2 . Growing up in Canterbury, Scartozzi recalls swimming in rivers as part of her childhood. When she returned many years later, however, she noticed things had changed. “Some of the places where I could swim before now have signs saying ‘polluted water, do not swim’,” she says. “I wanted to take my kids to places to swim but we couldn’t because these signs were up.”

Although the experience was sad and surprising, it has also served as fuel for Scartozzi, who’s now focusing on restoring the health of waterways. Her company called eCleanEnvirotech is developing technology to remove pollutants from waterways such as rivers, ponds and streams. It involves feeding polluted water into a system housing microbes (微生物) that eat or break up the pollutants.

The “engineered” nature of the technology, Scartozzi explains, means it’s adaptable for different environment conditions. Each system can be personalized with its own unique “soup” of microbes to remove the pollutants in any waterway where it is installed (安装).

Other advantages of the technology, she says, are that it can process water relatively quickly and that it can be used to treat waterways in a variety of sizes and locations.

She says she hopes to create cleaner water for the benefit of future generations. “My passion is around restoring the health of these waterways. And my purpose is to do anything that I can to return them to their former condition. That’s what drives me every day. If I can do anything, it is so that in the future, my kids and grandchildren have somewhere where they can go swimming and fishing.”

4 . The ocean is a huge body of saltwater that covers about 71 percent of Earth’s surface. An estimated 97 percent of the world’s water is found in the ocean. Because of this, the ocean has a very important impact on weather, temperature, and the food supply of humans and other organisms. However, it remains unknown. More than 80 percent of the ocean has never been mapped, explored, or even seen by humans, while a far greater percentage of the surfaces of Moon and the planet Mars has been mapped and studied.

Although there is much more to learn, ocean researchers have already made some amazing discoveries. For example, we know that the ocean contains big mountain ranges and deep canyons (峡谷), just like those on land. The height of the word’s tallest mountain Mount Everest in the Himalayas, measuring 8.84 kilometers (5.49mies) high-would not even break the surface of the water if it were placed in the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench or Philippine Trench, two of the deepest parts of the ocean. The average depth of the entire ocean is 3,720 meters

It is unknown how many different species call the ocean their home. With many ocean ecosystems suffering from rising sea temperatures, pollution and other problems, some ocean researchers believe the number of species is dropping. Still, there may be many positive surprises awaiting them in the years ahead. It could be that more than 90 percent of the ocean’s species are still undiscovered, with some scientists estimating that there are anywhere between a few hundred thousand and a few million more to be discovered. Currently, scientists know of around 226.000 ocean species. Since the ocean is so vast, there is plenty for future ocean researchers from all corners of the globe to explore and discover.

A civilian rescue team of named Ramunion from Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province is expected to arrive in Turkey on Wednesday, with an advance team    1     (consist) of eight experts with rich international earthquake rescue experiences.Thisis    2    first Chinese civilian assistance force sent to Turkey,    3    a series of earthquakes destroyed parts of the region.

The advance team is equipped with    4    (advance) radar life-searching instruments, and other rescue    5    (equip)and a search and rescue canine(犬)．

Deng Boqing, vice chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA),said in an interview that Chinese government     6    (immediate) launched its emergency humanitarian assistance mechanism to provide emergency aid to Turkey and Syria.

China announced 40 million yuan ($5.8 million) of emergency assistance to Turkey and the dispatch of a rescue and medical team. It will also provide Syria           7    emergency aid, according to the CIDCA.

Chinese    8    (citizen) in Turkey have volunteered for disaster relief, and relief materials including tents, sleeping bags and blankets     9    (expect)to be distributed on Tuesday.

More than 4,000 people have been killed and nearly 20,000 people injured after two    10    (power) earthquakes rocked Turkey and Syria, according to media reports.

7 . Forecasters say Floridians should monitor a system likely to become a tropical depression(热带低压)as it moves into the Gulf of Mexico by early next week.

