It was a
Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night．The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies,
warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently．
My father realised it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me
to go with him．I was only
14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same．I’m so glad I did．
On the
road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the
harbour itself was in fairly good shape．After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that had only one
tiny channel to the sea．As we got
on board, we noticed two big humps(脊背) in the distance．
On
approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby．We couldn’t believe it —there aren’t any
whales along the coast here．The storm
must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water
was so badly polluted that nothing could survive．
The little
baby whale — actually as big as our boat — was obviously stuck and could not
move．The mother dived
under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools(漩涡) and waves．” She’s trying to help her baby, but on
the wrong side,” my father said．At this
point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading
the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently．With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and
disappeared under water．Then it
swam up right beside its mum．They
struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started
heading in the wrong direction．We hurried
up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel．Slowly, they let us lead them, sometimes
rising from the water right beside us to breathe — and to give us a trusting
look with those huge eyes．Once they
hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave
us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance．
In the
excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those
wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half．That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day, Nearly four
decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea．
1.The
author says “I’m so glad I did．” (in Para．2) because __________．
A．he witnessed the whole process of
fishing
B．he enjoyed the beauty of the calm sea
C．he experienced the rescue of the whales
D．he spent the weekend with his family
2.The
harbour survived the storm owing to__________．
A．the shape of the harbour B．the arms of the bay
C．the still water in the channel D．the long coast line
3.The
mother whale failed to help her baby because__________．
A．she had stayed in the polluted water for
too long
B．the whirlpools she had made were not big
enough
C．she had no other whales around to tutu
to for help
D．the waves pushed her baby in the wrong
direction
4.What is
the theme of the story?
A．Saving lives brings people a sense of
happiness．
B．Fishing provides excitement for children．
C．It’s necessary to live in harmony with
animals．
D．It’s vital to protect the environment．
ne（数量下降）．It is a little known virus called Israeli acute--paralysis virus （IAPV）．The virus kills bees．Researchers in Israel first described it in 2004 , but until now, bee experts hadn’t paid much attention to it．
can single--handedly cause the bee decline．They believe that even if the virus is making colonies sick , it could have a partner in crime．It’s possible, for instance, that insects or chemicals in the environment weaken bees, making them more likely to catch IAPV．
ted States．The United States currently allows bee products to be imported from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand．If it turns out that this trade is spreading disease, the rules might eventually change．