Animals are natural resources that people have wasted all through our history.

Animals have been killed for their fur and feathers, for food, for sport, and simply because they were in the way. Thousands of kinds of animals have disappeared from the world forever. Hundreds more are on the danger list today. About 170 kinds in the United States alone are considered in danger.

Why should people care? Because we need animals. And because once they are gone, there will never be any more.

Animals are more than just beautiful and interesting. They are more than just a source of food. Every animal has its place in the balance of nature (生态平衡). Destroying one kind of animal can create many problems.

For example, when farmers killed large numbers of hawks (老鹰), the farmers’ stores of corn and grain were destroyed by rats and mice. Why? Because hawks eat rats and mice. With no hawks to keep down their numbers, the rats and mice multiplied(繁殖)quickly.

Luckily, some people are working to help save the animals. Some groups raise money to let people know about the problem. And they try to get the governments to pass laws protecting animals in danger.

Quite a few countries have passed laws. These laws forbid (禁止) the killing of any animals or plants on the danger list. Slowly, the number of some animals in danger is growing.

1. Animals are important to us mainly because____ .

2.What has happened to the animals on the earth?

3. Which of the following is NOT true?

4. What can we infer from the fact that quite a few countries have passed laws protecting animals in danger?

Many of you may wonder what else to do besides watching TV or surfing the Internet on weekends．Why not have a picnic? Junior 2 students at Beijing No．4 Middle Schoo1 had a “King of cooking” competition·

    Earlier this month，about 300 students at the schoo1 went to a suburb(郊区)of Beijing to have the contest．They were divided into 24  groups．Each group had buyers，slicers  (掌刀)，firemakers．washers and cooks．

    Firemakers faced the most problems during the time．Some of them had no idea how to keep fire burning．  “The fire kept going out．we had to blow at the sparks(火星)and put on corn leaves and old newspapers，”said Wu Mofei，13．

    “It took us an hour to make the fire．Our eyes had tears from all the smoke and our faces became dirty，”he added．   

When the fires were finally made，the cooks became the busiest people．Huang Lanye made fried celery(芹菜)and ham pickled cabbage(泡菜)and tomato soup．

    She was proud of her work．“It’s my first time making Chinese dishes．My group members ate them up in minutes and said they were as delicious as what their parents made!” said the 14-year-old girl．

    Finally over ten students were titled “King of Cooking”．Wang Xiaoyue，14，was one of them．“My group got a mark of 98 at the competition，’’Wang said．“We have 1earned a lot while

having so much fun! We are the best!”

    Beijing No．4 Middle School has been organizing similar(类似的)fun activities for six years．“we want to give students a chance to get real life experiences and 1earn how to work as a team，’’said Jia Dong，who works for the school’s student affairs office．

1.The text mainly tells us——．

A．a “King of Cooking”  competition organized by Senior 2 students at Beijing No．4 Middle School

B．a picnic organized by Junior 2 students at Beijing N0．4  Middle School

C．a “King of Cooking”  competition organized by Junior 2 students at Beijing No．4 Middle School

D．after-school activities of students at Beijing No.4 Middlle School

2.Which of the following was not the problem some firemakers met?

  A．They didn’t know how to keep fire burning．

  B．They spent a long time in making a fire．

  C．The fire kept going out．

  D．They didn’t have enough corn leaves and old newspapers．

3.We can infer that Huang Lanye was a ___in their group

A．buyer  B．firemaker  C．washer  D．cook

4.According to the passage，we can know____．

A．only ten students were titled “King of Cooking” in this competition

B．the “King of Cooking” competition has been held once every year in the past six years

C．Wang Xiaoyue  was  titled  a “King  of  Cooking”  in  this  competition

D．Beijing No．4 Middle School has been encouraging students to take part in all kinds of competitions