The African continent contains about 30 percent of the world’s global rainforests, second only to the Amazon. Scientists and conservationists met at Oxford University to discuss changes the forests are expected to (47) in the 21st Century. Africa’s tropical forests face (48) from deforestation, hunting, logging and mining, as well as climate change. "Climate change is a(n) (49) issue for much of the world, but for Africa, in particular. And there’s much interest and (50) around Africa’s forests, which is the second largest area of tropical forest in the world after the Amazon forest. And yet there’s been very (51) synthesis (综合体，合成) of the research that’s there. There’s much less known about both climate and (52) between forest and people in Africa compared to many other regions of the world," said Yadvinder Malhi, a professor of ecosystems science at Oxford University and director of Oxford’s Center for Tropical Forests. He said the conference (53) together experts in climate change, ecology, social sciences, economics, and archeology to discuss Africa’s rainforests. "They’re important at an international level for many reasons. They (54) a large amount of carbon. They seem to be absorbing carbon from the atmosphere, which is (55) slowing down the rate of climate change. In the case of Africa, the recycling of water. So water that falls in the Congo region gets taken up in the roots of trees and evaporated (蒸发) back into the atmosphere where it forms clouds and new rain," he said. The clouds that form over the Congo Basin actually have long range effects on water (56) and weather patterns in parts of Asia and even North America. A. allocate B. brought C. casual D. challenges E. concern F. elements G. found H) hold I) interaction J) invariably K) little L) major M) slightly N) supplies O) undergo