Forests of longleaf pine trees once covered two-thirds of the southeastern US. About 95% of those forests     1    （cut）since the beginning of the last century. But now these forests are returning.

The wood of the tree is very strong. Most buildings in the southern US used to contain longleaf pine wood. Today, after longleaf pine is no     2    （long） wanted to build houses, people are reusing the wood because it’s still good and resists water and insect damage. The tree is also     3    （value）to the environment since it stores CO₂ in its wood.

The US government has several programs to protect and expand longleaf pine forests, one of     4     is the Safe Harbor Program.     5     uses voluntary agreements with private landowners     6    （help）endangered animals. Now, farmers and landowners     7    （live）in the southeastern US are growing new longleaf pine trees. Instead of cutting the trees     8     wood, they are finding ways to make money from the forest of trees. One way is by selling the     9    （leaf）or needles of the trees as a ground cover. Another way is to sell hunting rights. Hunting wild pigs     10    （be） a popular sport in the southern US and the fight to hunt on land can cost from $200 to $1,000 a day.

A male elephant that broke away from the wandering elephant pack     1    ( send) back to its forest home on Wednesday in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province, local authorities said.

Yuxi City headquarters in charge of monitoring the pack's migration (迁徙) took the     2     (decide) early Wednesday morning     3     ( prevent) the lone animal from entering heavily populated areas. At 3 p. m.，the elephant was caught and returned to the nature reserve. The animal appeared     4     (health) and did not suffer from any injuries.

The pack of 15 wandering wild Asian elephants travelled about 500 kilometers north from their forest home. The male elephant separated from the pack on June 6, and moved around in the     5     (city) of Kunming, Anning and Yuxi, with an activity area of 140 square kilometers and a walking distance of 190 kilometers. It had relied mainly on     6     was provided by the locals. The     7    (remain) 14 elephants have been moving southward recently but are still far from the reserve.

Asian elephants are     8     A-level state protection in China, where they are     9     (most) found in Yunnan. Thanks to determined protection efforts in recent decades, the wild elephant population in     10     province has grown to about 300, from 193 in the 1980s.

4 . Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, beginning in the 1970s, pioneered a method of planting young native species close together to quickly create tiny forests on urban wasteland. He found that protected areas around temples in Japan contained a huge variety of native plants that co-existed to produce adaptable and diverse ecosystems. The forests were layered together from four categories of native plantings: main tree species, sub-species, bushes, and ground-covering herbs. Using this four-category system, along with his explorations of the vegetation in Japan, Miyawaki designed his own system for planting forests.

Miyawaki forests can grow into mature ecosystems in just 20 years-about 10 times the growth speed of a traditional forest, explained Kazue Fujiwara who worked with Miyawaki. According to Fujiwara, the planting should center on the primary trees of the location. Native species require no maintenance (养护) after the first two years and are more likely to survive and grow well in the local environmental conditions. What's more, they provide an ideal home for endangered species.

When Shubhendu Sharma learned about Miyawaki's forest creation technique in 2009, the botanist created a forest at the Toyota factory in India where Sharma worked as an engineer. Shortly, he started a company to create similar forests, researching the method and trying it in his own backyard. He described his work in a 2014 TED Talk, and released his version of the instructions so anyone could learn how to create their own small native forest. Since then, Sharma's company, Afforestt, has helped plant forests in 44 cities.

Now, Miyawaki-style urban forests have been springing up across Europe. Cities in Asia are embracing the idea, with Pakistani minister announcing plans for 50 Miyawaki forests in Lahore, and Indian officials setting a target to plant 1,000 in Chennai.

It is reported that at present a city in Japan has a problem with graffiti(涂鸦). However, it is not the usual type of graffiti with paint from spray cans     1    (use) to write on walls. It is graffiti in sand.

Officials in the city of Tottori are asking tourists to give up     2     (write) messages and drawing pictures in the sand of its giant sand dunes (沙丘). The officials say the graffiti causes damage to the dunes,     3     destroys the pleasure others get in looking at the sand.

More than 3,300 cases of "sand graffiti"     4     (occur) at the tourist spot in the past decade. In January, two overseas tourists were ordered     5     (erase) a 25-meter-long message that read "Happy Birthday Natalie".

The Tottori Sand Dunes are famous throughout Japan     6     their natural beauty. They are the largest and longest sand dunes in the country and form part of     7     scenic coastal park on the sea of Japan coast. The biggest dune is 50 meters high.

The local government wants to improve tourists' understanding of the     8     (important) of the dunes. It will set up much     9     (many) signs in English, Chinese and Korean asking people to respect the dunes. A spokesman said, "We are concerned about whether the rules are     10     (complete) understood, and we want to continue to protect views of the beautiful sand dunes."

6 . During the recent elections，the Inuit Ataqatigiit, a left-wing Greenland party，has won against the incumbent (现任的) center-left Siumut party. The Inuit Atagatigiit heavily campaigned against the construction of a rare earth metal mine，a project whose development has been contested for years.

The project would give the mine the “potential to become the most significant Western world producer of rare earths” according to the Australian company behind the project, Greenland Minerals. However, it comes at the expense of poisonous waste products that could damage the area’s fragile ecosystem.

Rare earth metals are found everywhere. From cellphones to magnets and even DVDs, rare earth metals are used for making many electronic products. For years, international mining companies have had their sights on Greenland. The country is known for its abundant deposits of untapped rare earth minerals.

The main mining project that became the center of the recent election is in an area south of Greenland known as Kvanefjeld. It has deposits of rare earths and uranium, and has been in development for years. But it has never been officially approved by the government due to heavy opposition for the radioactive waste it would produce.

On the other side of the coin, supporters of the project argue for the economic benefits it would provide such as creating thousands of jobs. Greenland’s economy, is mainly dependent on fishing and financial support from Denmark, the country that owns it. Many rare earth metals are also important for developing renewable sources of energy that can address climate change.

Immediately after the victory of the Inuit Ataqatigiit party was announced, the leader of it announced that the Kvanefjeld mining project, would not proceed.

The party state that although they are not directly opposed to mining, they are “opposed to dirty mining”. They aim to implement (实施) strict standards for mining companies to reduce environmental influence to the lowest possible level.

However, the new government plans to go on with caution as foreign interest in Greenland’s resources continues to grow.