Ancient Forest Found Inside A Giant Sinkhole In China

The residents of Leye County in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region are familiar     1     sinkholes. The area’s 29 sinkholes and underground caves have earned it a UNESCO World Heritage Site name. But the one     2     (explore) by scientists in early May 2022 had an extraordinary secret—a well-preserved ancient forest.

Lixin Chen,     3     (found) of the Guangxi 702 Cave Expedition Club, and his team first went inside the massive sinkhole on May 6, 2022. It did not take     4     (they) long to reach firm ground to walk on. But the group soon realized they were nowhere close to the bottom of the 630-foot-deep sinkhole. They had to walk through trees as high as 130 feet for a few hours     5     (get) there.

Since then, the scientists     6     (return) to the sinkhole which they named “The Eagle” several times. They have found three collapsed caves, evidence of     7     ancient underground river, and a small underground lake. Chen says, “I wouldn’t be     8     (amaze) to know that there are species found in these caves that have never been reported or described by science until now.”

The sinkholes,     9     are left undisturbed by human activity, can be an oasis (绿洲)for life, especially for     10     (previous) unknown species.

When thinking about careers, professional advancement, or even job hunting, we usually attach    1    (important) to the so-called “hard skills”, meaning skills     2     are directly connected to our ability to perform a particular task or do a certain job. These skills can be evaluated or measured, as they are the results of     3    (we) degrees, certificates, specialized knowledge, continuing education, vocational (职业的) training, and so on.

“Soft skills”, on the other hand, are harder    4    (measure) than “hard skills”, as they usually do not come from a degree or specialized training,     5     from life experience, personality, and attitude. They     6    (call) “people skills” as they    7    (typical) relate, in some forms, to how we deal or interact with other people. For example; Are we able to motivate and lead people? Can we communicate well with others?

Some commonly    8    (mention) soft skills would include creativity, teamwork, written and verbal (口头的) communication, management leadership, flexibility, and organization. These types of skills are vital, as they help to form     9    well-rounded person. They can provide a     10    (compete) edge in a job search. Soft skills are relevant to every industry or job, because people are always the key, in one way or another.

During the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics man-made snow was widely used. Due to the fact     1     the area gets little natural snow, this was the first time the Winter Olympics had taken place on almost 100% artificial snow.

21 cities     2    (host) the Winter Olympies since 1972. However, just one of them will have a climate suitable     3     winter sports by the end of the century.

As the planet warms and the weather becomes increasingly erratic (无常的), natural snow is becoming less reliable for winter sports,     4     forces venues (场地) to depend more on artificial snow. But it comes at a cost: man-made snow needs many resources,     5    (require) huge amounts of energy and water to produce in a climate that’s getting warmer and warmer. Athletes also said that the sports     6    (they) became more difficult and less safe when man-made snow was involved.

Traditionally, snow-making has relied     7    (heavy) on snow guns and temperatures at or below freezing. To adapt to warmer temperatures and lower elevations (海拔),     8     different approach needs to be taken.

Making snow demands much energy and water. And with 1.2 million cubic meters of snow     9    (need) to cover roughly 80, 000 square meters of competition area, the water demand at this year’s Winter Olympics was massive.

Now, it becomes more and more common to use artificial snow at winter sports     10    (event). That’s true even in places that used to have a lot of snow naturally.

Last month, I went to China to travel. While     1     (do) some research about the trip, I discovered that Chengdu had the pandas, so I decided to go there.

On my sixth day, I finally had a chance     2     (visit) the pandas! I didn’t go to the famous panda reservation in Wolong, but to Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding directly, which is much     3     (close), because I had heard that people might not see the pandas in Wolong but I wanted to be sure to see these cute fellows. At 7:30 a.m. I     4     (join)a group of five fellow panda     5     (fan) and we set off. My friends,     6     had visited the pandas before, told me about     7     active the pandas were, always playing around. However, all we saw them doing was sleeping and eating. I thought they must be tired, because most of them     8     (bare) moved. A few minutes later, a     9     (sleep) panda came down     10     his tree house to the ground. He was absolutely lovable.

Beverly Cleary was the best-selling and award-winning author of dozens of books for children,     1     writing changed the world of children’s books by showing that stories about the lives of ordinary     2     (kid) could be interesting, funny, and popular.

As a child, she had trouble learning to read. Even after she learned to love reading, she still     3     (find) many books boring. She wanted to read funny books about children like herself.

When she grew up, she set out     4     (write) stories. Ms. Cleary worked hard to get children hooked on reading. When her son didn’t show much interest     5     books, she wrote The Mouse and the Motorcycle. The book tells the exciting story of     6     motorcycle-riding mouse and his friendship with a young boy. The book was a hit, and led to two more books     7     (star) Ralph S. Mouse.

But that sort of fantasy was unusual for Ms. Cleary, who     8     (usual) focused on real life, even when it involved serious problems.

Ms. Cleary kept writing until she was 83 and won almost every award for children’s books,     9     (include) the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award. Though Ms. Cleary is no longer with us, her characters and stories     10     (love) and shared for years to come.

Elephants in the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary (禁猎区) in northern Kenya are being fed goat milk. Workers there say the elephants enjoy drinking goat milk. They say the milk may be     1     (healthy) for them than other choice.

The sanctuary had been using powdered baby milk     2     (feed) the young animals it cared for. But it decided to test goat milk,     3     costs less and is locally available.

The sanctuary rescues young elephants     4     (find) alone in the wild and cares for them. It is not until they are old enough     5     they will be returned to the wild. Dr. Steven Chege is the sanctuary’s medical advisor. He says goat milk seems to be very good for the     6     (survive) and health of baby elephants.

Chege says goat milk is helpful because it contains a different kind of “highly digestible protein” that powdered baby milk lacks. This results in fewer stomach     7     (problem) for the young elephants.

Liwana Lenakukunyia is one of many goat farmers     8     (sell) milk to the sanctuary. She says she’s happy to get new earning and that many of the farmers who now earn money     9     (be) women. “Since we started milking goats and selling milk to the sanctuary,     10     least we have our own cash to feed our family with,” she said.

It was an emotional moment for two women in China     1     the mother of the bridegroom discovered that her daughter-in-law was her biological daughter.

The reunion occurred at the wedding in Suzhou on March 31. According to Sohu News, the discovery     2     (make) after the mother noticed a birthmark on the bride’s hand, which looked strikingly similar     3     that of her long-lost child.

Determined to uncover the     4     (true), the woman gathered the courage     5     (ask)the bride’s parents whether she was adopted. After explaining her story and     6     same birthmark, the bride’s parents     7     (final) confirmed that their child had been adopted.

Indeed, the bride was the woman’s long-lost biological daughter. It turns out she went     8     (miss )as a child and was picked up by her adoptive parents on the roadside some two     9     (decade) ago.

The wedding would have been called off at this point, but the woman also revealed that her son was also adopted. The wedding proceeded as     10     (plan). The story of joys and sorrows moved all the people present. The ending of the story is, as the idiom goes, “As You Like It.”

Photos of the bride crying and hugging her long-lost mother spread on Chinese social media.