More than 120 million people in northern China have     1    (evident) benefited from a massive water diversion(转向) project,     2     delivers water from the Yangtze River in the south to the north.

The South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the world’s     3    (large), has diverted 39.4 billion cubic meters of water to dry places in the north through     4    (it) middle and eastern routes over a period of six years. The middle route starts from the Danjiangkou Reservoir in central China’s Hubei Province     5     it runs across Henan and Hebei before reaching Beijing and Tianjin. It began supplying water on December 12, 2014.

The eastern route     6    (put) into operation in November 2013, transferring water from east China’s Jiangsu Province to feed     7    (area) including Tianjin and Shandong. The western route is in the planning stage and is yet to be built. When     8    (finish), the work will link China’s four main rivers—the Yangtze, Yellow River, Huaihe and Haihe—and requires the     9    (construct) of three diversion routes,     10    (run ) south-to-north across the eastern, central and western parts of the country.

The complete project is expected to cost $62 billion — more than twice as much as the Three Gorges Dam.

Shortly after dawn, the 680-year-old Lion Grove Garden wakes up to the sound of birds and its moist air is suffused with ascent. With a view of pavilions, early     1     (visitor) to this garden in downtown Suzhou, can feel     2     sense of Zenlike inner peace.

When monks during the Yuan Dynasty first constructed this garden, they may have wanted to enjoy a quiet retreat. But this charming garden has attracted celebrity guests,     3     have left poems, paintings and     4     (history) anecdotes in the following centuries.

“In recent years, we’ve tried     5     (restore) the landscapes of classical gardens, but a delicate garden cannot be an empty shell,” says Bai Lingzhi, deputy director of Suzhou Administrative Bureau of Garden and Landscaping. “We need creative ideas to lead people to the lifestyle     6     (advocate) by the gardens in the era,” she explains.

Last year, a new project was launched,     7     (allow) tourists in small groups to reserve places to enter the garden in the early morning before the regular opening time. Their visit ends up     8     making a traditional folding fan.

In 1997 and 2000, nine of the best-known classical gardens of Suzhou     9    (register) onto the World Heritage List. As UNESCO remarks: “Classical Chinese garden design, which seeks to re-create natural landscapes in miniature, is nowhere     10     (well) illustrated than in the nine gardens.”

Sun Moon Lake is located in the central region of Taiwan. It covers     1     area of 7. 7 square kilometers and has an average water     2     (deep) of 40 meters.

According to legend, a white deer contributed to the discovery of the lake. Three hundred years ago, a group of     3     (farmer) were hunting when they discovered a large white deer running to the northwest. They followed this     4     (amaze) creature for three days and nights, but it finally disappeared in the forest. On the fourth day, after they had moved through the forest, they came upon an impressive view. They     5     (see) a beautiful lake shining brightly in the sun. A small round island covered with trees divided the lake     6     two parts. One part was like the sun and the other part was like the moon, so they called it Sun Moon Lake.     7     (attract) by the fertile soil and beautiful scenery there, they decided to settle down and began a new life.

Sun Moon Lake is the     8     (large) natural lake in Taiwan. With a pleasant climate, it is a top choice as a summer destination. The beauty of the lake lies in its still water,     9     clearly reflects the surrounding mountains. It is     10     (extreme) attractive at night, when the water is bathed in moonlight.

Because of a layer of thin fog, it gives the appearance of a place existing only in legend.

In central China, there is a mysterious forests region. According to Chinese mythology (神话), Shennong, one of the ancestors of the Chinese nation, also known as Yandi, once tested a variety of herbs himself     1     (find) the right one that would save the sick. Another widely circulated tale around the place is that wild men were once spotted.

Legend has it     2     during Shennong’s journey, he came across a steep mountain covered with dense forests. He built a wooden ladder, and climbed up the mountain,     3     (discover) 400 kinds of medicinal herbs. In memory of his contribution to the health of society, the mountain was named Shennongjia, which    4     (literal) means “Shennong ladder.”

Shennongjia     5     (locate) in the northwestern part of Hubei Province, bordering the Yangtze River in the south and facing the Wudang Mountains in the north. It is a place     6     the Daba Mountain Range and the Qinling Mountains meet. It spans     7     area of around 3,250 square kilometers, with the highest peak, the Shennong Peak, reaching 3,106.2 meters in height, and the lowest point, the Shizhu River Valley, only 398 meters     8     sea level.

One of the first things many people learn about Shennongjia     9     (be) the tale of the wild man, but after visiting the area, they find that the pristine (原始状态的) natural landscape and biological    10     (diverse) in that area add more mysteries to this region.

Qinling Mountains is a geographical dividing line between Northern China and Southern China. They run west to east,     1    (stretch) across Gansu Province, Shaanxi Province and Henan Province. Qinling Mountains is covered by large-scale plants,     2     are home to many wild animals such as giant pandas and golden monkeys.

Qinling Mountains was formed about 200 million years ago,     3    (identify) as an important ecological security barrier. Because of the geographical differences in the north and the south of Qinling Mountains, Qinling-Huai River Line     4    (become) the most important north-south boundary of Chinese geography so far. In winter, Qinling Mountains can block the cold wave from entering the south and in summer, the moist sea breeze     5    (block) from entering the northern region.

While the Qinling Mountains have long been known as the northern edge of giant panda habitat,     6     was only in 2005 that the Qinling panda was recognized as     7     distinct subspecies of giant panda. The Qinling panda is distinguished by its    8    (slight) smaller size and fur that is brown rather than black, with about 270 distributed in 7 areas, like Taibai Mountain and Qingmuchuan. As the     9    (high) peak in the Qinling Mountains, Taibai Mountain is quite popular among mountain climbers. Many climbing enthusiasts like to spend a whole night reaching its peak to record its beautiful sunrise and enjoy the hot spring for     10    (relax).

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.

Lake Powell, the second largest human-made reservoir (水库) in the US, has lost nearly 7% of its potential storage capacity since it     1     (build) in 1963.

In addition to water     2     (lose) due to years of drought, the US Geological Survey found, Lake Powell     3     (face) an average annual loss in storage capacity of about 33,270 acre-feet per year between 1963 and 2018. That’s enough water     4     (fill) the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall about 1,600 times.

The capacity of the reservoir is becoming smaller because of sediments (沉淀物)     5     (flow) in from the Colorado and San Juan rivers. Those sediments settle at the bottom of the reservoir     6     decrease the total amount of water that the reservoir can hold. It’s bad news for a region     7     has already faced water shortages and extreme wildfires due to the drought.

Lake Powell is     8     important reservoir in the Colorado River Basin. Both Lake Powell and nearby Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, are drying up     9     an alarming rate. In August, the government declared a water shortage on the Colorado River for the first time after Lake Mead’s water level decreased to a record low, leading to cuts in water consumption for the     10     (state) in the Southwest that began in January.

The Wang Family Compound is a rare example of Chinese civilization     1    (hand) down through the ages. Like many of the Shanxi Grand Compounds, it     2     (locate) in Lingshi County, 35 kilometers from the Pingyao Ancient City.

The Wang Family Compound is in fact a collection of compounds    3     were all constructed within the limits of a tall outer wall. During the Ming and Qing     4     (dynasty), it was built on a truly magnificent scale on a series of hills,     5     (stretch) out over an area of 250,000 square meters. The whole residence     6     (consist) of five castles, five lanes, and five ancestral temples now.

In keeping with the residence's legendary size, the five castles were designed to    7    (symbolic) represent the five lucky animals according to traditional Chinese culture: the Dragon, the Phoenix, the Tortoise, the Qilin, and the Tiger.     8     short, you could say the Wang family were living in the belly of the beast!

The Wang Family Compound is not only     9     incredible example of residential architecture, but it is also home to a museum of architectural art.     10     (amaze) sculptures of stone, wood and brick can be found throughout the inside of its many courtyards.

China is much more concerned about livelihood projects. Another project of     1    (channel) water from China’s Yangtze River to the Hanjiang River     2     (begin) construction in June this year. With a total     3     (invest) of 59.8 billion yuan, the project is a supplement to the middle route of the country’s South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

The new project is expected     4     (enhance) the water allocation (分配) capacity of the Hanjiang River Basin to     5     (far) ensure water supply to the dry north. The South-to-North Water Diversion Project transfers water from China’s water-rich south     6     the dry north through the middle, eastern and western routes. The middle route, the most prominent one due to     7     (it) role in feeding water to the nation’s capital, begins at the Danjiangkou eservoir in the Hanjiang River in central province of Hubei and runs northeastward to Beijing and Tianjin. It started supplying water in December 2014.

China has stepped up the water project construction. 10,644 new water projects     8     (value) at 414.4 billion yuan started construction in     9     first five months of the year. The money     10     is invested in the country’s water project construction will be over 800 billion yuan this year, according to the official data.