When Chad Pregracke was a teenager in East Moline, Illinois, he and his father lived and worked on the Mississippi River — or rather, in it. Every day they dove into the river to   (1)  freshwater mussels (贻贝), which they sold to Japanese customers. The river was their   (2)  , but Chad came to realize that it was also dirty. While

searching for mussels on the river bottom, Chad could not  (3)   much because the water was too muddy. When Chad Pregracke was in college, he decided that he had to   (4)  the river. And thatˈs what he has done.

    In the summer of 1997, Chad   (5)   the Mississippi River Beautification & Restoration Project. Using a 20-foot motorboat and working   (6)   by himself, Chad cleaned up 100 miles of shoreline in Illinois and Iowa. By summerˈs end, he had   (7)   and recycled 45,000 pounds of trash! As people learned about Chadˈs   (8)   , they began to offer help. Towns and companies along the river   (9)   equipment, and communities (社区)   (10)  cleanup days.

    In 1998, the project   (11)   . Chad fixed up two boats, and he   (12)   a crew. During the summer months, Chad and his crew cleaned up 900 miles of Mississippi   (13)  from St. Louis, Missouri, to Guttenberg, Iowa. They collected 400,000 pounds of trash —   (14)   from old refrigerators to plastic legs!

    In the next year, Chadˈs group   (15)  the cleanup of more than 1,000 miles of the Mississippi River. They also   (16)  an“Adopt a Mississippi River Mile”program. In this program, companies and groups took   (17)   for keeping parts of the river clean. After that, Chad   (18)  the Illinois River.

    Today, Chad Pregrackeˈs project has many sponsors and an annual budget of $200,000. Chad also has   (19)   plans. He will move eastward   (20)   he has done what he can for the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. He wants to clean up the Ohio River next, and then perhaps the Hudson.

In the north of Scotland there is a lake called Loch Ness. It is the biggest __41__ in Britain. It is over thirty kilometers long and nearly 300 meters __42__. It is cold and dark and not many people went there until after 1930. Then a road was made __43__ the lake.

     Holiday makers began to use the road, and this was when the __44__began. Someone said that he had seen a monster(妖怪) in the lake. He said it was twelve meters long. It had a long __45__and a small head. Then someone else said he heard__46__. Others said the same thing and in 1933 a London doctor took a __47__. It __48__ like a monster with a long neck and a thick body but the photo was not too __49__. The newspaper printed the picture and __50__ it the Loch Ness monster, or “Nessie”. Then the argument began. __51__ people, however, were certain there was something living in the lake. Others said there was __52__ there. In 1961, a lot of people joined together to make a real __53__ to see and photograph the monster to find __54__ there was one! Several times people thought they saw something but after ten years there was __55__ no real proof（证据）.

      Later underwater television cameras were used, but __56__ found any real proof. However, they__57__ find something interesting: a huge underwater cave. It was big enough to be __58__ of a monster, but of course, this was not a proof. In 1975,however, some American scientists__59__ a search group. They used an underwater camera. It took pictures every seventy seconds. Some of the pictures seemed to show a redbrown creature. Its body was about four meters long, __60__ had a very ugly head on the end of a four-meter neck. Many people then began to believe in the monster. But even today we can’t be certain.

If I could learn one difficult skill, I would learn how to build and fly a model airplane. Model airplanes that are flown by a remote control (遥控器) are very  (1)  to build and control.Many people think of remote-controlled planes as just toys, but in fact theyˈre   (2)  real planes. Since the models are expensive, crashing one is something you really want to   (3)  . You also have to   (4)   things like trees, birds and changes in the wind,   (5)  any one of these could cause your model to crash and do a lot of   (6)   . You really need to learn how to   (7)   the controls and you have to be careful at all times. Carefulness isvery   (8)   when operating a small expensive machine like a model airplane.

Another thing that people have to   (9)   about model airplanes is that they take a long time and a lot of  (10)   to build. Each piece has to be assembled (安装)   (11)   , or the model will not work properly and the motor itself is the hardest part to   (12)  . You canˈt try to do it all   (13)   . You have to go step by step for days so that the glue (胶水) can dry. Once all the   (14)   are assembled, it will look and work just like the real thing. Completing the model brings a feeling of achievement and being able to fly it only   (15)  that feeling.

My   (16)  is to become a pilot one day and flying a remote-controlled model seems like a great way to prepare myself for that   (17)   . Being able to   (18)   one of those could be my first step towards being a real pilot. The controls of a model plane are  (19)  to the controls of a real plane. Once Iˈve   (20)   those controls, I can get used to the controls of a real plane more easily.

    Going green seems to be fad(时尚) for a lot of people these days.    41     that is good or bad, we can’t really say, but for the two of us, going green is not a fad   42     a lifestyle.

    On April 22,2011,we decided to go green every single day for an   43     year. This meant doing 365 different green things, and it also meant   44    ourselves to go green beyond easy things.  45     recycle and reduce our energy, we had to think of 365 different green things   46    and this was no easy task.

      47    the idea of going green every single day for a year, our  Green Year started. My   48    and I decided to educate people about   49    they could go green in their lives and hoped we could show people all the green things that could be done to help the   50  . We wanted to push the message   51    every little bit helps.

    Over the course of our Green Year, we completely changed our   52   . We now shop at   53    stores. We   54    less meat, choosing green food. We have greatly reduced our buying we don’t need. We have   55    half of what we owned through websites. Our home is kept clean by vinegar（醋） and lemon juice, with no   56    cleaners. We make our own butter, enjoying the   57    of homemade fresh bread. In our home office anyone   58    doing something un-green might be punished.

    Our minds have been changed by Our Green Year. We are grateful for the chance to have been able to go green and educate   59   . We believe that we do have the   60   to change things and help our planet.

    Payeng’s tree-planting project began when he was 16，when flooding wiped away a large part of forest．Wild life were left without enough   (1)  ，and Payeng watched   (2)   creatures    begin to die off from heat．Deeply   (3)  ，Payeng determined to grow trees all his life.

“I   (4)   the forest department and asked them if they could grow trees on the sandbar(沙洲)．They said nothing would   (5)   there．  (6)  ，they asked me to try growing bamboo．It was   (7)  ，but I did it．What’s more，there was nobody interested to help me，”Payeng said．

Payeng started his forest by   (8)   bamboo saplings(幼树)every morning and evening．He even brought red ants to the sandbar to help   (9)   the soil．When his bamboo trees grew，Payeng decided to slowly   (10)   other spieces of trees into the sandbar．

Through his   (11)   act. Payeng changed the sandbar into a thick，green forest that   (12)   numerous birds，and wild animals．Payeng’s forest went largely   (13)   until 2008，when a team of state officials   (14)   it．

“We were surprised to find such a big   (15)  on the sandbar,“Gunin Saikia，Assam’s Assistant Conservator of Forests，said．“We are   (16)   at Payeng．He has been at it for 30 years．”   

Now，Payeng makes a   (17)  with his family in the forest he planted by raising cows and selling milk，and he has his   (18)   set on planting a second forest on another 1,300-acre sandbar．

“It may take another 30 years，but I am   (19)  about it，”Payeng said   (20)  ．