In the recently passed winter holiday, the nickname “s    1     potatoes” which refers to “nanfang xiaotudou” has been p    2     across the country, almost everyone knows them through news, TVs or other social medias (社交媒体).

Harbin, located in northeastern China, is f    3     for its cold winter and fantastic ice sculptures. Over the past winter holiday, the city has turned itself into one of the most favourite tourist places to go in China. A    4     to He Jing, the director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Harbin’s tourism boom (旅游繁荣) this year is not just a coincidence (巧合), but the r    5     of years of careful preparation.

Since the beginning of 2023, the city has been developing plans to improve the tourism industry. “We t    6     immediate (立即的) action to improve whatever the visitors complain about b    7     we would like to stand in the shoes of visitors and make Harbin a better place to visit. To help visitors w    8     are not used to cold weather, we have set up many heated places for them to change clothes and p    9     free hot drinks for them. Local specially frozen pears are even cut into small pieces. We just want to impress visitors with all the small details, m    10     them feel comfortable and welcomed.” He Jing says.

Just like what Harbin did to show their unique beauty and warm hospitality (好客) to the visitors, I think every city in China is willing to do the same to make people around the world to experience the real beauty and warm hospitality of China.

Over the years, Urumqi county in Xinjiang has made use of its rich ice and snow resources (资源) and good weather conditions to develop winter sports. Some schools     1     (active) carry out winter sports courses to let the students feel the charm (魅力) of winter sports. It makes the snow-covered playground interesting and enjoyable.

With 20-year history of winter sports courses, Shuixigou Middle School in Urumqi county, Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, is well-known across Urumqi city and even Xinjiang. At this school, the students have a PE class     2     two hours to play freely on the ice. After basic ice skating courses in their second year, students can choose to join the school’s different skating     3     (team) according to their own situations. With years of teaching experience and     4     (achieve), winter sports has already become special courses in Shuixigou Middle School. Almost all of students can master ice skating and skiing. And many of them even became winter sports athletes on national teams.

I hope your holidays were good.

I had     1     great time in Beijing. It was a special holiday for my dad’s 40th birthday. We stayed at a nice hotel called Mingzu Hotel. We could see lots of famous places from our bedroom window.

The food in Beijing was great.     2     were different restaurants for all kinds of food. My favourite restaurant was Beijing Toasted Duck. We visited some interesting museums     3     learn about Chinese history. We went to the Summer Palace and the Great Wall. We also watched a show in the Bird’s Nest. Of course, my mum loved the large shops. She bought new clothes     4     all of us. I took lots of photos. They’re all online now-have a look!

Our next stop will be Shanghai, another big city.     5     will take us about four hours to cover more than 1,000 km by train. How amazing!

Recently, the icy city of Harbin, the snowy capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, has become a hot topic on social media because     1     its bustling (热闹非凡的) tourism scene. This surge in popularity (人气的飙升) has not gone unnoticed by cultural and tourism departments in     2     Chinese provinces, encouraging them to increase their efforts to attract tourists. Many people have updated (更新)     3     official social media platforms, including Douyin, TikTok’s sibling app in China, to attract more audience. In this trend, the Henan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism     4     been particularly active on Douyin since January 9. They’ve been posting 20 to 30     5     daily, for a total of 112 videos over four days. These videos, showcasing the cultural and tourism attractions of the region, have attracted the attention of nearly 1 million viewers.

It’s my great honor to introduce the winter in my hometown to you.

I live in Changchun and it is     1     great city with four different seasons around the year. Among all of these seasons, I like winter     2     (good) because in winter it often snows and the house and ground are covered with a     3     “quilt” (被子).

I remembered it     4     (be) a winter evening. It snowed     5     (heavy). I felt     6     (exciting) to go outside with my mother and made a lovely snowman. We rolled two different sizes of snowballs. And then I found a few stones and branches to make the snowman’s eyes and     7     (arm). Although the     8     was cold, I forgot the temperature and lost myself in the joy of making a snowman.

