Nowadays, many people are trying to lead more energy-efficient (节能的) lives     1     (protect) the environment. One particular     2     (use) thing people can do is buy an electric car. Most people are aware that electric cars are far more energy-efficient than traditional fuel-burning cars. However,     3     they may not realize is that once they have bought an electric car, the music they listen to while driving also     4     (affect) their energy consumption (消耗).

An experiment     5     (conduct) by a South Korean car maker in 2022 invited a number of drivers to drive their new electric cars. The company asked the drivers, who were all new     6     electric vehicles, to drive their cars over an 18-mile distance, covering a traffic jam, country roads, and expressways. Some of these drivers     7     (require) to listen to Beethoven as they drove, while others were told to listen to a range of pop artists. The results showed that the     8     (relax) nature of Beethoven’s music resulted in those cars less battery power than the cars     9     drivers listened to pop music. This is because pop music tends to have a higher tempo (节奏) and heavier beat.

So, if you own an electric car but still want to make a greater environmental     10     (contribute), you can listen to your favourite piece of classical music. However, if you don’t care about power consumption and want to drive faster, just put on some fast-paced pop tracks!

My name is Nassra, a second-year student at Tanzania Institute of Accountancy as well as an artist of 22 years old. My journey through art has led me to become     1     environmentalist.

What we usually consider waste may be useful when we think about it in a different light. Discarded (丢弃的) or waste items provide plentiful but largely     2     (ignore) resources for us artists to give them a second life or share their story. Items such wine bottles, wood, and more can have a beautiful second chance as a piece of art. As an artist, I would     3     (frequent) look for reusable materials that offer fresh ideas of creating something new.

In my hands, glass bottles, plastic bags, and other waste items that would otherwise end up     4     (float) in the sea become a form of     5     (sustain) art. My art highlights the degradation of the world and surprises people     6     its originality.

People     7     buy this type of art find the work attractive for its artistic value. But motivating them to contribute to the planet’s welfare     8     (be) my lifelong dream. I also want to take this opportunity to encourage environment     9     (conserve) through DIY project and recycling. This really gives a chance for individuals     10     (witness) the brilliance that the world offers.

By the year 2050, the world’s agricultural landscape could look very different     1     it looks now.

Around 10 billion people will need to be fed,     2     (up) from the nearly 8 billion on Earth today, and climate change will after     3     that food comes from. Already, warming temperatures are allowing tropical foods to thrive in growing regions further north,     4     they haven’t before—citrus, for example, is being grown in Georgia and avocados on Italy’s island of Sicily.

“Take your computer and type in climate change followed by your favorite food, and you will, half the time, get a climate change story affecting your favorite food,” says Michael Hoffman,     5     author of the recently published book Our Changing Menu. Hoffman points out that this trend has already begun to shape     6     (we) eating habits. “What we eat is changing because of climate change, and    7     we eat is changing the climate,” he adds.

Climate change,     8     (cause) by the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, is heating up the planet and making some regions wetter and others     9     (dry). “We’re already seeing changes in the types of crops that are being grown and where they are being grown,” Hoffman says. “If we don’t start     10     (adapt) our agricultural practices, we are going to be in trouble.”

A Chinese wildlife park has aroused a     1     (heat) discussion after making visitors submit to a facial recognition scanning, with one law professor taking it     2     court. Having made enough     3     (prepare), Professor Guo Bing is taking action against Hangzhou safari park, after it replaced its existing fingerprinting system with the new technology. “I filed this case because I feel that not only my privacy rights are being violated but     4     (that) of many others,” Guo, from Zhejiang University of Sci-Tech, said according to an audio recording of     5     interview posted by state-run Beijing News. Guo is attempting to force the park     6     (return) the money he paid for an annual pass and highlight its misuse of data gathered by the software. A court in Fuyang has accepted his case recently. He questions why a wildlife park will need to collect such information and has doubt over data security and who will be responsible if the information     7     (leak).

The case could     8     (possible) open wider debate in China over the use of such technology. The park introduced the technology in July and announced the annual pass holders       9     did not register their biometric (生物识别的) information by 17 October would make their passes invalid, Beijing News reported. About 10,000 visitors hold the annual park passes which cost £150 ($195) for a family of four. If he wins the case, the result will be     10    (benefit) to them.

In recent years, shared vegetable plots (地块) have been appearing in Shanghai’s suburban districts as more white-collar workers turn to farming to relax and escape the pressures of city life.

Among these individuals     1    (be) Yang Rui, who, on weekends, drives his family from their home in downtown to the All-Happy City,     2     shared ecological farm in Minhang, where he has rented a 20-square-meter vegetable plot for 1,600 yuan per year. The family tends carrots, lettuce and other vegetables they have planted. When they aren’t around during the week,     3    (professional) take over the work and perform whatever chores     4    (need).

This farm has about 200 members, some of     5     even raise chickens and ducks that wander in the fields.

    6    (found) by Chen Yougui in October, the shared farm has an area of 13.33 hectares     7     comes with shared vegetable plots and leisure areas. According to Chen, the monitoring system     8    (cover) the entire farmland allows members to view their vegetables and fields remotely through their phones. The farm also uses technology to ensure that the chickens and ducks raised     9     customers don’t go missing or end up in someone else’s plot — each animal comes with its own QR code.

Chen notes that many of his customers are parents who rent plots     10    (primary) to teach their kids about science and nature and how farming works.