The following text is for questions 17 to 20. Weather experts warn of drought in Europe over its summer as firefighters tackled forest fires on Thursday, and farmers fretted over wilting crops and a repeat of 2018 's arid conditions. In Germany, Europe's biggest economy, farmers are fearful at the start of the growing season following below-average rainfall earlier this year-bad news after last year's drought. Unless significant rain falls in May, experts say there is little chance of decent crops. "If the dry weather continues in the coming months, the drought of 2018 could be repeated or even exceeded," warned Udo Busch, head of the German weatherservice's agricultural section. A lack of rain has turned some forests into potential tinderboxes. Over the past few days, German firefighters have tackled blazing forest fires in the states of Hessen, Brandenburg and Thuringia . A senior fire chief has even asked authorities, including the army, to lend helicopters in order to "react adequately". Scandinavia has also been hit, with Swedish firefighters currently tackling 10 to 15 forest fires a day after precious little rain this month. The most serious blaze broke out over 300 hectares (740 acres) in the southern district of Hassleholm, forcing 49 people to be evacuated. There are fears of a repeat of last year's poor harvest, when crops were down between 30 to 80 percent, threatening the livelihoods of many German farmers. Rain is forecast for the coming days. But it is expected to be far insufficient for what is needed to mitigate a worrying situation. (Adopted from: https://phys.org/news/2019-04-forest-blight-europedrought.html (April 6, 2019)) "...farmers fretted over wilting crops...." The underlined word can be replaced with ____.

Question

The following text is for questions 17 to 20.

Weather experts warn of drought in Europe over its summer as firefighters tackled forest fires on Thursday, and farmers fretted over wilting crops and a repeat of 2018 's arid conditions.

In Germany, Europe's biggest economy, farmers are fearful at the start of the growing season following below-average rainfall earlier this year-bad news after last year's drought.

Unless significant rain falls in May, experts say there is little chance of decent crops.

"If the dry weather continues in the coming months, the drought of 2018 could be repeated or even exceeded," warned Udo Busch, head of the German weather service's agricultural section.

A lack of rain has turned some forests into potential tinderboxes.

Over the past few days, German firefighters have tackled blazing forest fires in the states of Hessen, Brandenburg and Thuringia .

A senior fire chief has even asked authorities, including the army, to lend helicopters in order to "react adequately".

Scandinavia has also been hit, with Swedish firefighters currently tackling 10 to 15 forest fires a day after precious little rain this month.

The most serious blaze broke out over 300 hectares (740 acres) in the southern district of Hassleholm, forcing 49 people to be evacuated.

There are fears of a repeat of last year's poor harvest, when crops were down between 30 to 80 percent, threatening the livelihoods of many German farmers.

Rain is forecast for the coming days. But it is expected to be far insufficient for what is needed to mitigate a worrying situation.

(Adopted from: https://phys.org/news/2019-04-forest-blight-europedrought.html (April 6, 2019))

"...farmers fretted over wilting crops...."

The underlined word can be replaced with ____. $\;$