Nowadays, our living conditions are becoming increasingly serious owing to the destruction of our environment. Many plants and     1    (animal) are endangered, and all the food chain has been destroyed,     2     has aroused a wide concern among people.

It is obvious that there are many reasons     3     this phenomenon. Firstly, the overuse of natural resources has a bad effect on     4     balance of natural ecology. Secondly, the population of the world is increasing rapidly, making the world too     5     (crowd) for us to live in. Thirdly, it is the smoke released from factories and cars that     6     (pollute) the environment badly.

Personally, I hold the view that effective measures must be taken     7     (improve) the present situation. To begin with, the government must     8     (sure) pass laws to prevent people from throwing rubbish everywhere, and prevent factories from harming the environment. Besides, as a member of the society, we are bound to do something for environmental     9     (protect), such as planting more trees,     10     (recycle) natural resources and so on. I’m sure that things will be better in the near future if we insist on doing like this.

Factory farming involves     1     (keep) farm animals inside buildings to increase the production of meat or eggs. According to an institute, “74% of the world’s poultry, 43% of its beef and 68% of its eggs     2     (produce) in this way.”

The main     3     (argue) for factory farming is that, apart from being a lot cheaper than     4     (tradition) or organic farming, it     5     (provide) more food for a world population that has already reached seven billion. As factory farms do not use many workers, the costs are low and the production is high. Moreover, factory-farmed animals suffer from     6     (few) diseases than those living outside.

On the other hand, opponents of factory farming say that it is cruel to the animals. For instance, many farm animals are kept in small spaces     7     they can hardly move. In addition to this, factory farming has a negative impact     8     the environment because it creates a lot of waste products, and uses a lot of chemicals to control insects and drugs     9     (treat) diseases.

To sum up, despite producing cheap food, factory farming is bad for the planet and for the animals themselves. We should try to reduce this kind of farming, although we would have to pay more for our eggs     10     meat.

Air pollution, global warming and overflowing landfills are the most serious environmental problems we are currently facing today.

The main cause of air pollution is the burning of fossil fuels.Other human activities,such as construction and the burning of waste,also contribute to air pollution.The effects on our health can be very serious.You can easily contribute to     1     (reduce) air pollution by using public transport.

Global warming     2     (cause) by the build-up of carbon dioxide and other pollutants in the atmosphere.These trap the sun’s heat and warm up the planet.Global warming has already caused     3     wide range of problems.

Landfills are used for waste disposal in many countries around the world.However,due     4     the amount of waste our lifestyles produce,these landfills are now reaching full capacity.When this happens,the chances of dangerous     5     (chemical) in the waste entering our water supply increase.The amount of waste in landfills in China     6     (rise) greatly over the last decade.The government is now trying to find alternative waste disposal methods.Apart from the three Rs (Reduce,Reuse and Recycle),some experts have begun advocating the fourth R — Responsibility.They believe     7    although recycling waste is effective,the most effective way of solving the problem of overflowing landfills     8     (be) to encourage people     9     (take) responsibility for reducing the waste they produce     10     (they).

A sandstorm,     1     originated in Mongolia on Tuesday, swept through vast regions of northern China, causing heavy pollution. The storm, according to the National Meteorological Center, was the     2    (strong) in China so far this year and affected several provincial-level regions. It was said that strong winds     3    (blow) over loose sand and soil created the conditions for sand and dust storms. Satellite images showed that by Wednesday morning, it     4    (cover) 854,000 square kilometers,     5    (rough) twice the size of the US state of California.     6    violent sandstorm swallowed everything in its path and caused much inconvenience. Visibility remained lower than 1,000 meters in some parts of northern China. The     7    (government) of the affected areas urged people with respiratory(呼吸道)illnesses to avoid outdoor activities and recommended that brightly colored clothes     8    (wear)to avoid accidents amid poor visibility. The capital’s parks stopped boats and cable cars     9    (ensure)the safety of visitors. It is hard to say     10     there will be more such weather conditions, but the NMC will keep close watch this spring.

Beaches across the planet share many features: sand, water, ocean gentle winds — and plastic. At Floyd Bennett Field, the coastal area     1     artist Barry Rosenthal goes collecting, rubbish piles up fast and in layers, as if at an archaeological (考古的) site.

Plastics will indeed be the product of our age,     2     (particular) in oceans where the material goes into ecosystems and floats around the world. More than millions and millions of pieces of plastic already fill the seas, with some nine million tons     3    (add) each year.

Rosenthal observed how bottles,     4    (toy), and food boxes fade, wear out, yet never disappear. He started building and photographing sculptures (雕像) of ocean trash to illustrate the problem of ocean pollution. Finally he began to gather the rubbish to use as his art materials, cleaning     5     small part of the coast over and over again. “I started to just collect as much as I could and go back to my studio to sort       6     out,” he says. Each sculpture has a theme, by color, shape, or intended use, such as the oil containers.

A project begun for aesthetics (美学) has got a     7    (two) purpose: raising social and environmental awareness. Over the last few years, Rosenthal     8    (tour) to speak about ocean pollution and what might help clean it up. The most     9    (meaning) advance, he says, would be to rethink our method of consuming (消费). “We need a change in all packaging design     10    (make) people feel good,” he says.