As Australia experiences record-breaking drought and bush fires, koala(考拉)populations have declined along with their habitat,     1     (lead) to koalas becoming “functionally extinct”. Functional extinction is when a population becomes so     2     (limit) that they no longer play an important role     3     their ecosystem.

The chairman of the Australian Koala Foundation, Tabart, estimates that over 1, 000 koalas have been killed because of the fires and     4    80 percent of their habitat has been destroyed.     5     (bad) still, deforestation (采伐森林)and bush fires have destroyed the main food source of koalas. Many people are asking the Australian government to pass the Koala Protection Act,     6     (write) in 2016 but never passed into law. The Koala Protection Act will work to protect habitat and trees important to koalas.

Recent videos of Australians saving koalas have led to increased     7     (donate) to help treat burned koalas. Up to date, the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital     8     (raise) $1. 33 million, well over their $ 25, 000 goal,     9     comes from over 30, 000 donors. The funds will also     10     (use) for a “Koala Ark“ as a refuge for burned koalas to live in healthy habitat.

Many animals move from one place to another at certain times of the year,    1     is called migration. They migrate to find food, find a partner, or search of warmer weather. Every autumn,     2     (million) of the North American monarch butterflies begin a long and difficult journey. They manage    3     (travel) around 4,000 kilometres south and get to places     4    they will spend the winter. However, how they do this was unclear. A team of scientists has now found that the monarch is able to tell the time of day. It then uses its eyes    5     (measure) the position of the sun. It uses the time of day and the point of the sun to determine which way it needs to go and change its direction. In the last few years its population     6     (crash) significantly.     7     (unfortunate), human activity leads the monarch numbers to fall. People cut     8    trees and use chemicals, which destroys the natural environment.     9    better understanding of the monarch’s behaviour has led to a greater    10     (aware) and appreciation of this creature. Volunteers have been working together to make sure that there are enough plants for monarch butterflies to feed on. If this work is successful, there may come a time when monarch numbers increase once again.

Looking out of the window of his Ford truck, Bob Fitzgerald sees large, undesirable plants growing in the fields.    1    (visitor) to his neighborhood in Princess Anne, Maryland     2    (main) see dying forests and empty farmland.

Fitzgerald says the land    3    (be) in his family for over 3 centuries. “I’d say in the next 20 years. You’re going to lose    4    very high percentage of that land.”

The land around the Chesapeake Bay has been sinking for hundreds of years. But   climate change is making things    5    (bad). As sea level rises, salt water is entering rivers and other waterways. As a result, the ground is becoming too salty for crops    6    (grow) on.

Maryland’s Eastern Shore is home to some of the oldest farms in North America. Fitzgerald says he has seen big changes during his life.

“You just can’t believe    7    it’s been taking things over in the last 15 or 20 years. I can show you land around here that people raised tomatoes on when I was a little boy. And now it’s gone.”

Around the world, scientists warn that coastal farms are   under    8    (threaten)   from rising seas and salt water. A World Bank report estimates rice production in coastal areas of Bangladesh may fall    9    15 percent by the year 2050. Another study found hundreds of millions of people will    10    (force) to move inland because of rising waters.

Our communication is dependent not only on the words we use, but also on how we use them. Communication is the process of exchanging information between a sender     1     a receiver. The sender encodes a message and sends it face to face, or through video, telephone, mail or social media. This message is then     2     (receive) and decoded by the receiver. In response, the receiver sends an encoded message back,     3     is referred to as feedback. This feedback is decoded by the original sender and the entire cycle     4     (repeat) itself until they have finished communicating.

This communication process can be challenging but, with practice and patience, you can become a highly competent communicator.     5     (accomplish) this, you need to know with whom you are communicating. Depending on whether you are communicating with a stranger, friend, family member     6     co-worker, you will need to decide which communication channel best suits the situation. Furthermore, you will need to determine the appropriate style to use and     7     complex your choice of words should be. For example, if you are a business person     8     (negotiate) with a large enterprise about a deal, you should do it face to face, using formal language in a straightforward manner. Meanwhile, your body language is     9     (equal) important and the value of empathy should not be understated.

Effective communication will enable you to settle differences and disagreements appropriately and improve your     10     (interaction) with others. Good communication skills will also help you build trust and gain respect, allowing relationships to become more positive and productive.

People have been weaving silk, known as is in Chinese, into fabric for more than 5,000 years. The     1    (produce) of silk involves the growing of mulberry trees (桑树) and raising silkworms. It remains a     2     (tradition) practice even today.

Once upon a time, when spring turned to summer, the Grand Canal, a vast waterway system     3     (connect) Beijing and Hangzhou in today’s Zhejiang province, was a busy place. Countless boats used the waterway to transport fabrics. This valuable goods would take two months to reach the capital city,     4     it would be transformed into cool and lightweight clothes.

Silk has also played     5     significant role in Chinese interactions with the rest of the world. The Silk Road     6     (establish) during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) and promoted the exchange of goods, ideas, and cultural practices. Chinese silk was one of the main goods     7     (trade) traveling as far as Rome.

In the 5, 000-year-old silk culture of China, fabrics such as ling, luo, chou, and duan represent the evolving techniques of textile (纺织品) production throughout different periods. Silk is made from silkworms     8     processed through looms (织布机), with its different weaving methods of silk     9     (ultimate) resulting in differences in shape and texture.

Silk combines the beauty of art and technology. It     10     (be) an important carrier of Chinese culture since ancient times.