Buried deep in the ruins of the Shang Dynasty, specifically in Anyang City of Henan Province, bones of the rhino(犀牛)were found.

A collection of archaeological evidence has confirmed the     1    (exist) of rhinos in ancient China. The animal     2     (distribute) across China’s Central Plains,    3     Chinese civilization originated.

Nevertheless, the rhino was no longer wandering in the region after the Han Dynasty. One explanation is that it was the colder climate of Northeast Asia that saw the creature    4    (appear) from the pages of history. However, Zhou Yu, the writer of History of Chinese Armor(盔甲), offered up     5     explanation: the crafting of armor.

Armor was    6    (original) made of bamboo but the material possessed limited     7    (defend)capabilities. Leather armor later became popular during the pre-Qin period. Zhou’s book     8     (read) that the rhino’s thick skin was a primary material for the creation of warriors’ armor. Many ancient accounts recorded the killing of rhinos and     9     (turn) their skin into protective covering. “The huge demand     10     rhino skins might have caused the animal’s disappearance or at least its migration from the Central Plains to the southwestern regions,” Zhou told Beijing Review.

3 . Rising numbers of female elephants in Mozambique in south-east Africa are being born without tusks (长牙), according to a new study. The change is thought to be a result of years of hunting in which elephants were killed for their tusks. Experts think they have evolved (进化) to be tuskless so they are less likely to be hunted.

Evolution is the process by which living things change over time to become better adapted to their environment. In the case of the elephants, animals with no tusks have survived (幸存) better than those with tusks. The surviving animals have passed on that characteristic to their babies, resulting in more young elephants that don’t grow tusks.

Elephant tusks evolved from teeth. They gradually became a tool that the   elephants used to dig water hole, strip bark from tees and protect themselves. However, during a civil war that lasted from 1977 to 1992, Mozambiu’s elephant population reduced by about 90%. Most of the animals were killed by soldiers who sold their tusks for money.

During the civil war, elephants born without tusks were left alone by hunters, giving them a far better chance of surviving and passing this characteristic to their babies. Before the war, 18.5% of female elephants were born tuskless, but this rose to 33% among females born between 1995 and 2004. In order to survive without tusks, the researchers say the elephants are changing the types of plants they eat.

Whether the elephants have tusks or not depends on changes to their genes (基因). Unfortunately, the gene changes that stop tusks growing have other effects—they are deadly to about half of male babies. Professor Robert Pringle, who worked on the study, hopes that the spread of tusklessness will stop as the elephants are hunted less and the population recovers.

4 . Four years ago, Alastair Driver was made director of Rewilding Britain, a charity with a mission to shake up conservation in the UK. Rewilding, in theory, is to restore land and let nature take back control. Once he got started, he fell in love with conservation all over again. Alastair’s goal is to make the concept mainstream. So far, he’s moving in the right direction. “The British government is including rewilding in future farming policy,” he says.

If anyone knows what’s good for Britain’s wild spaces, it’s Alastair. His father was a country naturalist, so the natural world played a big role in his life from an early age. After studying ecology at university, he went on to become a conservation officer for the Thames Water Authority, where he spent 34 years preserving rivers and wetlands. Then, in 2002, Alistair took charge of the Environment Agency, shaping national policy and strategy until 2016.

Now, he believes rewilding is the next step for nature restoration in the UK and it needs to happen on a much larger scale. As such, Alastair spends most of his time travelling around the UK, meeting with landowners, advising them about the advantages of rewilding their land, and offering practical tips for getting started. In just four years, he’s seen a massive uptake in interest. In the early days, Alastair would literally ring around his contact list to get people involved; now, he can hardly cope with emails and calls coming his way. Part of this change is a symptom of the bigger environmental challenges facing mankind. “People are more aware of climate change and the biodiversity crisis,” he says.

Towards the end of 2020, with Alastair’s continuous efforts, the Rewilding Network was launched, a platform where farmers and landowners can connect, share ideas, and seek expert advice. Currently, just over 200, 000 acres of land are being rewilded through the network. For Alastair, it’s a huge step in the right direction.

8 . The hot summer sun beamed down on my back as I panned for gold. It was 1996 and my first trip to gold country, the town of Sofala in New South Wales.

I sloshed (搅动) the water round and round, as the old-time miner had _________, looking for the unmistakable shine of gold in the bottom of the pan.

_________, a breeze caught my straw hat,_________ it from my head and blowing it into the water where it tumbled (翻滚) and tumbled, twisting downstream.

“My hat!” I cried. “My HAT!”

My _________ collie, Cobber, was standing on the side of the bank. His ears pricked up when he heard me call out. He turned around to see my _________ and watched the crazy hat _________ down the bubbling stream.

Down the bank side he ran,_________ madly at the hat to stop. Then he _________ deep into the water, paddled out quickly towards the hat, his long coat flowing behind him. The stream took the hat one way, he followed. Then it took it another way, and he followed again. Finally, he _________ the hat with his long pointy snout (口鼻部) as I watched on in __________.

He climbed out and __________ himself off vigorously. Then he ran back to me, all wet, and dropped the hat at my feet.

It was more than a game. I knew that he knew he’d done a good thing __________ he proudly watched on from where he sat. It might be a small thing but the __________ is forever imprinted on my memory.

I am __________ to say that my hat flew off another two times and each time Cobber regained it for me.

All in all, the day was a(n)__________ one — and I did find a few specks of gold!

Goal 13:Tackling(应对)Climate Change

Goal 13 calls for urgent action to fight climate change and its impact.    1    .

To address climate change, countries adopted the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius. Learn more about Goal 13, and for the latest United Nations climate news, visit un. org/climatechange.

Why we need action

Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting(扰乱) national economies.    2    

The greenhouse gas emissions(排放)from human activities are driving climate change and continue to rise.    3     Without action, the world’s average surface temperature is projected to rise over the 21st century and is likely to surpass 3 degrees Celsius this century—with some areas of the world expected to warm even more.

A race we can win

Affordable, scalable(可攀登的)solutions are now available to enable countries to turn to cleaner, more resilient(有弹性的)economies. The pace of change is quickening as more people are turning to renewable energy.    4    

But climate change is a global challenge that does not respect national borders. Emissions anywhere affect people everywhere. It is an issue that requires solutions that need to be managed at the international level and it requires international cooperation to help developing countries move toward a low-carbon economy.

To address climate change, countries adopted the Paris Agreement on 12 December 2015.    5     In the agreement, all countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius.