Peru is a country on the Pacific coast of South America,     1    includes three main areas: narrow, dry, flat land     2    (run) along the coast, the Andes Mountains, and the Amazon rainforest. In the high plain area is Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world, on which boats can travel. Peru has abundant plants from desert grasses     3    vast areas of jungle.

Peru     4    (rule ) by Spain from the 16th century to 1821. So Spanish is     5    (official) spoken in Peru. The ancient Inca capital, Cusco, is a popular destination for the     6    (tour) as it is close to the famous Inca ruins of the city of Machu Picchu.

There are two especially interesting things for us     7    (admire) about the Inca civilization. The first is the roads and paths they built to connect     8    (they) important cities. Second, the Inca built wonderful cities,     9     there were no markets in these cities. One of the interesting     10    (question) of history is how the Inca lived without shopping.

2 . One night, as I was driving down the road, I found something was sitting in the middle of the road. A few seconds later, I realized I was looking at a large turtle (海龟). Afraid of it being crashed by cars, so I pulled over, ran across the road and dragged the turtle to safety. But I’d made one big mistake.

I had heard that the best way to pick up a turtle without hurting it was picking it by the tail in order not to get bitten. So I’d made that big mistake. While the turtle turned out OK generally, I was determined to figure out how to move a turtle properly. I needed to find someone who dealt with turtles. I found the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre. I talked to Dr. Sue, its Executive and Medical Director.

Dr. Sue told me that the organization dealt with a number of aspects of turtle conservation, including rescue, settlement, birth programs, research, and education. Sue explained that southern Ontario is home to a vast majority of turtles in Canada, but is also one of the vastest road networks of the country.

“Ninety percent of injured turtles brought in are caused by cars. These turtles spend a lot of time on land. And they do travel many kilometers on land for a variety of reasons, to find a nesting spot, or to hang out for the summer or winter. Turtles know where they want to go. So, just keep them going in the direction they want to go and you may have saved a turtle’s life,” Dr. Sue said.

Once an injured turtle arrives at the center, there are medical facilities (设备) ready to go, including an X-ray machine. That’s when the team gets to work with healing injuries, and help their patient.

3 . As humanity has got richer, animal’s roles have changed. People need their services less than before. Fewer wolves and thieves meant less demand for dogs for protection; the internal combustion engine (内燃机) made horses unneeded; modern sanitation (卫生设备) kept rats in check and made cats less useful. Domestic animals are no longer necessities, but commonly seen companions. Pet-keeping seems to become more and more popular, as a recent survey found that 69% of American households keep at least one pet.

The pet business is growing even faster than pet numbers, because people are spending more and more money on them. No longer are they food-waste-recyclers, fed with the remains that fall from their masters’ tables. Pet food shelves are full of cuisines tailored to satisfy a range of appetites, including ice cream for dogs and foods for pets that are old, diabetic, or suffer from sensitive digestion.

In the business, this is called “pet humanization” — the tendency of pet owners to treat their pets as part of the family. This is obvious in the names given to dogs, which have evolved from Fido, Rex, and Spot to Bella, Lucy, and Max.

People still hold the false assumption that pets must be working for humanity in some way, perhaps making people healthier or less anxious. But the evidence for that is weak. New research suggests that dogs have evolved those “cute eyes” to affect human emotions and control them, which works very well. Humans now work very hard to pay for the care of their pets. For example, Americans often refer to themselves not as cat owners but as the cat’s “mommy” or “daddy”. South Koreans go one step further, describing themselves as cat “butlers (管家)”. Watch an unlucky man walking his dog, plastic bag in hand to pick up its mess, and we have to doubt: who’s in charge now? Is this relationship what we really want?

4 . In 2016, the world’s population cast aside 49 million tons of electronic waste, known as e-waste.

It has been calculated that this number will grow to more than 60 million tons by 2021.

What is causing the upsurge ( 激增 ) in e-waste? Technology is becoming more and more widespread, covering almost every aspect of our lives. Meanwhile, the lifespan of devices is getting shorter---many products will be thrown away once their batteries die, to be replaced by new devices. Companies intentionally plan the obsolescence ( 过时 ) of their goods by updating the design or software and discontinuing support for older models, so that now it is usually cheaper and easier to buy a new product than to repair an old one. Since prices are falling, electronic devices are in demand around the world.

