The plum tree (梅树) is native to China, mainly growing in Suzhou, Shanghai and Hangzhou, with the biggest plum garden in Wuxi. The plum tree     1     (normal) flowers in late winter during January and February when the land is pale in color. It is regarded as one of the Three Friends of Winter along     2     the bamboo and the pine tree (松树). Because its flowers emerge before its leaves and     3     takes a long time to come into flower, the tree, often shown with a crane (仙鹤),     4     (link) with long life. The plum tree can grow to 4-10 meters tall and its flowers in bright colors of red, pink and yellow have a refreshing smell. The plum flower has long been recommended as one of China’s     5     (nation) flowers, the symbol of strength and humbleness with the courage     6     (stand) against the undesirable trends. And above all, it is a messenger (报信者) for spring and     7     (bring) hope for a better season ahead.

The Daoist philosopher Laozi is said to have been born beneath a plum tree,     8    has been a popular subject for poetry for     9     (century). The Song poet Lin Bu is said to have spent his spare time     10     (feed) cranes and planting plum trees near West Lake in Hangzhou.

Many people believe that cotton is never     1     (bad) than plastic. It takes hundreds of years     2     plastic to break down. But cotton bags are providing a way for supermarkets to show a planet-friendly attitude.     3    , it turns out that cotton bags have created a new problem. Only if an organic cotton bag is used 20, 000 times can it balance out the impact of     4     (it) producing process, according to a study. And most dyes used     5     (print) logos onto them contain PVC,     6     makes the bags not recyclable.     7     (fortunate), some brands are turning to other     8     (strategy). British designer Anya made     9     extraordinary bag by herself. It is made from recycled water bottles. We hope more and more recyclable bags     10     (invent) in the near future.

Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, is the economic and     1     (culture) center of southwest China. It is linked by rail with all of China's major cities. Its rail link with Hanoi(河内)     2     (establish) in 1901.

Kunming's mild climate makes it a good place     3     (visit) any time of the year.    4     it can be hot and humid in summer, it has cool, dry winters. The climate here is great for flowers, with more than 400 varieties     5     (plant) here. The camellia (山茶花)is the city's official flower. The city is also known for     6     (it) green parks, such as Cuihu (Green Lake) Park with its waterways and winding paths. Younger     7     (travel) may enjoy a visit to Daguan Park because of its food stalls.

In addition to its own charms, Kunming serves as a base from    8     people can explore the culture of ethnic groups in the area. The most well-known are the Dai, Bai and Naxi. People can also visit the Yunnan Stone Forest, which has been known     9     the "first wonder of the world" since the Ming Dynasty. Located 120 km (75 miles) from Kunming, the stone forest     10     (feature) awesome rock formations.

According to a new report by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), the deadly heat waves, floods     1     droughts are disturbing the     2     (life) of thousands of people from the American West to southern Europe and central China. And they will be likely only to get     3     (bad) as global temperatures continue to rise. “So far, all regions of the world     4     (affect) by some extremes,” says Sonia Seneviratne, an environmental     5     (science). “We can link extreme weather to climate change in     6     same way we can link cancer to smoking,” says Friederike Otto, one of the report’s authors. And, like smoking, the damage is hard     7     (disappear), Otto says. The most important thing, experts say, is to make sure these events don’t grow even more common and intense     8     they are now. “I feel     9     (strong) that the public needs to know that dangerous climate change is here and now,” says Michael Wehner, an extreme weather researcher. To limit global warming to just 2℃, Wehner says, “It’s my feeling that we would have to do something rather extreme.” Something extreme, he adds, means completely     10     (get) rid of consumption of coal, oil, and natural gas.

Global warming refers to the fact that the earth's atmosphere is warming near     1     (it) surface — in other words, it's getting hotter. Some scientists say it is human activity     2     has caused global warming. However, there are other theories as well.

One popular theory relates to the “greenhouse effect”. Gases that make up the atmosphere are similar to     3     greenhouse because they allow sunlight     4     (pass) through, and then trap much of the heat from     5     (escape). This naturally occurring phenomenon,     6     is called greenhouse warming, keeps the earth's surface     7     (warm) than it would be.

While scientists agree that human-produced compounds (化合物) like carbon dioxide and others are being released into the atmosphere, some argue it's not clear how this results     8     the changes in temperature.

