Located in the north-east of Italy, Venice is known     1     "The Floating City". It is made up of over 100 small islands,     2     are connected by waterways and bridges. Unfortunately, water is also putting Venice in great     3    (dangerous). Saltwater is     4     ( slow) damaging the bases of Venice's buildings. The Floating City is, in fact,sinking.

More problems     5     (cause) by floods, which usually hit the city each winter. But these floods could now be a thing of the past thanks to a new flood prevention project.     6     (lie) in the middle of a lagoon, Venice was often hit by seawater caused by rain and strong winds every year, which travels through the     7     (nature) gaps to Venice.Dozens of gates have been built to hold back the sea until now. Each of these gates is 20 meters wide, with     8    longest about 30 meters long. In the event of a big rise in the water level, the gates will be raised to separate the city from the sea.

But only time will tell whether this project is the right solution. The important thing is that action is being taken    9    (protect) this unique city for future    10     (generation). And if it works, it means a longer, drier future for Venice.

Desertification-a growing problem!

Desertification, the name for what happens when land     1     can be used to grow crops turns into desert, is a growing world problem. The United Nations and its member countries are working hard to fight desertification.

China has taken many steps     2     (stop) the process of desertification, including encouraging farmers to build fences (which stop wind from blowing the soil away), and     3     (provide) money for people in dry areas to plant more trees and bushes. This is one of the     4    (cheap) and best     5     (way) of decreasing desertification.

At the moment, China is planting a 'Green Wall' of plants and bushes in the ( north-east part of the country that could grow even longer     6     the Great Wall. China is also spending money     7     (try) to find and drill for underground water.

The China National Desertification Monitoring Centre (CNDMC) was set up in 1996 to do research into the problem of desertification. The centre has over 300 scientists devoted to     8     (find) measures that will stop desertification.

    9    , scientific research is not the only way to help. There are many things that everyone can do to help stop desertification. These include better 6 administration of areas that are likely to turn into desert, and training people in how     10     (use) water without wasting it. There are also things that can be donę at a national or international level, such as sharing information between countries and using satellites to pick out areas likely to be affected by desertification.

As the saying goes, “A hero       1    (know) in the time of misfortune”. Zhong Nanshan is a hero like this. He is a doctor in Guangdong,     2     saved many people's lives in 2003.

In 2003, SARS    3    (break)out in Guangdong. Later, it spread across China and other parts of the world. Patients coughed a lot and got fevers.    4    (hundred)of patient seven died from the disease. Even many doctors and nurses got SARS when they treated patients. So, everyone was afraid of it. Zhong spent days and nights to find     5    cause of the disease. Thanks    6    his way of treating, many patients began to get better. Zhong finally won people's trust.

In early 2020,a disease     7    (call)COVID-19 hit Wuhan. It spread around quickly and tens of thousands of people were infected. Zhong, 84, led    8    (he) team to fight the illness. Zhong's team took many measures     9    (cure)the patients with COVID-19. He   advised people to wear masks, wash hands     10    (frequent),stay at home and not to go to crowd places.

Now at the age of 84, Zhong still treats patients in the hospital and teaches young doctors.

A US teenager criticized（批评）on social media for wearing a     1     (tradition) Chinese dress to her high school prom（毕业舞会）defended her decision and has won support from netizens（网民）in China.

Keziah Daum, 18,     2     high school senior in Utah, faced a strong reaction from thousands online, some of whom accused her of “cultural appropriation（文化挪用）” after she posted four prom pictures on Twitter on April 22 that featured her wearing a qipao, a body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for     3     (woman). “I     4     (praise) by the many people from China who have both reached out to me and have posted to social media their viewpoints. I thank them     5     the moral support regarding my decision     6     (wear) a qipao,” Daum told China Daily in an email on Tuesday. “I     7     (sincere) thank the outpouring of support I have received from the people of China.” Daum stood by her choice to wear the dress,     8     was red and orange with gold-and-black embroidery（刺绣）. She said on Twitter that she will not take down the original post. “The dress     9     (catch) my eye at first because of     10     (it) beauty,” she said. “I was also so happy to find a dress with a modest neckline. It is very hard to find dresses in America for prom which cover a women’s neckline.”