Welcome to Shangri-La (香格里拉) . Although located in Yunnan, it has many old    1    (village) with a unique countryside life. The     2    (beauty) city was formerly called Zhongdian that     3    (burn) by a big fire on January 11, 2014, but it has been rebuilt quickly. It’s nice    4    (see) the locals dancing every night on the main square. Visitors can involve themselves in     5    (dance). Guests can also explore its area nearby either on foot    6    by bike. A popular place is China’s first national park, Pudacuo,    7    is home to the lakes of Napa and Shudu. Maybe you can even meet with the golden Yunnan monkeys in one of    8    villages!    9    (clear), the winter is pretty cold in Shangri-La, but for those who are not afraid    10    the cold temperature, to see the snow here is very attractive!

Floods and landslides are hard     1     (avoid). However, to protect against them, people take a variety of measures. These could include passing various     2     (law)that prohibit(禁止) cutting down trees and building houses in these areas. Measures can     3     (take)at all levels so that no one is misusing or overusing their share of resources like water and food.

Areas     4     strong winds and tornadoes frequently happen need different precautionary(预防的) measures. Tornadoes and storms can be predicted(预测) to a degree in today’s world. Once one is predicted,     5     is important not to walk out without reason. Asking the kids to stay at home is another good measure. These areas usually have     6     (strong)built houses not to be damaged by extreme conditions. However, having a basement where you can stay and wait for the storm to pass     7     (be)not a bad idea. Make sure that the basement has     8     door that takes you directly out of the house in case that the house collapses(倒塌), you can get out of the basement.

To protect against natural disasters, safety measures need to be taken by governments. Communities need to have small plans in place because     9     the happening of a disaster. And the nearest people that can help you will be those     10     (live)in your neighborhood.

We usually see baby ducks paddle in     1     straight line behind their mother in a pond. That ducks swim in a row is such a common phenomenon that it’s become an idiomatic expression. Many studies have looked at why ducklings do this.

    2     turns out that the baby ducks ride on their mom’s waves to save energy. For a long time, scientists didn’t understand why swimming in this pattern helps baby ducks save energy. A team of scientists in Scotland and China set out     3     (find) the answer. Its findings     4     (publish) earlier this year reveals ducklings save energy by staying in line behind their mother, where they can ride the waves created in her wake.

Zhiming Yuan, a naval architect, worked on the study. He made a     5     (create) computer simulation of duck waves and studied the simulation. He found when a duckling swims     6     its own, it kicks up waves causing wave drag, which makes it much     7     (hard) for the duckling swimming. However, to our     8     (amaze), when ducklings swim in their mother’s wake, the wake drag is reversed. The baby duck feels a push instead of a drag. And when ducklings line up     9     (neat) behind their mom, they share with each other. Each duckling in the line     10    (pass) its waves along to the ones behind it. So, ducks swim in a row.

Huang Shunjie might have the best job in the world. The 24-year-old is     1     panda photographer and zookeeper. Huang spends each day     2     (look) after 18 baby pandas at the Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in China. He prepares their meals, checks on their health and       3     (carry) them between their sleeping pens and their public enclosure (围场).

“I can get very close to the baby pandas,     4     makes many people jealous (忌妒的),” Huang says.

Any job       5     (certain) has downsides. In Huang’s case, it’s the regular scratches (抓伤) he gets from the 45 - to 55-pound bears. But it’s a small price to pay to spend each day with the cute pandas.

“I’m a full-time daddy for these baby pandas,” says Huang. “If I take some       6     (day) off to go home, I feel empty inside.”

For many years, giant pandas were one of the world’s most endangered creatures as construction destroyed their     7     (nature) habitat in bamboo forests.

But populations have recovered in recent years due     8     programs to help pandas breed (繁殖). Today, there     9     (be) 1,864 pandas in the wild, up from only 1, 114 in the 1970s, according to China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration. Two-thirds of     10     (they) live across 67 nature reserves.

Young Chinese are increasingly making their voices    1     (hear) and influencing world opinion as they take on more important roles in international organizations and     2    (globe) projects.

At a ceremony in Beijing in April, 2018, singer and actor Wang Junkai     3    (make) the national goodwill ambassador (大使) for the United Nations Environment Programme.

“We young people have a responsibility to protect the environment and secure our future, and I am looking forward to learning from     4     working with the UN family on key environmental issues,” Wang said in    5    (he) speech after the appointment.

“The youth are no longer merely onlookers     6     it comes to environmental action, nor should they be. I will spare no effort in doing everything I can     7    (take) care of our Earth, and I invite everyone to join me in generating a wave of positive action,” he said.

Wang Junkai, or Karry Wang, best known     8    one of the TF Boys group, is one of the leaders on environmental protection and other public welfare topics among the Chinese youth. In 2016, Wang widely shared the online Wild for Life campaign,    9     gained 400 million views. A year later, he publicly spoke out on the urgent need to protect endangered wildlife, calling the animals the “superstars of the planet.” He stresses that young generation’s     10    (participate) will help achieve the sustainable development goals.

Xi’an is the most beautiful and historical city in west China,     1    (locate) in the Central Shaanxi province, with an area of 10108 ㎡ and a population of 6.8 million. In history it was the traditional capital city of 13     2    (dynasty). Xi’an was well known       3    Chang’an before the Ming Dynasty. Now Xi’an is       4    center of politics, economy and culture of Shaanxi province. It is a city famous for its     5       (amaze) natural scene and traditional history, and if you pay a visit here, you       6    (find) that it is not only a historical     7     also a modern fashion city. Also, Xi’an now is a hot travel city,     8     has millions of historical places, like the City Wall, the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower, etc. As for food, you’ll be crazy to taste all delicious local food just here, such as Chinese Hamburger, Cool Noodles, Hot Pot and other snacks. There are many big shopping centers, department stores and supermarkets in and around Xi’an city, the    9     (big) and most comprehensive being Kai Yuan Shopping Mall and Century Ginwa Shopping Mall. If you come here, you will    10       (certain) fall in love with this charming Xi’an City, for it is always so charming.

The Yellow Crane Tower is one of the Four Great Towers of China.     1     (sit) at the top of Snake Hill, on the banks of the Yangtze River, this iconic building is one of the     2     (great) landmarks in Wuhan. There are a number of legends     3     tell how the Yellow Crane Tower came into being. One of them is the story of a wine merchant named Xin. It is believed that one day,     4     immortal being (神仙) pretended he was a poor man and got into Xin’s wine store. Xin, showing no judgement,     5     (offer) the man some free wine. The poor man came back day after day for several years and Xin always welcomed him with the same     6     (warm). One day, as the poor man left the store, he took some orange peel and drew a picture of a crane upon the wall. He said if he clapped his hands, the crane would come down from the wall and dance for him.     7     (surprise), what the poor man said was true. The dancing crane brought     8     much business to Xin that he soon became a very wealthy man. About ten years     9     (late), the immortal being came back to Xin’s store, called out the crane and left with it.     10     (honour) him and the crane, Xin built the Yellow Crane Tower.

Scientists exploring the ocean floor in Antarctica have found a larger group of fish nests than ever before. The discovery came     1     a surprise, and it will help scientists develop a more complete idea of the ocean food web in the area.

In the south Weddell Sea, not far from Antarctica’s Filchner Ice Shelf, scientists were    2     (amaze) to discover a group of about 60 million icefish nests on the ocean floor. Before this, the     3     (large) group of icefish nests that had ever been found includes less than 60 nests. Lilian Boehringer, a research student, was the first     4     (discover) the nests. “They were everywhere,” she told The New York Times.

The researchers used a special device called OFOBS to make two more four-hour “dives” ,    5     (try) to discover the limits of the nesting area. The nests scientists found were in the shape of     6     circle. Each nest held about 1,700 eggs. Usually, Weddell seals (海豹)    7     (spot) in the waters above the nesting site. Trackers     8     (fix) on some Weddell seals show that they dive all the way to the sea floor.

The team placed a camera on the sea floor before leaving,     9     will take a picture of the nests in the area     10     (two) a day for the next two years. They hope the pictures from this camera will help them learn more about the lives of the icefish.

A photography exhibition     1     (title) Blooming in the Sun is currently running at the September Art Gallery in Shenzhen and     2     (last) until September 30, 2022. The exhibition features     3     (photograph) of the Xihaigu area in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region. It is     4     largely mountainous region that     5     (identify) as the “most unfit place for human settlement” by the United Nations in 1972, due to its barren and dry land and fragile ecological environment.

The pictures on display are from four photographers—Xie Hong, Li Qiang, Hai Yang and HuGuoqing,     6     were once schoolmates majoring     7     photography at Wuhan University. They use cameras to record this remote and impoverished area from different angles,     8     (give) this place a new life. The drought brings harsh     9     (nature) conditions, but people still live     10     work here, just like the sunflowers blooming in the sun.