Over the past few years, the interest in exploring Mars has grown, with some important     1     (discovery) about it. They raise further questions about the past atmosphere of Mars and scientists ultimately want to know whether or not it was     2     (suit) for life.

Images taken by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express satellite show the marks that     3     ancient network of rivers left on the     4     (planet) surface. The valleys formed as they would on earth,     5     a strong flow of water carving its way through the landscape.

    6     is less clear is where the water came from. Due to a lack of knowledge about the past climate of Mars, scientists cannot tell whether it came from melting glaciers (冰川), groundwater     7     something unheard of, though some researchers are doubtful whether liquid water was responsible for the marks     8     (see) by the satellite. They say other materials such as sand or dust can flow like a liquid and produce similar results.

Mars formed more than 4.5 billion years ago and there is no liquid water on the surface of it today. But scientists generally believe it     9     (go) through an early wet and warm era that ended after 1.5 billion to 2.5 billion years,     10     (leave) the planet extremely dry and cold.

Beijing is a city that straddles(跨越)the divide between the ancient and the modern. It is home     1     more than 3,000 years of fascinating history, and a place     2     fully embraces the fast-paced development of modern life, with high-rise 21st-century architectural wonders standing side by side with cultural relics of the past.

This integration of styles     3     (be) strikingly typical at Zhihua Temple, built in 1444 during the rule of emperor Zhengtong. Though much smaller now than at its peak of 20,000 square meters, the temple is a somewhat     4     (hide) treasure.

    5     (remarkable), the temple museum offers a collection of remains and statues. You might even forget you’re in the 2lst century, if not for the smooth curve of the modern Galaxy Soho building looming over the mythical beasts(神兽)seated on the ridges(屋脊)of the temple roofs.

Yet     6     they belong to completely different     7     (era),   appearances and purposes, they are both equally representative of this city. Seeing the two together is a perfect example of the idea of how respecting our history, while still     8     (look)to the future, can create a truly unique cityscape.

The development of this city, which is carefully designed     9     (protect)the past while embracing the modern world,    10     (mean)there is always something new to discover here, and I could be photographing Beijing for the next 50 years and still not have scratched the surface, which is part of its beauty.

The first domestic chickens we have found lived no earlier than 3,670 years ago, suggesting they have a far shorter history than we thought. These birds don’t seem to have been raised for their meat,     1     (make) it unclear what drove domestication. The chickens alive today descend from a wild bird native to South-East Asia     2     (call) the red jungle fowl, but exactly     3     domestication occurred was unclear. Some researchers have estimated that the first domestic chicken lived more than 6000 years ago, while others claim     4     (find) chicken bones at 10,000-year-old sites.     5     analysis by Ophelie Lebrasseur at the Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse in France and her team concludes that the     6     (early) clear evidence of domestic chickens appeared between 1,650 BC and 1,250 BC at a site called Ban Non Wat in central Thailand. Not only     7     (be) chicken bones superabundant at the site, but there are signs that people were buried with the birds,     8     Lebrasseur says makes a domestic relationship clear. Lebrasseur and her team suspect chicken domestication might have been triggered by the       9     (appear) of cereal fanning in South-East Asia. “This created a more open, less tree-covered environment, which is actually an environment where red jungle fowl thrive,” she says, “And they could have fed     10     the waste from human societies.”

The Lion Rock mountain stands not only as one of the most famous scenic spots in Hong Kong,     1     has become a spiritual symbol representing the persistent efforts of ordinary Hong Kong people     2     (live) a better life.

The Lion Rock spirit has also     3     (deep) touched those outside Hong Kong, such as Cui Xiaodong,     4     ink artist and director of the Yan Huang Art Museum in Bejing. “The mountain stands like a giant, symbolizing the industrious and persistent spirit which, over the past decades,     5     (pull) people in Hong Kong together through hard times. It is a recollection of the youth and vigor (活力) of a generation of people in Hong Kong     6     struggled to make the city what it is today.” he says.

Cui created Lion Rock in Hong Kong, a colored ink painting. In his painting, Cui depicts (描绘) the cliffs of the Lion Rock, surrounded by blooming trees and     7     (overlook) the city’s skyscrapers. Made earlier this year, the painting is now     8     show at Greater Bay Area in the Eyes of Artists, a display marking the 25th anniversary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The     9     (exhibit) displayed there hail (向……致敬) the ecological diversity of the area and also presents to the audience     10     (success) reformative accomplishments since 1997.

Home to large numbers of both wild and caged elephants, India’s elephant protection laws are among the strictest    1     Asia. Elephants have been considered the highest level of legal protection for wildlife. Poaching (偷猎) , trading and trafficking are     2     (strict) forbidden, with heavy fines and prison sentences of up to seven years.

China has been making efforts     3     (protect) its small population of elephants since the 1980s. Local authorities in areas with elephants such as Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, have not only tried to move human populations away from elephant habitats     4     worked with private insurance companies to protect farmers’ crops against damages     5     (cause) by the animals.

The 2016 amendment (修订) to China’s Wildlife Protection Law of 1988 ensures that wild animals should     6     (provide) with the necessary conditions. According to a report by Xinhua News Agency, the population of elephants in China nearly doubled between the 1980s and 2021 to about 300.

In 2020, group of 14 elephants hiked 500 km from     7     (they) home in Xishuangbanna all the way to the suburbs of the provincial capital, Kunming. The journey puzzled scientists and attracted the attention of a global audience,     8     followed the journey to see that the animals played in mud and     9     (sleep) together, as well as destroying crops and stealing food across the province.

Asia has a long history of harmonious relations between humans and elephants. Elephants are respected in societies across Asia, specifically in India and China. As our big friends still remain weak, how can the two     10     (Asia) countries with great civilizations come together to save them?

Owing to global warming, sea levels are rising and rain forests are dying. It’s clear that humans     1    (cause)most of the warming over the past century by releasing greenhouse gases, the levels of which are     2    (high)now than at any time in the past.

Global warming is causing a set of changes to the earth’s climate     3     vary from place to place. Many people think that global warming is the same as climate change. However, scientists use “climate change” when describing the complex shifts now affecting     4    (we)planet’s weather and climate systems—in part because some areas     5    （actual）get cooler in the short term.

Climate change includes not only rising average temperatures but also extreme weather events and a range of other     6    (consequence). All of them are appearing as humans continue to add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere,     7    (change)the rhythms(节奏)of climate that all living things have come to rely     8    .

What shall we do and what can we do     9    (slow) this human-caused warming? How shall we deal with the changes we’ve already set into motion? While we struggle to figure it all out,     10     future of the earth hangs in the balance.

China has detailed measures to boost its climate change monitoring and risk prevention capabilities, marking a significant step forward in the country’s efforts     1     (enhance) its climate resilience(气候适应性) .

The country will seek to build a climate-resilient society     2     climate change monitoring and early warning capability will reach an advanced level globally and the climate risk management and prevention system will     3     basic mature, according to the national climate change adaptation strategy 2035, jointly     4     (publish) by 17 departments including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

The first time China     5     (issue) a national climate change adaptation strategy, China took measures to prevent and control major climate-related disaster risks     6     an effective manner, and greatly improved the technical and standard system for adapting to climate change. Since then, positive results     7     (achieve) in improving adaptation to climate change in key regions and industries.

As the global climate     8     (far) warms, the long-term unfavorable effects and extreme weather events brought about by climate change will pose     9     increasingly serious threat to China’s economic development. The document underlined measures to improve climate change monitoring and forecasting services, enhance assessment of climate change impacts and risks, and     10     (strength) disaster prevention.