China has been working quietly to address air pollution. In addition to observing, I also communicated with locals and foreigners     1     (learn) about China’s efforts.

According to Cui Xiaoyi, a resident of Beijing, due to serious air pollution the local administration (行政部门) sometimes warned     2     elderly not to go out in the past . But Beijing     3     (see) a great improvement in air quality over the last few years. They no longer need such emergency measures.

Muhammad Asghar, a representative of the Associated Press of Pakistan in China     4     has been living in Beijing for the past few years, said that the green transportation and energy industries that China has developed over the years have largely replaced fuel-powered (燃料驱动的) cars,     5     that the Chinese people are willing to use electric cars and public transportation.

Asghar added that China has not only done good work to address air pollution, but has also made contributions     6     promoting greener practices. The living environment has been     7     (significant) improved with the greening coverage of urban built-up areas nationwide     8     (increase) from 39.22 percent to 42.06 percent between 2012 and 2021.

The ideas     9     (share) by China in international conferences are impressive. Chinese netizens (网民) believe that rather than just talking about it, it would be     10     (effect) if we put our efforts into planting trees.

Facial recognition technology,     1     has been widely used in identifying an individual’s identity, is now moving beyond human faces.

At a digital monitoring center of the Yellow River Delta national nature reserve in Dongying, Shandong province, a variety of data is on display on a large screen, showing the real-time situations of     2     (it) biodiversity. In the past, the vast nature reserve with a diverse bird population     3     (pose) lots of challenges for scientists in tracking the biodiversity and conducting on-site monitoring. Today staff members at the reserve can monitor and record the biodiversity situation in real time     4     (simple) through an intelligent monitoring platform.

The monitoring platform takes advantage of information technologies such as big data, remote sensing and artificial intelligence     5     (establish) an integrated sky-to-ground monitoring network. After terminal collection devices send data to the cloud via a well-covered 5G network, AI performs real-time identification and annotation (注释), presenting results on the monitoring platform while     6     (conduct) a series of data analyses.

The use of science and technology plays     7     significant role in the biodiversity conservation. It helps the reserve with intelligent species recognition and provides real-time monitoring without too much human involvement, effectively enhancing conservation management and the efficiency of     8     (decide) making and problem solving. Seeing     9     disturbing, guarding without interfering (干涉) — that is the     10     (great) respect humankind can show nature.

Citizens Forest is a young organization from northern Germany. Its small team helps people in     1     (vary) places to plant forests in the city. The principle is very simple: citizens look locally to see if there are any small, unused areas     2    are possible to be reforested (重新造林). The areas do not have to be large. A “Tiny Forest” can be created from as little as 60m². The organization     3     (provide) support with planning, talks with the authorities involved and shows everyone involved what is possible.

The model is a sure-fire success. There are motivated people and companies everywhere     4     (long) to get involved. Until now, around 30 projects     5     (carry) out and 500 more are planned to be launched over the next three years. The aim of Citizens Forests is     6     (establish) a Germany-wide network of local reforestation projects. They also hope to make reforestation     7    normal part of social life in the future.

Tiny Forests are more than just woodlands     8     nature and people, they also helps create natural biotopes (生物栖息地) with a variety of plant and animal     9     (species) . In addition, Citizens Forests also makes efforts to promote environmental education, which as a result raises people’s     10     (aware) of environmental protection.

When Zhou Longshan started filming birds 10 years ago at Baiyangdian Lake,     1     major wetland in northern China, he just wanted to record his favorite species—egrets (白鹭).

Then things snowballed. In the following years, the teacher became a bird watcher, a volunteer ranger at the lake, a photographer     2    (document) over 110 bird species, and an     3     (education) popularizing bird-related knowledge among students.

“Sharing bird-protection knowledge with children can make them feel the     4    (beautiful) of their hometown and the importance of birds, and help them cultivate the habit of protecting birds from an early age,” he said.

Growing up in a local village, Zhou,60, has fond childhood memories     5    (associate) with the wetland.

“When I was a child, the water in Baiyangdian was limpid. The fish and aquatic plants in the water could be seen clearly,” he said. “I often caught fish with my friends, rowed boats and drank the lake water     6     I was thirsty.”

Between the 1960s and 1980s,     7    , Baiyangdian suffered severely from industrial pollution. Chemicals poisoned the water and lake beds, decimating the aquatic life. In the 1990s, the lake     8    (near) dried up due to climate change.

When Zhou became a teacher in the 1990s, the stink from the lake could sometimes be smelled from his village. “The lake became stinking, the population and species of fish and birds decreased, and the locals were unwilling to go near the lake,” he recalled.

Since the Xiong’an New Area was established in 2017, Baiyangdian’s rehabilitation and protection activities     9    (improve) greatly. The water quality has improved from Level Ⅴ-the     10    (low) in China’s five-tier water assessment system-to Level Ⅲ.

Zhou will retire in June. “I will continue patrolling the lake and photographing the birds, to contribute to the protection of birds in my hometown,” he said.

Duolun county,     1     (locate) in Inner Mongolia, only 180 kilometers away from Beijing，once suffered severe erosion and desertification (沙漠化).

Ma Yunping, a retired soldier,     2     (sell) six cows to collect 7,000 yuan and decided to contract 3,700 mu of deserted sandy land. Due to Duolun’s unique geological (地质) environment, which consists mainly of shifting sand dunes (沙丘), the inexperienced Ma tried planting grass under the     3     (guide) of the forestry department. However, the sandstorms came frequently. He failed many times     4     continued trying, learning from his mistakes.

During the first three years, planting grass became his primary job. Slowly, the yellow sand was stabilized, and     5     touch of green appeared. In 2016, Ma established a     6     (profession) organization, which now has over 40 members. “I want everyone in my village to     7     (active) participate in preventing and treating desertification and to share in the green achievements,” he said.

So far, in this area, Ma has planted about 400,000 trees in total. All of them have grown into flourishing vegetation, and not a bit of yellow sand can     8     (find). Reflecting     9     the 20-year journey of fighting against desertification, Ma has long engraved the patches of green on the dunes into his heart. “I am so fond of the greenery, and I want to keep     10     (follow) it,” Ma said.

While there is growing consumer     1     (realize) of the environmental impact of fast fashion, can the same be said about fast furniture? The chairs and tables that fill many of our homes and everyday spaces are manufactured on a mass scale, and the cheaper items often end up     2     landfills.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in 2020 over 12 million tons of furniture     3     (throw) out in America and some into the forest illegally. Buying furniture can be     4     (incredible) expensive. Many of us switch over to cheaper, instant brands like IKEA,     5     manufacturers use materials harder to recycle, which is likely to damage the environment.

With growing calls for sustainability, many brands are announcing to change though it remains     6     (see) whether they will keep these promises. In     7     (it) current sustainability strategy, IKEA commits itself to using only recyclable materials in all its products in an effort to practice “circular” design and cut emissions to net-zero. The concept of circular design     8     (win) increasing concern up to now. In     9     circular system, furniture products would be designed to last longer and be fully recyclable, thus forming a     10    (close) loop (环).

With the tourism    1    (develop), people are becoming increasingly concerned    2    the environment. Here in our city, there is a heated discussion about whether a hotel should    3    (build) at White Beach. The owner of the company thinks the hotel would attract more tourists,     4    will help the local economy.    5    , the local people worry that constructing the hotel is not eco-friendly,     6    (particular) the turtles. Admitting the various    7    (benefit) from the hotel, they still have many concerns about the surroundings     8     they have been living for many years. It is    9    unavoidable problem that increased tourist numbers will consume more natural resources, at the same time, more waste and pollution    10    ( release).