Last night it snowed and it     1     (be) the first fall of snow people had seen that winter. Priestley found the children     2     (look) through the windows at the snow fall excitedly. However, last year he was abroad sweating in a hot climate during the     3     (snow) season. In the past years, the first snow fall was not only     4     event but a magical event. People     5     (go) to bed in one kind of world and woke up to find     6     (they) in another.

This morning, when Priestley got up, the light     7     came through the windows made everything very strange. The dining room window had been transformed into a lovely Japanese print. An hour or two later, he looked out of the window and found the whole world     8     (change) again. It was as if the kindly countryside had been turned into a cruel grassland. Then the world had changed again. The snow was falling so     9     (heavy) that you could hardly see across the shallow valley. From his study, Priestley could see the children flattening their noses     10     the window and recalled a rhyme in his childhood.

Jiangxi Province has taken many measures to protect finless porpoises (江豚),     1     have faced dramatic changes in their living environment as Poyang Lake, China’s largest freshwater lake, suffered a severe drought.

The species,    2     (list) as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, now lives only along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The number of finless porpoises    3     (drop) significantly in the past few years, with only 457     4     (live) in Poyang Lake.

As the water level dropped to less than 12 meters, the lake officially entered this year’s dry season on August 6,     5     (early) than at any time since records began in 1951. Severe drought has reduced the lake by 75 percent. This change will     6     (undoubted) increase the risk of the finless porpoises hitting boats and also result     7     a food shortage for the porpoises.

Wang Liang, who works for the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Jiangxi, said the province has released     8     total of 200 million fish, shrimps (虾) and crabs into the waters     9     (enrich) the food supply and more than 2,000     10     (volunteer) have been trained to rescue the species.

This is the year 2070. Today is my    1     (fifty) birthday, but I look like a person of eighty- five. I have serious kidney (肾脏) problems because I don’t have enough water     2     (drink). I’m afraid I don’t have much time left to live. I’m already one of the oldest people in this society.

I remember when I     3     (be) five years old, everything was very different. There were lots of trees in the parks. I could enjoy a shower for half     4     hour. At that time,     5    (woman) all had beautiful hair. Now, we have to shave (剃光) our heads to keep them clean without the use of water.

I remember there were “Saving Water” warnings in many public places, but nobody     6     (pay) attention. We believed water would last forever. Now, all the rivers and lakes are either dry or polluted. Water is much     7     (expensive) than gold and diamonds.

In the past, doctors suggested adults drink eight glasses of water a day. Nowadays, I am allowed half a glass only. Most people are weak and sick.

When my son asks me about my childhood, I tell him about how pleasant it was to fish in the rivers     8     how healthy people were. When he asks, “Why is there no clean water now?” I feel guilty (有罪的). I belong     9     those people who simply turned a blind eye to all the warnings.

I hope the people living in the 2020s     10     (true) understand the importance of saving water.