Over the last decade, China     1     (witness) tremendous changes, which could not have been achieved     2     the hard work of its people. There are many ways     3     (record) the past time, but the story that, at times, leaves a mark on each person is surely the most vivid.

Recently, a man named Zou Yi,     4     has recorded Beiing’s blue sky, shared his observations on the improvement of air quality in China’s capital, as well as his understanding of the efforts behind the brilliant blue skies. His first photo     5     (take) on January 27, 2013. He did the same the next day, and the day after that. He continued for nine more years and,     6     (natural), has the most direct amateur observations ever captured of the changes above the heart of Beijing.     7     took more than 50 years for London and Los Angeles to deal with air pollution,     8     (compare) with just a decade for Beijing. The battle against air pollution has claimed some major stepwise victories over the years, which perfectly shows the Chinese administration’s     9     (determine) and action in building     10     prosperous and beautiful country.

Global climate change is not a future problem. Effects that scientists had long predicted would result     1     global climate change are now occurring. Some changes (such as droughts, wildfires, and extreme rainfall) are happening faster than scientists previously     2    (assess). In fact, modern humans have never before seen the observed changes in our global climate, some of     3     are so serious that they are unable to recover over the next hundreds to thousands of years.

Scientists are     4     (high) confident that global temperatures will rise continuously for many decades, mainly due to greenhouse gases    5     (produce) by human activities. It     6     (report) that human emissions of heat-trapping gases have warmed the climate by nearly 1.1 ℃ since the pre-industrial period (between 1850 and 1900). To make matters     7     (bad), half of the world’s population are likely to be exposed to extreme weather events by 2030.

The     8     (severe) of effects caused by climate change will depend on     9     path of future human activities. More greenhouse gas emissions will lead to more climate extremes and widespread damaging effects across our planet.     10     we reduce emissions, we may not avoid some of their worst effects.

The Palace Museum is becoming waste-free as the 720,000-square-meter structure has managed     1     (reduce) the number of rubbish bins to 110 sets in areas open to the public. This is a decrease from 310 sets     2     (record) in January 2020, when a zero-waste campaign     3     (launch), said the museum.

While protecting features of the six-century-old historical relic, the action also helps visitors and tourists get into     4     habit of creating less waste. Up to now, four types of rubbish bins have been equipped following Beijing’s regulations on the management of household waste. Cleaning staff also check them to make sure all rubbish is     5     (correct) sorted, which is later transported to different destinations for disposal (处理). The museum also recycled more than 32,000 plastic     6     (bottle) to make cultural and creative products between June 2021 and October 2023,     7     (mean) a reduction in carbon emission by 931 kilograms.

By launching the campaign, the Palace Museum is taking a careful, science-based way to waste management. The target is to minimize the production of waste     8     needs to be buried or burned and bring the amount of such waste as close     9     zero as possible.

So far, about 3,000 museum staff members, 40,000 tourist guides, and 21 million visitors     10     (participate) in the campaign.

As the world witnesses more and more extreme weather patterns, it is becoming     1     (increasing) difficult to ignore the effects of climate change on our planet. It is now a common topic of discussion and has even found     2     (it) way into the books we read. As a result of this, a literary genre (体裁)     3     (refer) to as climate fiction, or cli-fi, has found new life.

The term “cli-fi”     4     (use) for the first time in 2007 by US climate activist and writer Dan Bloom. He intended to make “climate fiction” more appealing. According to Bloom, the term really gained     5     (popular) when Canadian writer Margaret Atwood used it on     6     Internet, introducing it to her half-a-million followers.

Just     7     the name suggests, climate fiction refers to stories with the central theme of climate change or global warming. These kinds of books can inspire the readers     8     (imagine) what the world might be like in the future because of major climate change events.

The genre is quite welcome among college students because it usually looks at topics that is relevant     9     what is really happening today. Cli-fi has also helped to motivate students to pursue science majors, with some universities even     10     (offer) courses specially focusing on climate fiction.

The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, which plays     1    significant role in     2     (keep) the fine balance of the Earth’s ecosystem. It crosses into eight     3     (country) and covers an area of around 6 million square kilometers. The Amazon River, from which the rainforest gets     4     (it) name, supports many different ecosystems on its journey. They give this area the     5     (rich) biodiversity on the Earth. Of the 390,000 plant species known to us, more than 40,000 can     6     (find) in the Amazon. Each level of the forest forms its own little world, home to different kinds of     7     (live) things. More than 1,300 species of birds and over 400 species of mammals hide among the jungle’s plant life,    8     form the forest’s food chain. The Amazon rainforest is often known     9     the “lungs of the planet”. However, over the past 50 years, about 17 percent of the rainforest     10     (disappear) due to human activities. Can we afford to damage the “lungs of the planet”?

Researchers have been applying artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor biodiversity and enhance efforts to protect some species from     1     (threaten). Unlike conventional methods, AI has the capacity     2     (analyze) massive amounts of data effectively.

Species are disappearing     3     a rate much faster than that millions of years ago, with up to one million species on the edge of     4     (extinct). In response, the United Nations set a goal in 2020 to safeguard at least 30% of Earth’s land and oceans. “AI is imperfect     5     could promote important discoveries,” says Nicolas Miailhe, paris-based founder of the Future Society, an international non-profit organization     6     aims to better govern AI. “We badly need human practitioners to design models and interpret data.”

Besides     7     (monitor) biodiversity in real time, AI can also be used to model the impacts of human activities on an ecosystem. Although it     8     (document) that human activities have resulted in biodiversity loss, little is known about which environmental factors have the largest impact.

“Long-term statistics will play     9     essential role in connecting changes in biodiversity with environmental changes,” says Luisa Orsini, who     10     (study) evolutionary bio-systems at the University of Birmingham, UK.