Global warming can     9     (great) affect human life on many levels. Scientists have made great     10     (contribute) to finding out how long the earth has been warming, at what rate it is warming, and what factors are causing it. These answers may better prepare people to handle its effects.

The topic of this programme is environmental     1    (protect). We human beings     2    (do) a lot of things at the cost of the environment to develop economy quickly in the past few years. I do think it is time for us to understand     3     importance of protecting the environment and do something about it. Today I would like     4    (introduce) some simple but useful ways that we can follow     5     (easy) in our daily life. Firstly, turn off lights if it is unnecessary. Then, go out     6     environment﹣friendly ways such as by bus, by subway or by bike. We can even walk to work when possible,     7     is really helpful for both of our budget and health. Thirdly, take a cloth bag when we go     8    (shop). Please don't use plastic ones. Of course the public should raise environmental awareness and realize     9     is our duty to protect the environment. Last but not least, the government should make laws to guide people's     10     (behave).

A male elephant that broke away from the wandering elephant pack     1    ( send) back to its forest home on Wednesday in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province, local authorities said.

Yuxi City headquarters in charge of monitoring the pack's migration (迁徙) took the     2     (decide) early Wednesday morning     3     ( prevent) the lone animal from entering heavily populated areas. At 3 p. m.，the elephant was caught and returned to the nature reserve. The animal appeared     4     (health) and did not suffer from any injuries.

The pack of 15 wandering wild Asian elephants travelled about 500 kilometers north from their forest home. The male elephant separated from the pack on June 6, and moved around in the     5     (city) of Kunming, Anning and Yuxi, with an activity area of 140 square kilometers and a walking distance of 190 kilometers. It had relied mainly on     6     was provided by the locals. The     7    (remain) 14 elephants have been moving southward recently but are still far from the reserve.

Asian elephants are     8     A-level state protection in China, where they are     9     (most) found in Yunnan. Thanks to determined protection efforts in recent decades, the wild elephant population in     10     province has grown to about 300, from 193 in the 1980s.

As we all know, the pollution of air, water and soil are the most serious problems. The     1     (pollute) air, which causes diseases and deaths, does great harm     2     people’s health. What’s more, vegetation (植被) has been greatly reduced with the rapid     3     (develop) of the modern city.     4     (protect)the environment, governments of many countries have done a lot. In the past few years, legislative (立法的) steps     5     (introduce) to control air pollution. Governments are playing the most important role in     6     (environment) protection today. In my opinion, the government must take even more concrete measures. First, it should let people fully realize     7     importance of environment through education. Second, much more efforts should be made to put the population planning policy into effect, because more people means more pollution. Finally, those     8     destroy the environment intentionally (有意地) should be     9     (severe) punished. Everyone should be aware that     10     (destroy) environment means destroying mankind themselves.

Leafcutter ants     1     (consider) an advanced species of ant. While most ant species are made up     2     three types of ants —the queen, workers and males. Leafcutter ants have     3     many as five, since worker ants are     4     (far) divided into different groups according to their sizes. There     5     (be)medium-sized leaf-collecting and leaf-cutting ants, tiny gardening ants and massive soldier ants. Different ants show different features that make     6     (they) do specific jobs. Soldier ants, for example,     7     role is to protect the nest(蚁穴), are about 300 times the size of their gardening sisters. Their jaws are strong enough     8     (cut) leather. A single nest may be home to millions of ants and contain a thousand     9    (room). Not all ants are environmentally     10    (friend) farmers like leafcutter ants.

May 15 (UPI)—China landed a rover (火星车) on the surface of Mars for     1     first time on Saturday, the China     2     (nation) Space Administration announced.

The Tianwen-1 orbiter launched from the island province of Hainan     3     July 23 and entered Mars orbit in February. The rover, Zhurong,     4     is named after the Chinese god of fire, set down on the red planet on Saturday morning.

China is the second country after the United States     5     (place) a rover on the surface of Mars. The former Soviet Union landed a probe on Mars in 1971, but lost contact immediately.

The rover descended (下降) from the orbiter via entry capsule,     6     (lower) by parachute before jettisoning (投弃) its outer shield and using a retrorocket (反向火箭) to land. Geng Yan, with the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center at the CNSA, said the rover’s descent took about 9 minutes and     7     (perform) autonomously.

“Each step had only one chance, and the actions were     8     (close) linked. If there had been any flaw, the landing     9     (fail),” he told state-run media Xinhua.

The rover will spend three months searching for     10     (sign) of water and ice on Mars.