Over the last 50 years, the U.S. and Canada have slowly but surely lost 29% of their bird populations. Even common birds such as sparrows and blackbirds 【小题1】 (face) declines in North America since 1970. One major cause is that humans have expanded their footprint greatly, 【小题2】 (result) in habitat loss for birds. Less habitat means less space 【小题3】 (find) food, mates, nest, and raise young. Since birds play an essential role in the functioning of the world’s ecosystems, we need spare no effort to protect them and take these beautiful creatures under our wing.

Earth Day 【小题1】 (found) in 1970 as a day of education about environmental problems, and Earth bay 2020 occurs on Wednesday, April 22—the holiday's 50th anniversary. The holiday is now a 【小题2】 (globe) celebration that's sometimes extended into Earth Week, a full seven days of 【小题3】(event) focused on green living.

【小题4】 (elect) to the U.S. Senate in 1962, Senator Gaylord Nelson was determined to convince the federal government that the planet was 【小题5】 risk. In 1969, Nelson developed the idea for Earth Day after 【小题6】 (inspire) by the anti-Vietnam War "teach-ins" that were taking place on college campuses around the United States.

Denis Hayes, a young activist 【小题7】 had served as student president at Stanford University, was selected as Earth Day's national coordinator, and he worked with 【小题8】 army of student volunteers and several staff members from Nelson's Senate office 【小题9】 (organize) the project.

The first Earth Day was effective at raising 【小题10】 (aware) about environmental problems and transforming public attitudes. Earth Day kicked off the "Environmental decade with a bang," as Senator Nelson later put it. The theme of Earth Day 2020 is "climate action". EarthDay.org hopes it will be the largest volunteer event in history.

Saving the Earth

One day, I 【小题1】（go）with the group to a nearby river. We wanted to check 【小题2】 it was clean. We did many scientific tests to see if the river was 【小题3】（health）.

Surprisingly, it was! We still, though, took any rubbish 【小题4】 we could find out of the river. We wanted to make sure fish could live there 【小题5】（happy）.

Recently, I helped the group plant 【小题6】（flower） at our school. We're hoping the flowers will bloom（开花） this spring and make the school 【小题7】 （look） beautiful. How did we pay for all the plants? We made T-shirts and sold 【小题8】 to our friends! We've still got some money left from 【小题9】（sell） the T-shirts. We hope to use it to buy some recycling bins（回收箱） 【小题10】 the school.