Earlier this month the head of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a non-profit organisation, wrote to Goldman Sachs. Animal shelters, the letter said, are struggling to cope with a surge in the number of pets that have been abandoned because their owners have fallen on hard times. Maybe Goldman executives should give their big bonuses to the dogs Sadly, it looks unlikely.
As the number of job losses and foreclosures has mounted over the past two years, some people have chosen to surrender their animals, unable to afford pet food let alone veterinary care. Many have brought their dogs and cats to shelters. Some have been less kind, chaining them to fences or locking them inside their foreclosed homes. One kitten was even left in a mailbox in Boston.
Looking after these pets is becoming more challenging because many shelters rely on government money and have seen their funding cut. Animal Care and Control of New York City, for example, saw its grant fall by over $750,000 this fiscal year, around 7% of its operating budget. Fewer people are coming forward to make donations. Some non-profits are trying to step in and encourage people not to abandon their furry friends at shelters in the first place. Pet-food banks, which give pet food to people in need, have sprung up across the country.
The Humane Society of the United States estimates that around 6m～8m cats and dogs end up in shelters each year. Only half are adopted. The rest are put down. There is some concern that even more are being put to sleep now, because shelters do not have the space or money to keep alive animals that have not been adopted. Fewer people are coming forward to adopt as well, presumably because they cannot afford to. One non-profit organisation, Pilots’N Paws, connects pilots to shelters with dogs that have not found homes. The pilots volunteer to fly them to other states, giving them a second chance at adoption.
The Internet is playing its part. One organisation, ForeclosurePets. org, runs an online billboard that allows people facing foreclosure to find a home for their pets.Adopt-a-pet.com uses its website to help shelters advertise and send e-mail alerts when certain types of animals come in. By the end of 2009,8,500 animal shelters were using the site to post adoption listings for 140,000 pets, up from 6,800 shelters and 98,000 listings at the beginning of the year. Now all that is needed is 140,000 good homes.
Looking after the pets is becoming more challenging for the following reasons except that ____.

A:the government cuts the funding B:fewer people are willing to donate C:a surge in the number of pets that have been abandoned D:some non-profits are trying to step in

Underground Coal Fires -- a Looming Catastrophe
Coal burning deep underground in China, India and Indonesia is threatening the environment and human life, scientists have warned. These large-scale underground blazes cause the ground temperature to heat up and kill surrounding vegetation, produce greenhouse gases and can even ignite forest fires, a panel of scientists told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver. The resulting release of poisonous elements like arsenic and mercury can also pollute local water sources and soils, they warned.
"Coal fires are a global catastrophe," said Associate Professor Glenn Stracher of East Georgia College in Swainsboro, USA. But surprisingly few people know about them.
Coal can heat up on its own, and eventually catch fire and burn, if there is a continuous oxygen supply. The heat produced is not caused to disappear and under the right combinations of sunlight and oxygen, can trigger spontaneous catching fire and burning. This can occur underground, in coal stockpiles, abandoned mines or even as coal is transported. Such fires in China consume up to 200 million tones of coal per year, delegates were told. In comparison, the U.S. economy consumes about one billion tones of coal annually, said Stracher, whose analysis of the likely impact of coal fires has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Coal Ecology. Once underway, coal fires can bum for decades, even centuries. In the process, they release large volumes of greenhouse gases, poisonous fumes and black particles into the atmosphere.
The members of the panel discussed the impact these fires may be having on global and regional climate change, and agreed that the underground nature of the fires makes them difficult to detect. One of the members of the panel, Assistant Professor Paul Van Dijk of the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation in the Netherlands, has been working with the Chinese government to detect and monitor fires in the northern regions of the country.
Ultimately, the remote sensing and other techniques should allow scientists to estimate how much carbon dioxide these fires are emitting. One suggested method of containing the fires was presented by Gary Colaizzi, of the engineering firm Goodson, which has developed a heat-resistant grout (a thin mortar used to fill cracks and crevices), which is designed to be pumped into the coal fire to cut off the oxygen supply.
According to the third paragraph, what will happen when the underground heat does not disappear

A:Coal heats up on its own and catches fire and burns. B:The underground oxygen will be used up. C:Poisonous fumes and greenhouse gases will be accumulated underground. D:There will be an increase of abandoned mines.

The doctors have (abandoned) the hope to rescue the old man.

A:left B:given up C:turned down D:refused

{{B}}第二篇{{/B}}

A:Coal heats up on its own and catches fire and bums. B:The underground oxygen will be used up. C:Poisonous fumes and greenhouse gases will be accumulated underground. D:There will be an increases of abandoned mines.

The doctors have {{U}}abandoned{{/U}} the hope to rescue the old man.

A:left B:given up C:turned down D:refused

The doctors have abandoned the hope to rescue the old man.

A:left B:given up C:turned down D:refused

The doctors have {{U}}abandoned{{/U}} the hope to rescue the old man.

A:left B:given up C:turned clown D:refused

The doctors have (abandoned) the hope to rescue the old man.

A:left B:given up C:turned down D:refused