Over the last 200 years, humans have become the dominant species on earth. As a result, the natural world     1    （suffer）greatly. Today, almost half of the planet’s land is used for agriculture and food     2     （produce）, forcing our wide spaces into dramatic retreat(消退). The global rate of extinction is     3     （high）than it’s ever been, while the climate crisis continues to speed up.

Therefore, many environmentalists are turning to “rewilding”,     4     is aimed at saving our disappearing biodiversity. So, what     5     （exact）is rewilding? In theory, the concept is simple: restore(修复)land,     6     let nature take back control. Currently, there are hundreds of rewilding projects taking place across Europe,     7     （spread）from the UK all the way down to the eastern Balkans.

For these projects to succeed, they need     8     special sort of person——highly skilled, and fiercely passionate individuals, or groups, willing to devote     9     （they）to the restoration of the wild. Because humans are responsible     10     the terrible state of the natural world, only significant human effort will make positive changes to the damage done.

3 . Nature is all about relationships: the interconnected links between the living and lifeless, and how they harmonize beautifully into a whole that might not be immediately apparent to us humans, as the complexities of the world sometimes escape the grasp of our relatively short-sighted understanding. Perhaps that's why the urgency of the climate crisis and other environ-mental issues don't truly hit home for some; because that important data is presented in a dry, factual way that doesn't touch the deeper parts of our collective soul, in a way that would move us to realize what is being lost.

Clare Celeste is an environmentally-minded artist creating artworks that aim to highlight the precious biodiversity of the planet. Using paper that is complexly cut and then hand-assembled piece by piece, Celeste forms imaginary landscapes of plants and animals that are folded or pressed between glass.

Growing up in Brazil, Celeste says that her earliest childhood memories were of green, tropical ecosystems slowly being eaten up by the rapid expansion of nearby cities.

Celeste said, “When I made a series of combinations, I realized that many of the species in the illustrations had already gone extinct. Humans have wiped out 68 percent of all our planet's biodiversity since 1970, so working with old illustrations can be very heartbreaking as much of the diversity in these beautiful old illustrations has been wiped out by human activities.”

Celeste explains some of the motivations behind this series of paper works: “I wanted to convey the beauty of our planet's plants and animals, while also introducing a more architectural or human-made element with the geometric (几何图形的) patterns. Having grown up in Brazil, I was surrounded by dense urban spaces that often had rich jungle growth just wanting to break through the concrete architecture. I suggest we go back to our love: our love of nature, of our children, of future generations. Because when we love something deeply, we are required to act—to save it when it is threatened.”

6 . I looked out of the door of my 100 year-old house and saw my newly built garden. I realized nothing is rubbish. I was full of_________and appreciation.

I_________to look at the things that we usually think of as_________—plastic bags, polluted water, rubber bands, and newspapers, clothes and furniture we_________. I also began to think, act and live according to a belief that all things have the_________of being reused as long as we try to_________it. And I explored the worth of_________. I mean recycling isn't just about_________rubbish like putting glass and paper in_________bins. It also requires creativity, commitment and even love.

My neighbors would put the autumn__________by the roadside to be picked up by the garbage truck. This didn't__________with my newfound concept of recycling trash, so I made a new__________with moving boxes and put up a__________saying, ''Dump（倾倒）leaves here". I watched carefully through the autumn as my neighbors__________the leaves in the new garden and I also watered the leaves__________with rainwater and collected dogs' waste as fertilizer, Then I__________flower seeds. Finally, I had a new__________garden, full of colorful flowers.

Nothing has to be really__________. If you try hard enough, everything can be recycled. I even used my bath water to water my garden, though it might be a little__________for my friends. But I think if we all can turn waste, sometimes a little dirty, into__________, the world will be a much better place.

The value of upcycling

Recycling is a well-known idea that refers to reusing waste materials in any way possible. But what about “upcycling”? It’s a new word, even though it’s something that has been going on since human     1     began. It means reusing waste materials so that they have greater value. Throughout history, people have always done creative things with “trash”. For example, they’ve used straw and dead leaves to make roofs, skin from dead animals to make leather goods, and wood from     2     trees to make boats. So why is there a new word for it now?

One answer to this question is that we reuse fewer and fewer things, and so have become a (n) “    3    ” society. This has raised huge questions about waste: Where can we     4     it all? Will it pollute the environment? Could it be     5     to our health? The evidence is everywhere—even in the Pacific Ocean, where billions of bits of broken     6     float near the surface. Fish eat them, and then we eat the fish.

So upcyclers have adopted this new word to focus people’s attention on how waste cannot simply be reused, but be reused     7    . In fact, upcyclers don’t like the idea of waste and prefer to call it an “asset”, something of value. Nowadays, there are lots of organizations that     8     products with upcycled material. Some artists and designers have upcycled things like denim from old jeans to make rugs, and wood from old houses to make furniture. Others have even used candy wrappers to make handbags! Sometimes they’ll add a(n)     9     element to their products, such as a beautiful mosaic (马赛克) made with broken dishes. With a (n)     10     supply of “assets”, it seems that upcycling has a great future.