Wang Xin, a marketing manager based in Shanghai, paid special attention to the carbon consumption figures shown on a flight booking platform. “When booking a flight, I will first check the flights     1     meet my time requirements. If multiple flights within the time range are approximately the same price, I will     2     (definite) choose the one with     3     (little) carbon consumption.” Wang says.

Business travelers like Wang have shown a     4     (prefer) for trips that leave a smaller carbon footprint, according to a recent report. More than 60 percent of its business customers have options     5     low-carbon travel products. “The low-carbon travel trend began in 2022 when we launched flight carbon emission data, which has been recognized by     6     increasing number of business clients,” says Zha Jun, an official with the travel management division.

Afterwards, the carbon emission data of hotels, trains and cars     7     (add) up to now. Business travelers have been encouraged to use new energy vehicles and save electricity and water at hotels, as well as food on flights. Those     8     (choose) low-carbon travel products can also get rewards, such as air miles and credits that can be used     9     (reduce) future travel costs.

According to the US-headquartered Global Business Travel Association, 25 percent of companies worldwide consider carbon footprint and sustainability important in business travel. Among     10     (they), 35 percent have carried out sustainable policies.

Every Lunar New Year, China introduces a zodiac(生肖) sign from a cycle of 12 lucky animals. This year, it’s the Year of the Dragon, or more     1     (accurate), ”the Year of the Loong”. Then what’s the difference?

The Western     2     (describe) of dragons as “fire-breathing winged creatures” was inspired by literature such as Beowulf - the Old English epic about a Scandinavian hero     3    contribution was killing monsters, including a dragon. Greek fairy tales also presented dragons    4    violent sea monsters or guards of valuable     5     (possession). By contrast, “loong”, a word    6     (create) in the 19th century, reminds people of strength and fortune, and should    7     (distinguish) from its Western cousin. In Shiji,     8    2, 000-year-old Chinese history book, the emperor’s mother dreamed of a dragon lying on her body,     9     (predict) the birth of a future emperor. Exactly for this reason, Chinese people proudly claim they are “descendants of the Loong” .

Therefore, some culture experts have been calling for a switch to ”loong”     10     (tell) the Chinese dragon from the frightening monsters of Western tales. The call is also in line with the push for cultural confidence to choose the preferred translation of the Mandarin word for a creature long respected in Chinese culture.

Under the influence of the recent EL Nino,     1     is reported that the average global temperature in 2023 has set the record, making it the warmest year since 1850. The temperatures in most     2     (region) of China from this winter to next spring will be above the long-term average. This winter the     3     (combine) of EL Nino and global warming raised the chances of natural disasters     4     (cause) by extreme weather. The EL Nino is predicted to cause the sea surface temperature to reach its     5     (high) point between November 2023 and January 2024. EL Nino is     6     naturally occurring climate phenomenon that starts with unusually warm surface water in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, which then goes on to affect the weather worldwide. On average, it     7     (occur) every two to seven years, and one episode     8     (typical) lasts nine to twelve months. Since May, an EL Nino system has heated the atmosphere in the tropical Pacific,     9     (lead) to a rise in global temperatures. Research indicates that a mild EL Nino event can increase the global annual average surface temperature     10     about 0. 1℃, even 0. 22℃.

In ancient times, all roads     1     (lead) from the outside to Sichuan were referred to as the Shu Path, including those from Shaanxi and Gansu.

Surrounded by mountains, Sichuan, called Shu in ancient times, was known for its inaccessibility. That became widely known partly due to a line from Chinese poet Li Bai,     2     reads “Traveling on the Shu Path is as difficult as climbing to heaven”. The most famous section of the Shu Path is about 600 kilometers long. It starts at Chengdu, and then passes Deyang and Guangyuan in Sichuan before ending in Hanzhong in Shaanxi. The     3     (construct) of the section started around 316 BC. It was on such     4     (danger) mountains that Li Bai was inspired     5     (mention) it.

