In ancient times, people held nature in awe (敬畏). For example, the American Indians     1     (believe), “Humans are a part of nature and nature is a part of humans”. However, as human beings master more knowledge, people try to change nature. They use more land     2     (make) buildings and capture some wild animals to suit their own needs. In this process, humans gradually lose contact with nature and even throw it out of balance. Please remember: Nature is not the place to visit. It’s     3     (we) home.

Eradajere Oleita thinks she may have a solution     1     two of her country’s problems: rubbish and poverty (贫困). It’s called the Chip Bag Project. The 26-year-old student and environmentalist from Detroit is asking local chip lovers     2     (donate) their empty chip bags rather than throw them into the trash so she can turn them into sleeping bags for the homeless.

Chip eaters drop off their empty bags at two locations in Detroit: a print shop and a clothing store, where Oleita and other     3     (volunteer) collect them. After they clean the chip bags in soapy hot water, they cut them open, lay them flat, iron (熨) them together and use liners from old coats to line the insides.

It     4     (usual) takes about four hours to sew (缝) a sleeping bag, and each takes around 150 to 300chip bags, depending on whether they’re single-serve     5     family size. The result     6     (be) a sleeping bag that is waterproof (防水的), lightweight, and easy to carry around.

Since its start in 2020, the Chip Bag Project     7     (collect) more than 800,000 chip bags and created 110 sleeping bags.

Sure,     8     would be simpler to raise the money to buy new sleeping bags. But that’s only half the goal for Oleita—whose family moved to the United States from Nigeria ten years ago with the hope of     9     (have) a better life—and her volunteer helpers. “We are working to make a     10     (different) not only socially, but environmentally,” she says.

Legos are popular with kids. But     1     (make) them can hurt the environment. Why? Legos are made of plastic. The plastic is made from oil. That is a nonrenewable resource, Recently, Legos     2     (introduce) earth-friendly pieces. They are made of plastic taken from sugarcane(甘蔗). That is a renewable material. The green pieces are part of a     3     (big) plan for Lego. The company plans to use renewable materials in all its toys by 2030. The actions the company takes today can have influence on the planet of tomorrow.

Like all big cities, Paris has a traffic problem: lots of cars, traffic jams and pollution from exhaust fumes (废气). So since 2007, the city     1     (begin) a plan to improve the situation.

Under the Velib scheme (公共自行车计划), people can take a bicycle, use it as long as they want, and then leave it at the same or another bicycle station. The first half hour is free,     2     if you don’t return it after 30 minutes, you have to pay. The bicycles are as heavy as 25 kilograms, and they’re all grey and have     3     (basket).

Paris isn’t the first city     4     (operate)a scheme like this. Not everybody thinks it’s a great idea. One Parisian (巴黎人) said, “These bicycles are only suitable     5     short journeys. ”

A city spokesman said, “The bicycle scheme won’t solve all our traffic problems, but it might work in     6     (reduce) air pollution. Traffic, together with factory fumes,     7    (be) big problem. Global warming and dramatic climate changes are becoming more and more serious,     8     is partly because rain-forests are     9     (gradual) disappearing. And it’s also because there’s so much pollution. Unless we do something now, there will be more traffic jams and temperatures will continue to rise, so the problems in our environment will get even     10     (bad). ”

Air pollution is no doubt a major concern in many big cities across the world. More than 80% of people living in urban areas     1     (expose) to unsafe air, according to a report     2     (deliver) by the World Health Organization.

“Urban air pollution continues to rise at     3     alarming rate, doing great ham to human health,” said Dr. Maria Neira, the director of Public Health and Environmental Policy at the WHO. “At the same time,     4     (aware) is rising and more cities are monitoring their air quality.”

In the past two years, the number of cities monitoring air pollution     5     (double)-now covering about 3,000 cities in 103 countries. The WHO warned of the serious effects poor air quality could have     6     the health of urban residents,     7     (link) it to the risk of strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and many other diseases.

The report also showed that low-and middle income countries     8     (general) have poorer air quality. About 98% of cities with 100,000 or more people in low-and middle-income countries do not meet WHO air quality guidelines,     9     56% in high-income countries fail to meet the standard. The report also urged local governments to take stronger and     10     (effect) measures to fight against air pollution.