Lee Humberg, district manager for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, is the man in charge of figuring out how to remove the flocks of 15,000 to 20,000 Canada geese that could strike planes flying in and out of the New York area. The Port Authority, the agency that manages airport in New York and New Jersey, estimates that there have been as many as 315 bird strikes annually in the past 30 years. Bird strikes have been a hot topic since a US Airways jet suffered a "double strike" and made an emergency landing on the Hudson River in January 2009. All 155 passengers were rescued safely and the flight was called "Miracle on the Hudson". The plane finally ended up at the Carolinas Aviation Museum. The next major bird strike may not have such a happy ending. To thin the flocks, Humberg and his team have tracked down goose nests and killed eggs with corn oil. They've also terrified the birds with dogs, remote-controlled boats and kites that look like eagles. But the only method that effectively decreases the goose population is the one that angers animal lovers the most: gassing hundreds at a time. "If all you are doing is goose harassment every day, it's very frustrating, because you are just playing Ping-Pong with the birds," Humberg told New York magazine. "It's basically an arms race to come up with the tools to deal with them." Now New York City plans to send the geese captured to Pennsylvania to be cooked and distributed at food banks as meals for the poor. That might just be a fate better than flying into a 747 engine. By saying "you are just playing Ping-Pong with the birds", Humberg means _ . A) It's interesting to fight with the birds B) It's a skill-needed race against the birds C) you can't defeat the bird in the end D) you should live with birds peacefully
B
"Josie Metz's father won't live long enough to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day.But thanks to photographer Lindsey Villatoro,the 11-year-old girl was able to experience what it might be like anyway. Her father, Jim,62,had already been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer when he and his wife.Grace,hired Villatoro--a photographer.Two years ago,Villatoro began offering photography sessions for people with serious illnesses to document their journeys and was hired by the Metz family."I try to really showcase the person for who they are and not the illness,"she told The Huffington Post during a phone conversation Tuesday afternoon. Villatoro went to Jim and Grace's home for a shoot and offered to do one with their young daughter,Josie.After she left,she posted about the family on her website to get gift donations for the girl to help make her last birthday with her father memorable.But she decided to take a step further as a surprise and dreamed up the idea of a wedding for the girl--complete with,flowers,desserts,a promise ring and a dress from L.A.Fashion Week--so that her father could walk her down the aisle." For today,appreciate those you love.Give them lots of hugs and be grateful they are in your life.You never know what can happen.Say more"I Love Yous"and show more appreciation for all of your friends and family.Appreciate the blessings you have.I'm going to hug my husband Rich more today,call my Dad,call my friend in NC,and give lots of kitty hugs to my pets.Hugs to all of you--I appreciate you all so much and am grateful to have you in my life every single Day! Villatoro was hired by Josie's parents to _ . A) take care of them B) treat Jim's cancer C) take photographs D) fix Josie's wedding
C
(Question)
In the kitchen of my mother's houses there has always been a wooden stand with a small notepad and a hole for a pencil. I'm looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am recommending to my mother. Over forty years since my earliest memories of the kitchen pad and pencil, five houses later, the current paper and pencil look the same as they always did. Surely it can't be the same pencil? The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely the original one. "I'm just amazed you still have the same stand for holding the pad and pencil after all these years." I say to her, walking back into the living-room with a sheet of paper and the pencil. "You still use a pencil. Can't you afford a pen?" My mother replies a little sharply. "It works perfectly well. I've always kept the stand in the kitchen. I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in those days." Immediately I can picture her, hair wild, blue housecoat covered in flour, a wooden spoon in one hand, the pencil in the other, her mouth moving silently. My mother smiles and says, "One day I was cooking and watching baby Pauline, and I had a brilliant thought, but the stand was empty. One of the children must have taken the paper. So I just picked up the breadboard and wrote it all down on the back. It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on." This story--which happened before I was born--reminds me how extraordinary my mother was, and is, as a gifted mathematician. I feel embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work. Later, when my mother is in the bathroom, I go into her kitchen and turn over the breadboards. Sure enough, on the back of the smallest one, are some penciled marks I recognize as mathematics. Those symbols have travelled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible exhibits at every meal. Why has the author's mother always kept the notepad and pencil in the kitchen? A) To leave messages. B) To list her everyday tasks. C) To note down maths problems. D) To write down a flash of inspiration.
(Answer)
D