Earthquake in northwestern China kills at least 118 people

An overnight earthquake killed at least 118 people in a cold and mountainous region in northwestern China,     1     the country’s state media reported on Tuesday. Search and rescue     2     (operate) were underway in Gansu and neighboring Qinghai provinces. The earthquake left more than 500 people injured,     3    (severe) damaged houses and roads, and knocked out power and communication lines.

The magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck in Gansu at a relatively shallow     4    (deep) of 10kilometers just before midnight on Monday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

By mid-morning, 105 people had been confirmed dead in Gansu and another 397 injured, including sixteen people     5     critical condition. Thirteen others were killed and 182 injured in Qinghai in an area north of the epicenter (震中), according to state media. Another 20 were missing in Qinghai after     6     (bury) in a landslide, according to the China News Service.

The earthquake     7     (feel) in much of the surrounding area, including Lanzhou, the Gansu provincial capital, about 100 kilometers northeast of the epicenter.

The rescue work was proceeding in     8     orderly manner. Tents, folding beds     9    quilts were being sent to the disaster area. At least 4,000 firefighters, soldiers and police officers were dispatched (派遣) in the rescue effort, and the People’s Liberation Army Western Theatre set up a command post     10     (direct) its work.

2 . The Amazon rainforest spreads across nine South American countries but most of it (60%) is in Brazil. Brazilian scientists think they might have found a way to reverse the damage caused by deforestation and turn farmland back into forest. The secret lies in ancient local knowledge of soil.

Amazonian dark earth (ADE) is a thick, black soil found deep in the Amazon rainforest, and it could help restore forests around the world. ADE is a kind of compost — a soil made from dead plants and animals. Various kinds of compost are sold in gardening centers around the world, but ADE is unique. It was created by indigenous people (the descendants of people who lived somewhere before another culture arrived and took over) from the Amazon between 2,000 and 2,500 years ago. The Amazonian people, today known as Amerindians, created ADE using charcoal from fires, animal bones, food waste and poo. It contains microbes, including bacteria that help to turn chemicals in the soil into useful nutrients that feed plants and trees.

Vast areas of the Amazon have been cut down, mostly to make way for grassland for raising cattle. Scientists are looking for a way to turn grassland back into rainforest and revive forest ecosystems. These support thousands of animal and plant species, many of them unique to the area. Forests also absorb lots of carbon dioxide, a gas that cause climate change.

To see if the Amazon’s special soil could help, the scientists grew grasses and trees in ADE, regular earth and a mixture of both. Trees grown in ADE were up to six times taller than those in regular soil. ADE takes hundreds of years to create, so the scientists can’t simply make more. Team member, Dr. Siu Mui Tsai, said that instead they want to try and “copy its characteristics”, especially its helpful microbes, and see if it could help to restore natural habitats.

4 . On Christmas Eve morning I awoke with a mission: to find my lost cat, Baby-Girl. As I got ready, I could hear icy rain pelting the windows. Baby-Girl was somewhere in the storm, I could just feel it. Sure, it had been months since she’d disappeared, but I still had faith. This was the season for miracles, after all.

My dad and I spent the last holiday searching for her in the park nearby. Dad was the family’s “realist,” which meant he spent time trying to prepare me for the worst. “She’s either been hit by a car or been taken in by someone,” he said. I rolled my eyes. He could do with a little more faith!

Though I couldn’t explain it, I knew I’d see Baby-Girl again. She could survive all on her own. Even after I lived without her and the weeks stretched into months, deep down I had this feeling that we’d be reunited one day.

Now, again for the holidays, I made up my mind to pick up my search. I grabbed Baby-Girl’s cat carrier and loaded it into the car, then asked my dad to drive me to the shelter.

“Sharon, be realistic!” my dad said as we headed to the garage. “She’s been gone too long. You’re not going to find her.”

“Well, I just have a feeling,” I said. “Don’t you believe in Christmas miracle?”

At the shelter, a staff member took us to see the cats. We walked through rows of cages. My eyes scanned cats of all colors and sizes. None of them was my Baby-Girl. Then I noticed a room farther back. I pushed ahead. “Sweetheart, that’s where they keep the cats that just came in,” Dad said.

I insisted on stepping into the room. Suddenly, there came a familiar meow (猫叫). I followed it and my eyes fell on a little cat with big green eyes. Skinnier than I remembered, it was Baby-Girl! My eyes welled up with tears. I opened the cage door. Baby-Girl practically jumped into my arms.

6 . Saving the environment might seem like a tall order, but living an environmentally friendly life is actually quite easy.     1     Read on for some practical tips on how a single individual can help save the environment.

