As winter comes, hands and feet can easily get cold. Thick gloves might be a good     1    (choose), yet sometimes wearing them is not convenient, especially when people want to do something     2     their hands.

    3    , cold hands were not a problem for ancient Chinese people, who had a lovely tool     4    (keep) their hands warm: hand warmers.

There is no accurate     5     (write) record about when this tool was first used, but there are some tales about its invention.

Emperor Yangdi from the Sui Dynasty visited Jiangsu one winter. Due to the bitter cold, the local official asked manufacturers to make a small warmer for     6     emperor, which could be held in his hands. Thus the hand warmer     7     (create).

By the time of the Song Dynasty, the warmer had become     8     (wide) used throughout China.

Made of bronze or clay, ancient hand warmers came in various design,     9     shape was typically round and square. Inside a hand warmer, there were burning coals. Some coals were mixed with flowers and pressed into beautiful shapes,     10     (produce) a pleasant smell when burned.

In the summer of 1405, Zheng He set sail from Taicang     1     his first voyage. A fleet of over 200 ships navigated the blue seas, with almost 28,000 people on board. Between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He made     2     total of seven voyages. His efforts helped develop and     3     (strength) harmonious relations between China and its neighbours. Zheng He is remembered as one of China’s most     4     (influence) explorers.

On 3 August 1492, Columbus departed from Spain with three ships     5     (carry) 90 crewmen. They encountered many     6     (challenge) during their journey. On 12 October, the crew     7     (spot) land in the distance. Columbus     8     (convince) that he was in East Indies.     9    , the shores they had reached were of the Caribbean, not the East Indies. Between 1493 and 1504, Columbus found more land over the course of his three subsequent voyages. His voyages marked the beginning of the Age of Exploration, a period     10     witnessed many important geographical findings.

Cuju was an ancient Chinese    1    (compete) game involving kicking a ball through an opening into a net.

As the ancestor of soccer, it first appeared in    2    well known ancient Chinese historical work Zhan Guo Ce (Strategies of the Warring States), which described cuju as a form of     3    (entertain) among the general public.

Later, cuju was    4    (common) played in the army for military training purposes during the Han Dynasty (206 BC—220 AD).

Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, was a cuju fan    5    liked watching and playing cuju.

Emperor Liu Che would establish a cuju field    6    his army went. He used cuju as a way of training soldiers.

The    7    (early) record of women cuju players can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. We can see paintings of females with their hair    8    (tie) back, waving their long sleeves and looking chic (时髦的) while playing cuju.

Up to the Tang Dynasty (618—907), women players prevailed (盛行) at the royal court, as emperors enjoyed watching soccer games. At that time, various skills were widely used in playing cuju, mainly    9    (serve) as amusement.

As a way of national culture protection, cuju    10    (list) in the first batch of China’s intangible cultural heritages in 2006.

There are lots of theme parks in the world, so people can     1     (easy) find their favorites. Disneyland is one of the theme parks which people are familiar     2    . The fantasy amusement park promotes the local tourism with so many     3     (attraction). Some theme parks center on culture. Dollywood is famous for the America’s historical southeastern culture as well as its wooden roller coaster. Camelot Park     4     (model) after life in the days of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It will bring you to the world of ancient England.

【推荐3】It was a short flight from Shanghai to Xi’ an. Xi’ an is one of the four great ancient capitals of China     1     over 3,100 years of history. Its ancient walls date from the Ming Dynasty and are the best     2    (preserve) in the world. There are bicycles for people to hire. It is     3    (amaze) to ride along the walls to survey this fascinating city.

The Tang Dynasty Music and Dance show is not to be missed, but my favorite is an art gallery,     4    we can enjoy some beautiful artwork and learn how to write Chinese characters.

Most tourists make     5     way to Xi’ an to see the life-size terracotta warriors (兵马俑) and we were no     6     (difference). The collection, which shows the armies of the first Emperor of China,     7    (remain) hidden until 1974 when they were discovered by a farmer sinking a well. Walking among the statues is forbidden unless you are a VIP — but there are plenty of souvenir     8     (shop) in which tourists can buy the replicas（复制品）of them.

All too soon it was time     9    (leave). I really enjoyed my stay in Xi’ an. It is indeed a place of interest worth     10     second visit.