Beijing is the capital city of China. It     1     (cover) an area of around 17, 000 square kilometers, in which there are different kinds of bird habitats (栖息地),     2     (include) grassland, scrubland (灌木丛林地), wetland, and also agricultural land. Researchers call these areas “service stations,” where migrating (迁徙) birds stop     3     (rest) and feed. But the birds ‘“service stations” re     4     (rapid) closing in Beijing, as the city considers scrubland, grassland and old agricultural land to be “dirty” and “ugly”.

The loss of grassland and scrubland is already having a major influence     5     Beijing’s bird life. In the north of Beijing, the land around Miyun used to be visited by thousands of cranes (鹤). Now, much of that land is covered with man-made forest and     6     number of cranes there has greatly fallen.

“Cranes are rare and valuable animals in China. At Miyun, a festival     7     (hold) to celebrate the migration of cranes every year,” one researcher, Townshend, says. “Because it is Beijing, we can attract many people—both local people     8     visitors.”

“More cooperation (合作) between     9     (country) is needed,” Townshend adds. “Migratory birds are a shared natural heritage (遗产), and with this comes a common     10     (responsible) to protect them and the places they need,” he says.

A recent research shows that 86% of the world’s rivers have been damaged by human activities. The research     1     (conduct) by experts from a university in Toulouse, France,     2     examined data on over 2,500 rivers around the world.     3     (look) into changes in biodiversity (多样性) over the past 200 years, the scientists discovered that biodiversity in over half of the rivers has been seriously damaged by humans. The researchers said there were many reasons     4     this damage. A big reason is the     5     (introduce) of new species of fish into rivers. Other reasons include pollution, dams, overfishing, farming     6     climate change.

Unsurprisingly, the worst-hit rivers are in western Europe and North America. This is because these regions have large and rich     7     (city) crowded with people. The lead researcher Brosse said: “Rivers which have the most economic development around them, like the Mississippi River, are the most     8     (strong) affected.” The River Thames in London was one of the worst-affected rivers in the study. The least-affected rivers are in Africa and Australia. This is probably due to a     9     (slow) rate of industrialization in Africa and smaller population around rivers in Australia. Brosse added that rivers in many rich nations are unrecognizable compared with how they     10     (be) 200 years ago.

Everyone knows that bees are busy. There is even     1     saying in English that one can be “as busy as a bee”. However, little     2     (know) about how bees play. Now scientists from Queen Mary University of London have made an amazing     3     (discover). In their study, the researchers found that bees could relax after a busy day making honey — they play with balls. The insects particularly enjoyed     4     (play) with small, wooden balls. According to the researchers, the way bees play is similar     5     that we humans do. Younger bees rolled more balls than older bees, while adult males spent     6     (long) playing with balls than adult females. The ball-rolling bees are the first known insects to “play”.

The researchers     7     (experiment) on 45 bumblebees in a specially designed test area. The bees were given two choices. The first was to fly     8     (direct) to get a sugary treat. The second was to get to the treat by going around different coloured wooden balls. Most of the bees decided to play with the balls and then get their treat,     9     showed that bees are more thoughtful than people believed. “Bees are a million     10     (mile) from the mindless, unfeeling creatures they are traditionally believed to be,” said one of the researchers.

The world is in a climate crisis. We need to change how we get our power, which     1     (mean) we need to end the use of fossil fuels, like oil and gas. The European Space Agency (ESA) has started on work that could provide     2     (million) of homes with clean and reliable energy. It has approved     3     three-year project to test huge solar farms in space. These solar farms are expected     4     (send) energy wirelessly from space into peopled homes. An ESA spokesperson said one solar-farm satellite could create the same amount of electricity     5     a power station on Earth. She added that the satellites will be around 1.7 km in     6     (long) and their aim is to have many of these giant satellites     7     (place) in low-Earth orbits. They could cut our use of fossil fuels and reduce energy shortages.

The ESA project     8     (call) Solaris. Josef Aschbacher,     9     is currently the director-general of the ESA, said that Solaris could be of great significance. “We humans are consuming large quantities of fossil fuels. We need to change the way we produce energy. We especially need to reduce the fossil fuel part of our energy production,” said Josef. “It would be     10     (absolute) fantastic if we could do it from space. It would be a solution to lots of problems.”

Xiechi Lake, also known as Yuncheng Salt Lake in China’s Shanxi Province,     1     (become) popular on social media websites in the past few years.

Now, China wants to transform that online     2     (popular) into real-life tourism. “As the Chinese ‘Dead Sea’, floating here is     3     unforgettable experience, and one you can’t find anywhere else,” reads a tourism advertisement     4     (sponsor) by the Yuncheng Salt Lake Tourism Development Company. Yuncheng Salt Lake is a sulfate (硫酸盐) lake. “If the sulfate in your water is greater than the calcium (钙), all the calcium is used up,     5     leaves you with large amounts of sulfate and you have a sulfate lake,” explains geography professor Bernie Owen. Xiechi is also a “closed basin” lake,     6     (mean) it doesn’t flow out to a river or ocean, which explains how its salt content stays so high. It is possible for salt lakes to freeze over, although not as     7     (quick) as other lakes — after all, think about what happens when we spread salt over icy roads. Saltwater freezes at     8    (low) temperatures than fresh water.

In an effort     9     (boost) Xiechi Lake’s international profile, China is reportedly taking steps to get it recognized     10     a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Huangshan, which lies in Anhui province, is on the UNESCO World Heritage List and is one of the top scenic     1     (attraction) in China. HuangShan     2     (it) does not have good transportation links. Most travelers stop in either Tangkou or Tunxi for the nights before and after a visit to Huangshan.

Huangshan has 36 separate peaks, all     3     (rise) above 1,800 meters. Famous throughout Chinese artistic history, Huangshan represents the typical (有代表性的) mountain in Chinese paintings. So far, over 1,450 kinds of plants     4     (find) there.

The main thing to do in Huangshan is walk pround and take photographs of the scenery, which is spectacular (壮观的),     5     (beauty), different and changing in appearance with every change of weather.     6     same view looks quite different by day in fine weather and with cloud, early morning and late evening. Sunrise and sunset are famous but, of course, they depend     7     the weather.

When there is good weather and clear skies, watching the stars at night is     8     (fair) rewarding. If you are staying overnight at a hotel on the mountain then before dark     9     (come), find some good areas     10     you can get away from the hotel lights and look up. You are likely to view a sky full of stars.

“Animals are a who, not a what,” animal advocates say. Animal rights activists, including Jane Goodall, want writers —     1     take guidance from the Associated Press Stylebook — to stop referring to an animal as “it.”

Animals are a part of some of the most important     2    （story）being told right now, but they are not always given     3     voice. We have learned much about how intelligent, social, complex and unique as individuals they are, and we know they are important. But many times, they     4    （describe）as if they are merely objects whose lives and interests don't deserve further     5    （consider）on our part.

Jane Goodall points out that when she     6    （start）her research, she was told that her findings and approaches, such as     7    （give）names to chimpanzees, were wrong. She was told that the belief that they have emotions was also     8    （correct）.

“But we know that animals feel joy, pain     9     grieve; We are not separate     10     other species,” Goodall adds. We must recognize that every individual nonhuman animal is a ‘who,' not a ‘what.'