1     are you in Guangzhou? Emily and I are fine     2     London. It is winter now, and the weather here is not very nice. It’s snowing heavily. London is a beautiful     3     modern city. There     4     many famous buildings in London, such as the Big Ben and the British Museum. We have much fun and learn a lot in the museum.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve (圣诞前夕), and there are many people at Harrods. They are buying Christmas presents there. In the park, children are playing with snow. Everyone is happy. By the way, the tea here is great. And Emily is going to buy some black tea for you.

We are going back     5     Shanghai soon and we miss you very much.

Love,

Steve

Steep hills and lakes dotted (点缀) here and there in Ninghai County, Zhejiang Province. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, some of the areas was c    1     by active volcanoes.

Several villages that have existed for h    2     of years reflect the geological forces. One of them is Xujiashan Village. U    3     houses in ancient Chinese villages that are mostly built of wood, bricks (砖块) or clay (黏土), those in Xujiashan are all built of local stones. The tour g    4     calls it a “stone village”.

Most of the stones u    5     to build the villages are a copper (铜色的) color. The locals call them “bronze slates”. The stones are used to build houses, bridges, roads, benches and gardens. B    6     of its special appearance, Xujiashan was chosen in 2018 as one of the 10 most beautiful villages in Ningbo.

Before tourism was developed in Xujiashan about ten years ago, most of the y    7     people in the village left to seek opportunities in bigger cities. The old left behind continued to work the land.

“We have kept a lot of traditional customs in the village, such as bamboo weaving (编织) and the pounding of rice cake dough,” said Zhang Dewang, a restaurant o    8     in the village. “They are simply part of our lifestyle.”

Although the n    9     of the village translates as “Xu’s Mountain”, one of the landmarks in the village is named Ye’s Ancestor (祖先) Hall. Most villagers are descendants (后代) of the Ye clans (宗族). The memorial tablets of Ye’s ancestors are well protected and respected in the c    10     of the hall.

The summer vacation is coming. Maybe some people want to go a    1     during the vacation. But I’m     2     (考虑) visiting some wonderful cities in China.     3     (在……之中) them, Hangzhou is one of the best places that I’d like to choose. Hangzhou is in the s    4     part of China and is the capital of Zhejiang Province. It has a p    5     of about 8, 800, 000 and has lots of places of interest to visit. These places     6     (包括) the West Lake, Lingyin Temple and so on. Every day, t    7     of tourists go there to take a holiday. Another place that interests a lot of people is Leifeng     8     (塔). Maybe you don’t know much about it, but I’m sure everyone has h    9     of the story called The New Legend of White Snake. Besides, the weather in Hangzhou is nice all year round. So you can choose to go     10     (无论何时) you like. What are you waiting for? Come and enjoy the beauty in Hangzhou.

“We thank you for your visits to Heilongjiang. This winter, you brought joy and life to this land. It’s so great to have you here.”     1     the last day of 2023, the Heilongjiang Provincial Tourism Ofice announced a thank-you letter     2     (excited). The letter     3     (publish) by several local newspapers.

At Harbin Ice and Snow World,     4     ice-and-snow theme park in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, tourists gathered     5     (count) down toward 2024, with more than 1, 000 ice and snow sculptures around.

Besides the ice-and-snow sculptures, a lot of winter activities were there for visitors to enjoy. Skiing was one of     6     (popular) activities. Many people would wait for two to three hours     7     these activities.

What’s more, bicycles on ice and hot air balloons allowed visitors to enjoy the magic world from above. When the night     8     (fall), the ice sculptures looked bright in different colors, and live music and DJs added more to the colorful ice and snow world, where     9     (thousand) of visitors danced to the music together.

During this tourism boom, many visitors felt the     10     (warm) of local people. Local government provided hot tea for free to keep visitors warm. Many drivers also volunteered to drive around the city to pick up tourists and give them free rides.

“Whether it is Zibo Barbecue or Harbin Ice and Snow Tourism, they have given full play to their own characteristics and advantages. ”said Zhang Yiwu, a Chinese language and literature professor at Peking University.

7 . Hello, boys and girls! I’m your     1     English teacher. First I would like to introduce (介绍) myself. My name is Wang Ling. You can call     2     “Miss Wang”. I am 28 years old. I have a lovely dog.     3     name is Lucky. It’s black and white. White is my     4     color. Most of my clothes are white. My home is not far from school, so I often walk to school from Monday to     5    . I am free at weekends (周末). I like     6     out to do sports. Would you like to do sports with me     7     class?

I’m from Guangzhou. It’s     8     capital of Guangdong. It’s a beautiful city.     9     it is never too cold or too hot in Guangzhou. Anytime is OK if you want to go to Guangzhou.     10     to Guangzhou!

8 . Yubeng is a mountain village in southwest China’s Yunnan Province. It has been attracting hiking visitors all over the world. For a long time, villagers in Yubeng made a     1     by planting highland barley（青稞）and wheat. Now, almost every household has opened homestays, supermarkets and restaurants. It was not     2     to reach the village. It takes five to eight hours of walking on the winding dirt road just to enter the village.     3    , in recent years, hikers have found fun during the walk, and the local government and villagers saw opportunities to develop tourism. In 2018, a local company was     4     up to develop the hiking industry in Yubeng and provide more convenience for     5    . There are about 30 staff members in the company, and 26-year-old Tibetan villager Drige works     6     a ticket seller. “I get about 4,000 yuan (about 560 US dollars) a month. I don’t have to leave my hometown to work any more, and I can be with my family here,” Drige said. “Now, tourists can experience     7    , not only hiking. All the fees（费用）paid by tourists will be given to the villagers. Now there are around 190 villagers and 53 homestays in Yubeng. From great hotel rooms to youth hostels, tourists have more     8     than before. The environment of Yubeng has been protected     9    . The villagers clean up the garbage every week, and there are also special cleaning staff to clean up and recycle the garbage. In Yubeng, I can hike and also     10     more about Tibetan culture. It is truly an ideal place for hiking,” said Chen Xin from Yunnan’s capital city Kunming.