As more people buy electronic equipment, manufacturers ( 制造商 ) are beginning to face shortages of the raw materials needed to make their products, so recycling and reusing materials from discarded products and waste makes economic and environmental sense.

Recycling e-waste is practiced both formally and informally. Proper or formal e-waste recycling usually involves taking apart the electronics, separating and sorting through the materials and cleaning them. Companies must obey health and safety rules to reduce the health and environmental hazards of handling e-waste by using pollution-control technologies. All this makes formal recycling expensive. Informal recycling is typically unlicensed and uncontrolled. At informal recycling workshops, men and women recover valuable materials by burning devices to melt away non-valuable materials. Usually they do not wear protective equipment and lack any awareness that they are handling dangerous materials.

With the amount of e-waste growing around the world, recycling alone will not be enough to solve the problem. In order to reduce e-waste, manufacturers need to design electronics that are safer, and more durable, repairable and recyclable. The best thing you can do is resist buying a new device until you really need it. Try to get your old product repaired if possible and, if it can’t be fixed, resell or recycle it responsibly. Before you recycle your device, put any broken parts in separate containers and close these tightly to prevent chemicals from leaking. Wear latex gloves and a mask if you’re handling something that’s broken.

7 . Ant Forest, a green initiative by the world’s leading payment and lifestyle platform Alipay, received the “U.N. Champions of the Earth” award, the UN’s highest environmental honor. It was given to Ant Forest for motivating half a billion people to adopt an eco-friendly and greener lifestyle, greatly contributing to ecological protection with the help of digital technology.

Alipay achieved this by inspiring its users to do environmentally-friendly things, such as walking, using public transportation, going paperless in the office and more to earn “green energy points”. These points can then be used to water and grow their own virtual young trees. After the virtual young trees have grown up on line, Ant Forest will plant real trees somewhere in China.

The number of Ant Forest users has reached 350 million, reducing 3 million tons of carbon dioxide. “Such programs are quite attractive to me. I feel satisfied to see a real tree planted just by doing some simple things such as riding bicycles and buying tickets online,” said an interviewee.

This initiative of Ant Forest is in line with the Chinese government’s strategy of a “Green Economy”. The country is taking aggressive actions in expanding its green coverage. Now, its efforts are paying off, with improved biodiversity and a healthier economic growth. Rare animal species have been spotted and forest parks are now popular attractions of tourism.

The planet is at a critical point which could result in natural disasters. It seems clear that unless governments, businesses and people form a focused team, it’s difficult to stop global warming. Fortunately, Ant Forest shows that it is possible to make joint efforts while relying on digital technology. And more initiatives are using technology to contribute to a sustainable future of the planet.

8 . The South Bronx is one of the poorest and most polluted places in America, with smog-choked freeways and smelly wastewater treatment plants.

“We’re a dumping ground,” Omar explains. “All the garbage from the rest of New York City ends up here.”

But Omar started looking at garbage in a different way. “A lot of what people throw away is perfectly good,” he says. “Just look at that stuff from construction sites — doors, sinks, toilets. People will buy those things. It’s only called garbage because somebody threw it away.” Omar was just out of college and working for an environmental group called Sustainable South Bronx when he started considering how to get this “good garbage” to people who could use it. Instead of destroying old things, why not clean them up and resell them? Why not hire people in the community to do the work? Better yet, why not make this business a “cooperative,” which means the people working in the business own it and share the profits?

Out of this, Omar started the first cooperative in the country dedicated to reusing construction waste. To start his business, Omar put up flyers along the truck-jammed, trash-filled neighborhood streets, looking for people to work with him. He soon found four other dedicated workers. They rented a warehouse and started looking for donations of used materials.

In April 2008, Omar’s cooperative, ReBuilders Source, opened its business and began selling construction supplies — at reasonable prices — to neighborhood builders and home owners. With the help of city officials, he also began planning a new training program to help local residents learn the skills to get good jobs that help the environment and even start their own cooperatives. Workers were trained to carefully take buildings apart so that things like doors and windows can be reused instead of being smashed and sent off to a landfill. Deconstructing buildings this way could be a huge industry with many good jobs for people who need them.

“If you have a use for something,” Omar says, “it’s no longer waste.”