Fifteen wild Asian elephants that left their 【小题1】 in Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve(保护区)in Yunnan province have so far not caused any trouble in the provincial capital(省会), Kunming, thanks to local authorities’ effective measures. By Thursday afternoon, the herd(兽群)had moved to Shuanghe county, Jinning district in Kunming’s outskirts, according to the Yunnan Forestry and Grassland Administration, which has 【小题2】 a special work team under the guidance of the provincial government.

Provincial forestry police have followed the elephants’ movements round the clock, using drones(无人机)and cameras. Experts from both the national and provincial forestry departments are advising on 【小题3】 to control the elephants. Police and firefighters in Kunming are working to prevent the elephants from coming into 【小题4】 with residents. Trucks(卡车)and digging equipment have been put in place at the 【小题5】 of villages to try to stop the pachyderms’(厚皮动物)entry.

A woman from Ganhe village, where the elephants 【小题6】 around for several hours on Thursday, told local media that they had received 【小题7】 from the village committee. “All my family members moved to the second floor of our house on Wednesday. We were very nervous last night, but 【小题8】 no one was hurt,” she said.

Although it’s not known when the elephants left the Xishuangbanna reserve, experts believe they may have started roaming(徜徉)last year and are now about 500 kilometers away from the reserve.

The Asian elephants, which are listed as endangered(濒危的)on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, 【小题9】 Class-A protection status in China, the same level afforded(给予)the giant panda. Yunnan is the only home to wild Asian elephants in China and has 300 of the animals. However, more than two-thirds of the population live outside nature reserves, said Chen Mingyong, a life sciences professor at Yunnan University who has been 【小题10】 wild elephants for decades.

A desert doesn’t sound like the most promising place to plant a tree．Yet，since 1978，China has planted at least 66 billion of them across its arid northern territories， 【小题1】 (hope)to transform its sandhills into a Great Green Wall．

The tree-planting strategy is 【小题2】 massive attempt to help fight desertification(荒漠化)．【小题3】 (Rough)a million square miles of China—a quarter of the country—is covered in sand．Many scientists are skeptical planting trees will make a difference in the long run．But China’s State Forestry Administration claims the measure 【小题4】 (reduce)sandstorms by 20 percent and desertification by nearly 5,000 miles in recent years．

Ian Teh lives in Malaysia but 【小题5】 (work)throughout Asia，documenting humans’ influence 【小题6】 the landscape．Over six days in May 2016，he photographed tree-planting 【小题7】(plan) in the Gobi Desert in northern China．They seemed to be 【小题8】 (Success)in places like Duolun County，some 220 miles north of Beijing，【小题9】 the government has planted 2．6 million trees over the past 17 years．The place felt almost grassy．“To be honest，【小题10】 was hard to imagine it was ever a desert at all，”he says．

The world is full of many tiny creatures besides insects. There are snails and slugs that creep along the ground, worms that dig holes underground, and many more. Some, like insects,【小题1】to a huge group of little creatures called arthropods, which also includes spiders and other arachinids, centipedes, and woodlice.

Spiders are found in almost everywhere in the world. They are most plentiful where there is plenty of vegetation, but you can encounter spiders in the darkest cellars and down the deepest mines, as well as high on mountains. Spiders are hunters,【小题2】mainly on insects and other arthropods though a few large “bird-eating” species, or tarantulas,【小题3】eat lizards and small rodents. Unlike other hunting animals, spiders【小题4】have poor eyesight. They usually have eight simple eyes, not the compound eyes of insects, and hunt by “listening” to vibrations in the ground, which they【小题5】up with their legs. Jumping spiders, with wolf spiders and ogre-faced spiders being【小题6】, have very keen eyesight.

Different species of spider have different methods of catching prey. Many weave silken nets called【小题7】. Some are simple tube-shaped webs inside holes, others are elaborate orb webs. The web is usually sticky, so any insects flying into it are stuck fast.

Spiders such as tarantulas and sun spiders destroy their victims with their powerful fangs, but most species use their poisonous【小题8】to kill or disable their prey. Some spiders, such as the black widow and funnel-web spiders, have a bite so poisonous that it can be fatal to humans.

Not all species of spider make webs. Some catch their preys by【小题9】a silk net on them. Others, such as the Australian trapdoor spider,【小题10】their prey from a hole with a carefully-fitting and well-masked flap. Hunting spiders follow their preys secretly and leap on them from a distance.