4 . One of Prague’s most famous sights, the Orloj, the third oldest clock in the world, has been stopped. It is set to undergo months of restoration (修复)that will see the return of several, but not all, of its original parts.

Perhaps no other clock better proves the genius of the early pioneers of time keeping than the Orloj. Marking the minutes and hours is only one of the many measurements it provides.

The 607-year-old astronomical clock tracks Old Bohemian time, when the new day begins with sunset; Babylon time, which tracks the day from sunrise to sunset; Central European time, which is marked with a hand in the shape of the sun; and Star time, measured by the way the stars appear to move because of the earth’s movement.

A calendar dial (刻度盘)notes the days of the week, month and year, and a zodiacal ring (黄道环)shows the path of the sun and the moon through the sky. But, it is the astrolabe (星盘)that is the heart of the clock’s mechanical (机械的) operation. It tracks the position of the sun, the moon and stars, and has been a necessary tool for astronomers.

Over the centuries, the clock has been damaged and repaired, but, always returned to fully working order. Its longevity has inspired a number of sayings. One is that when the clock stops running, the Czech land will be thrown into war and privation (贫困). Another holds that who ever tries to affect the machine will die or go crazy.

Skala, who has been a clock master for 25 years, said he was honored when asked to take care of the Orloj eight years ago. Asked whether he believed the sayings, Skala smiled. “I didn’t believe the stories,” he said, “or else I would never be able to work on the clock.”

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.

6 . One girl is being praised for a letter of apology she wrote to the rangers (园林管理员) at the National Parks Service (NPS). She reportedly _________ a rock home. In expressing her _________, the girl also returned the rock to the park. Later the NPS shared the letter on their Facebook page.

“Dear Park Ranger, I _________ like Tom Branch Falls,” the girl, named Karina, began her letter. “I love it so much that I _________ to take a souvenir home.”

“So I took a rock. I’m _________, and I want to return it,” she said. The heartfelt letter _________ with a postscript (附言) of “also look at the back”—where the girl _________ a picture of Tom Branch Falls. _________ for Karina, the park rangers were _________ by her sincere apology and even __________ back.

“Dear Karina, thank you for returning the rock! It has made its way back to Tom Branch Falls. If every __________ took a rock home, that would __________ 11 million rocks would be gone from the park every year,” the park officials wrote in their Facebook post.

“Now that you know to leave __________ the way you find it, we hope you will help share this __________ with others,” the officials wrote. “It is always a __________ thing to give others the chance to discover something meaningful!”

8 . The Great Barrier Reef's outlook remains “very poor” despite coral (珊瑚) recovery over the past year, Australian government scientists said Monday, just days before a UNESCO ruling on the site's world heritage (遗产) status.

The United Nations cultural agency recommended last month that the world's largest reef (珊瑚礁) system be placed on its endangered list because of damage to the corals largely caused by climate change.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) said the corals were now in a “recovery window” after a decade of harmful heat stress and cyclones (旋风). But such opportunities were becoming rarer due to the influence of climate change, the government agency, which has monitored the reef for 35 years, said in its annual report released today. “The increasing emergence of climate-related extreme weather events and starfish outbreaks is causing more severe and frequent pressures, giving the reef fewer opportunities like this to recover,”CEO Paul Hardisty said. The scientists surveyed 127 reef sites in 2021 and found hard coral cover had increased at 69 of the 81 locations surveyed in the past two years.

Separate scientific research released last October found the 2, 300-kilometre (1, 400 miles) system had lost half its corals since 1995, with a series of ocean heatwaves causing mass coral death.

Britta Schaffelke, research program director at AIMS, said the latest findings provided a slight hope that the reef still has the power of recovering. But she added that its future is still very poor because of the dangers of climate change and other factors that are affecting the reef.

UNESCO has urged Australia to take urgent climate action but the government has long resisted calls to commit to net zero emissions (排放) by 2050. The government has said it hopes to meet the target “as soon as possible” without harming its economy, insisting dealing with climate change requires a global effort. The reef was worth about US $4. 8 billion a year in tourism for the Australian economy and there are fears that an “in danger” listing could weaken its tourist appeal.

9 . Scientists from the University of Texas at Austin have finally solved the mystery of a huge fossil(化石）that has been unlabeled and unidentified sitting at a Chilean museum for almost a decade. The relic which looks like a flat football, is the largest known soft-shelled egg from a marine reptile（海生爬行动物）that lived on the earth over 66 million years ago. Measuring more than 11 by 7 inches» it is also the second-largest egg belonging to any known animal, only behind the now-extinct elephant bird.

The rare fossil named " The Thing" was discovered inside a rock formation in Seymour Island off the coast of Antarctica in 2011 by a team of researchers including David Rubilar-Rogers. Over the years, the paleontologist（古生物学者）at Chile's National Museum of Natural History has showed the strange fossil to every geologist that came to the museum. However, no one was able to identify “The Thing's" origin until Julia Clarke» a professor at UT-Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences, visited in 2018.

“I showed it to her, and, after a few minutes, Julia told me it could be an egg!" Rubilar-Rogers said.

To confirm Clarke's suspect, Lucas Legendre, a student at UT-Austin who led the study, examined the fossil under a microscope. Sure enough, he found several layers of membrane（薄膜），confirming that the fossil was indeed a soft-shelled egg, similar to the obvious, quick-hatching eggs laid by some modern-day snakes. “The shell is very thin,” said Clarke.

The fossil's identification led to an even bigger mystery—what animal could have laid an egg this size? After considering several potential parents, the researchers concluded that the egg was laid by an ancient marine reptile like a masseur（沧龙）. The fact that the rock formation where the egg had been found had fossil evidence of baby masseurs and the offspring of other marine animals further strengthened their theory.