1 . A French company called SolarSoundSystem is celebrating its 24^th year of hosting solar-and-bicycle-powered parties in Europe. Founder Cedric Carles says “it is necessary to perform in public spaces in order to increase the level of general knowledge and catch public concern about climate change.” The solar-powered sound systems started off in Lausanne, Switzerland, but have now taken off in France, Berlin, the Basque region of Spain and Tel Aviv.

The principle is simple, during the day batteries are charged by solar energy. These are attached to generators which allow the speakers to function and power the DJ turntables (唱机转盘) too. Impressively, the sound quality is so high that it can provide music for up to 500 people. In terms of how long the music can last, the team explains that even with partial sun clouds, the machines can operate for 5 hours without bicycles and 6 to 8 hours with bicycles. With plenty of sun in the sky, the party can go on until dark. Then at night, party-goers are encouraged to take turns donating pedal power, by riding the bikes to keep the music going.

To mark the 23^rd anniversary of the parties last year, the eco-friendly sound system released a vinyl record (黑胶唱片) of the electronic artists that have been playing on their systems over the years. The chosen songs pay tribute to the eight international artists who have supported SolarSoundsystem in the past years, such as Jay Ka and Gregorythme.

2 . Growing up in Canterbury, Scartozzi recalls swimming in rivers as part of her childhood. When she returned many years later, however, she noticed things had changed. “Some of the places where I could swim before now have signs saying ‘polluted water, do not swim’,” she says. “I wanted to take my kids to places to swim but we couldn’t because these signs were up.”

Although the experience was sad and surprising, it has also served as fuel for Scartozzi, who’s now focusing on restoring the health of waterways. Her company called eCleanEnvirotech is developing technology to remove pollutants from waterways such as rivers, ponds and streams. It involves feeding polluted water into a system housing microbes (微生物) that eat or break up the pollutants.

The “engineered” nature of the technology, Scartozzi explains, means it’s adaptable for different environment conditions. Each system can be personalized with its own unique “soup” of microbes to remove the pollutants in any waterway where it is installed (安装).

Other advantages of the technology, she says, are that it can process water relatively quickly and that it can be used to treat waterways in a variety of sizes and locations.

She says she hopes to create cleaner water for the benefit of future generations. “My passion is around restoring the health of these waterways. And my purpose is to do anything that I can to return them to their former condition. That’s what drives me every day. If I can do anything, it is so that in the future, my kids and grandchildren have somewhere where they can go swimming and fishing.”

During the just-ended Spring Festival holiday, former fisherman Wang Chaosheng kept     1    (he) busy tending to his fish ponds, adding new fry and welcoming     2     (visit), who would like to pay     3     (net) their own catch to take home with them.

Living in Sinan county in Southwest China’s Guizhou province,     4     60-year-old had spent 27 years as a fisherman on the Wujiang River, a branch of the Yangtze River. Working hard day and night in his younger years, Wang could make 300, 000 yuan to 400, 000 yuan a year     5     most. But Wang’s life changed on Jan 1, 2021, when a 10-year fishing ban     6     (introduce) — on the Yangtze for ecological conservation and green development.

Wujiang River     7    (flow) through nearly half the townships of Sinan county, and so before the fishing ban began, the county started putting measures to protect the welfare of the fishermen. Wang is one of those     8    (switch) to more ecologically friendly fish farming.     9     missing the old days of fishing, he understands that abandoning his boat “helps protect the environment” and that his new job is better-paid and     10    (sustainable).

“I used to catch fish, and now I keep fish. I’m still doing my job,” Wang said.

Home to the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers, the Sanjiangyuan area on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (青藏高原) is known as “China’s water tower.” It is a     1     (whole) unique plateau wetland ecosystem and serves as     2     important ecological defense for the country.

Decades ago, serious environmental degradation (恶化) in Sanjiangyuan,     3     was caused by climate change and human activities, resulted in a large number of lakes drying out and wildlife numbers falling sharply. In 2016, the pilot program for the Sanjiangyuan National Park management system     4     (launch). Through painstaking practice, development and innovation, efforts have been made     5     (turn) the park into a symbol of the progress of China’s ecological civilization.

Over the past years, the ecological environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau     6     (experience) comprehensive changes. Water conservation in the area has risen     7     11 percent every year, compared with 10 years ago.

Local residents enjoy the gifts given by nature, and the     8     (establish) of the national park has enabled them to transform from exploiting (开发) nature to becoming its protectors and benefiting from it. Some work as tour guides,     9     (assist) visitors from home and abroad.

Today, as people walk on the vast land of Sanjiangyuan, looking at the expansive mountains, glaciers, lakes and pastures,     10     catching sight of wild animals and birds, they cannot help be impressed by the vastness and beauty of nature.

8 . The results of failing to keep the world’s temperature down are beginning to show.Extreme weather events are likely to become more frequent, and the world’s peoples and their governments are being urged to do more to handle climate change.

Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, an environmental group in Beijing, said the consensus among scientists now is that “climate change has resulted in an increase in extreme weather events across the globe, including temperature extremes, heavy rains, river floods, droughts, storms, as well as compound events”.

Over the past few years heat waves have occurred in places that had previously enjoyed mild weather, higher temperatures have occurred in normally colder regions, and places that are hot are now frequently enduring wildfires, he said, citing a report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) that includes a whole chapter on weather extremes.

The IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report said it is an“established fact”that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions have led to an increased frequency of some weather and climate extremes since preindustrial times.

The global surface temperature is now about 1.09C higher than in the preindustrial period(1850-1900), with stronger warming over land (1.59 C) than over oceans.

Extreme weather events have continued to hit the glebe this year and have killed many people, disrupted (扰乱) the lives of millions and disrupted production.

In Europe, after a summer of extremely high temperatures, violent thunderstorms and hurricane-force winds have hit the continent, leaving at least 13 people dead in Austria, France and Italy by Friday, authorities said.

The Netherlands is one of many European countries that have suffered drought this summer, bringing water shortages in the low-lying country as inland rivers and lakes have fallen to historically low levels.

Every day we use energy. We use it for cooking, for heating and for lighting our cities. The energy comes from many different     1     (source). It can come from the sun, wind and water, but the energy we depend on the most comes from deep inside the Earth. These include coal, oil, and natural gas.

These fuels come from the remains of plants and animals. It takes millions of years     2     (make) them. However, with the world’s population     3    (grow), more and more of these fuels are dug up from the ground. Yet these fuels are non-renewable. When they     4    (use) up, they will be gone forever.

We need to have a strong sense of     5    (responsible) and it’s high time for us to think about     6     we can help save energy and preserve these fuels.

What about turning off anything     7     (electricity) we are not using? That’s a start! We can also recycle things such as newspapers, cans, bottles, and plastic—including plastic bags. Plastic bags start out as either oil     8     coal, and one big city can use millions of plastic bags in a year. When we use recycled things, it takes less energy     9     making something new.

Cars consume a lot of fuel, but there     10     (be) a variety of measures that car owners can take to preserve fuel. Try asking your family whether we can take a bus or walk instead of using the car.