A herd of wild Asian elephants in Southwest China’s Yunnan Province has been away from its home, with its current direction of travel showing the animals have no 【小题1】(intend) of returning.

They are now approaching the Chinese city of Kunming. So far, the animals 【小题2】(cover) 500 km from their habitat in a nature reserve near the borders with Myanmar and Laos altogether. They have travelled along highways and through farms over the past few 【小题3】(month). And their journey has been attracting 【小题4】 attention of the Chinese public.

Experts are now doing all they can 【小题5】(keep) the elephants away from Kunming city. They are setting up barriers along the way, 【小题6】(hope) to get them to go back towards the nature reserve. Besides, local villagers and government keep watch on the elephants closely to protect them 【小题7】 being hunted.

No one knows exactly 【小题8】 the animals have walked so far away from their original habitat. One reason could be the lack of food 【小题9】(provide) by their reserve, which may cause the elephants in Yunnan to go out for new homes. Another reason is that the number of the wild elephant population in this area has increased 【小题10】(rapid) due to the local wildlife protection, from nearly 190 years ago to more than 300 today.

In the mountains of southwestern China, widespread karst (喀斯特) landforms have given rise to numerous natural caves, 【小题1】 (offer) unique resources for tourism. 【小题2】(equip) with safety facilities and opened to the public in 1985, Zhijin Cave in Guizhou’s Bijie city has emerged as a famed scenic spot. This summer, it has attracted numerous sightseeing tourists and curious students alike, forming large crowds of enthusiastic 【小题3】(visit).

Two weeks ago, more than 100 students and teachers from No. 8 Middle School in Bijie took on an exploration of the cave 【小题4】 (learn) about the formation and types of karst caves, as well as ways to protect them. With headlamps on, the students 【小题5】 (guide) by interpreters as they ventured into a “karst museum”   where they experienced 【小题6】 (extreme) awesome sights. Along the stone steps, they encountered interconnected caves of 【小题7】(variety) sizes and witnessed stalactites(钟乳石)hanging or standing 【小题8】 diverse forms.

Study tours are 【小题9】 innovative means of linking school education with extracurricular learning. Through the immersive (沉浸式的) learning experiences, the children couldn’t help be amazed at the wonders crafted by nature.   “We have gained knowledge 【小题10】 can’t be found in books,” said a student. “Now I know how karst caves were formed.”

The area of the Yellow River Wetland Park in Yinchuan, once a place local people avoided because of serious pollution, has not only become a popular destination for locals, but also a habitat frequently 【小题1】 (visit) by migratory birds.

The Yinchuan Wetland Park is only part of China’s achievements in the 【小题2】 (protect) of wetland. In the past few years, many cities 【小题3】 (award) “international wetland cities”,   showing 【小题4】 great variety of patterns and styles. For example, Wuhan, known as   “a city of a hundred lakes”, has five large wetland reserves, where tens of thousands birds come 【小题5】 (stay)in wintertime.

Liangping district in Chongqing, however, is 【小题6】 (total) different from natural wetland. It is more closely tied 【小题7】 human activity. People built small wetlands in rural areas. What’s more, they have combined these wetlands with organic farms, homestays and healthcare centers,【小题8】 has resulted in an income increase of 52,000 yuan per household.

Panjin in Liaoning Province is another 【小题9】 (surprise) wetland city. In the past, the city suffered from environmental problems caused by oil production. But now in the coastal wetlands, seagrass turns a breathtaking red every autumn, 【小题10】(create) beautiful   “red beaches”.