2 . In recent years breakfast cereals (谷物) seem to have lost their appeal. Many contain things that ________ consumers avoid, from carbohydrates and gluten to artificial flavours and genetically modified (GM) grain. Add to this a rising ________ for big brands and adoration of small, “authentic” ones, and large cereal-makers have been suffering declining sales. The market for “ready-to-eat” cereals shrank by 9% in America between 2012 and 2015, according to Euromonitor, a data firm. In Britain, the second-biggest cereal market, sales fell by 6%.

Now, the manufacturers are boasting a(n) ________. On February 16th General Mills told investors that its American cereal sales were stabilising. Kellogg follows, reporting on February 17th that it expects its American cereal sales to grow this year. But it will take hard work to make breakfast’s business ________ again.

Cereal firms have tried many ways to cope with customer’s ________ appetites. They have ________. Post Holdings, which sells Honey Bunches of Oats and Grape-Nuts, now also sells eggs and protein shakes. Some firms have ________ trendier brands, with mixed results. After Kellogg bought Kashi in 2000, many of its loyal customers ________. Kellogg is now trying to win them back, returning Kashi’s headquarters to California. A new Kashi cereal features popped sorghum （高粱）, crispy yellow peas and smashed red beans.

Makers are also spending to help their main brands. Kellogg has put more fruit in its Special K Red Berries cereal. General Mills plans to ________ all artificial flavours and colours from its cereals by 2023. Retailers do not want cereal to enter terminal decline — it is too ________ for them. Jim Holbrook, who led Post’s cereal business and is now boss of Daymon Worldwide, a retail consultant, says grocers might ________ sales by placing milk or bananas alongside cereal.

For now, cereal-makers can take ________ that at least some brands are still popular. Sales of Kellogg’s Froot Loops and General Mills’ Cinnamon Toast Crunch have ________ in recent years, points out Alexia Howard of Sanford C. Bernstein, a research firm, even as more virtuous brands such as Fiber One, All-Bran and (until recently) Special K were failing. ________ shoppers may or may not come back to their cereal habit just due to smashed red beans. But cereal’s most ________ customers are those who don’t mind heaps of sugar, or “red #40” food colouring, in their breakfast bowls.

3 . Trees are magicians with carbon, pulling it out of the air at remarkable rates to store it in their bodies. They are so good at removing this greenhouse gas that “planting trees” is often synonymous with doing environmental good.

And lots of people are planting trees. The number of tree-planting organizations has grown by almost 300 percent in the past 30 years, according to a 2021 paper in the journal Biological Conservation. But while tree planting can capture a great amount of carbon, it is hardly a silver bullet for the climate crisis — express estimate that even if we maximized our available lands for trees, this alone would not be enough to counteract carbon emissions caused by humans. Plus, many plantations grow the same few species in monocultures, which can hurt local biodiversity.

The minority of tree plantations are set up with carbon capture solely, or even primarily in mind, says Jacob Bukoski, a forestry scientist at Oregon State University. Most trees are planted with the goal of harvesting timber or wood pulp (木浆) for paper. Tree-planting organizations are more likely to create plantations for commercial reasons, the authors of the 2021 paper also note, rather than for biodiversity or carbon capture.

In forestry, there’s a saying that you have to plant “the right tree in the right place, for the right reason.” But when many tree plantations are established for commercial purposes, the tree that is planted is often not the “right” tree, says Jesús Aguirre-Gutiérrez, an ecologist at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford.

In a paper published recently in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Aguirre-Gutiérrez and colleagues argue that focusing on the goal of carbon removal by natural process causes organizations to ignore the importance of restoring balanced ecosystems. The result is a collection of trees that do not support local organisms or promote biodiversity in the way native plant species would have. These problems deserve particular notice in tropical areas where land is vast, and conditions such as stable temperatures and high humidity promote tree growth, as ignoring them while planting trees is damaging. When plantations increased the woody cover of the Brazilian savannah by 40 percent, this “resulted in an about 30 percent reduction in the diversity of plants and ants,” Aguirre-Gutiérrez and his co-authors write in the new paper.

Aguirre-Gutiérrez doesn’t want to discourage people from growing more trees, he says. Rather, we need a better way to protect the natural ecosystems and species there, like encouraging the restoration of native forest tree species. Local plants will be “better adapted to the conditions” in these environments, he says, which means they, and nearby species, are more likely to thrive. “If we go in that direction, that will bring us the added value of capturing carbon, but also this sustainability.”

“Queen Wen” Ready to Reign

Zheng Qinwen has become the second Chinese to ever reach a major singles final after Li Na’s pioneering triumph at the Australian Open a decade ago. So close to the championship and so disappointed! Yet, it is with so much pride that we can reflect on the journey of a Grand Slam champion in the     1    . Despite her tough final loss to defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, the tennis     2     Zheng’s amazing run at the Australian Open has served up another major boost for the sport in China.

An aggressive talent,     3     championship dreams since watching Li in 2014, Zheng was one step away from having her own name on the same trophy, as she started battle against the mighty Sabalenka on Saturday evening,     4     by an enthusiastic Chinese crowd at the Rod Laver Arena and the entire tennis community back home.

Two sets and 76 minutes later, Zheng’s first Grand Slam final ended in an alert reality     5     that, the 21-year-old still has plenty of catching up to do before reaching the very top of the game, technically and mentally, even though she     6     the world top 10. It is a must because, if one loses, there must be a reason behind it. Zheng has to try to figure out why, and then she will come back stronger and better next time.

Coming up just one step short of the     7     prize, Zheng held back tears at the award ceremony while gazing at the trophy when Sabalenka lifted it for a second time in a row. She     8     how much better she could have done during the postmatch interviews, even with media all greeting her with words of encouragement. Nothing seemed enough to satisfy the ambitious competitor, who’s already achieved many “firsts” for Chinese tennis over the past two weeks.

With Zheng leading the way, China will have seven female players ranked within the top 100. This progress owes a lot to Li’s     9     career, which helped encourage Zheng’s generation to dream bigger. Witnessing the collective rise of the next generation, Li said she can rest     10     that the game’s future is in good hands.