Two disabled Chinese citizens who have planted trees     1    (voluntary) in Northern China have been voted (投票) by Chinese citizens as their inspiring heroes.

The vote     2    (organize) by Xinhua News Agency since 2011 to inspire moral strength in the public by highlighting the good deeds of ordinary people. The event is the first of its kind     3    (find) heroes among grassroots people.

Jia Wenqi and Jia Haixia, both of     4     are aged over 50, have arm and sight disabilities. Disabled     5     they are, they have planted over 10,000 trees in Jingxing County over the past 13 years, preventing their village from flooding and improving the environmental surroundings.

“I am his hands; he is my eyes,” says Haixia. “We are good partners.”

Fully     6    (devote) to protecting the environment, they have turned the wasteland into a green one, which attracts     7     large number of birds.     8    (plant) trees has become an important part of their life.

Despite their disabilities, they form a great team that makes a huge     9    (different). They deserve to be called heroes     10     their unusual effort and amazing deed!

For those looking to escape the concrete jungle, maybe it’s time to dive into the bamboo forests of southern Sichuan.

A natural forest that people in Sichuan province tend     1     (visit) is the Southern Sichuan Bamboo Sea in Yibin. The 120-square-kilometer Bamboo Sea is the     2     (large) bamboo park in China and its average temperature seldom drops below zero degrees Celsius in winter     3     many parts of the country are covered with snow and ice.

Known as one of the country’s 10 most beautiful forests, it     4     (be) a popular tourist attraction since the Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon     5     (shoot) there in 2001.

Two years later, the bamboo forest received world-wide     6     (recognize) as a bamboo reserve in December 2003,     7     (become) the fourth tourism destination in China to be granted Green Globe 21 certification.

The Bamboo Sea covers Changning and Jiang’an, two counties under the authority of Yibin. Amazed at its vast expanse (浩瀚), Huang Tingjian,     8     poet from the Song Dynasty, described it     9     “bamboo waves”. As Huang was an     10     (influence) man, his description gave rise to the forest’s popular nickname-the Bamboo Sea.

In China, the history of people planting and using bamboo can date back to as far as 7000 years. As early as the Shang Dynasty, bamboo     1     (use) for food, clothing housing, transportation, musical instruments and even weapons.

The     2     (apply) of bamboo in science and technology is thrilling. In 251 BC, Li Bing, in Sichuan,     3    (lead) the local people in building the Dujiang Weirs, the first irrigation network in the world, in which bamboo played     4     important role. The world’s oldest water pipe was also made of bamboo. During the Han Dynasty, the people in Sichuan     5     (successful) sank a 1600-metre-deep well with thick bamboo ropes. This technology did not spread to Europe     6     the 19th century, and it was by using the technology     7     the Americans drilled the first oil well in Pennsylvania in 1859.

In Chinese culture, bamboo is well-known     8     one of the “four gentlemen” in plants. To many distinguished men, bamboo, always closely     9     (relate) to people of positive spirits, is a symbol of goodness and honesty. Bamboo culture contributes to encouraging people to hold on when     10     (face) tough situations.

In 2016, Shennongjia made it onto the UNESCO World Heritage List. It was awarded this status because it meets two criteria     1    (require) by the list. It contains a naturally-balanced environment that allows the many and various species     2    (live)and prosper. It is also one of the rare locations in the world where scientists can observe the ecological and biological processes     3     occur as the plants and animals develop and evolve.

For the first criterion, Shennongjia is     4    (apparent) one of the most “complete” natural areas in the world. The region rises from about 400 metres to over 3,000metres above sea level,     5    (result)in a great variation in climatic conditions and a wide variety of species. Some of the plants and animals     6    (regard)as living fossils.

What’s more, according to official statistics, over 3,000 plant species have been recorded, which represents more than ten percent of China’s total floral     7    (rich). Shennongjia also supports more than 600 vertebrate species and around 4,300 insect species.

Therefore, it is     8     challenge to look after so many species. Thanks to people’s efforts, the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey’s population     9    (double)since the 1980s. The most-impressive aspect is the local people, who take things from nature     10     causing damage. All of this highlights how understanding, awareness and hard work have contributed towards protecting the unique natural world.

Seagrass meadows (海草床) are wonder plants growing beneath the sea. Thanks to the assistance of tiger sharks,     1     huge seagrass meadow in the Bahamas Banks was recently discovered, offering the world a tool     2     (fight) climate change.

In this study, tiger sharks were selected as research tools due to their     3     (high) consistent associations with seagrass ecosystems. They spend 70% of their time in seagrass meadows. The team equipped eight tiger sharks     4     satellite tags, and used a 360-degree camera on a shark for the first time ever.

So far, the world’s largest seagrass ecosystem, measuring at least 66,900 square kilometers,     5     (discover). This reflects a 41% increase from previous estimates of global seagrass. In terms of climate change, seagrass is 35 times     6     (fast) at removing carbon than tropical rainforests. Yet seagrass meadows are rapidly disappearing, with over 92% of meadows in the UK     7     (go). Scientists are collecting seeds and trying to grow new seagrass meadows through restoration     8     (project). This new discovery offers optimism and proves the importance of the ocean for healing.

The sharks led us to the seagrass ecosystem in the Bahamas,     9     is likely to be the most significant blue carbon sink on the planet. The discovery shows us that ocean exploration and research play an important role in solving     10     (globe) issues like climate change.

Mount Wutai, located in the northeastern part of Shanxi province, is 230 kilometers away from the provincial capital city Taiyuan. It was named after five peaks that look like five giant columns (柱子)     1     (rise) straight from the ground. With its high peaks, snow covers for much of the year. Even in midsummer days it remains cool and pleasant,     2     has given rise to another name: Qingliang Mountain as     3     ideal place for escaping summer heat.

Mount Wutai is quiet a beautiful mountain landscape with a cultural heritage that is at least as     4     (value) as the mountain’s natural beauty.     5     (know) as one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains of China, it is home     6     forty-one temples. Within their walls     7     (be) a rich collection of over 100, 000 superb sculptures and paintings, along with a great quantity of Buddhist cultural relics. For example, the east main hall of the Foguang Temple is the     8     (high) wooden building in China that     9     (survive) since the Tang Dynasty.

Wutai Mountain displays its outstanding     10     (combine) of the natural landscape and Buddhist culture, religious belief in the natural landscape and Chinese philosophical thinking on the harmony between man and nature.