High level of deforestation continues

We are all aware of the threats our planet is facing. Experts agree that it’s mainly us humans who are responsible for the destruction of the environment. One of the most destructive activities we are carrying out is cutting down forests - deforestation. This is done for many reasons, such as providing wood for fuel, making land available for housing or for crating space for more cattle to graze(吃草) on. This has been most noticeable in Brazil, which is home to the world’s largest rainforest. Deforestation there has hit its highest rate in a decade, according to official data. Over the course of a year, an area about five times the size of London has been destroyed.

The amount of deforestation in the Amazon and in other tropical(热带的) regions has actually seen a decline but the figures are still large. Global Forest Watch say that in 2018, an area equivalent to 30 football fields were cut down every minute. Frances Seymour from the World Resources Institute says that “If you look back over the last 18 years, it is clear that the overall trend is still upwards. We are nowhere near winning this battle.”

What’s special about places like the Amazon is that they are primary forests which exist in their original condition with some species of trees dating back thousands of years. This habitat is home to unique and rare animals and is critical for sustaining biodiversity(生物多样性). The BBC’s environment correspondent, Matt McGrath, says “These old forests really matter as stores of carbon dioxide, which is way the loss of 3.6 million hectares in 2018 is concerning.”

Brazil has taken some steps to try and decrease deforestation by introducing government policies including fines for breaking land use regulations and illegal logging. And International campaigns to stop the trade of soy and beef farmed on deforested parts of the Amazon have also had a significant impact.

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【推荐2】Everyone in our neighborhood knew who Ugly was. Ugly was a wild cat. Ugly loved three things in this world: fighting, eating garbage, and, shall we say, love. All these things had their effect onUgly. He had only one eye and where the other should have been was a hole. He was also missing his ear on the same side, his left foot broke at one time, making him look like he was always turning the comer. Every time some one saw Ugly there was the same reaction. “That's one UGLY cat!”

All the children were warned not totouchhim, the adults threw rocks at him, shouted at him, watered him when he tried to come in their homes, or shut his paws in the door when he would not leave. Ugly always had the same reaction. If you watered him, he would stand there, getting wet all over until you gave up and quit. If you threw things at him, he would lie down crying for forgive ness. Whenever he saw children, he would come running, meowing, and bump his head against their hands, begging for their love. If you ever picked him up he would immediately suck (吮吸) on your shirt, hat, whatever he could find.

One day Ugly shared hislovewith the neighbor's dogs. They did not respond kindly, and Ugly was badly injured. From my apartment I could hear his screams, and I tried to rush to his aid. By the time I got to where he was lying, it was obvious Ugly's life was almost at an end. Ugly lay in a wet circle. He was bleeding badly. As I picked him up in myarmsand tried to carry him home, I could hear him crying and could feel himstruggling. It must be hurting terribly, I thought.

Then I felt a familiar sucking on my ear. Ugly, in so muchpain, suffering and obviously dying, was trying to suck my ear. I pulled him closer to me, and he bumped my hand with his head, then he turned his one golden eye towards me. Even in the greatest pain, that ugly cat was asking only for a little love.

At that moment I thought Ugly was the most beautiful, loving creature I have ever seen.

Ugly died in my arms before I could get inside, but I sat and held him for a long time afterwards.

Toby the cat was in a small cardboard box marked “free kittens” when Daisy met him and took him home. And from that moment on, he loved boxes.

He slept in hatboxes, gift boxes and takeout food boxes. He slept in Daisy’s sock drawer, if she left it open. When he was a kitten, the size of a small loaf of bread, he had slept in shoeboxes. But he grew and grew, and now he was a lot bigger than a loaf of bread. When he tried to sleep in a shoebox, his furry stomach hung over the sides.

Toby didn’t just sit in boxes, though. Sometimes he sat in flowerpots, or laundry baskets.

Daisy had a beautiful dollhouse for her birthday, a dark green three-story house with lots of furniture. Daisy loved it. So did Toby. He liked to push the furniture out of all the rooms and sit in the bedroom on the second floor.

One day Daisy came home from school, and she couldn’t find Toby. He wasn’t in the dollhouse, or her sock drawer, even though she’d forgotten to close it.

“Mom, Dad!” Daisy wailed. “Toby is gone!”

Daisy’s mom looked in the attic. There were boxes and dust bunnies, and even a mouse that had escaped Toby’s notice, but no Toby.

Daisy’s dad looked in the kitchen cabinets. There were pots and pans, and cans of soup, but no Toby.

Suddenly—“I found him!” Daisy cried.

The big cat was inside her mom’s new glass vase, and he didn’t look happy at all. Daisy tipped the vase over gently and tried to pull him out, but Toby just howled.

“We’ll have to break the vase to get him out!” Daisy cried.

Now her mom didn’t look happy. It was a beautiful vase.

“No,” said her dad. “If we break it, the glass pieces might hurt Toby. Maybe we can put butter on the inside of the vase and slide him out, like the time you got that ring stuck on your finger.”

Immediately, Daisy fetched some butter.

Soon they were at the vet's office.