Tina is an exchange student (交换生) in Hangzhou. Zhejiang. She     1     (write) to her friend Amy in London now.

How is it going with you? I’m fine in China. Hangzhou is a beautiful city. There are quite a lot of     2     (river) and lakes here. The West Lake is very big and beautiful. My classmates are     3     (friend) to me. They often take me out     4     (eat) some special food in the restaurants. I like Chinese food a lot. It tastes delicious.

On weekends, I enjoy     5     (go) shopping with my friends and I often spend time     6     (stay) with my friends. Last weekend, we     7     (go) to a big shopping center. The things in it     8     (be) not expensive. So I bought some gifts for my family. I also found a round fan (扇子) made of silk. There were paintings of women, flowers and cute animals on it. I think the fan looked so beautiful. So I would like     9     (buy) some. I will     10     (give) one to you when I go back to London.

That’s all.

Yours,

Tina

Do you know Pattaya? It’s a small city in Thailand. All the year round, visitors from all over the world come here to see beautiful     1     (beach). But this February, things were a little different. Many people     2     (come) to the city for its kite festival. Yes, it was the Pattaya International Kite Festival!

In 2023, the festival was     3     February 24th to 28th. The city held it on the beach in front of     4     shopping center. And it was free! In those five days, people could always see different kites flying in the sky.

Every day, it     5     (start) at noon and ended at 6:00 in the afternoon. There were many fun activities to do. People could see some really big kites, and some of     6     (they) were over 500 meters long. When it got dark, there     7     (be) also an LED kite show. It looked so beautiful that many people took photos. And people could learn a lot about kites at another show. They could     8     learn how to make kites in stores. The festival just     9     (bring) fun to visitors of all ages. They were all interested in flying kites and     10     (walk) along the beach, and they wanted to visit the city next year.

5 . What is the most popular place to visit in China? Dali in Yunnan Province is certainly one of them. Dali is a city with a long history and it l    1     in the western part of Yunnan. It is so beautiful that a lot of     2     (tour) from home and abroad would like to take a trip there. There are several places worth visiting.

Cangshan Mountains

The mountains i    3     19 peaks (山峰), and the highest peak is 4,122 meters high. Although it’s very dangerous to climb, many people still try to reach the t    4    . There is a stream (小河)     5     every two peaks of Cangshan Mountains. They are the famous “Nineteen Peaks and Eighteen Streams. “There are more than 10 kinds of rocks and over 2, 500 kinds of plants in Cangshan Mountains and it is also home to about 330 kinds of animals.

Erhai Lake

It is one of the b    6     fresh water lakes in China. It’s about 40 kilometers long and c    7     an area of 252 square kilometers. Visitors can see a lot of amazing scenery. People call them “Three Islands, Four Eyots, Five Lakes and Nine Bays.”

Dali Ancient City

The ancient city is getting popular     8     (recent) because of its delicious food and long history. In fact, it was     9     (build) over 600 years ago. It was the gateway to the Silk Road in southwest China. The wall is 6 kilometers long, 6 meters w    10     and 8 meters high. There are four city gates facing west, east, north and south.

The Lantern Festival in China is also known as Yuanxiao or Zhongyuan Festival   It usually falls     1     the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.   It is     2     custom (习俗) for Chinese people to enjoy the beauty of lanterns during the Lantern Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Mentioning Chinese lanterns would not be complete without     3     (talk)about a city in Sichuan province, Zigong.   It is     4     (usual) thought of as the City of Lanterns.

People in Zigong     5     (enjoy) lanterns on festivals since the Tang Dynasty (618 907). In the past, people     6     (make) lanterns with special materials (材料). To add to     7     (it) beauty, Zigong artists also use many different things, such as silk, paper and bamboo.

Lantern production is one of the most important industries (产业) for Zigong people     8     most large lanterns are produced in Zigong. The city develops at a     9     (fast) speed with the lantern industry than before. Nowadays,     10     (visitor) come to Zigong to enjoy lanterns and other activities. The lanterns are now a name card for the city.

For Chinese, lanterns have not only lit up the night, but also lit up their hearts that long for home.

Even before he put his feet into the waters of the Seine River (塞纳河), French triathlete (铁人三项运动员) Thibaut Rigaudeau had already gotten questions from his friends. “Are you a    1     of swimming in the Seine?” they asked him. “It looks really     2    .”

For many years, it was. While the Seine has been the     3     of many paintings, novels and songs, few local people like the river. It’s too dirty for most fish and for swimmers. It seems     4     (use) only as a waterway for goods and     5     (tour) or as a “trash can” on the water.

But now there’s some good news: Things will greatly change s    6    . Thanks to the 2024 Olympics, Paris is     7     (run) a project to clean up the Seine. The project will     8     (花费) about 1.4 billion euros. It will be completed by the spring of next year.

The Olympic opening ceremony will be held on the Seine. The river will also be used for some of the     9    , such as the swimming section of the triathlon. After the Games, 26 new swimming pools will be built in the Seine. The local people will then be     10     (allow) to swim in the river for the first time in a century.

For a long time, the small city of Zibo in Shandong wasn’t a major place of interest in China. But this past March, 4.8 million tourists from across the country visited the city. And it’s all thanks to its barbecue (烧烤).

Zibo barbecue is served in a special w    1    . Diners don’t directly eat the meat off skewers (串肉杆). I    2    , they put two or three of the skewers in a small pancake with some scallions (青 葱). Next, they turn the pancake into a small roll and p    3     the skewers out. Then it’s time to enjoy this different-tasting food.

Zibo barbecue became p    4     online in early March. Since then, the local government has tried to give tourists an unforgettable e    5     during their stay. It has added special “barbecue trains” on weekends. It has also offered free barbecue maps and shuttle buses to help meat lovers reach the restaurants. Moreover, business owners will be p    6     if they are caught cheating (欺骗) customers.

The locals are glad to see the tourists in their hometown. They see this as a c    7     for this old city to d    8     its tourism. To help, the government has added 21 bus routes to make it easier to travel throughout the city. Tourists can e    9     visit some places of interest for free. A lot of sites have already seen a quick rise in the n    10     of tourists.

But the popularity of Internet-famous places is often short-lived. It won’t be easy to change Zibo’s image into a tourism attraction. “So, it’s important for the local government to consider what else the city can offer, said one tourism expert.