Though once secluded (与世隔绝的), even inaccessible, Kazakhstan today welcomes intrepid travelers with open arms.

Kazakhstan is the world’s largest landlocked (内陆的) country, and the     1     (nine) largest in the world. The country is one of the most economically advanced in Central Asia, thanks to     2     (it) abundant oil reserves and other valuable minerals.

Even for some     3     (experience) travelers, Kazakhstan is still     4     unfamiliar state. While home to the raw beauty of the steppe (草原) and mountain scenery, there are no yurts (蒙古包) like in Kyrgyzstan     5     Mongolia. The country also has a fascinating history of medieval (中世纪的) Islamic architecture.

But for those     6     have stepped foot in the country, its most     7     (attract) features are its unique landscapes and freedom.

Panfilov Park in the eastern-center of Almaty has plenty     8     places of interest that offer a whistle-stop tour of the city’s history. Not far behind the     9     (large) of them is the yellow, green and red Tsaristera Ascension Cathedral (大教堂), a visually attractive structure that is claimed to be one of the tallest wooden     10     (build) in the world.

National parks are places to be treasured—places     1     the country locks away the very best it has to offer for everyone to enjoy. Not all famous national parks are on land. One good example is the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Australia.     2     (stretch)over 2,300 kilometers, the Great Barrier Reef is considered one of the natural     3     (wonder)of the world. The park was created in 1975 to protect the reef from overdevelopment and fishing. Unfortunately, the biggest danger to it is global warming,     4     park management cannot stop.

On the north bank of Fuxian Lake in Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province sits a straw-hat-shaped mountain     1     (call) Maotian Mountain,     2     a 512-hectare site is praised as a “world-class treasure trove of fossils” by the international scientific community. On July 1,1984, young paleontologists in China discovered a fossil of the arthropod (节肢动物化石) with a long tail in Maotian Mountain. “    3     we had studied in China were just shell of fossils. The arthropods, lifelike fossils with legs, which belonged to fossils of soft-bodied animals, are     4     game changer in the research of China’s paleontology (古生物学)”, Hou Xianguang, a paleontologist said.

Scientists have obtained a large number of research results on Chengjiang Fossil Site. The reason why Chengjiang fauna (动物群) is     5     great significance is that it is closely related to the emergence of the animal tree of life.

Up to now, more than 20 phyla and more than 280 species     6     (record)in the Chengjiang Fossil Site, of which, 80% are new species. On July 1, 2012, the Chengjiang Fossil Site     7     (be) inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO,     8     (become) China’ s first World Heritage Site for paleontological fossils.

The UNESCO evaluation says the Chengjiang Fossil Site is one of the     9     (early) records of a complex marine ecosystem of the early Cambrian communities. The property displays excellent quality of fossil     10     (preserve). It presents an exceptional record of the rapid diversification of life on Earth during the early Cambrian period.

In 2016, Shennongjia made it onto the UNESCO World Heritage List. It     1     (contain) a naturally-balanced environment that allows the many and various species to live and prosper. It is also one of the rare locations in the world     2     scientists can observe in real time the ecological and biological processes that occur as the plants and animals develop and evolve. The most impressive aspect of Shennongjia is the local people,     3     take things from nature without causing damage.

Over the last 100 years, many dinosaur egg fossils(化石)     1    (find), but finding one with a well-preserved embryo(胚胎) inside is extremely rare. A dinosaur embryo     2    (date) back to 66 million years ago was recently discovered in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province. The    3    (perfect) preserved fossil is helping researchers understand the link between modern birds and their dinosaur ancestors.

The egg,     4    was named “Baby Yingliang”, is placed in the Yingliang Stone Nature History Museum in Fujian Province. The creature     5    (measure) 27 centimeters from head to tail, and it lies inside a 17-centimeter-long egg. Its position within the egg indicates that these dinosaurs developed     6    birdlike position close to hatching, according to the study published in the journal iScience in 2021. 

Paleontologists believe it belongs to a toothless dinosaur     7    (call) Oviraptor. They had varied beaks(喙) and body sizes,     8    they can adopt a wide range of diets. Team member Steve Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, told China Daily that this little dinosaur looks just like a baby bird in its egg, providing more evidence that many features of today’s birds first evolved in their ancestors.

Dinosaur embryos are some of the rarest fossils and most of them are incomplete with the bones dislocated. The embryo is preserved     9    great condition and helps us answer many questions about dinosaurs’     10    (grow).

Every day we use energy. We use it for cooking, for heating and for lighting our cities. The energy comes from many different     1     (source). It can come from the sun, wind and water, but the energy we depend on the most comes from deep inside the Earth. These include coal, oil, and natural gas.

These fuels come from the remains of plants and animals. It takes millions of years     2     (make) them. However, with the world’s population     3    (grow), more and more of these fuels are dug up from the ground. Yet these fuels are non-renewable. When they     4    (use) up, they will be gone forever.

We need to have a strong sense of     5    (responsible) and it’s high time for us to think about     6     we can help save energy and preserve these fuels.

What about turning off anything     7     (electricity) we are not using? That’s a start! We can also recycle things such as newspapers, cans, bottles, and plastic—including plastic bags. Plastic bags start out as either oil     8     coal, and one big city can use millions of plastic bags in a year. When we use recycled things, it takes less energy     9     making something new.

Cars consume a lot of fuel, but there     10     (be) a variety of measures that car owners can take to preserve fuel. Try asking your family whether we can take a bus or walk instead of using the car.

Gulangyu Island, off the coast of Xiamen, Fujian, was certificated a world heritage site by UNESCO. Every year,     1     (million) of Chinese people visit Gulangyu Island     2     (enjoy) its natural delights and the     3     (combine) of foreign and Chinese architecture.

The recognition of this beautiful and     4     (cultural) remarkable island is     5     honor. But the fact that it is a heritage site means much more than that. The word “heritage” refers to the     6     (value) things we inherit from the past. And there are over 1,000 UNESCO’s world heritage sites,     7     (make) a rich tapestry (织锦) of memories, both natural and man-made. Just     8     a time machine, they take us back to our ancestors and even earlier, enabling us to wonder at both the natural world and human history.

Gulangyu Island and every world heritage item are worthy of care and protection. Since they came into existence, they     9     (remind) us of our rich and various cultural significance, and the things that made us     10     we are.

The Honghe Hani Rice Terraces(梯田), in southern Yunnan, China, cover a huge 16, 603-hectare area. The terraces,     1    (know)to all of the world now, were made out of a thick forest by the Hani people. The terraces rise at different angles from a shallow 15°    2     a steep 75°, forming a wonderful landscape(景观)that     3    (be)rare in the world.

In 2003, the terraced fields were     4    (official)recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural and Natural Heritage site. About 1,300 years ago, the Hani people first     5    (come)to the steep mountains. They struggled against the difficult terrain(地形), successfully creating the terraces, where they grew rice in order to make     6    (they) living. Over the past 1,300 years, the Hani people have developed a complex system of channels     7    (bring)water from the forested mountaintops. They show great appreciation for natural phenomena such as rivers, mountains, the sun, fire     8     the moon. They have also created a complete farming system     9     involves cattle, ducks, and fish and supports the     10    (produce)of red rice, the area's main crop.

The landscape changes through the year. In April the terraces are all green as rice starts to grow; in later parts of the year it is yellowish brown as the rice ripens. In February, the terraces become bare earth, with the water reflecting(反射)the sky.