

    In 1897 a group of Boston architects brought these handcrafted styles to American. They planned a show of craft objects, which turned out to be a huge success. Here they realized the potential and established the Society of Arts and Crafts on June 28, 1897. Its slogan was "to develop and encourage higher standards in the handicrafts."

    The American style began as the Victorian Era was ending. It emphasized handmade work. Originality and simplicity were highly valued. Local materials and the quality of the handicraft were very important, these traits were meant to dignify the modest homes of the middle class.

    These simple designs used glass and wood that were produced locally. They were also very elegant. The metalwork was a reaction to Victorian Opulence. The increase of mass-produced housing items was rejected. The American Craftsman used clean lines. It also relied on sturdy structure. Natural materials were always used in these houses if possible.

    This style introduced many changes to the average American home. New designs were made for families without servants. This was a trait of the new middle class. The kitchen went from being a hidden room to a prominent one. Another development was the breakfast nook. This new area provided the family with a place to gather at any time of day.

    Also, inspirational to the Craftsman style were the Shaker and Mission designs. The American Craftsman style led to the Art Deco Movement of the 1930s.