第四篇 Passage 4

We have been enjoying the wonders industry has brought to us so much so that we seldom notice its punishment on our greed and ignorance in exploiting the resources on this planet. Beijing, the capital of China and center of its politics, economics and culture, is under constant threat from the approaching desert. More and more sandstorms have hit Beijing during the past decade than in the l980's, and the peak came in the year 2000. Deserts are approaching us at a frightening pace. Citizens are getting used to the bad weather in a hard way.

In Northern China, many rivers large and small have dried up, leaving sandy beds there. It is rather easy for windstorms to blow away the bare riverbeds. The Yellow River, which gave birth to the Chinese civilization, is all but dry now. Throughout history, many a man of letters has described its great scene. But at present, the situation is nearly impossible to recur. In 1997, the Yellow River was so dry that for 330 days, no water emptied into the Yellow Sea, according to the China Academy of Science. The reports warn that the situation threatens the Yel1ow River valley in the next century. For the time being, the dry-up of the river will be a harsh prob1em for the riverside population, as a result, social stability will be shaken.

The worsening of ecological situation poses great threat to the normal life of the people. In the year 200l, dozens of major sandstorms have swept across northern China and Beijing. They blinded vision, filled nostrils and b1ocked engines. Even the sun was transformed into a faint blue glow, and sometimes, visibility was reduced to little more than 30 meters. Sandstorms are caused by the expansion of deserts in northern China. Each year, China suffers an average loss of 2460 km2 of land to deserts. In China, 27.3 % of the land is now desert.

In the past two decades, China has planted 30 millions of trees along the edges of the deserts in order to stop the advance of sand. But in poor areas, some farmers are so poor that they can't make a living, so they cut down the trees for fuel even though they know it isn't right. It seems that planting trees has had 1ittle effect on the advance of the desert. All this is due to improper agricultural methods and extensive overgrazing, especially in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia along the Gobi Desert.

Excessive land cultivation, grazing and lumbering are some of the reasons for sandstorm in spring. What is more, heavy winds have a share. The solutions to the problem are: first, reclaiming land that was once grassland or forest; second, planting new forests, nurturing more grassland and increasing water areas. Only by carrying out the two solutions at one time can man regain harmony with nature.