Those who haven’t been to the Mu Us may not have an opportunity to do so. The desert is disappearing from    1     map as it has been turned into an oasis(绿洲)!

The Mu Us     2     (stretch) over 42,200 square km between Shaan Xi and inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, lying north of the Great Wall. In Mongolian, “Mu Us” means barren land     3     nothing can grow.

However, the area was no desert in ancient times. It used to be grazing land     4     (sufficient) supplying grass and water for sheep and cattle. Since the Tang Dynasty, it began to degrade because of excessive farming and overgrazing and     5     (year) of war.

In modern times, the Mu Us, the fourth     6     (large) desert in China, began to move southward and passed the Great Wall,     7     (attack) Yulin (Shaan Xi province). Local pastures(牧场) faced serious desertification, salinization and degradation, and the villagers had to move as the desert advanced. By the time People’s Republic of China     8     (found), Yulin had only 0.9 percent of forest cover. It became an urgent task     9     (block) the sands.

Thanks to greening, the desert is poised to disappear. The feat(丰绩) wouldn’t have been achieved     10     national anti-desertification policies and the efforts of generations of eco-warriors.