The Amazon rainforest lies on the South American continent, 【小题1】 (cross)eight countries. It is the largest rainforest in the world 【小题2】 an area of about 6 million square kilometres. There are more than 40, 000 species of 【小题3】 (plant), 1, 300 species of birds and over 400 species of mammals in it. The forest’s different levels support an unbelievable 【小题4】 (various) of wildlife. The jaguar is one of the typical animals in the forest 【小题5】 feed on other animals.

The Amazon rainforest breathes life into the planet by fixing carbon 【小题6】 producing over 20 per cent of all the Earth’s oxygen, so it 【小题7】 (know) as the “lungs of the planet”. Besides, it is 【小题8】 treasure house of species that can be used for food or medicine.

【小题9】 (Gradual), due to human activities, a lot of rainforest has disappeared and many species are in danger of extinction. Therefore, it is time for us 【小题10】 (take)measures to protect it.

Nature Turns Human Pollution into Striking Glass Beach

For years, Ussuri Bay, on Russia’s Pacific shoreline, was a junkyard for glass bottles and waste from a nearby porcelain (瓷器) factory. But nature found a way to turn all those 【小题1】(use) materials into a colorful glass beach.

The story goes that many years ago, truckloads of glass and porcelain 【小题2】(pour) in Ussuri Bay, but instead 【小题3】what should have been a landfill for waste, Steklyashka beach is actually one of 【小题4】most excellent tourist attractions in the world Years of erosion (侵蚀) have rounded and polished the pieces of glass and porcelain into beautiful stones of various colors, 【小题5】has created a wonderland.

Once considered a no-go zone, Steklyashka beach is now popular with both locals and 【小题6】(tourist), and has been afforded special 【小题7】(protect) by authorities in the Primorsky Krai region. In the summer, it’s a unique bathing spot, and in the summer, people 【小题8】(regular) drive from the port city of Vladivostok, about 30 minutes away, 【小题9】(take) photos of this breathtaking natural kaleidoscope (万花筒) 【小题10】(highlight) by snow and ice.

Photos of the breathtaking glass sand of Steklyashka beach have recently gone viral online, after an article in the Siberian Times revealed this wonder to the whole world.

Seventy-five-year-old Xiao Luying is the vice-captain of a team of volunteers engaged in cleaning floating trash from the Yangtze River. The team, 【小题1】 (form) in 2019, is made up of more than 50 local ex-fishermen aged over 60, 【小题2】 the average.

“We have lived along the Yangtze River since childhood and want to do our part in protecting it,” said Xiao from a village of Anhui Province. Sixty-year-old Ma Mingsuo is one of the team, who has fished for over 40 years. Upon 【小题3】 (end) his fishing career, this old fisherman turned to apply his sailing experience to protecting the mother river. “It’s good that my skill can still be used to clean the garbage in the river, 【小题4】 will also benefit the future generations,” said Ma.

Each month, this 【小题5】 (volunteer) team patrols (巡逻) 15 km of waterways three 【小题6】 (time), collecting trash and preventing people from fishing on the river. The trash collected by them 【小题7】 (send) to the garbage disposal station on the shore, while the recyclable waste such as plastic bottles is sold.

In over a year, the team of volunteers has grown from 13 members to over 50. Up to now, they 【小题8】(clean) over 50 tons of floating waste. “We will continue to protect the Yangtze River until we are 【小题9】 old to handle the boat, as it’s a career 【小题10】 (real) deserving our time and energy,” said Xiao.