The Alaska earthquake of March 27, 1964 was one of the biggest     1     (disaster) in the earth science. As it was a holiday, many people were at home. Everything was going on as usual     2     people’s houses     3     (shake). Buildings     4     (crack) and water pipes burst. It lasted more than four minutes and many people were buried under the     5     (ruin), who waited for rescue workers to come     6     their rescue. The earthquake left people    7    shock and destroyed many towns and a great number of people suffered     8     the disaster. However, they all did everything in their power     9     (rebuild) the city.

For generations, Babusha,     1     is on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert, was troubled by sandstorms that frequently buried farmland, often leaving nothing to harvest.

Today, the desert’s southward spread has been stopped thanks to a green belt ten kilometers in     2     (long) and eight kilometers in width,     3     (plant) by Guo Wangang and his colleagues.

Guo’s father was one of the six men who first began planting trees in Babusha     4     (prevent) their land from being buried in 1981. When he     5     (force) to stop in 1983 due to poor health, Guo quit his job in the city and followed in his father’s rootsteps because he didn’t want to see the trees die. A deadly sandstorm in 1993 which claimed 23 students’     6     (life) firmed his resolve, turning Guo into     7     stubborn soldier, unwilling to give up the fight. “I asked     8     (I) that if we couldn’t protect our farmland or our children, how were we supposed to keep going?” Guo recalled. “That’s when I made up my mind to devote my life to this fight.”

Year after year, Guo and his colleagues have continued to plant trees each spring and fall,     9     (watch) out for fire and pruning (修剪) them in the winter. The vegetation coverage rate in Babusha has increased     10     less than 3 percent to 70 percent and the desert no longer moves further south.

There are     1     (vary) causes of water pollution. Large amounts of industrial waste poison the water after they enter water bodies. Moreover, animal and human waste pollutes the water. Water pollution is also caused by     2     (poison) chemicals used in agriculture.

    3     (pollute) water bodies not only do harm to animals and plants; they also have a long-lasting effect     4     humans. For example, in many parts of the world, the poor quality of the local     5     (drink) water gives rise     6     public health problems.

    7     (prevent) further damage     8     water bodies, it is necessary to take some measures. First, we must draw public attention     9    the problem. Second, more strict laws should    10     (pass) to help reduce water pollution. Third, we can volunteer to take part in clean-up activities.

Researchers have been applying artificial intelligence (AI)to monitor biodiversity and enhance efforts to protect some species from     1     (threaten). Unlike conventional methods, AI has the capacity     2     (analyze)massive amounts of data effectively.

Species are disappearing     3     a rate much faster than that millions of years ago, with up to one million species on the edge of     4     (extinct). In response, the United Nations set a goal in 2020 to safeguard at least 30%of Earth’s land and oceans. “Al is imperfect     5     could promote important discoveries.” says Nicolas Miailhe, Paris-based founder of the Future Society, an international non-profit organization     6     aims to better govern AI. “We badly need human practitioners to design models and interpret data. ”

Besides monitoring biodiversity in real time, AI can also be used to model the impacts of human activities on an ecosystem. Although it     7     (document) that human activities have resulted in biodiversity loss, little is known about which environmental factors have       8       (large) impact.

“Long-term statistics will play     9     essential role in connecting changes in biodiversity with environmental changes. ”says Luisa Orsini, who     10       (study) evolutionary bio-systems at the University of Birmingham, UK.

July 2023 was the world’s warmest month on record, with heat waves spreading across North America, Asia and Europe. How to cool the planet     1    (trouble) scientists in the last decades. They are now turning     2     sun-blocking technology, which refers to reflecting sunlight back into space to keep down the temperature of the     3    (planet) climate.

According to Euro news, a European television news network, one idea     4    (involve) pumping sun-blocking particles (粒子) into the upper atmosphere. The particles will then stay in the air and redirect sunshine back upwards. It is like     5    (apply) sunscreen on the outside of Earth. Another very     6    (promise) technique is called “cloud brightening”. This method includes sending sea salt particles into clouds above the sea, making     7    (they) whiter and thus reflect more sunlight back into space.

However, following the report,     8     open letter by more than 60 scientists called for caution and more research first. Kristen Rasmussen, a climate scientist at Colorado State University, US, has been studying     9     these sun-blocking methods will affect rainfall patterns. She said that apart from rainfall, ecosystems and even human     10    (community) will also be affected. “We need to be very cautious on this,” Rasmussen told Scientific American.

Marrakech (马拉喀什) is the fourth largest city in Morocco and has a rich architectural heritage. However, an earthquake in September caused serious damage     1     some of them in the city.

The Medina district, the old cultural center of Marrakech, was one of them.     2     (add) to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1985, the district is enclosed by 900-year-old walls built of red sandstone that once     3     (defend) the city against danger. However, large parts of these walls were damaged in the earthquake and long sections now show deep cracks     4     other parts have collapsed.

Apart from ancient walls, Morocco World News reported that the city’s Kharbouch Mosque (清真寺) was almost     5     (entire) destroyed. Before the earthquake, it was a cultural center for the city     6     dancers and storytellers performed. A local resident     7     (tell) The New Arab that the mosque dates back to the 17th century.

