The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region,     1     (surround) by advancing deserts on three sides, is one of the major sources of sandstorms which threaten northern China. The region lacks water resources     2     faces extreme weather events. If no actions     3     (take), the region will face the threat of being buried by sand as no     4     (defend) can stop the advancing deserts and repetitive strong sandstorms.

More than four decades of efforts against desertification in Ningxia have helped develop crucial experience. Growing different trees based on different habitats is     5     (critic) to maintaining the forests’ quality and sustainability. In Shapotou District, Zhongwei City, wild shrubs (灌木) are planted because of the     6     (extreme) low groundwater. Shrubs help lower the wind speed, preventing the transportation     7     sands to neighboring areas. At the same time, the organisms     8     (live) on the shrubs gradually form biological soil coats to hold the sand firmly.

By the end of 2020, Ningxia     9     (grow) 510,000 hectares of forest, increasing forest coverage from 8.4 percent in 2000 to 15.8 percent. During     10     “14th Five-Year Plan” period, Ningxia plans to create 96,000 hectares of forest and restore over 66,000 hectares of grassland.

Vesuvius, also called Mount Vesuvius, is on the plain of Campania in southern Italy.     1     the afternoon of August 24, AD 79 Mount Vesuvius on the island of Sicily erupted,     2     (send) out a huge cloud of glowing ash and barraging(倾泻) the surrounding country with showers of rock. For 28 hours the volcano continued to pour out rock and ash until the city of Pompeii and     3     unfortunate inhabitants were buried under seven metres of rock and ash. Two thousand people died in the catastrophe.

The town of Pompeii     4     (lie) hidden and forgotten until 1631 when Vesuvius erupted again and workers discovered some Roman coins. Over the course of the next 200 years or so various artefacts(收藏品)     5     (dig) up. The site was cleared and slowly more and more uncovered. The importance of the discoveries was     6     (eventual) realized and efforts were made     7     (preserve) the site.     8     (science) study of the volcano did not begin until late in the 18th century. An observatory was opened in 1845 at 1,995 feet, and in the 20th century people set up numerous stations at various     9     (high) for making volcanologic measurements. Today it is possible to visit Pompeii and walk down the streets and still see the figures in the same positions     10     they were when the ash enveloped them over 1,900 years ago.

In 2020, California experienced its     1     (bad) fire season on record. While Prisha Shroff was driving with her family near Los Angele, she watched the flames (火焰) through the car window.

“After I witnessed this fire, I arrived back at home only     2     (hear) about the Australian and Amazon wildfires and how the same effects of the Los Angeles fire were happening on a bigger scale (规模). This really proved to me     3     this is a global problem and     4     is a need for a solution that can prevent these wildfires,”she. says.

Shroff started researching solutions but learned that most wildfire fighting measures focus on spotting and putting out wildfires instead of prevention.    5     (inspire), Shroff created a system designed to prevent wildfires,    6     earned her the Lemelson Award for Invention in the Broadcom MASTERS, a science     7     (compete) for middle school students.

Her artificial intelligence-based system     8     (predict) areas that are vulnerable (易受影响的) to wildfires based on real-time data such as temperature and wind. If an area is high risk, the system can give     9     signal to fire agencies. This year, she’ll work on    10     (improve) her AI model by adding millions of wildfire data points.

Samir and Muhammad,     1     story has been eireulating on social media up to now, had different religions but lived during the final years of the 19th century.

According to accounts     2     (share) by dozens of websites, social media posts,     3     even some news sites ,Samir suffered from paralysis(瘫痪),but Muhammad could walk around freely except being blind.

   Without the light of Samir's eyes, Muhammad had no way     4     (get) around the streets on his own, while the paralyzed Samir couldn't get anywhere without Muhammad's     5     (foot). One depended on the other: Their extraordinary friendship     6     (true) completed them.

When Samir died, Muhammad was said to have cried for seven days     7     having lost his other half. Eventually, Muhammad died of sadness over the death of his friend.

There     8     (be) no sources that document the truth of the names and personal history of these two men. However, the photograph really exists. It     9     (take) in 1889 by photographer Tanerede Dumas (1830 - 1905) and is also available from Wikimedia Commons.

Whatever the true story was, it is a real     10    (inspire) today, when we need to reach out to each other more than ever across differences of religion and all other barriers.