An Italian town will pay people hundreds of euros(欧元) per year if they cycle to work instead of    1    (drive) their cars. The government will pay    2    (cycle)25 cents per kilometre, up to a monthly limit of 50 euros. That means commuters(通勤者)who switch to two wheels could pocket up to 600 euros in a year. It is said to be the first such plan in Italy.

Fifty workers will be included in a 12-month trial, which will use a smart phone app to record the    3    (distant) travelled each day. The plan is being supported from fines    4    (collect) from traffic tickets in the town,    5    by law have to be spent on road safety.

The plan will encourage citizens    6    (make)sure the area becomes more liveable. It will     7    (natural )mean less traffic on the streets and more health benefits. A bicycle organization which helped to develop the idea, says it hopes that other towns will now follow the lead.

A similar plan    8    (introduce)in France in 2014, with mixed results. A six-month trial found that paying people to cycle to work did increase the numbers doing so, but the    9    (major) had been using public transport, rather than private vehicles.    10    those making the move from cars to bicycles, most had already been carpooling (拼车). Private cars remained crowded in the Streets

The Silk Road was a route that connected people from the East to West for hundreds of years and allowed     1    (they) to trade valuable goods with each other. But there’ s more to the story. The Silk Road should     2    (real) be called the Silk Roads. The Silk Road,    3    started in China, went west and branched out into many routes.

The Silk Road has been around for nearly 3,000 years. Most people know that valuable goods traveled along the route: silk and spices from China; jewels and wood from India; gold and animals from East Africa. These goods     4    (trade) in cities along the route or ended up as far west     5     Europe.

But the people     6    (travel) along the Silk Road were carrying something far     7    (valuable) than their goods. They were carrying ideas and technology. European travelers returned home with stories of huge Chinese ships they had seen. The compass is an example of a(n)     8    (invent) that came west from China. Europeans learned from Korean maps, which were advanced for the 1400s.

    9     was the 11,000 km Silk Road that shaped the world we know today. The many routes were a way for different people     10     (meet) each other and talk about the developing world.

Sudan is the only male northern white rhino (犀牛) left in the world. That     1     (mean) Sudan, 42, is the last hope for avoiding extinction.     2     (protect) him, officials have placed him under 24-hour armed guard at the OI Pejeta Conservancy in central Kenya. Sudan lives there     3     two female northern white rhinos, Fatu and Najin.

Northern white rhinos,     4     can weigh up to 5,000 pounds, were once plentiful across northern and central Africa.     5     (hunter) have killed thousands of rhinos because of     6     high demand for the animals，horns (角). Rhino horns, believed to have medical effects, are used in     7     (tradition) Asian medicines. More than 1,000 rhinos     8     (kill) in 2014 in South Africa alone and fifty-four rhinos in Kenya, which has a much     9     (small) population.

Sudan, Fatu, and Najin have had their horns     10     (remove) so that they will not be hunted. People hope Sudan and one of the females will be able to have a baby. Sudan is very old, but scientists will not give up hope.

Think about the different ways that people use the wind. You can use it to fly a kite     1     to sail a boat Wind is one of our cleanest and     2     (rich) power sources, as well as one of the oldest. Evidence shows that windmills (风车)     3     (begin) to be used in ancient Iran back in     4     seventh century BC. They were first     5     (introduce) to Europe during the 1100s, when armies returned from the Middle East with knowledge of     6     (use) wind power.

For many     7     (century), people used windmills to grind (磨碎) wheat into flour or pump water from deep underground.     8     electricity was discovered in the late 1800s, people living in remote areas began to use     9     (they) to produce electricity. This allowed them to have electric lights and radio. Today, there is a     10     (globe) movement to supply more and more of our electricity through the use of wind.

Last Friday a storm swept through two villages in the New Territories,    1    (destroy) fourteen homes. Seven others were so badly damaged    2    their owners had to leave them, and fifteen others had broken windows or roofs. One person was killed, several were    3    (serious) hurt and taken to hospital,and a number of other people received smaller hurt. Altogether over two hundred people were homeless after the storm.

A farmer,Mr.Tan,said that the storm began early    4    the morning and lasted for over an hour.

“I    5    (eat) with my wife and children,” he said, “when we heard a loud noise. A few minutes later our house fell down on top of us.We tried our best    6    (climb) out but then I saw that one of my children was    7    (miss). I went back inside and found him, safe    8    very frightened.”

Mrs.Woo Mei Fong said that her husband had just left for work when she    9    (feel) that her house was moving. She ran outside at once with her children.

Soldiers helped to take people out of the flooded area and the welfare department brought    10    (they) food, clothes and shelter.

