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).

The red panda, also called red cat-bear, has soft and thick fur with a red-brown stripe (条纹) from each eye to the corners of the mouth. Its body     1     (long) is about 50—65cm and its front legs are slightly     2     (short) than the back legs, which gives it a bit of a waddle (摇晃) when it walks.

The red panda lives in an area     3     rocks and trees can be found. It seems to do most of its feeding on the ground. It is gentle and can easily     4     (keep) in the zoo.

About two     5     (three) of the red panda’s diet is made up of bamboo. Red pandas do a lot of eating so providing plenty of food is important. There must be plenty of trees for them     6     (climb) and sleep too.

The red panda can live together     7     (peace) with other pandas. Most of their activity happens at night, during sunrise or sunset.

Now red pandas are     8     danger. Their main threat (威胁) is the disappearance of the forests and habitat loss. These     9     (animal) are also illegally hunted, and the number of them     10     (drop) by 50% in the past forty years.

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.

With thousands of fishing lights blanketing its surface, Erhai Lake in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China’s Yunnan Province,     1     (offer) a splendid night view since the annual ecological regulation of fish populations in Erhai Lake began on August 21.

As darkness falls each night, fishing boats travel across the lake and fishing lights     2     (gradual) cover the lake with fishing nets stretching across the water. In videos made with time-lapse (延时拍摄的) photography, stars in the night sky appear to fall into Erhai Lake,     3     (create) a fantastical and dreamlike shape of incredible beauty.

The 2023 ecological regulation of fish populations in Erhai Lake aims to completely     4     (strength) biodiversity protection, taking full advantage     5     the structure of fish populations and effectively guarding against and controlling dangerous alien species.

Based on various fish     6     (type) , this year’s regulation efforts are divided into three stages across the lake’s waters, the core protected areas of the Cangshan Erhai National Nature Reserve not     7     (include) .

The first stage     8     (schedule) to last from August 21 to September 20, with a focus on the sharpbelly and other species of small-sized fish.     9     number of families applying for and receiving ecological regulation permits reached as many as 590, with     10     they could enter the lake to conduct fishing activities during the permitted periods.