For the first time, a British group, PDSA, gave its Gold Medal to a rat named Magawa for its work searching out unexploded landmines （地雷）in Cambodia.
Magawa was born in Tanzania, but is now based in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap. He has discovered 39 landmines and 28 pieces of unexploded ones, and helped clear more than 1.5 million square feet of land over the past four years.
Over 5 million landmines have been laid in Cambodia during the civil war in the 1980s and 1990s. In Cambodia, over 19,000 people have been killed by landmines. Another 51,000 have been injured.
Magawa is part of the “Hero Rat" project, which works across South East Asia and Africa, training rats to save lives by detecting landmines. Magawa started its training at the age of 10 weeks.
He was trained to detect TNT, the chemical compound within explosives（炸药）.The ability to sniff （嗅） out TNT makes him much faster than any person in searching for land mines.
According to Christophe Cox, co — founder and CEO of APPO, a charity that trains the rats, the creatures can screen an area of 200 square meters in half an hour. "We really trust our rats. Very often after clearing a minefield, our teams will play a game of soccer on the cleared field to assure the quality of our work. So far our trainers have never had any accidents with rats because their size and weight permits them to walk across mine fields. They also work much faster than people.
Described as friendly and hardworking by Malen, a Belgian trainer, Magawa has a work-life balance that is likely the envy of many a human. When he is not in the minefield, the 2-fbot-long rat likes snacking on bananas, peanuts and watermelons, and taking a spin on the running wheel.
28. What is the purpose of the “Hero Rat" project?
A. To show honour to the brave rats.                                     B. To save lives by detecting landmines.
C. To analyze the chemicals in the landmines.                      D. To help people get rid of poverty in Africa.
29. Why is playing soccer on the cleared field mentioned in Paragraph 5?
A. To show their trust in their rats.                                        B. To show their life after work.
C. To introduce a hobby of his group.                                     D. To find a way to celebrate success.
30. What can we infer about Magawa?
A. He is trained at a Belgium training base.
B. He takes no risk of setting off landmines.
C. He often searches for food when he is at work.
D. He brings attention to the problem of landmines.
31. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Sufferings caused by landmines. B. Hero Rat project set up to train rats.
C. A rat awarded for life-saving work. D. Good ways to deal with landmines.
28-31BAB C