Ancient Chinese thinkers regarded nature, with human beings included in it,     1     the world of life. All living things in the world have     2     (they) own lives and state of being. “Life and its state of being is most     3     (worth) of appreciation,” said Cheng Hao, a Confucian scholar in the Song Dynasty, “From such appreciation, people could draw     4     greatest spiritual delight.”

Confucian scholars in the Song and Ming Dynasties all enjoyed observing the state of being of living things. Zhou Dunyi, for example, allowed the grass     5     (grow) in front of his window without cutting it. When he     6     (ask) why, Zhou explained that the natural growth of grass was in line with his idea of living things. He observed the     7     (create) of life and the state of being of living things in the world through the grass. The state of being of the grass was similar to the state of being of people,     8     the experience of this resemblance gave him great pleasure. He felt great joy from     9     (observe) living things. He would often appreciate the fish he kept, and enjoyed watching newly hatched chicks. To him, the lively and lovely chicks     10     (well) represented the state of being.

As a hectare of mangrove forests (红树林) can absorb as much carbon as four hectares of rainforests, they     1     (regard) as the most efficient “sponges” (海绵) for carbon on the planet since last century. But cutting down mangrove forests prevents some areas from absorbing carbon, and it also     2     (release) carbon remaining in the soils.

In 2013, the Mikoko Pamoja carbon project began to conserve and protect 117 hectares of mangrove forest around the village Gazi, Kenya. It was the first project to turn blue carbon,     3     (store) in mangroves, into an economically workable programme. The project also has     4     (effective) reduced environmental crimes such as illegal logging and poaching (偷猎). “Joblessness is the reason why the youth usually engage     5     poaching and illegal logging in Kenya,” says Samuel Mutisya, a previous poacher. “If carbon projects can create jobs for people in the village, then the society will start seeing forests and wildlife as     6     (they) banks.”

The local fisherman Abdallah Mohamed,     7     is not involved in the project, has also noticed     8     (benefit). “The fish returned after the community stopped taking firewood from the mangroves. Our indigenous trees are aslo coming to life because there are     9     (few) disturbances,” he says. “This project is really of great     10     (significant).”