As the effects of global warming, rising seas and natural disasters become more serious     1     before, some local communities are taking action. Among them is one community in Florida     2     local people and government officials are proving successful in protecting     3     (coast) cities from the dangers of rising sea levels.

The community has studied how much sea levels will rise and has suggested     4     (way) to address the problem. It has persuaded the state government     5     (ban) new developments on land near the coastline and recommended building sand dunes (沙丘) along beaches. Kristin Jacobs, one of the group’s founders, decided to take action in 2008 after it became     6     (gradual) clear that her state’s 27 water authorities couldn’t agree on joint (联合的) action.

While some Florida government officials doubt whether the climate will become hotter or     7     (cold), the people     8     (live) in these locations are certain of the need to protect their communities.

At present, coming up with ways to fight against the effects of climate change under an limited budget     9     (be) a pressing concern. Only time will tell whether these coastal communities will succeed in     10     end.

Wuzhen is a typical ancient town in southern China.     1     (lie) in the northern part of Tongxiang City, Zhejiang Province, it can be easily accessed (到达) through a number of expressways. On a recent business trip to Shanghai, a local friend     2     (invite) me to Wuzhen.

It was 9: 00 am when we arrived there. With its houses made     3     black bricks and gray tiles (瓦) against the white walls, the small town is like a     4     (tradition) Chinese ink and wash painting. Wandering along the riverside, you will be     5     (deep) impressed by the great view and slow lifestyle. At lunchtime, I     6     (treat) to the steamed white fish, a well-known dish served at most     7     (restaurant) in Wuzhen. It tasted so good. But I think it is the mix of culture and food that makes it so outstanding. After lunch, we continued our walk, enjoying the sights and learning about its history, a history     8     is full of good stories and unique characters.

It's really fortunate for anybody     9     (explore) such a beautiful place. We hope there will be     10     second chance to visit this wonderful town!

Hoh Xil or Kekexili is the world’s third     1     (large) uninhabited (无人居住的) area. Many examples of wildlife can     2     (find) in the remote area of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. The view of mountains, glaciers and lakes here     3     (make) it a good place in terms of natural beauty.

At the 41st session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee     4     (hold) in Poland, Hoh Xil was approved    5    a new world heritage site, becoming the 51st world heritage site in China. It is home to more than 230 species of wildlife,    6     (include) the endangered Tibetan antelope. The illegal hunting of Tibet antelope used to be     7     serious problem in the 1990s. The wool of Tibetan antelopes, soft and warm, can be obtained without hurting the animals. But poachers (盗猎者) would choose simply    8     (kill) them before taking the wool,    9     caused the number of Tibetan antelopes to drop rapidly. The struggle to stop illegal hunting was described in the 2004 film Kekexili: Mountain Patrol.

Now that Hoh Xil has made it onto the UNESCO list, it’s believed that the     10     (protect) of the region’s wild animals and special ecosystem will be more effective.

Sandstorms have been a major disaster for many Asian countries for centuries. Scientists have tried many ways     1    (solve) this problem and in China, a mass campaign has been started to solve it.

Sandstorms are strong, dry winds that carry sand. They are often so thick     2         you can’t see the sun, and the wind is sometimes strong enough to move sand dunes. It was the most     3    (frighten) and the most dangerous situation to have been     4         (catch) in a sandstorm.

Northwest China is part of the sandstorm center in Central Asia.     5    (sandstorm) in China appear to have increased in recent years as a result     6    “desertification”.

Sandstorms sometimes affect Beijing. Citizens wake up to an orange sky and strong winds     7     cover the city in a thick, brown yellow dust. The storms sometimes continue all day and traffic moves very slowly because the thick dust makes     8         difficult to see.

The Chinese Central Weather Station can forecast a sandstorm some weeks before it arrives in Beijing, but the     9    (strong) of the storm sometimes surprises people.

The desert is only 250 kilometers away to the west of Beijing. In order to prevent it       10    (come) nearer, the government has planted more than 30 billion trees and plans to continue planting for the next five years.

Do you have a pet?    1    you do, congratulations, you are likely to have a     2     (good) mental state than those who don’t, reported Time magazine

According to the report, people with pets usually have lower blood pressure, a lower heart   rate and a lower risk of     3     (have) a heart attack. These benefits may come from extra exercise of walking and playing with pets, and stress relief for having a good “friend”.

One study shows that     4     (pet) living creatures can help people with     5     (anxious), while animal toys have no effect at all.

In a 2016 study     6     (publish) in the journal Gerontology,elderly people    7     were given five crickets (蟋蟀）in a cage became happier than before.

Other researches studied the effect of pets     8     children who have difficulty reading. When the children     9     (ask) to read aloud to a dog and     10     trainer they were less upset.