1 . Every year about 40,000 people attempt to climb Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. They ______ with them lots of waste. The ______ might damage the beauty of the place. The glaciers (冰川) are disappearing, changing the face of Kilimanjaro.

Hearing these stories, I’m ______ about the place — other destinations are described as “purer” natural experiences.

However, I soon ______ that much has changed since the days of disturbing reports of ______ among tons of rubbish. I find a ______ mountain, with toilets at camps and along the paths. The environmental challenges are ______ but the efforts made by the Tanzania National Park Authority seem to be ______.

The best of a Kilimanjaro ______, in my opinion, isn’t reaching the top. Mountains are ______ as spiritual places by many cultures. This view is especially evident on Kilimanjaro as ______ go through five ecosystems within a few kilometers. At the base is a rainforest. It ends suddenly at 3, 000 meters, ______ lands of low growing plants. Further up, the weather ______ — low clouds envelop the mountainsides, which are covered with thick grass. I counted twelve shades of green from where I stand. Above 4, 000 meters is the highland desert: gravel (砾石), stones and rocks. ______ you climb into an arctic-like zone with permanent (永久的) snow and the glaciers that may soon disappear.

Does Kilimanjaro deserve its reputation as a crowded mountain with lines of tourists ______ the atmosphere of peace? I found the opposite to be true.

2 . In an effort to help out important insects like bees and butterflies, bus stops across the United Kingdom (UK) are getting living roofs. Small gardens on bus shelter roofs are being planted with flowers chosen to help support the struggling insects. The gardens provide much-needed islands of nature in a man-made environment of a city.

Humans count on bees and other “pollinators (授粉者)” like butterflies to help grow plants, such as flowers and trees. But with humans taking over more and more land for cities, roads and farms, more natural areas have disappeared. The Wildlife Trusts, a group which works to protect wildlife in the UK, says that 97% of England’s wildflower fields have been lost since World War II and the insect numbers there have dropped by 50% since 1970. Bee bus stops are a small step toward supporting these important insects.

The advertising company Clear Channel is working with The Wildlife Trusts and city governments to set up bee bus stops in cities across the UK. Bee bus stops are like ordinary bus shelters, but small gardens have been added to the roofs. The gardens are filled with flowers and plants chosen to attract bees and butterflies. The company plans to set up 1,000 bee bus stops in the UK.

Clear Channel already has bee bus stop programs in several countries in Europe. In the Netherlands, the city of Utrecht has 300 bee bus stops. Research shows that these bus stops—along with many other steps taken to support pollinators—may be helping. After decades of dropping numbers, bee populations in the Netherlands seem to have become more stable over the last few years.

The little gardens can also help to slightly lower city temperatures. Even though the bus shelter gardens are small, together they add up to a much larger area. Thirzah McSherry, who works for The Wildlife Trusts, says, “We’re living through a nature and climate crisis and we need to use every tool we’ve got to deal with it.”

Global climate change is not a future problem. Effects that scientists had long predicted would result     1     global climate change are now occurring. Some changes (such as droughts, wildfires, and extreme rainfall) are happening faster than scientists previously     2    (assess). In fact, modern humans have never before seen the observed changes in our global climate, some of     3     are so serious that they are unable to recover over the next hundreds to thousands of years.

Scientists are     4     (high) confident that global temperatures will rise continuously for many decades, mainly due to greenhouse gases    5     (produce) by human activities. It     6     (report) that human emissions of heat-trapping gases have warmed the climate by nearly 1.1 ℃ since the pre-industrial period (between 1850 and 1900). To make matters     7     (bad), half of the world’s population are likely to be exposed to extreme weather events by 2030.

The     8     (severe) of effects caused by climate change will depend on     9     path of future human activities. More greenhouse gas emissions will lead to more climate extremes and widespread damaging effects across our planet.     10     we reduce emissions, we may not avoid some of their worst effects.

Living Green

Yours,

Li Hua

10 . The first time ever I realized that plastic was a serious matter for our planet was during a road trip in Western Australia, almost 12 years ago.

We ______ at a supermarket along the Coral Bay coast to buy some groceries and the lady at the counter told us they didn’t sell any shopping bags in order to prevent plastic in the ______ and to help preserving the endangered turtles (海龟) living in that area. After a first reaction of surprise, we ______ all our shopping in our arms and left.

This was just one of the many experiences I’ve lived that made me more aware of my ______ and pushed me to adopt different habits to live and ______ more sustainably.

Our trip to Borneo was another life-changing ______ that has strengthened my determination to have a ______ lifestyle. While traveling in some Asian countries, we came to know that ______ drinkable water was always a challenge. So we had to travel with our water bottle, and we ______ to avoid using plastic during our trip.

Besides, we were also deeply ______ by our stay on Libaran Island. A ______ turtle conservation project and the community had made big efforts to ______ the beaches and creatively reuse plastic for ten years. Despite that, the shore is washed daily with tons of plastic coming from the tides.

Facing this global issue ______ raised in me a feeling of sadness and anger that soon turned into ______: to do as much as possible to reduce plastic in our life. Small changes can ______ a difference!