2 . A flood can develop slowly, over time or rapidly, as in the case of flash floods which can develop in just a few minutes and without signs of rain.

    1     This is the first thing that a person should do. It is unwise to just depend on history to decide whether your area is at risk of flooding.

Create an evacuation plan in case you have to evacuate your home. Pay attention to the safe areas you can go to. Prepare food kits for natural disasters that you can easily take with you if you have to leave your house.     2    

If there is a possibility of a flash flood, leave your home and move to higher ground at once. Do not wait for instructions to move. Evacuation may also cause a shortage in the food supply.     3     To survive, one must depend on food storage.

While evacuating, avoid walking through moving water. Even six inches of moving water can make you fall. If you have to walk in water, walk where the water is not moving.     4    

Do not drive into flooded areas. If floodwaters rise around your car, abandon (舍弃) the car and move to higher ground, when water is not moving or not more than a few inches deep.     5     If your car is trapped in rapidly moving water, stay in the car. If the water is rising inside the car, move on to the roof (顶部).

3 . Going Zero Waste means more than dealing with the rubbish we create. It means reducing it, too. People who go Zero Waste are careful about what they do. They never take more than they need, they reuse plastic bags, and they make good plans not to buy more than necessary before going shopping.

Kamikatsu, a Japanese village, has already gone Zero Waste. The 2,000 villagers recycle (循环利用) everything possible. There are 34 different boxes at the recycling center! The villagers sometimes just feel unhappy about what they have to do, but they also see the good side.

Let’s think about how to enjoy a Zero Waste Christmas. By sending recyclable cards, we can help our friends and family reduce waste. And wouldn’t it be better to enjoy the spirit of Christmas with a real tree that can be re-planted in spring?

Going Zero Waste requires us to think more about what happens before and after we act. It is not always easy. But just think how good it would be, both for ourselves and for the environment, if we never had to waste anything.

4 . People have different ways of dealing with waste paper, specifically used newspapers. Some put them in the recycling area, while others keep them as wrappers (包装纸). While these are both good measures, a Japanese publishing company had a better idea for their end use.

The Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd. invented the “Green Newspaper”, which allows people to grow plants with it. This unique newspaper was published on Greenery Day, which is focused on environmental news and made of green paper with seeds placed into it. What makes it even more special is the ink (油墨) used to print words and photos, which is made from plants. The publisher advises readers to tear the used newspaper into small pieces and plant them in a container with soil. They should water them, like they would do for any plant. Within a few weeks, the seeds will grow into plants.

This brilliant concept was invented by Dentsu Inc., one of Japan’s most famous advertising agencies, which works with the publishing company on the initiative (倡议). The publisher’s belief is environmental sustainability (持续性). As its mission statement says, “The Mainichi doesn’t take action only through information, but also by solving global issues.” With joint efforts, this initiative has reached the corners of Japan and sold around millions of copies daily. Other such initiatives producing plantable paper are also seen in India and the US.

About 95 million trees are lost for producing newspapers every year. The Internet, the number of whose users stands for 62.5 percent of the population worldwide, has influenced how people read news and the print readership has dropped greatly. However, the reinvention and reimagination of this newspaper will bring about a change in the publishing industry as well as having an environmental influence.

7 . A sandstorm also known as a dust storm is exactly what it sounds like. A very strong windstorm especially in the desert carries clouds of sand or dust that greatly reduces visibility. This wind is usually caused by convection currents (对流气流) which are created by intense heating of the ground and is usually strong enough to move entire sand dunes. Air is unstable when heated and this instability (不稳定性) in the air will cause higher winds to mix with winds in the lower atmosphere producing strong surface winds.

Sandstorms can disturb people's travel and can sometimes destroy whole roads, and dry flat areas. Similar dust storms can be found on the planet Mars, and are thought to be seasonal. Today the destruction of forests and too much farming of farmland can lead to sandstorms. Too much use of water resources can also cause sandstorms.

In the United States of America, sandstorms are rare because of the lack of large deserts and more importantly the development of proper agricultural techniques. The last recorded destructive sandstorm in American history was the Dust Bowl, which occurred on July 16,1971 and was widely recorded by meteorologists (气象学家).

To protect themselves from sandstorms, some people wear protective suits. Special equipment can be fixed in some cars to prevent sand from getting into the engine. Sandstorms can cause coughs, and the sand and dust has also been known to carry "infectious diseases". Sand particles, unlike dust ones, will block air passages, and cause a person who breathes them in to choke. Dust particles may cause an allergic (过敏的) reaction.

8 . A rare wild flower is being re-established in Devon fields thanks to some four-legged helpers. A conservation charity called Planflife has employed donkeys as “ecosystem engineers”to encourage the return of the endangered small-flowered catchfly.

The catchfly was once found all across Britain but now it only grows in small areas of Wales and the south and west of England. Experts blame its decline on modern farming practices. The flower flourished around the edges of sandy fields where farmers grew their crops, but because of weedkillers that were used to remove “unwanted” plants, and fertilisers to boost crop yields, its habitat has largely disappeared.

Plantlife teamed up with the Donkey Sanctuary, a charity that looks after donkeys in the UK and around the world. It owns several farms across Devon and the UK, where it takes care of hundreds of rescued donkeys, as well as maintaining habitats for other wildlife. More than 20, 000 seeds have been scattered on fields at the sanctuary’s main Devon farm, and it is hoped that many will grow into plants this summer. They will provide food for threatened bird species such as linnets, yellowhammers and skylarks. Plantlife then aims to get the donkeys themselves involved, testing whether catchfly seeds benefit from being trampled into the ground as the donkeys take their exercise. Many plants have seeds that must be pressed into the soil in order to germinate.

“We’re incredibly grateful to partners like the Donkey Sanctuary who are helping these fantastically rare wild flowers come back from the edge of extinction,” Cath Shellswell of Plantlife told The Guardian newspaper. “We look forward to seeing small-flowered catchfly return and we are working with the sanctuary to ensure that this tiny plant has a thriving future. ”

On the afternoon of August 19, 2019, smoke and ash（灰）    1    （fill）the sky over Sao Paulo, Brazil. The smoke was coming from the Amazon rain forest, hundreds of miles away. Some parts of the rain forest had been burning for several     2     (week). Brail sent 44, 000 troops to fight against the fires. On August 25, it was reported that there had been 80, 626 fires in Brazil so far, many in the Amazon.

The Amazon is the     3     (large) rain forest in the world and it is home to millions of plants and animals and 30 million people. It is also important to the health of our earth. Its trees take in CO₂, from the air and replace it with O₂,     4     helps slow climate change.

Experts believe the fires were set     5     purpose. In general, it's against the law     6     (start) a fire in the rain forest.     7     it's not uncommon. Farmers regularly do so. They clear land so they can plant crops and raise cattle for beef production.

Since 1978, an area of some 289, 000 square miles of the Amazon     8    （destroy）. Deforestation（滥伐森林）reached the top in     9     early 2000s. Then, in 2004, the Brazilian government began to punish     10     (serious)the man-made fires and deforestation. This greatly slowed tree loss in the area.