2 . With no special equipment, no fences and no watering, two abandoned agricultural fields in the UK have been rewilded (重新野化), in large part due to the efforts of jays, which actually “engineered” these new woodlands. Researchers now hope that rewilding projects can take a more natural and hands-off approach and that jays can shed some of their bad reputations.

The two fields, which researchers have called the New Wilderness and the Old Wilderness, had been abandoned in 1996 and 1961 respectively. The former was a bare field, while the latter was grassland—both lay next to ancient woodlands. Researchers had suspected that the fields would gradually return to wilderness, but it was impressive to see just how quickly this happened, and how much of it was owed to birds.

Using aerial data, the researchers monitored the two sites. After just 24 years, the New Wilderness had grown into a young, healthy wood with 132 live trees per hectare, over half of which (57%) were oaks. Meanwhile, the Old Wilderness resembled a mature woodland after 39 years, with 390 trees per hectare.

“This native woodland restoration was approaching the structure (but not the species composition) of long-established woodlands within six decades,” the researchers explained in the study.

Part of this reforestation was done by the wind, and researchers suspect that previous ground disturbance may have aided the woodland establishment—which is good news, as it would suggest that agricultural areas may be reforested faster than anticipated. However, animals—Eurasian jays, thrushes, wood mice, and squirrels—also played an important role in helping the forests take shape. This handful of species provided much of the natural regeneration needed for the forest to develop. Jays, in particular, seem to have done a lot of heavy lifting.

The classical gardens of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, date back to the 6th century     1     the city was founded     2     the capital of the Wu Kingdom. Today, more than 50 of these gardens are still in     3     (exist), nine of which are regarded as the finest embodiments (化身) of Chinese “Mountain and Water” gardens.

Built in the 11th century on the site of an     4     (early) destroyed garden, Canglang Pavilion has the longest history among all the existing classical gardens in Suzhou. Naturally     5     (lay) out and well designed, it is called one of the four best gardens in Suzhou. The garden looks simple but natural. Without complex     6     (decorate), it combines buildings with scenery so well     7     the whole garden appears to be naturally endowed (赋予). Since many of the     8     (origin) features of the garden have been preserved, the garden has a high historical and artistic value.

The classical gardens of Suzhou     9     (be) the most vivid specimens(样本)of culture from the East Yangtze Delta region in the 11th to 19th centuries. The underlying philosophy, literature, art, and craftsmanship     10     (show) in the architecture, gardening as well as the handcrafts perfectly reflect the monumental achievements of the social, cultural, scientific, and technological developments of this period.

4 . Mount Tai, located just north of Tai’an city in East China’s Shandong Province, is a mountain of historical and cultural_________, with impressive views and beautiful natural scenery.

Among the Five Sacred Mountains (the other four are Heng Mountain of Hunan Province, Hua Mountain of Shaanxi Province, Song Mountain of Henan Province and Heng Mountain of Shanxi Province), Mount Tai is only the third highest. Why is it seen as the _________of the Five Sacred Mountains?

In absolute terms, Mount Tai cannot be considered as the highest of China’s mountains, but because it is_________ to the sea and rivers and rises abruptly from the relatively low hills and plains, its _________height is quite impressive, with a (an)_________ of over 1, 300 meters. _________, in Chinese culture east is regarded as a sacred direction, since it is where the sun and the moon rise. Therefore, Mount Tai is often regarded as the first of the Five Sacred Mountains. It is associated with sunrise, birth and_________,

Many Chinese emperors climbed to the top for enthronement (登基) or other significant ceremonies in ancient China, for they considered it to be a _________ of Chinese power given by master of nature. The earliest activities could _________to Xia Dynasty and Shang Dynasty, so it __________a good many of cultural relics and historic sites. Famous writers, poets and celebrities were attracted here and thousands of poems and __________ about Mount Tai are best-known nowadays.

Mount Tai is famous for its various stone inscriptions, which are the works of either ancient emperors or celebrities. The stone inscriptions__________ different bodies of calligraphy, and most of them are inscribed with beautiful diction, elegant writing style and __________ design. Besides historic relics, Mount Tai also boasts unique natural scenery, and it is well known for its__________. Overlapping mountains, gigantic rocks, centuries-old pines and cypresses (柏树), ever-changing clouds make Mount Tai __________with brightness and peaceful with miracle. As a result, it attracts lots of tourists from the whole world.

Autumn Equinox (秋分) lies at the midpoint of autumn,     1     (divide) autumn into two equal parts. After that day, the location of direct sunlight moves to the south, making days     2     (short) and nights longer in the northern hemisphere (半球).

    3     is said in the ancient book is that on Autumn Equinox day the Yin and Yang are in a     4     (balance) power. Thus the day and night are of equal length, as are the cold and hot weather."

By Autumn Equinox, most of the areas in China     5     (enter) the cool autumn. When the cold air heading south meets the declining warm and wet air, rainfall happens. The temperature also drops     6     (frequent).

According to experts, on the Spring Equinox and Autumn Equinox, the day and night are of equal time both in the southern and northern hemispheres. Standing eggs on end,     7     traditional Chinese custom, is considered the best on this day.

But once it     8     (question) whether standing the egg had anything to do with the time. As is known now，the most important thing is to shift the egg’s center of gravity to the lowest part of the egg. In this way, the trick is holding the egg     9     the yolk (蛋黄) sinks as much as possible. For this, you’re better off choosing an egg that's about 4 or 5 days old,     10     yolk is likely to sink down.

6 . The huge stone human statues of Easter Island have fascinated the world for centuries, but now a new research has solved one of the biggest mysteries (谜团) why the statues are located where they are.

Easter Island has more than 600 statues, built by different families hundreds of years ago. It is thought the statues represent their ancestors. However, it was previously a mystery why many of them were around the coast. While scientists have suggested the sites may have a connection with the island’s resources (资源), the latest research is the first attempt to look into such views.

Researchers focused on the east of the island, where various resources are located, and looked at the distribution (分布) of 93 statues built before European sailors arrived in the 18th century. After finding no connection with the rock used for the construction, they considered whether the statues were found near other important resources.

Things became interesting when they checked where the islanders got their drinking water. The island has no long-standing streams or lakes. However, fresh water brought by storm could pass through the ground and go deeper into the underground water system. “It is sort of amazing at low tide (潮水) when the water goes down, suddenly there are streams running off at different sites right at the coast that is just pure fresh water,” said Lipo. “We noticed, actually, when we were doing an investigation on the island, that we saw horses drinking from the ocean.”

The results of the new research—published in the journal Plos One—found that closeness to freshwater sites is the best explanation for the location of the statues, including why they appear inland as well as on the coast. “Historical records show the islanders also made wells to get drinking water,” said Lipo, adding that historic wells explained some inland statue locations that were apparently without natural water resources.

The results, said Lipo, made sense, as drinking water is important for the islanders and it is not practical to have to walk miles to get it.