Robert Stroud (1890－1963) was an American prisoner who reared and sold birds and became an ornithologist while in prison. He became known as the “Birdman of Alcatraz.” Despite this 21 , he actually kept birds only at Leavenworth Prison, before he was transferred to Alcatraz. 

    Stroud is one of the most notorious criminals in American history. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by hanging in 1916. His mother desperately 22 for his life. Finally, in 1920, President Woodrow Wilson changed his death sentence to life 23 without parole. But because of Stroud’s unpredictable and violent outbursts, the warden directed that Stroud be placed in a 24 unit to live out his sentence in total isolation. 

     While at Leavenworth (1912－1942), Stroud developed a 25 interest in birds after finding an injured sparrow in the prison yard. He was given a special right to 26 birds and maintain a lab inside his two prison cells. It was felt that this activity would allow for productive use of his time. As a result of this 27 , Stroud was able to author two books on canaries and their diseases. He had raised nearly 300 birds in his cells, carefully studying their habits and physiology. He even developed and marketed medicines for various kinds of bird 28 . Although it is widely debated whether the remedies he developed were 29 , Stroud was able to make scientific observations that would later benefit research on the canary species. 

    In 1942, Stroud was transferred to Alcatraz. He spent the next seventeen years there, but was not allowed to keep pets. While there, he wrote two more manuscripts, but these were never published because it was 30 by the prison authorities. In 1963, he died in a medical center in Missouri.

 (AB) keen (AC) breed (AD) release (AE) banned (BC) supportive (BD) imprisonment (BE) illness (CD) separated (CE) nickname (DE) effective (ABC) pleaded (ABD) privilege

       Gladiators were combatants who fought against criminals, wild animals, and each other during the time of the Roman Empire. They were armed with deadly weapons and in most cases fought till either one of them accepted defeat or was killed. 31 Roman people enjoyed the sight of blood and violent death. They crowded into the arenas to watch gladiator games, just like we watch football, baseball, and tennis matches today.

      32 Some were slaves bought from different lands under Roman control, and some were prisoners of war. Most of the others were volunteers, a group which once accounted for half of all gladiators. The majority of the gladiators were Thracians, Gauls, and Africans. These combatants were generally skilled fighters and were paid for their services. 33 All of the fighters, both male and female, were well looked after by their owners and rewarded after winning fights. 

  Roman historians sometimes called gladiators hordearii, a Latin term which means “barley eaters” in English. 34 Chemical analyses of the bones found in a gladiator graveyard indicated that the typical food eaten by gladiators was wheat, barley, and beans. 35 In addition to a plant-heavy diet, gladiators drank plant ashes to fortify the body after physical exertion and to promote better bone healing. The diet that gladiators followed may be unconventional by modern athletic standards, but in the days of the Romans, this was the diet of heroes. 

(AB) Gladiators were recruited from different sources. (AC) The origins of gladiators were obscure and mysterious. (AD) Recent research findings suggest that this name was likely literal. (AE) There is evidence to suggest that females also participated in gladiator contests. (BC) Gladiators fought for the entertainment of Rome’s rich and mighty, as well as for the public. (BD) Also, there was little sign of meat or dairy products in the diet of almost all of these professional fighters.

      Early civilizations often built drainage systems in urban areas to handle rainwater that ran down the street during a storm. The Romans constructed elaborate systems that also drained wastewater from the public baths. However, as the population of the cities grew, the old drainage systems became overloaded. During the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing waste was added to sewage, which increased the need for more efficient sewage treatment. In the mid-19^th century, the first steps were taken to treat wastewater. 

     Sewage or wastewater treatment in modern times is the process of removing harmful physical, chemical, and biological elements from wastewater and house sewage. The whole process starts with screening out large objects such as paper and wood, and removing heavy materials like dirt. The screened wastewater is then ready to go through a series of concrete tanks for further treatment. In the second step, the sewage passes into the primary tanks. Here, human waste, called sludge, settles to the bottom while oils and grease float to the top, where they are collected. At the same time, organic matter like eggshells or coffee grounds in the sewage is broken down into smaller substances. The remaining sewage then enters the secondary tanks for the third stage of treatment. The solids that were not treated in the primary tanks are removed here through decomposition, which digests the material. Then, the liquid sewage is filtered through sand. This filtering process gets rid of almost all bacteria, as well as other solid particles that remain in the water. Finally, the wastewater flows into the last tanks, where the chemical chlorine is added to kill the remaining bacteria. After the bacteria are destroyed, the chlorine is eliminated from the water, and the treated clean water is discharged into a river or the ocean.

 Young smokers beware: On Monday, it became illegal in Iowa for anyone under 18 to smoke a cigarette. If 41 smoking, chewing or even possessing tobacco by the police, an under-aged offender could be  42  as much as $100, yanked off the street or out of the shopping mall and taken home in the backseat of a police car. The law is part of the state’s campaign to  43  tobacco use greatly among all Iowans. The police are ordered to enforce the law, but some are skeptical. On their long list of priorities, this measure shares a spot with the neighbor’s cat stuck in a tree. “We’re  44  busy to enforce a law like that,” said the Des Moines Police Department. Forty-four states have laws that ban selling cigarettes to minors or 45 minors from possessing tobacco, but these laws are rarely enforced.