Last weekend, I was lucky enough     1     (tour) the World Heritage city of Pingyao in Shanxi province. The ancient city     2     (preserve) within the original city wall.

The highlight (最精彩部分) of our tour was a visit     3     the famous Qiao family compound (乔家大院), about 30 kilometers north of Pingyao. It was     4     the Chinese film Raise the Red Lantern was shot, directed by Zhang Yimou in 1991. We went in the evening and the warm, clear weather made it the perfect time to appreciate this 18th century marvel (奇迹) of Chinese architecture. Qiao Guifa started building     5     compound in 1756 during the Qing Dynasty.

Who was he? Qiao began life as a servant,     6     rose to become one of the most successful     7     (businessman) of the age. The large, splendid home he established     8     (have) six main courtyards, 20 smaller ones and 313 rooms in all. Qiao lived there with his family and dozens of servants, as did later generations of his family.

    9     may surprise you to hear that one of the best parts of the trip was the hotel I stayed in. It was no 5-star place, but an authentic 18th century building. As I dropped off to sleep in the     10     (comfort) bed in my simple room, I felt as if I had traveled back to another century.

I travelled to Shanghai last year. This big city left an extremely deep     1    (impress) on me.

Shanghai is the home of the second     2     (tall) building in the world and its unique architecture will keep you feel     3    (excite). The city is full of hidden pockets of culture that I was lucky enough     4    (explore). Art galleries (画廊）and shops fill the streets such as Tianzifang, No.50 Moganshan Road and 1933 Shanghai. My adventures included shopping, people watching and getting lost in the culture shock between modern society     5     Chinese history.

One of my favorite     6    (part) of Shanghai is learning about the food. A good way of     7    (gain) the insider’s cooking tips is to take a foodie(美食家) tour of the city. My local guide taught me     8     to eat the local dish xiaolongbao. He told me to take     9     small bite of the dumpling to suck out the soup, and then enjoy the whole dumpling. This kind of local knowledge that I     10    (provide) with just topped off (圆满完成) the cultural experience in Shanghai.

June 21 was Li Lan’s first day back in San Francisco after camping in the Redwood Forest and visiting Napa Valley. She    1    (admit) that it definitely felt good to come back to the city again. The fact that the city rebuilt     2    (it) after the earthquake that occurred in 1906 was amazing.     3    (locate) on top of big hills, many beautiful old buildings offered great     4    (view) of the city, the ocean, and the Golden Gate Bridge.   

In the morning, Li Lan visited the Mission District.     5    (walk) around and looked at the street art for a few hours, she ate some delicious Mexican-Chinese noodles for lunch. In the afternoon, Li Lan headed to a local museum,    6    she learned a lot about the history of California. In 1848, gold     7    (discover) near San Francisco, which made over 300,000 people from all over the world rush here to seek their fortune. In fact, few achieved their dreams of becoming rich. Some died or returned home, but most remained to earn     8    living despite great hardship. It was immigrants from different countries and cultures that built up California very     9    (rapid) and led to its becoming a state of the United States in 1850. In the evening, Li Lan went to Chinatown. There were many cafes and restaurants to choose     10    . After selecting a restaurant, she enjoyed Chinese food served on beautiful china plates.