After visiting Marrakech     8     (follow) the destruction, Eric Falt, an officer at UNESCO, stressed that it was necessary to immediately plan for the     9     (construct) of damaged cultural assets (资产). The earthquake’s impact on Marrakech’s cultural heritage     10     (expect) to be a long-term challenge that will require careful restoration efforts, noted Morocco World News.

China will release the world’s first high-fidelity (高保真) virtual giant panda and a metaverse-like(类似宇宙的) world     1     it will live, China’s forestry and grassland authority announced. The digital giant panda will be able to interact with humans after     2    (give) Al life in this metaverse-like world.

The details of the giant panda’s bones, muscles, skin, hair and facial features will be created with millimeter-level precision. After it goes online, the public can immerse     3    (they) in the habitat with their mobile phones to learn about the living habits and environment of the pandas.

The digital project     4    (aim) at telling the stories of flagship species at China’s national parks including giant pandas, golden snub-nosed monkeys, Asian elephants and Siberian tigers, and it is also a creative way     5    (show) the world China’s efforts in bio-diversity.

    6     this, Al has also been successfully used elsewhere. It has been used to     7    (automatic) identify and analyze the tracks of snow leopards from 100,000 photos taken every three months in national parks, increasing the     8    (accurate) of identification to 98 percent and     9    (strength) the efficiency of protection measures.

The National Forestry and Grassland Administration has also introduced VR solutions, which make visiting China’s Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park on people’s phones     10     reality.

When garden designer Jane Gates moved to the Sussex countryside in 2015, she fell in love with a traditional black barn conversion(改建的房屋), and set about creating a droughts-resistant garden around it.     1    she didn’t know was just how quickly her garden would become relevant to today’s changing climate.

Over the years, Gates       2    (experiment) with plants that suit this dry and hot place and made some interesting     3    (discover). Surprisingly, some plants, known for loving water, have proved    4    (adapt) to drought. Others have struggled. However, many plants specifically     5    (choose) for drought tolerance have enjoyed the heat.

Gates’ garden is a big gravel(砾石)one.       6    occasion she stands by the floor-to-ceiling windows and enjoys the scene. Gravel     7    (use)as a layer(层)for the plants to grow through, joining the paths with the planting. The feeling is of a relaxing, natural-looking space, with the light colour of the gravel    8    (compare) beautifully with the black of the barn. Gates recommends gravel as a cover on the top for    9    reason that it locks water in the soil below in summer, while keeping it away from plants in winter, which can damage them. This helps some plants do a bit    10    (well) in adapting to climate extremes.

Nature inspired us to figure out ways to solve the problems we faced. Birds inspired us to fly, beavers gave us ideas on how to build dams (大坝) and even tiny white ants demonstrated building ideas that we could use. By means of     1    (study) the workings of wildlife, we've come up     2     some pretty brilliant inventions. Here' re some examples to inspire students to explore their own ideas.

Bats (蝙蝠) can use     3    (they) mouths and ears to identify high-frequency sound waves, allowing them to avoid barriers and catch insects in the air. They do this by making sounds     4     can be reflected off a surface in a process     5    (call) echolocation. It is no big surprise that researchers are working on ways that poor-sighted people can use a system like echolocation.

Spider (蜘蛛) silk is one of the strongest materials in nature, believed to be five times     6    (strong) than steel. But unlike steel, spider silk is both flexible     7     lightweight. Scientists recently created a new type of medical tape based on the features of spider silk.

Even plants can inspire invention.     8     electrical engineer named George de Mestral noticed that burrs from burdockplants (牛蒡植物的芒刺) stuck fast to his unfortunate hunting dog. From that bit of inspiration, he invented Velcro, one of the most     9    (wide) used fastening systems in human history.

Students should     10    (encourage) to study the characteristics of a plant or animal and see what inventions or ideas they can design.

Located in Shiyan, central China’s Hubei Province, the Wudang Mountains are known for both their large ancient temples among the beautiful hills     1    Wudang martial(武术)arts.

This place often appears in various martial arts novels and films. Some scenes in the movie The Karate Kid,     2     (star) Chinese action star Jackie Chan, were shot at famous places among the mountains such as the Golden Hall and Nanyan Palace.

In December 1992,     3    ancient building complex at Wudang was listed    4    a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the religious    5    (significant) and architectural achievements of the buildings within the complex.

“The ancient building complex in Wudang represents the     6    (high)standards of Chinese art and architecture over a period of nearly 1,000 years,” the UNESCO website says.

As the birthplace of Wudang martial arts, the Wudang Mountains have become a popular site for Wudang martial artists,     7    (especial)Tai Chi practitioners from China and abroad.

As early as 2007, along with the Great Wall, the Wudang Mountains     8    (include)in the top 10 most popular scenic spots in China that Europeans want to visit.

In recent years, exchanges between Wudang and overseas countries    9    (be) on the rise, paving the way for Wudang martial arts     10    (go)abroad.