The area of low pressure over the northwestern Caribbean Sea was producing showers and thunderstorms, according to a Friday evening update from the National Hurricane Center. Condition s favor slow development over the next several days, and forecasters expect the system will become a tropical depression early next week while moving north over the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

Michael Brennan, the National Hurricane Center director, said in a live video Friday, “There is a lot of uncertainty with this system since it’s yet to take shape. What we’re most confident in is that there will likely be some rainfall impacts across much of the Florida Peninsula and possibly up along the southeast coast of the United States.”

The potential threat for Florida would come around on Tuesday, said Brian McNoldy, a researcher at the University of Miami. McNoldy added that global models were in agreement that the system would develop slowly. The hurricane center on Friday gave the system the temporary name of Invest 93L, meaning forecasters would collect specialized data and run more models.

According to Mark Luther, a professor at the University of South Florida, tropical systems like to feed off that hot water, especially when it’s hot below the surface like it is now. “Keep a sharp eye on it and have your hurricane plan in place,” Luther said. “Even if it’s a small storm, if it hits at the right angle, it can cause flooding around here.”

Storms that cross through this steamy section of the eastern Gulf of Mexico have historically intensified(增强)quickly. Hurricane Michael in 2018 emerged off the Yucatán Peninsula before ultimately making landfall as a Category 5 storm in Florida’s Panhandle.

8 . The festive sound officially opened the fishing season in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on February 1, 2022. Conservationists took this opportunity to celebrate tree planting along the River Dee, a campaign that aims to cool the waters and increase the number of spawning salmon (产卵的鲑鱼).

The River Dee, which empties into the Atlantic from Scotland’s southwestern coast, is one of Scotland’s most popular fishing rivers. Unfortunately, due to climate change, the water temperature has been rising causing stress to spawning salmon.

The warmer water has resulted in a decline in salmon, with catches falling by a dramatic 80 percent since 1957. Scientists soon discovered that the water temperature in Scottish rivers was too high for the wild Atlantic salmon which prefers cold water.

“These rivers are the nursery grounds for young fish and it’s the young fish that will be affected by summer temperatures — their feeding and growth rates are affected.” Lorraine Hawkins from the Dee District Salmon Fishery Buard said.

It was time to take action. Back in 2013, to plant 1 million young trees along the river was proposed. These trees will offer cooling shade to the fish and increase wildlife biodiversity from the leaf fall that attracts insects. A forest can also offer protection from flooding.

Since this project began,the River Dee Board and Trust, along with fisheries, has planted 250,000 trees, reaching one quarter of its goal. The company and its partners are planting various species of trees and are well on their way to reaching one million trees by 2025. The Scottish government is also carrying out an environmental protection plan for salmon.

These cool and shaded river waters promise to be a welcome shelter for spawning salmon. And once the number of salmon has increased, anglers (垂钓者) will come and cast their rods (鱼竿) into refreshingly cool waters. And as they get their Scottish catches, there just may be a celebratory sound!

9 . Since the rise in car ownership in the 1950s, the US has started building roads in cities and across the country to provide enough room for automobiles. Houston, like many cities, is turning back the clock to make room for passers-by, cyclists and parks.

Memorial Park in Houston, Texas was halved by the Memorial Drive Highway in the1950s. It has now been reunited. The highway is still there, but the road goes underneath the 1,500-acre park.

The restoration (修复) of Memorial Park is part of a larger plan that was made after the city suffered from a serious drought. It was thought that 80 percent of the forested canopy (树冠) was dead. One of the ways to fight that was to reintroduce native plants and animals.

The city hired the landscape architectural company, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, to work with the Houston parks and the Memorial Parks Conservancy. The architects, led by Woltz, were inspired by wildlife crossings in the Northwest US and explored the possibility of using this idea in Memorial Park. Over the years, the park was cut into 20 pieces that were divided by highways, roads and parking lots. The only crossing was a 12-foot bridge.

After 10 years of planning and constructing, the Kinder Land Bridge officially opened in early February, 2023. The bridge consists of 100 acres of greenery, and while designed for people, has reconnected wildlife corridors (廊道). The reconstruction added 45 acres of native Gulf Coast prairie (草原) that’ll increase biodiversity in the park. “This project is not just about creating a passage or a bridge. This project is about ecology, it’s about biodiversity and water management. This project is a bridge into Houston’s future.” said Shellye Arnold, president of the Memorial Park Conservancy.