Many years has passed.     9     the snowman can melt (融化), the love from my mother will always be in my heart.

I hope you can come to Changchun to make a snowman     10     me one day.

The English cultural and tourism magazine “Jiangsu Glimpses” has published a new one. It recommends beautiful museums, d    1     food, fun routes and spring folk customs in Jiangsu.

What winter takes from here, spring will give it b    2    . After a winter of resting, the flowers in Jiangsu are budding（含苞待放） and the ducks can also f    3     the warmth of the spring river.

It has become a habit for Chinese t    4    to come to Jiangsu to see flowers in spring. The city flower of Nanjing, plum blossom, now is all around on the Meihua Mountain. “Fure Flower Sea” in Zhenjiang i    5     many flower fields which are like a colorful blanket. Spring comes and shines on the branches of these flowers in the south of the Yangtze River.

Tea is another g    6     that comes with the spring of Jiangnan. Many teas with poetic and beautiful n    7     are all from Jiangsu, such as Suzhou’s Biluochun tea, Nanjing’s Yuhua tea and Zhenjiang’s Jinshancuiya tea. During this period, the tea field provides nice teas and p    8     places for people to have fun. The tea has special taste b    9     different tea trees are planted in different planting sites. Nowadays, people can look for tasty tea and enjoy the best s    10     in Jiangsu, including transportation, accommodation（住宿）, sightseeing, and food. In addition to the tea fields, tourists can also walk into the tea houses and museums or picturesque villages around them.

Jimei, meaning a place that collects all the beauties under heaven, lies in the northwest of Xiamen. The person who named it wasn’t     1     /rɔ:ŋ/. It is indeed a very quiet     2     beautiful place, lovable and livable. As a famous cultural and educational area, one of its must-see     3     (place) is Jimei School Village.

Jimei School Village is a general name for all schools and cultural institutions (机构). It has a complete modern educational system (系统) covering from preschool to higher education. It is also     4     (wide) known for its buildings of both Chinese and western styles, such as Daonan Lou and Nanxun Lou.

Jimei School Village was built by Mr. Chen Jiageng     5     was born in Jimei. At the age of 17, he traveled across the     6     /si:/ to Singapore to help his father run his business. When he returned to his hometown, he found education in China was very backward (落后的), so he     7     (make) up his mind to develop education. He poured all of his care and efforts     8     the field of education. It is said that he and his brother founded and supported a total of 118 educational institutions around China. And he also built libraries, science museums,     9     /ˈhɒspɪtlz/ and so on. He believed good     10     (teach) environment could help students learn more useful knowledge. Nowadays, Jimei School Village is worthy of the Chinese words “taoli man tianxia” because its graduates are spread all over the world.

When it comes to recent hot news on the Internet, Zibo barbecue is sure to top the list.     1     (thousand) of people from all over the country have reportedly been flocking(涌向) to Zibo. Many people     2     /’wʌndə(r)/ why only Zibo barbecue has become so popular around the country. Actually, there     3     (be) a story behind it.

In May 2022, a serious epidemic(疫情) hit the city of Jinan. Therefore, more than 12,000 students from Shandong University were sent     4     neighboring Zibo for centralized isolation(集中隔离).

However, Zibo did not simply think of the isolation as a     5     /tɑːsk/, but took good care of the students. When it was time to say goodbye, local people bought lots of barbecues in the city and treated them to     6     big meal. All the students were deeply moved when they     7     (sudden) enjoyed the long-lost barbecue. They promised to return when spring comes and expressed     8     (they) thanks for the warm reception(接待).

In March this year, the students, as promised, brought their classmates and re-experienced that     9     /speʃl/ barbecue. The love and kindness from the people in Zibo left a deep impression(印象) on the university students. They took pictures, wrote blogs,     10     shared them on the Internet. Soon, Zibo barbecue drew more people’s attention.

The popularity of Zibo barbecue not only offers an opportunity for people to relax themselves, but also shows the kindness and warmth of Shandong people.