Covering 7 million square kilometers of jungle and river over eight countries, the Amazon Rainforest is home to millions of sorts of plants and animals, some of     1     are still being discovered today. It's also the world’s     2    (large) supplier of oxygen and is a treasure chest for medical     3    (researcher) who are experimenting with different plants in hopes of finding cures for certain diseases.    4    , the world is at risk of losing this rich rainforest because of deforestation (滥伐森林)    5     (cause) by the actions of farmers, loggers and settlers.

The Amazon Basin     6    (lose) 20% of its rainforest since 1970. Cattle farmers have     7    (continuous) cleared the land for cows     8    (eat) on and crop farmers have begun “slash and burn” (刀耕火种), a farming method that involves cutting down forests and burning the land to make     9     suitable for agricultural purpose. Loggers have been cutting down the trees for timber(木材), further decreasing its size.

With the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest, global warming becomes more of a threat. It is up to each individual to fight against the     10    (disappear) of the Amazon by making the world know something about this environmental disaster.

4 . In Colombia a group, named WebConserva, is carrying out a project in the San Lucas Mountains with the help of coffee growers.

The San Lucas area is one of the most unexplored places in Colombia, which is home to many thousands of species of animals and plants. Yet gold mining and coca farming have dealt a blow to its ecosystem. To limit additional development in the San Lucas area, the group helps coffee growers by linking them with processors from around the country.

Colombia has more different kinds of living things than any other country except neighboring Brazil. In 2016, the Colombian government signed a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ending years of civil war. As a result, more land became accessible for use, with deforestation(毁林) coming along. Government information shows that in 2017, almost 220,000 hectares of forest were destroyed compared to around 124,000 hectares in 2015.

To date, the project includes 10 families who farm 400 hectares of coffee plants, which costs about $ 77,000 dollars a year. WebConserva hopes that, in time, 200 families will be included. At that level, 20,000 hectares of untouched forest could be protected. In San Lucas, the families promise not to cut down trees to expand their crops or to hunt wild animals from the forests. In return, they receive $ 250 to $ 300 per 125 kilograms of coffee, an enviable amount there. Arcadio Barajas is among those taking part. His new coffee plantation(种植园) makes a barrier between cattle farms and forests where wild animals like the jaguar live and hunt. In this way, he doesn't have to kill wild animals to protect his cattle.

Barajas said that pulling down the forest to plant coca and killing wildlife were against his will. Now he feels that growing coffee lets him be a steward of the land. "I'm taking care of the environment, the forest and the animals," he said.

5 . British sculptor Jason Taylor has made it his mission to use his talent to conserve our ecosystems by creating underwater museums. Over the years, the environmentalist has put over 850 massive artworks underwater worldwide. On February 1, 2021, Taylor launched his latest work---The Underwater Museum of Cannes.

“The main goal was to bring attention to the fact that our oceans need our help,” Taylor told Dezeen. “Ocean ecologies have been destroyed by human activity in the Mediterranean over the past few decades, and it is not obvious what is taking place when observing the sea from afar.”

The Underwater Museum of Cannes contains 6 sculptures featuring local residents of various ages. They range from Maurice, an 80-year-old fisherman, to Anouk, a 9-year-old student. Towering over 6-feet-tall and weighing 10 tons, the faces are sectioned into two parts, with the outer part like a mask. The mask indicates that the world’s oceans appear powerful and unbeatable from the surface but house an ecosystem that is extremely fragile to careless human activities.

Though the waters surrounding the sculptures now appear a pristine blue, the seabed was filled with old boat engines, pipes, and other human-made trash when the project began about four years ago. Besides removing the trash, Taylor also restored the area’s seagrass. Just one square meter of the seagrass can generate up to 10 liters of oxygen daily. The seagrass also helps prevent coastal erosion and provides habitats for many ocean creatures.

“The idea of creating an underwater museum was to draw more people underwater and develop a sense of care and protection,” Taylor told Dezeen. “If we threw unwanted waste near a forest, there would be a public outcry. But this is happening every day in our surrounding waters and it largely goes unnoticed.”

6 . A man in Indonesia is walking backwards for 435 miles. He's making the trip to encourage the government and others to value and protect Indonesia's rainforests.

Medi Bastoni is 43 years old. He is an Indonesian. Indonesia is a large country in the world formed by a group of islands. There are over 16, 000 islands there， and most of them are covered with rainforests. But on Java, where Mr. Bastoni lives, far more forests have been cleared.

Mr. Bastoni believes it's important to protect forests from being cut down, and to restore (恢复) them when they have been destroyed. Near his home, Mount Wilis is now being restored, but Mr. Bastoni wants to make the protection continue. That's how he came up with the idea of the 435-mile walk.

And walking backwards? Mr. Bastoni wants Indonesians to look back at their past. Walking backwards is a good way to get attention. Right now, Mr. Bastoni's backward walk is pretty big news in Indonesia.

Mr. Bastoni is wearing a frame(框架)that supports a large mirror in front of him, above his head. This allows Mr. Bastoni to look behind him while walking backwards. Besides, Mr. Bastoni is carrying a backpack with some clothes and a little food. He is planning on buying more meals from restaurants along the way. He has been sleeping at police stations, security posts, and even strangers homes during the trip. His plan is to cover about 19 miles a day. In early August he was in Sragen -- about 100 miles from his home. It's not clear whether Mr. Bastoni is still on track to arrive in Jakarta by August 17.

The Xi’an City Wall is the most complete city wall that has survived China’s long history. It     1     (build) originally to protect the city     2     the Tang dynasty and has now been completely restored (修复). It is possible       3     (walk) or bike the entire 14 kilometers.

We accessed the wall through the South Gate. The wall is 12 meters high and from here you can see streams of people moving inside and outside the City Wall.

After     4     (spend) some time looking at all the defensive equipment at the wall, we decided it was time for some action and what     5     (good) than to ride on a piece of history!

We     6     (hire) our bikes from the rental place at the South Gate. My bike was old and shaky     7     did the job. It took us about 3 hours to go all     8     way around the Xi’an City Wall. Supposedly you can do it in two hours, but we stopped at the different gates and     9     (watchtower) to take pictures or just to watch the local people going about their     10     (day) routines.

9 . An international group of electronic music composers is taking beats from the dance club to jungles and forests and back, all to help save nature's greatest singers. A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean is a new album that includes the sounds of endangered birds. The album will come out next month, whose proceeds will go directly towards efforts to save birds.

The whole project was born out of this idea of trying to combine birdsong, electronic music and conservation. A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean was organized by activist, music producer, Robin Perkins. He invited artists from each of the endangered birds 'homelands to build their own songs around the birds’ songs. There are contributions from ten artists in eight different countries.

First single Black Catbird was created by The Garifuna Collective, from Belize. Al Obando, guitarist and producer of the group, always took in national parks and viewed birds when on the road with the band. “There are no trails, and there are no signs there to tell you about what you reseeing,” Obando says. “So we're trying to do something for the birds and nature tourism.”

Another musician who responded to Robin's call is Tamara Montenegro, an artist from Nicaragua. She was shocked to hear of the serious situation of the Guardabarranco after being approached: “This beautiful creature I grew up adoring also faced the influence of the systematic human activities”. In response, she created a song inspired by this bird and the challenges it faces to live naturally.

The new album is the second edition, following on from A Guide to the Birdsong of South America, produced by Robin in 2015. That first album has raised, to date, over $15,000 benefitting conservation projects in South America. As with the first album, all of the money from the sales of the new album will support specific organizations, including Birds Caribbean.