Diets have changed in China — and so too has its top crop. Since 2011, the country     1    （grow）more corn than rice. Corn production has jumped nearly 125 percent over     2     past 25 years, while rice has increased only 7 percent.

A taste for meat is     3     (actual) behind the change: An important part of its corn is used to feed chickens, pigs, and cattle. Another reason for corn's rise: The government encourages farmers to grow corn instead of rice     4     (improve) water quality. Corn uses less water     5     rice and creates less fertilizer(化肥) runoff. This switch has decreased     6     (pollute) in the country's major lakes and reservoirs and made drinking water safer for people.

According to the World Bank, China accounts for about 30 percent of total     7     (globe)fertilizer consumption. The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture finds that between 2005—when the government     8     (start) a soil-testing program     9     gives specific fertilizer recommendations to farmers - and 2011, fertilizer use dropped by 7.7 million tons. That prevented the emission(排放) of 51.8 million tons of carbon dioxide. China's approach to protecting its environment while     10     (feed) its citizens "offers useful lessons for agriculture and food policymakers worldwide." says the bank's Juergen Voegele.

2 . Conservationists are breeding (饲养) lions in the Southern African nation of Zimbabwe. The wildlife experts hope to increase the lion population to keep the great cats from _______.

In some areas, lions and human beings are _______ control of land. Researchers believe something must be done quickly to _______ the animals.

The African Lion and Environmental Research Trust (ALERT) has more than 100 _______ in its breeding program. Antelope Park Farm is one of two sites ALERT operates in Zimbabwe.

Gary Jones heads the Antelope Park Farm. He says ALERT has become involved _______ a sharp drop in the number of lions. His group believes this has been _______ mainly by humans. There are more people moving to this area every year. The lions have _______ land on which to live.

Gary Jones says the decrease in the lion population affects the whole _______. He adds that other African nations are also seeing the _______ effects of this.

There are countries,________ in central and north Africa, where the lion population has reached a(n)________ level. Burundi, a country of east-central Africa, for instance, does not have lions in its national parks. It ________ wants to have lions reintroduced back into its national parks. The reason is that when you take the lion out of the equation (平衡) , suddenly you get all ________ things start happening with the balance of ________. For example, you get too many prey (猎物) species, like giraffes and zebras.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization says ________ animals are threatened when farmers try to ________ their plants or animals.

Rene Czudek works for the UN agency. He says his organization has ________ a human-wildlife tool kit (成套工具) that some countries are using to reduce ________ between human and wildlife. “In fact the tool kit is a kind of instrument that extension workers can use with the ________—explain to them how wildlife behaves, and then show them what the risky behaviors are, and how they should ________ their fields accordingly,” Mr. Czudek said.