A Volunteer Activity Celebrating World Water Day

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a health care system in which patients     1     (treat) with natural plant, animal, and mineral remedies (药物). It is believed, for a person to be healthy,     2     yin and yang forces should be in balance. Imbalance causes illness or injury. TCM is about     3     (restore) the balance between yin and yang forces in patients. It has been a major part of traditional Chinese culture and continues to play     4     vital role in medical treatment in China today.

According to the World Health Organization, nearly 80 percent of the world’s population depends for its primary health care needs     5     , medicines from plants and animals. This is especially true in countries where traditional medicines are     6     (wide) used.

Increasingly, however, modern medicines also contain substances from animals and plants. Given growing populations, increasing wealth, and the     7     (spread) popularity of natural remedies around the world the demand for these medicines and remedies     8     (rise) now .The rising demand,     9     (combine) with reduced habitat, has put a number of plant and animal species used for medicinal purposes at risk for many years.

For instance, TCM uses about 1,000 plant and 36 animal species, including the tiger, rhinoceros (犀牛), and sea horse,     10     are all in danger.

China’s first overpass for wildlife migration has already come into use. The bridge     1     (lie) over the newly constructed National Highway 214 is able to link animal habitats which are separated     2     the road.     3     (cover) with sand-much like the surrounding land, the overpass can fit in with the environment well.

It has been about two years since the national highway     4     (begin) and it was designed with environmental protection as a top priority. A project environmental engineer for the highway said the construction of these man-made corridors (通道)     5     (base) on years of observation of wildlife migration in the region. The bridge, for example, is built according to the region’s natural conditions and with     6     purpose of reducing the highway’s effect on the animals significantly. Wildlife overpasses and underpasses assist animals       7     (safe) crossing over or under busy roadways and allow them to continue to use their customary paths,     8     would otherwise be blocked.

Those passageways,with a total     9     (long) of 59 kilometers, enable antelopes and other animals to cross the railway freely. So far, China has put great effort into achieving     10     (harmony) coexistence between human development and the protection of wildlife. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world’s highest railroad, has 33 underpasses for migrating animals.

6 . Before the year has even come to a close, climate experts are certain that 2023 will be the hottest year in recorded history.

On Dec. 6, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) — part of the European Union’s space program — revealed that this year’s average global temperatures have been 2.6 F (1.46 C) higher than temperatures in preindustrial times and 0.2 F (0.13 C) higher than January to November in 2016. These “extraordinary” temperatures mean that 2023 will be “the warmest year in recorded history,” C3S deputy director Samantha Burgess said in a statement.

The researchers note that this year’s record heat was partly caused by the latest El Nino event—a phenomenon where warmer water near the equator triggers warmer global air temperatures—that began in June. Some other experts have suggested that the January 2022 eruption of Tonga’s underwater volcano, which pumped record levels of water vapor into the atmosphere, may also be partly responsible.

Despite these factors, the major cause of climbing temperatures is global warming caused by runaway greenhouse gas emissions, which, noted in a C3S statement, have trapped more than 25 billion atomic bombs’ worth of energy in our atmosphere over the last 50 years. And still worse, the global carbon emissions have reached a new high this year, according to scientists at the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28) On Dec 4.

The effects of global warming are becoming more obvious. In 2023, research revealed that climate change is causing major US cities to sink and more than half of the world’s largest lakes and reservoirs to shrink. Studies also predicted that the Gulf Stream, which plays a vital role in ocean circulation, could collapse by as early as 2025, and that rising sea levels could swamp the US coastline by 2050.

However, scientists say that we still have time to prevent further disaster. Leading climate change expert Michael Mann, from the University of Pennsylvania, recently wrote that “we can still stop the worst effects of climate change” if we stop emitting greenhouse gases as soon as possible.

8 . Milo is a dog, adopted by 20-year-old Makayla Swift from an animal shelter. One morning in November 2021, Swift opened her front door in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Milo immediately ________ to the house across the street. Milo seemed ________, so he ran to the one next door, Swift on his tail. “He started scratching (抓) the front door,” Swift says. “I’m thinking, why is he insistently trying to ________ her house?” She was embarrassed for not everyone wants a(n) ________ dog to leave marks on their property. But as she tried to drag Milo away, she could hear a voice yelling “help” coming through an open upstairs window. Hours ________, around 4 a.m., Sherry Starr had risen from her bed. “All of a sudden, standing there between the toilet and the tub, I ________,” she says. “I slumped on the floor.” Starr is 85. “I could not move at all”, says Starr, who was ________ between the toilet and the tub. Starr was scared and thought she was going to die there. Her best ________, she decided, was to listen for the letter carrier in the afternoon and scream. For the next few hours, Starr practiced yelling: “Help! Help! Helllp!” “Her voice was very ________,” says Swift. “You had to be right at the front door to hear Mrs. Starr yell for help ________ you were Milo, the dog.” It ________ heard Starr the instant Swift opened her own front door. Swift called 911. Rescuers thought they’d have to break down the toilet to ________ Starr, but they gave one last pull — and out she popped. Though injured, Starr ________ a trip to the hospital.

Swift has known her share of ________ for living alone. Two years ago, her mother died. She says Milo has helped her with her grief too. “That dog is a ________,” she says.