That day It's 4 am,and Danilo C.Dequina is already awake. Holding a flashlight and a bucket, he is walking in the pre-dawn darkness along the shore of Old Poblacion Beach in the town of Maitum,Sarangani,in the far south of the Philippines. A few minutes later,he spots a patch of sand that appears to have been disturbed by a turtle. Dequina studies the area carefully,figuring out where the eggs have been buried, and then starts digging slowly. After clearing away several centimeters of sand, he uncovers a large group of eggs,roughly the size of ping-pong balls. He picks them up and puts them in the bucket. Dequina carries the eggs to his hatchery , some 50 meters away from the seashore. The hatchery is really just a sandy patch of land under the coconut trees enclosed by a black fine-mesh fence. It is here that he buries the turtle eggs he has collected. Today,Dequina scoops out a hole,puts the eggs in it,and covers them with sand. After 45 to 70 days, the eggs will hatch. Dequina will then carty the hatchlings to the shore,and release them into the sea. He admits to feeling sorrow as he sets the hatchlings free most are hunted down by natural predators,and just one percent survive to adulthood. According to the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), eight species of sea turtles face extinction,including four that come to the shores of Sarangani to lay their eggs --the Hawksbill,Olive Ridley,Loggerhead and Green Turtles. After learning about their _ , Dequina attended a DENR training session on turtle conservation and decided to take action. He helped the local government to set up the Pawikan Nesting Sanctuary next to his house in 2003. The hatchery drew the attention of the locals. "They started to change their attitudes towards sea turtles,"52-year-old Dequina says. "If they see turtle eggs,they will either bring them to me or inform me of the nesting places." Over the past seven years,more than 3,000 hatch- lings have been released to the ocean. Dequina walks along the shore to _ . A) release small turtles B) bury turtle eggs deeper C) find newly laid turtle eggs D) clear away trash from the seaside
C
An 8-year-old girl was dragged about 900 feet by a school bus today in Livingston County. According to State Police, the incident occurred about 2:40 pm on State Route 436 in the town of Ossian after three sisters were dropped off the bus. As the last sister was leaving the bus, driver John Coley, 62 , of Wayland, Steuben County, told the police that he was not paying attention when he closed the door and trapped her backpack inside. Coley then continued 900 feet before he realized the girl was being dragged, State Police said. The girl was hurt and was transported to Nicholas H Noyes Memorial Hospital in Dansville,Livingston County, by Dansville Ambulance. Another 8-year-old child on the bus said he hit his head on the seat in front of him when the bus came to a sudden stop, causing an earache. *Conservation staff in New Zealand have put down 33 stranded whales after several attempts to refloat them failed. The whales were shot on Farewell Spit on the South Island. Department of Conservation area manager John Mason says staff and hundreds of volunteers had tried all week to get the whales refloated. He says they thought they were successful on Wednesday when they got the whales into deep water----but were saddened on Thursday to find that they had swum back ashore. He says the condition of the whales had significantly become worse. As well as the 33 whales that were shot,36 had died naturally since Monday and 17 were successfully refloated. 13 remain unknown. The 33 refloated whales returned ashore on _ . A) Monday B) Tuesday C) Wednesday D) Thursday
D
America's greatest technological achievement, the Hoover Dam, now has a companion piece, a bridge held up by the longest arch in the Western Hemisphere . The Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which opened this month and connects the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada, crosses the vast chasm 890 feet above the Colorado River that is controlled by the dam. The striking 1,900-foot-long structure will improve traffic in the region and help protect the dam from being destroyed. It is the seventh highest bridge in the world, behind four in China, one in Papua New Guinea and one in the US state of Colorado. "The Hoover Dam is the greatest civil engineering achievement in America's history," said the bridge project manager Dave Zanatell. "Our goal was not to outdo or outshine it. Our goal was to, in a respectful way, do something that would be great for our generation and that would stand besides Hoover Dam in a respectful and quality way that would become a part of Hoover's legacy ." Just as the Hoover Dam was built in the heart of the Great Depression and was seen as an example of the nation's can-do spirit, some hope this project can also provide some _ . The bridge is surprising: at 1,050 feet, its support arch holds up a roadway that lies on 300-foot-long concrete pillars , some of the tallest in the world. It contains 16 million pounds of steel. The idea of the bridge came into being in the 1960s because the top of the Hoover Dam has been a narrow two-lane road that is the fastest route from Arizona to Las Vegas and then the Pacific Northwest and Canada. Access to the dam from each direction is a dangerously winding route, but massive trucks and passenger vehicles shared it for decades. During the day, when thousands of tourists travel to the dam from Las Vegas three times as many accidents as on a normal road will happen. The bridge has a sidewalk on the side facing the dam. The wall on both sides is 54 inches high, so walkers can take photos there. What is one of the purposes of building the bridge? A) To protect the dam. B) To save the cultures. C) To outdo the dam. D) To develop the tourism.
A