Foshan, a city rich in cultural heritage, celebrates the arrival of autumn with a grand event known as the Foshan Autumn Parade (佛山秋色巡游). This traditional cultural festival holds a special place in the hearts of the     1     (local). The Parade,     2     (feature) various performances, including lion and dragon dances, martial arts, and traditional costumes, takes place     3     (annual) during the autumn season, usually in October or, November.

    4     makes the parade most exciting is the lion and dragon dance, representing the spirit of strength. The colorful lion and dragon figures controlled by skilled performers catch the attention and     5     (admire) of the viewers. Traditional Wushu shows are another crowd favorite. With the Wushu artists moving gracefully, the audiences     6     (remind) of the importance of traditional Chinese culture. Traditional costumes can also be seen     7     (wear) by those artists. The designs and colors of these costumes serve     8     a symbol of Foshan’s rich history and cultural diversity.

The Foshan Autumn Parade is more than just a cultural festival. It is a remarkable event     9     the community celebrate the beauty of autumn. By experiencing these ancient traditions, young people can gain     10     deeper understanding of their culture.

3 . Eradajere Oleita thinks she may have a solution to two of our country’s long-lasting problems: garbage and poverty. It’s called the Chip Bag Project. The 26-year-old student and environmentalist from Detroit is asking a favor of local snack lovers: Rather than throw your empty chip bags into the trash, donate them so she can turn them into sleeping bags for the homeless.

Chip eaters drop off their empty bags from Doritos, Lay’s, and other favorites at two locations in Detroit: a print shop and a clothing store, where Oleita and her volunteer helpers collect them. After they sanitize the chip bags in soapy hot water, they slice them open, lay them flat, and iron them together. They use padding and liners from old coats to line the insides.

It takes about four hours to sew a sleeping bag, and each takes around 150 to 300 chip bags, depending on whether they’ re single-serve or family size. The result is a sleeping bag that is “waterproof, lightweight, and easy to carry around,” Oleita told the Detroit News.

Since its start in 2020, the Chip Bag Project has collected more than 800,000 chip bags and, as of last December, created 110 sleeping bags.

Sure, it would be simpler to raise the money to buy new sleeping bags. But that’s only half the goal for Oleita-whose family moved to the United States from Nigeria a decade ago with the hope of attaining a better life-and her fellow volunteers. “We are dedicated to making an impact not only socially, but environmentally,” she says.

6 . It has been more than 40 years since anyone spotted a Japanese river otter (水獭). And the once common Tangtze River dolphins have either disappeared or are very rarely seen.     1     But the advancement of technology could mean that the extinction of other species is not a given (必然).

A huge challenge scientists and conservationists encounter is tracking species facing extinction in order to help them.     2    . One example is the Maui dolphin, one of the rarest and most threatened dolphins in the ocean. Familiar with their summer behavior, researchers knew that there were just 54 of these mammals living off the coast of New Zealand.     3    . After four years of developing, testing and fundraising, these scientists received permission to use a drone with AI that tracked the dolphins no matter the season. The result was the extension of a marine safety place to protect their habitat.

    4    , AI is being used to enhance traditional methods of preventing hunting. Cameras record any boats that try to enter the park on Lake Itezhi-Tezhi, an illegal entry point. AI immediately detects this activity and alerts park rangers, who deal with the illegal hunters.

In Brazil, AI quickly analyzed over 150, 000 satellite images, revealing that the world’s largest tropical wetlands lost 74 percent of its surface water.     5    

The use of AI has helped to accelerate action and increase conservationists’ ability to protect the natural world for generations to come.

The ancient Chinese built two great engineering wonders: the Great Wall and the Grand Canal (运河). The Great Wall’s function in military defense    1    (fade) over time, but the Grand Canal remains an important means of cultural communication.

The Grand Canal,     2    (consist) of three sections, runs more than 2,000 kilometers from north to south across China. It is about 16 times     3     size of the Suez Canal in Egypt and 33 times longer than the Panama Canal. In ancient times, the Grand Canal served     4     the main route for grain transport and every kind of economic and cultural exchange. It also     5    (significant) shortened the time consuming journeys of laborers and materials for the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Now, it has inspired the name of Chenchen, one of the three mascots of the Hangzhou Asian Games. Chenchen,     6    (name) after the Gongchen Bridge,    7     crosses the Hangzhou section of the Grand Canal, is colored blue to represent science and technology.

The Hangzhou section stretches a total     8    (long) of 39 kilometers and is home to 11 of the canal’s total 58 historic sites. Visitors can take a boat trip on the ancient waterway to enjoy the     9    (drama) landscape of Jiangnan water town. Besides, three neighboring places along the Canal — Dadou Road Historic District, Xiaohezhi Street, and Qiaoxi Historic Street     10    (recommend) for a free walk.

9 . “Tick, tick, pzzzz…” the song of the Florida grasshopper sparrow is unusual and surprisingly insect-like. But it almost fell silent forever. In 2012, Joel Sartore, National Geographic Explorer and Photo Ark founder, received a call from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service: The songbird, an important ecological link in Florida’s dry grasslands, was struggling on extinction. With only a few dozen males in sight, it was among North America’s most endangered bird species.

Funded by the National Geographic Society, Sartore flew to Florida to photograph the bird and work with conservationists to raise awareness of the species’ situation. The story went viral on social media, helping boost government funding for a protecting program. Thanks to these steps, there are now as many as 180 adult birds in the wild, and researchers are working hard to bring the species back from the brink of extinction.

This journey reveals the Society’s mission to illuminate and protect the wonder of the world. Over the past 136 years, it has developed a unique explorer-led model, combining science, exploration, education and storytelling to drive impact. The society also supports explorers in more than 140 countries, including Sartore and others whose work relates to this issue: biologist André Green II, photographer Jasper Doest and education advocate Ara Kusuma.

Sartore is now 17 years into his efforts to create an “Ark” of animal photos. Portraits of more than 15,000 species invite audiences to connect and care. With the Society’s support, the images have appeared on the landmarks and postage stamps in the U. S., contributing to on-the-ground conservation efforts.

As Sartore says, “The sounds of birds are the sounds of a health y planet. When we save a bird or another species, we’re actually saving ourselves.”