The jaguar (美洲豹) is the largest cat in the Americas. A hundred years ago, jaguars     1     (find) everywhere from the south-western United States to Argentina, in South America. Today, jaguars are an endangered species throughout their     2     (nature) habitat and have been lost from 50 per cent of their territory (领土). Today they live     3     (most) in the Amazon rainforest. And jaguars aren't the only animals losing their homes—according     4     the International Union for Conservation of Nature, habitat loss     5     (be) the main threat to about 85 percent of all endangered plant and animal species.

Tropical (热带的) rainforests cover only about 7 per cent of Earth's land, but they're home to about half of all known plant and animal species. Most     6     (scientist) agree that about 80,000 acres (an acre is equal to 4,047 square metres) disappear every day when trees are cut down and land is cleared for farms. Trees also play     7     important role in climate change. Fewer forests mean that more greenhouse gases remain     8     (trap) in the atmosphere, the mixture of gases that surrounds the Earth.

Grasslands, underwater habitats, and wetlands are also at risk. For example, the World Wildlife Fund reports that about half of the world's wetlands     9     (disappear) about a hundred years ago as a result of being drained (排干) for either farmland    10     other industries. That means less space for animals to feed and raise their young.

4 . When most of us think of sand, we immediately think of sunny beaches and summer holidays. But actually it’s in pretty much everything that surrounds us in our everyday lives. From the walls of our homes to the glass bottles in our kitchens and even the mobile phones in our hands. Sand is the second most used resource in the world after water: it accounts for more than two-thirds of everything that’s being dug out of the ground. But there isn’t a limitless supply. In fact, a UN report says we might be running out.

According to the report, we use an estimated 15 billion tons of sand every year in the construction industry alone. That’s enough to build a 20m × 20m wall around the equator every year. However, sand can take tens of thousands of years to form: the process starts with rock being eroded(侵蚀) in the mountains and ends, eventually, with sand being in river beds and on the seafloor.

Sand is heavy and difficult to transport, so in developing countries, sand is often mined from the nearest convenient source, and quite often that means a river bed or beach. But beaches and rivers are delicately balanced ecosystems and when a large amount of sand is removed, the balance is upset. The smallest fish, which eat organic matter on the sand in river beds, from the base of the food chain in a river. If this sand is removed, so is the source of food for the bottom feeders. All organisms in a food chain share the joys and the sorrows. Thus, when they disappear, so does the food for the larger fish which would have been caught and eaten, or sold by fishermen.

It is high time we took into consideration the big problem concerning the tiny thing. More and more conservationists are calling for alternatives to sand especially in the construction industry.

5 . Want to know what we can do to help make our city a better place to live in? Why not take part in “Clean & Green weekend”? Join us, and you can make new friends and help protect the environment at the same time.

Park Life

Do you like playing and relaxing in the park with your friends? If so, why not take the chance to come with us and tidy up the park when you go? To add some fun, there is a gift for the person who collects the most rubbish! Meet us at the south entrance to Taohe Park at 9 a.m. next Saturday if you want to join in.

The Air You Breathe

A great way to make the air we breathe cleaner is by planting lots of trees！It is a fact that trees slowly filter (过滤) a lot of pollutants (污染物) from the air. So come and help us plant some new ones in Fenhe Park at 2 p.m. next Sunday.

War on Graffiti(涂鸦)

Some people think graffiti is cool. Well, it is not! The best way to stop buildings from becoming totally covered in ugly graffiti is to fix it as soon as possible. And that is exactly what we are going to do. We are repainting the school walls from 1 p.m. on Saturday. You don’t have to bring any tools, just remember to wear some old clothes!

6 . Open an app at your smart phone and scan the code bar on the garbage can. When you throw garbage into the garbage can, it will show the weight of the garbage and the points you can get from doing so.     1     It will become more popular in the future. Yes, we are talking about the smart garbage can.

    2     The environmental problems have become constant headaches in the development of those cities. Encouraging garbage classification has become an effective way.

In some cities, a variety of multifunctional smart garbage cans are being put into use. In Beijing, for example, a smart garbage can is equipped with an LED screen, which not only shows national policies on garbage classification but also shows the correct steps for garbage sorting. It can also calculate the weight of the garbage and the accumulated points one can get. They can be traded for some articles of daily use.     3     Its body is actually a screen. It is equipped with some Internal sensors. When people throw garbage into it, the internal sensors can automatically tell the types of the garbage. Meanwhile, people can see how to deal with them.     4    

Garbage disposal is a small issue that involves everybody each day. However, it is also a big issue.    5     With smart garbage cans in our daily life, the idea of garbage sorting will become more established. Our dream of building a greener and more beautiful China will come true so long as we start to make small changes right now.

7 . Some kids dream of being superheroes that can save our planet from evil but believe it or not, even a small kid like YOU can help save our planet.

When I was a _________ , my mom and dad would push me in a baby jogger. We would pick up soda cans while my mom and dad ran. Before I could _________, whenever I saw a can I would point to it. It was fun picking up cans. We ran a lot miles and _________ up many cans.

When I was five, I went _________ with my mom, dad, and a friend at Bastrop State Park. The first night we went for a bike ride. I _________ on my dad's bike. There was so much _________ that the road did not look pretty. The second day, when we went for a _________ along the same road, we picked up all the cans—about one hundred of them. The road looked much _________ when we went home.

I am now too _________ for the baby jogger. But I still pick up cans wherever we go, and my mom and dad still bring back cans from their walks. We ____________ the cans behind and inside our garage. When I was very young, we would ____________ the cans to a can cruncher in a store park. It was fun____________ all the cans crunching(压碎), but it was untidy.

Now we store the cans ____________ we get a lot of them, then we take them on our friend's big truck to the recycling place. One time, I sold 410 pounds ____________.

I have sold over 1, 000 pounds of cans, and I am only nine years old. I ____________ the world by making the roads, the lakes, and the trails prettier, and because all my cans are recycled.