Recycle

Recycling is a simplest lifestyle to lower the amount of environmental waste. Every resident can get involved by taking advantage of nearby recycling services.     2     For instance, some places may not accept glass, while others might require you to separate the different materials. If you dispose of something improperly, the whole load will likely be rejected and end up in a landfill.

Buy locally-sourced foods

Eating fresh, local food consumes less fuel and packaging materials. Shipping products by truck, rail, flight, or boat creates pollution and goes against an environmentally friendly lifestyle. Instead, shop at local farmers’ markets and grocery stores stocking locally-sourced products.     3     .

Cut back on driving

Applying alternate forms of transportation consumes less gasoline.     4     If that isn’t an option, consider organizing carpools or using public transportation. By doing this, you help reduce traffic jams and the overall amount of gasoline consumption. Also, combine multiple trips into one to help minimize the distance traveled and fuel consumed.

    5    

Advocacy allows more people to create a positive impact. Spread the word about environmental conservation by sharing some of the lifestyle changes you’ve made on social media and in conversations with people around, calling on everybody to play a role.

A Nation of Animal Lovers

The British are traditionally a nation of animal lovers. This is clear from the large number of animal programmes on TV. There are programmes about wildlife in Britain and other countries, and about pets at home. There are programmes like Animal Hospital about sick animals and the working lives of animal doctors. Some programmes try to find new homes for unwanted or homeless animals. All these programmes are very popular. There is a pet in more than half of the homes in the UK(52.3%). The most popular pets are cats.

Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in London is a very famous home for unwanted dogs and cats. It was started in 1860 by Mrs. Mary Tealby, because she was worried about all the homeless animals on the streets of London. Since it opened, the home has taken in more than 3 million dogs and cats. In 2006, over 11,000 dogs and cats came to the home. By the end of the year, homes were found for 5,000 of them. The home even has its own magazine, Paws.

The 6.2-magnitude earthquake    1    hit an ethnic county lying    2     Northwest China’s Gansu province midnight Monday has killed 111 people in Gansu and neighboring Qinghai province, according to local earthquake relief headquarters.

According to China Earthquake Networks Center, the quake    3     (strike) at 11:59 pm Monday and has a focal depth of 10 km. The epicenter, Liugou township, is about 8 km from the county seat of Jishishan Bao’an, Dongxiang, Sala autonomous county in Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture, Gansu.

Witnesses told Xinhua the earthquake caused damages on houses, roads and other infrastructures. Several villages have suffered power failures and shortage of water.

According to local meteorological authorities, the    4     (day) low temperature in Jishishan is reported    5     (reach) minus 10 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.

The provincial fire and rescue department has sent 580 rescuers    6     (aid) with 88 fire engines, 12 search and rescue dogs, more than 10,000 sets of equipment to the disaster area.

The railway authority has suspended passenger and cargo trains     7     (pass) through the quake zone and ordered a safety check of railway tracks.

Hu Changsheng, Party chief of Gansu, and Ren Zhenhe, governor of Gansu, rushed to the disaster area to command rescue and    8     (relieve) effort.

It was reported that every effort    9     (make) to provide assistance to    10    were affected and to restore normality to the region as quickly as possible.

9 . In the thick jungle of New Guinea is nature’s most amazing theater, a Carola’s parotia (天堂鸟) is showing off his red and yellow feathers in a display called a “butterfly dance.”

This brilliantly colored birds of paradise have developed over millions of years from ancient birds whose feathers were dark and boring in comparison. It seems to be a contradiction (矛盾) that such extreme feathers and colors could have been favored by the process of evolution. After all, these same brightly colored feathers that attract mates also make the birds much more noticeable to predators (捕食者). The answer lies in the safe environment in which the birds live, and a process of evolution known as sexual selection. Except for other pressures, birds of paradise begin to specialize in attracting mates. Over millions of years they have slowly undergone changes in their colors, feathers and other talents. Characteristics that made one bird more attractive than another were passed on and impove over time.

In the past, demand for the bird’s feathers resulted in a huge amount of hunting. At the peak of the trade in the early 1900s, 80,000 skins a year were exported from New Guinea to Europe ladies’ hats. Nowadays, few birds die for fashion or for traditional costumes: Ceremonial feathers are passed down from generation to generation. Although local people are still permitted to hunt the birds for traditional uses, they usually target older male birds, leaving younger males to continue breeding.

David Mitchell, a conservationist, is relying on the help of local villagers to record where the birds display and what they eat. He hopes to not only gather data, but also encourage protection of the birds’ habitat. The strategy seems to be working. For millions of years, these impressive birds have danced to find their mates. They will keep dancing for as long as the forest offers them stage.