When builders approached the Mingyue Gorge in Guangyuan, they found     6     impossible to continue because of high cliffs (悬崖). So they dug three levels of holes in the rock, and put in wooden beams. The upper beams were     7     (complete) covered by planks (木板) to form a road for people to walk on. The plank road     8     (rebuild) many times during wars. Now part of it has been restored to allow visitors to admire the man-made wonder.

The Sword Gate Pass, a towering V-shaped mountain pass—the one that gave rise     9     a household idiom, “One man at the pass keeps 10,000 men at bay”—witnessed countless battles during the Three Kingdoms and     10     (be) a tourist attraction now in the Guangyuan section of the Shu Path.

Could the Moon Help Fuel the Earth?

Fossil fuels have been powering the earth for over 200 years, but reserves of coal, crude oil (原油) and natural gas may run out one day.

The long-term solution may lie nearly half of a million kilometers away on the moon. It contains large quantities of helium-3 (氦-3), a form of gas that could     1     (potential) be extracted (提炼), brought back to the earth and used as fuel without damaging the environment.

“The real     2     (attract) of helium-3 is that it is a nuclear process,     3     doesn’t release any greenhouse gases,” said     4     engineering professor. “That would be the     5     (big) advantage-nuclear power without nuclear waste, and it would be a goal for the earth.”

Present on the earth in small quantities, helium-3     6     (use) in medical diagnostics (医学诊断), but it is yet to be used as a source of energy. However, there are large enough quantities of helium-3 on the moon to power the earth for a thousand of years or so and provide the earth     7     all of the energy.

But     8     (bring) helium-3 back to the earth is a complex process. The gas,     9     (find) in the moon’s soil, would need to be heated to 600℃ before being extracted and transported back to be turned into fuel in nuclear power     10     (plant). Even so, the project is beginning to interest some of the world’s leading nations in the environmental and economic potential of helium-3.

Known for its beautiful scenery, Mount Wuyi is the only place in the country     1     is home to Wuyi rock tea.

With tea farming dating back over 1,000 years, the mountain’s tea industry has a rich history. The area     2     (provide) tea for people at home and abroad since the first century CE, and in the     3     (eighteen) century, Wuyi rock tea was the most popular tea in Europe. However, its     4     (popular) was gained at the cost of the local environment. Illegal land reclamation (开垦) of tea mountains and the destruction (破坏) of plant resources have occurred frequently,     5     (damage) the environment in the area around Mount Wuyi.

The need to strike a balance between farmers’ livelihoods and the local environment has appeared as     6     unique challenge for the Wuyishan National Park, which covers 1,280 square kilometers as it straddles (横跨) the eastern provinces of Fujian and Jiangxi.     7     (found) in 2021, it was among the first batch of China’s national parks.

The park has a tea farming area of 34.54 square kilometers, accounting     8     2.7 percent of its total expanse. The     9     (authority) have cooperated with tea experts to develop measures for the protection and improvement of the Mount Wuyi tea industry and biodiversity, ensuring the sector’s sustainability for generations     10     (come).

Thirteen Chinese scientists successfully reached the peak of Mount Qomolangma on May 23rd in Southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, with the world’s highest automatic meteorological station successfully     1     (improve). The scientists reached the peak at around 12:30 p.m. on May 23rd,     2     was the second time a Chinese expedition to Mount Qomolangma reached an altitude above 8,000 meters since 2022.

Recently, several leading technologies     3     (apply) in China’s Peak Mission expedition by a total of 170 scientists who     4     (be) conducting research on water, ecology and other activities during the 2023 expedition to Mount Qomolangma as part of the second comprehensive     5     (science) expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

At 3 a.m on May 23rd, a group of 13 scientists     6     (form) the expedition team set off from the 8,300-meter high camp at Mount Qomolangma, known as Mount Everest in the West. After     7     8-hour climb, they reached the world’s highest automatic weather observation station at 8,830 meters above sea level around 11 a.m. The team secured fixed steel ropes, replaced batteries, installed a wind speed     8     direction sensor at the station. After     9     (approximate) one hour of work, the scientists successfully completed the maintenance and upgrade of the automatic weather station.

Currently, automated weather     10     (station) at 7,790 meters and 8,300 meters on Mount Qomolangma have completed their technical upgrades.