With best wishes,

Li Hua

5 . Earthquakes can strike without warning. But many injuries and deaths from this kind of natural disaster can be prevented if people follow these safety tips.

If you’re inside a building, stay there! One of the most dangerous things to do in an earthquake is to try to leave a building.     1     Drop to the ground. Get under an object that is not easily damaged. Hold on to it until the shaking stops. You can also get to a corner formed by two walls with your arms over your head. If you’re in bed when the quake hits, stay there and protect your head with a pillow.

    2     Don’t take shelter under a tree, streetlights, electric poles or tall buildings. If you are driving, stop as quickly as possible and stay away from overpasses (立交桥), buildings, bridges or anything else that might fall or collapse beneath you.     3    

If you are trapped in ruins, cover your mouth with a handkerchief or a piece of clothing. Use your cell phone to call for help if possible. Don’t shout. Shouting can cause you to breathe in dust.     4    

Be prepared for aftershocks.     5     However, sometimes they even happen months later. Therefore, if you are not in a safe position (位置) after the first shock, you should move quickly but carefully to a safer place.

6 . The good news is that more people bought electric vehicles (EVs) in 2020. The bad news is that sport utility (多用途的) vehicles (SUVs) continued to grow in popularity, too. “The fall in oil consumption due to the first trend was completely canceled out by the second,” said Laura Cozzi, an officer at the International Energy Agency (JEA).

Between 2010 and 2020, global carbon dioxide emissions (排放) from conventional cars fell by nearly 35 billion tons, due to reasons such as fuel efficiency improvements as well as the   switch to electric cars. Emissions from SUVs rose by more than 50 billion tons. “While the growth in EVs is encouraging, the boom in SUVs is heart-breaking,” says Peters at the Cicero Climate Research Centre in Norway.

There are many reasons for the growing popularity of SUVs. For example, rising economic boom in many countries means more people are able to afford them. Some people see them as status symbols. Also, SUVs are heavily advertised by car-makers, whose profit is higher on these vehicles. Some countries, including France, have introduced plans under which more taxes are paid on heavier cars. But Peters thinks that people who are rich enough to afford SUVs won’t be deterred by slightly higher taxes. “There are now some electric SUVs available, but I hope one day you will see more electric vehicles brought to the SUV market,” says Peters.

Even if it happens, switching to electric SUVs isn’t a good solution. Due to their size and bigger batteries, it takes more resources to build electric SUVs, and they consume around 15 percent more electricity. That means higher emissions unless the electricity comes entirely from renewable sources, and higher electricity demand makes it harder to green the electricity supply.

7 . In many ways, life has become far more comfortable and convenient in the past few decades.     1     Here, we look at three of the most serious environmental problems we are currently facing.

Air Pollution

The main cause of air pollution is the burning of fossil fuels by vehicles and power plants. Other human activities, such as construction and the burning of waste, also contribute to air pollution. The effects on our health can be very serious.

You can easily contribute to reducing air pollution by only using a car to make journeys when it’s absolutely necessary.     2    

Global Warming

Global warming is the increase in the temperature of the Earth’s near-surface air and oceans. It’s caused by the build-up of carbon dioxide and other pollutants in the atmosphere. These trap the Sun’s heat and warm up the planet.

Global warming has already caused a wide range of problems.     3     Countries around the world have faced extreme weather conditions, such as hurricanes, floods and heat waves.

Overflowing Landfills

Landfills are used for waste disposal (处理) in many countries around the world. However, these landfills are now nearing their limit. When this happens, the chances of dangerous chemicals in the waste entering our water supply increase.

The amount of waste in landfills in China has risen sharply over the last ten years.     4     Some cities, such as Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai, among others, are leading the way and have promised to send “zero waste to landfill!”.

    5     They believe that, although recycling waste is effective, the most effective way of solving the problem of overflowing landfills is to encourage people to take responsibility for reducing the waste they produce themselves.

Earth Day was founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental problems, and Earth Day 2020     1     (fall) on Wednesday, April 22 — the holiday’s 50th anniversary. The holiday is now a global celebration that’s sometimes extended into Earth Week, a full seven days of events focused on green living.

    2    (elect) to the U. S. Senate (参议院) in 1962, Senator Gaylord Nelson was determined to convince the federal government that the planet was     3     risk. In 1969, Nelson developed the idea for Earth Day after     4     (inspire) by some teaching activities     5     were taking place on college campuses around the United States.

Denis Hayes, a young activist who had served as student president at Stanford University,     6    (select) as Earth Day’s national coordinator (协调者), and he worked with     7     army of student volunteers and several staff members from Nelson’s Senate office     8    (organize) the project.

The first Earth Day was effective at raising     9     (aware) about environmental problems and transforming public attitudes. Earth Day kicked off the “Environmental decade with a bang,” as Senator Nelson later put it. The theme of Earth Day 2020 is “climate action.” EarthDay.org hopes it will be the     10     (large) volunteer event in history.