Environment means all the     1     (nature) surroundings such as land, air, water, plants, and other things. Healthy environment not only keeps the nature's balance but     2     (help) in growing and developing all the living things on the earth. Besides natural environment, a man-made environment also exists,     3     deals with the technology, transportation, housing, urbanization, etc. However, nowadays, some man-made technological advancements are spoiling the environment in many ways, finally     4    (disturb) the balance of nature. We are keeping our lives in danger as well as     5     (exist) of life in future on this planet.

If we do anything in a wrong way out of the discipline of nature,     6     disturbs the whole environment. Due to some bad and selfish activities of the human beings, our environment is getting     7     (affect). Man-made environment affects the natural environment     8     such a great degree that we all must be together to save it.

The components of the natural environment are used as a resource by the human being     9     (basic) to fulfill some physical needs. We should not challenge our natural     10     (resource) and should value them and use them by staying under the natural discipline. We all must take efforts to protect our natural environment to keep it safe as usual forever.

The researchers published their study in the journal Nature. They looked at data from recent bleaching (变白) events in the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia. Bleaching causes corals to lose their colour and, often, to die. Several causes contribute    1    bleaching: warm water temperatures,    2    (pollute), and overfishing. The bleaching events in the study were caused     3    (main) by rising water temperature. The researchers found that local efforts     4    (improve) water quality and stop overfishing did not increase the reefs’ chances of survival.

Researchers say the results of the study highlight the importance of     5    (fight) global climate change. Reefs could become extinct if temperatures continue to rise at the current rate.

Corals look like rocks, but they are tiny animals. The creatures can exist alone or in large colonies. They form a hard outer shell. When they die, their skeleton (骨架)     6    (leave) behind and more coral builds on it. Colonies form reefs. They are home to one in four species in the sea. Reefs also serve as barriers     7    protect the coastlines from    8    (power) storms.

Fortunately, a group of scientists unconnected to the study     9     (take) action at the moment. Their project focuses on protecting     10    great many reefs that have not been harmed by climate change.

5 . On the top of millions of homes and offices, affordable and efficient solar panels provide further smaller-scale- electricity during daylight hours. People drive zero-emission (排放) cars that were developed like Audi and BMW which run on hydrogen fuel—created using solar energy which turns waste water into hydrogen and oxygen. Solar energy is potential power in the continuous sunlight of space.

The idea of solar power and its potential to be Earth’s giant power source has roots way back before the threat of climate change and using up petrol. The first idea of solar energy was developed back in 1883, when writer Isaac Asimov published a 1941 story, describing a space station beaming down vast amounts of solar energy using microwave beams. US scientist Peter Glaser drew up plans in 1968 to make Asimov’s dreams a reality, only to be stopped by the technological limitations of the time.

But technologies for a solar-powered world are here today, quieting critics who claim global solar power will never overcome issues over long-distance transmission from sunny to less sunny areas, or find storage solutions to allow it to carry on making power when it gets dark.

China, for instance, is already building high-voltage power lines to spread output across the country from quickly developing solar power facilities. The first three months of 2015, alone, saw the Asian giant add 5 gigawatts (千兆瓦) of solar capacity to the entire solar supply of major European nation like France.

Storage solutions already being used worldwide have successfully proved the working of two methods. One uses solar energy to create melt salts, whose heat-keeping qualities allow them to provide the power to drive electricity turbines (涡轮机) through the night. Other solar plants, meanwhile, are using the sun’s rays to compress gas that is then released after dark to drive those turbines.

8 . The world’s insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, according to the first global scientific review. More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, the analysis found. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles.

“It should be of huge concern to all of us, for insects are at the heart of every food web,   they pollinate the large majority of plant species, keep the soil healthy, recycle nutrients, control pests, and much more. Love them or loathe them, we humans cannot survive without insects, ” said Prof Dave Goulson at the University of Sussex in the UK.

The analysis, published in the journal Biological Conservation, says intensive agriculture is the main driver of the declines, particularly the heavy use of pesticides. Urbanization   and climate change are also significant factors.

One of the biggest impacts of insect loss is on the many birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish that eat insects. A small number of adaptable species are increasing in number, but not nearly enough to outweigh the big losses.

Matt Shardlow, at the conservation charity Buglife, said: “It is gravely sobering to see this collation of evidence that demonstrates the pitiful state of the world’s insect populations. It is increasingly obvious that the planet’s ecology is breaking and there is a need for an intense and global effort to stop and reverse these dreadful trends.”

I am Chuck Leavell, musician, forester, and conservationist from Georgia. I was also co-founder of the website Mother Nature Network, which     1     (integrate) into Treehugger the other day. I am very excited and pleased to announce that I am now    2    (official) a team member of Treehugger as editor-at-large and     3     ambassador for our Treehugger Family!

My interest in the environment goes back decades. In 1981, my wife, Rose Lane Leavell, and I inherited (继承)around a thousand acres from Rose's grandmother    4     (know) that it was family land that we wanted to keep -- but not knowing exactly     5     to do with it -- we researched options and decided to grow trees for long-term       6    (sustain) forestry. We studied books on forestry, attended various     7     (course) to learn as much as we could about the subject. Since then, we have planted more trees.

Whether on our own land or in the world at large, I never stop advocating for the environment - that is why I'm so happy to be here. As I begin my role, I look forward to     8     (contribute) to Treehugger in many ways. I     9     (be) a fan of Treehugger all this time, and I consider this a very special opportunity. So, please keep focus on as I join this outstanding and talented group of writers, researchers, and folks who have a passion     10     environmental subject matter and for finding ways and doing things to improve our planet!

10 . In 2016, a team of Japanese scientists found bacteria capable of breaking down and “eating” one of the world’s most popular plastics-polyethylene terephthalate(PET). It was valued as a potential breakthrough at the time. But a new discovery came as a team of British scientists examined an enzyme(酶) produced by the Japanese bacteria to find out more about its structure. While operating the structure to better understand how it worked, they accidentally created the changed enzyme that’s even more efficient at breaking down plastic bottles.

The researchers are now working to further improve the enzyme so it can be used on an industrial scale. It’s possible that within the next few years there could be an industrially possible process for turning PET into other substances so it can be recycled.

The ability to scale up the process will be important. Plastic pollution is fast becoming one of the biggest environmental issues of our time. More than 1 million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute. Most of these bottles are made from PET，which can take up to1000 years to biodegrade(生物降解), and many are left in the oceans. Over half of global PET waste is not collected for recycling and only 7 percent of bottles are recycled into new bottles.

Some scientists say the breakthrough, though promising, is nowhere near enough to solve our pollution crisis. These enzymes are not abundantly present in nature. So you would need to produce the enzyme first, then add it to the PET plastic to degrade it.”This is likely to be a slow process. If you have gone through the trouble of collecting the PET waste, then there are clearly far better ways to recycle it or burn it for energy,” said Wim, head of the Industrial Biotechnology Center. He suggested the use of commercially available biodegradable bioplastics would still be a better bet.