1 . 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!

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

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

However, I soon discovered that much has changed since the days of disturbing reports of_________ among tons of rubbish. I find a clean 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 regarded as spiritual places by many cultures. This_________ is especially evident on Kilimanjaro as climbers go through five ecosystems (生态系统) in the space of a few kilometers. At the base is a rainforest. It ends abruptly at 3, 000 meters,_________ lands of low growing plants. Further up, the weather__________ — low clouds envelope the mountainsides, which are covered with thick grass. I __________ twelve shades of green from where I stand. Above 4, 000 meters is the highland __________ : gravel (砾石), stones and rocks. __________ you climb into an arctic-like zone with__________ snow and the glaciers that may soon disappear.

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

3 . When Tom Blake was a young boy, watching a jet (喷气式飞机) streak across the sky, he knew flying was what he wanted to do when he grew up.

After five years’ training, he finally ________ his dream job in his late twenties — working as an airline pilot. But in 2019, the travel firm he was ________ for collapsed.

By this time Mr Blake had become increasingly ________ the growing threat of climate change, and the aviation industry’s carbon emissions. “I had an uncomfortable________,” he says. “I was really eager to get involved in ________ protest groups, but I knew it would be career suicide, and I had a lot of ________. It would be easier to return to the industry and pay them off.”

Yet with the COVID-19 pandemic grounding aircraft, Mr Blake decided to quit his flying ________ for good. “I prefer flying and ________ interesting destinations, and earning a decent ________.” says Mr Blake. “But when we are ________ the climate and ecological emergency, how could I possibly ________ my needs? We need to think about how to ________ the biggest threat to humanity.”

Giving up his dream job was a ________ decision, he says. “Financially I’ve been really ________ . It’s been challenging.” But he adds, “Taking action has ________ my anxiety.”

Mr Blake is now a climate activist.

4 . Molai grew up in a tiny village in India. The village lay near some wetlands which became his second _______. He learned the value and beauty of _______ there from a very young age. 

When he was 16, Molai began to notice something _______ happening around his home. A flood had hit the area earlier that year and the _______ it caused had driven away a number of birds._______, the number of snakes had declined as well. He _______ that it was because there weren’t enough trees to protect them from the _______. The solution, of course, was to plant trees so the animals could seek _______ during the daytime. He turned to the _______ department for help but was told that nothing would grow there. However, Molai went looking on his own and ________ a nearby island where he began to plant trees.

________ young plants in the dry season was ________ for a lone boy. Molai built at the ________ of each sapling (幼树) a bamboo platform, where he placed earthen pots with small holes to ________ rainwater. The water would then drip (滴落) on the plants below.

Molai ________ to plant trees for the next 37 years. His efforts have resulted in 1,360 acres of naturally-grown land that has become home to many plants and animals.

5 . Damon Carson calls himself a matchmaker (媒人) of the never-ending waste of American society, trying not to pair people with people, but things with people.

In the late 1990s, Carson was on break from business school in Vail, Colorado, when he ______ the vast world of waste. He began ______ creating a secondhand store that would sell old ______ and keep them out of being ______. As a result, in 2010, his company, Repurposed Materials ______.

For nearly ten years, his company, Repurposed Materials, has not been looking to ______ the waste he gets—breaking it down to make something new —but rather finding new homes for thrown-away goods in their original ______.

Carson, a husband and father of three adult children, is far from ______. Frugal (节俭) is how he describes himself. The clothes he’s wearing all came from a(n)______ shop; his truck was bought with 290, 000 kilometers driven.

“Why break something down, why melt something down, if it still has ______?” he asks. An old oil-field pipe might be melted down and turned into a car bumper, but it still takes an amount of ______ to finish the complete change. Why not leave it as a steel pipe? Why not turn it into a ______ post (杆、柱) on a farm? The only cost is ______.

American industrial facilities create and ______ about 7.6 billion tons of unwanted industrial materials every year. For the moment, Carson’s unique business finds new ______ for millions of kilograms of industrial waste every year.

7 . City air is in a sorry state. It is dirty and hot. Outdoor pollution kills 4.2m people a year, according to the World Health Organization. Concrete and tarmac, meanwhile, absorb the sun’s rays rather than reflecting them back into space, and also _____ plants which would otherwise cool things down by evaporative transpiration (蒸腾作用). The never-ceasing _____ of buildings and roads thus turns urban areas into heat islands, discomforting residents and worsening dangerous heatwaves.

A possible answer to the twin problems of pollution and heat is trees. Their leaves may destroy at least some chemical pollutants and they certainly _____ tiny particles floating in the air, which are then washed to the ground by rain. Besides transpiration, they provide _____.

To cool an area effectively, trees must be planted in quantity. Two years ago, researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that American cities need 40% tree _____ to cut urban heat back meaningfully. Unfortunately, not all cities — and especially not those now springing up in the world’s poor and middle-income countries — are _____ with parks, private gardens or a sufficient number of street trees. And the problem is likely to get worse. At the moment, 55% of people live in cities. By 2050 that share is expected to reach 68%.

One group of botanists believe they have at least a partial _____ to this lack of urban vegetation. It is to plant miniature simulacra (模拟物) of natural forests, ecologically engineered for rapid growth. Over the course of a career that began in the 1950s, their leader, Miyawaki Akira, a plant ecologist at Yokohama National University in Japan, has developed a way to do this starting with even the most _____ deserted areas. And the Miyawaki method is finding increasing _____ around the world.

Dr Miyawaki’s insight was to deconstruct and rebuild the process of ecological succession, by which _____ land develops naturally into mature forest. Usually, the first arrival is grass, followed by small trees and, finally, larger ones. The Miyawaki method _____ some of the early phases and jumps directly to planting the kinds of species found in a mature wood.

Dr Miyawaki has _____ the planting of more than 1,500 of these miniature forests, first in Japan, then in other parts of the world. Wherever they are planting, though, gardeners are not restricted to _____ nature’s recipe book to the letter. Miyawaki forests can be customized to local requirements. A popular choice, _____, is to include more fruit trees than a natural forest might support, thus creating an orchard that requires no maintenance.

If your goal is to better your _____ surroundings, rather than to save the planet from global warming, then Dr Miyawaki might well be your man.

10 . Growing up in coastal Maine, Lynda Doughty spent lots of time out on the sea. There she often saw whales, seals and other marine (海洋的) animals. She developed a(n) _______ for the wildlife living along the coast.

“I remember being so amazed by them and _______ what was happening in their life,” Doughty said.

She also _______ that their livelihood was influenced by pollution and other human-related activities. She wanted to do something to _______ these animals.

So she became a marine _______ and worked with organisations that provided help for sick and injured sea animals. But as many nonprofits (非营利机构) closed their doors, Doughty decided to step in.

In 2011, she _______ her nonprofit, Marine Mammals of Maine, and has since provided help and medical care for more than 3,000 sea animals.

When COVID-19 broke out, things became more difficult, but they couldn’t _______—the animals _______, needed their help.

“We were so nervous of how we would _______ as a nonprofit in uncertain times,” Doughty said. “________, our team stood strong and we were able to continue to help animals.”

When another New England-based marine animal rescue program ________ its animal care during COVID-19, Doughty’s work became more ________ than ever.

“We could no longer take any ________ to their rescue center and there were not enough rehabilitation (康复) places for these animals. Actually, we were really ________ and there was more pressure for our center to stay open,” Doughty said.

“I feel this strong ________ to help these animals,” Doughty said. “This is what I was put on the earth to do.”