China and India _________ the Greening of Earth

Over the last two decades, the Earth has seen an increase in foliage (植物的枝叶) around the planet, _________ in average leaf area per year on plants and trees. Data from NASA satellites shows that China and India — two _________ economies with the world’s biggest populations — are leading the increase in greening on land. The effect comes mostly from ambitious tree-planting programs in China and intensive agriculture in both countries.

Researchers from Boston University found that global green leaf area has increased by five percent since the early 2000s, an area _________ to the entire Amazon rainforest. The study was also published in the journal Nature Sustainability on February 11. It revealed that at least 25 percent of the global foliage _________ this century came in China.

“China and India _________ one-third of the greening, but contain only nine percent of the planet’s land area covered in vegetation — a(n) _________ finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from overexploitation,” said Chi Chen of the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University and lead author of the study.

China’s tremendous contribution to the global greening trend came in large part from programs to _________ and expand forests, which is about 42 percent of the greening contribution. These programs were developed in an effort to _________ the effects of soil erosion, air pollution and climate change.

Another 32 percent of the greening change in China, and 82 percent in India, resulted from __________ cultivation of food crops. Land area used to grow crops in China and India has not changed much since the early 2000s. Yet these regions have greatly increased both their annual total green leaf area and their food production to __________ their large populations.

Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, saw a positive message in the new findings. “Once people realize there is a problem, they __________ to fix it,” he said. “In the 1970s and 80s in India and China, the situation around vegetation loss was __________. In the 1990s, people realized it, and today things have improved. Humans are incredibly resilient. That’s what we see in the satellite data.”

__________, the researchers rang bells as well. They pointed out that the gain in global greenness did not __________ offset the loss of natural vegetation in tropical regions like Brazil and Indonesia.

The misery of my bike commute in Calgary, Alberta, is the river valley hill. It’s not particularly steep, but at about a mile long, I rarely climbed up without arriving with sweat. Studies have shown the prospect of arriving at work sweaty is one of the biggest _________ to getting would-be bike commuters out of their cars. That’s especially true in a city like Los Angeles, where _________ may face long routes , hills or hot streets with a lack of shade.

“Pedelec”, or pedal electric-assisted bikes like the one I rode, can end that worry. They look and act like traditional bicycles, but their motors make pedaling much easier when required. Sometimes called the most energy-efficient motorized mode of transportation ever built, they’re also incredibly green. The biggest barrier may be the outdated attitude that sees bikes only as a recreational athletic opportunity rather than a practical _________ option.

At a time when cities across North America are struggling to combat crippling traffic and reduce climate emissions, e-bikes have the _________ to ease the both problems. And yet ridership has yet to truly _______.About 152,000 e-bikes were sold last year in the U.S., a figure that would be more than 5 million if Americans used them at the same rate as western Europeans.   

Many of the barriers to e-bike _________in North America are legislative. Patchwork rules treat e-bikes more like mopeds than traditional pedal bikes in some jurisdictions,meaning they are _______from bike lanes and from boarding public transportation.

Few places on the continent, _________, are better poised to break through barriers than California. Legislation was approved last year to encourage e-bike use, by legally differentiating the cycles from mopeds. In an attempt to head off worries about turbocharged machines flying down sidewalks and bike lanes at unsafe speeds, the law classifies bikes into different tiers to _______ lower-speed e-bikes, which top out at 20 mph, from faster-moving “speed pedelecs”, which are restricted from protected bike paths.

Amid these legislative ________, e-bikes have become more accessible to consumer. Finding them in bike shops isn’t as __________ as it once was, and their cost has fallen as the price of lithium-ion batteries has dropped. Today, a decent e-bike, while still __________, is comparable in price to a high-end mountain bike. After years of ____________over mixing pedal and motor power, cycling advocacy organizations also are finally throwing their support behind e-bikes. Dave Snyder, the executive director of the California Bicycle Coalition, __________ the state’s new legislation based partly on the __________that e-bikes help out those who“just can’t ride as far or as fast as they need to”.

We have spent thousands of years fighting for our survival. Yet now we have ____ that our planet is under threat. It’s time we woke up to the problems and started repairing the ____.

One of the major problems is the destruction of the rainforests in South America. They are ____ to half the world’s species and to millions of people. Moreover, the rainforests ____ the air by taking in carbon dioxide and giving out oxygen. The trees are being ____ for paper or to make room for cattle farms. So birds and animals ____ their homes and die. This destruction is also bringing about ____ in the climate, air pollution and flooding. If we ____ to burn and cut down the rainforests as we are doing now, the earth will ____ be the same.

Another big ____ is water pollution. Factories are ____ our rivers and lakes with dangerous chemicals. Tons and tons of waste are poured into our seas. ____, sea life is in danger.

___ pollution is another important issue. The cars and factories in and around our cities are giving off ____ gases. In the past few years, more and more people than ever before have breathing problems. If we don’t do something now, our cities will become ____ to live in.

___, it is not too late to solve these problems. We have the time, the money and even the technology to prepare the way for a better, cleaner and ____ future. We can plant trees and create parks for the species in danger. We can put pressure on those in power to ____. Together we can ____ our planet. All we need to do is open our eyes and act ____.