1 . At the hillside of the Emei Mountain in Sichuan, a homestay (民宿) — My Own little Yard (吾家小院) is attracting travelers from far and wide, especially on weekends. The owners of the homestay are a couple in their late 30s who decided to return to their hometown three years ago. Li Xiumei used to be in charge of a small company in Chengdu, and her husband was a sales director. It was an ordinary situation where Li’s husband was on business trips a lot and Li worked overtime on weekends. City life sometimes is not easy.

In 2020, they quit (辞掉) jobs and went back to their village, where there were plenty of homestays around their old countryside house coming into their sight. Stepping onto every balcony of every homestay, they could see the beautiful scenery of the Emei Mountain. More importantly, the villagers have earned a lot of money without entering cities to be peasant-workers, which impressed the couple most.

The couple began to rebuild their old countryside house, which was updated to have a hall, a tea room, a kitchen, and a dining room. Japanese cherry trees were planted in the east courtyard. A swimming pool was placed in the west courtyard, with a bar located on one side.

Li and her husband love gardening and music, and their new home gives them enough space to continue their interests and relax in the heart of nature. Li wants to share the quiet country life, so she makes her new home a homestay. During the summer holiday in 2023, their My Own little Yard — homestay became an online hit after guests shared their experiences on social media.

2 . Who says you have to stay indoors when the temperatures drop? Here are favourite places to explore this winter.

Athens, Greece

In Athens, every November temperatures stay around the mid-20s, so’ have a trip to the Parthenon and Acropolis. A full afternoon is also necessary for exploring the Museum of Cycladic Art and its exhibitions—recently it has hosted Picasso’s.

Edinburgh, UK

Yes, it’s probably going to be freezing cold. Hot coffee steams up in a pleasing, romantic fashion in cafes. People can take a few minutes’ walk from the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

For simple Scottish dishes there’s neighbourhood inn, the Little Chartroom. And the Sheep Heid Inn has been long enough to have served Mary Queen of Scots. In the eight bedrooms at the 18th century Rock House, each is a mixture of ancient details and current fashion.

Valletta, Malta

Flights from the UK to Malta’s capital are only around £30, making it one of the best destinations for a November trip. This tiny city has a temperature of 17 or so and has changed itself into a year-round city break with artistic cafes, hotels and newly opened galleries—Muza opened last year and houses the former National Gallery collection.

My favourite sport

Many strange things happened before Tangshan earthquake happened. The well walls had deep cracks. Some     1     (smell) gas came out of wells. Chickens and even pigs were too nervous to eat.     2     3∶42 a.m. on 28 July 1976, everything began to shake. It seemed as if the world     3     (come) to an end. Hard hills of rock became rivers of dirt. In less than one minute, the whole city     4     (lie) in ruins. Two thirds of the people died or were injured. Everything in the city was     5     (destroy). People were shocked at this and wondered how long the disaster would last.

The army organized teams to dig out those     6     were trapped and to bury the dead. Workers built shelters for     7     (survive). Fresh water and food were taken to the city. Slowly, the city began     8     (breath) again. With strong support from the government and the tireless efforts of the city’s people,     9     new Tangshan was built upon the earthquake ruins. It has proved that in times of disaster, people must unify and show the     10     (wise) to stay positive and rebuild for a brighter future.

China’s “Cultural and Natural Heritage Day" falls on the second Saturday of June every year. Many celebrations are held, and all cultural relic protection sites are _______ to open free to the public on the day. There is no_________ that various celebrating activities across the country will arouse public _________of the importance of cultural heritage protection and _________the young people to love the fine_________ culture of the motherland.

China faces a heavy task in protecting and rescuing its cultural_______. We need to seriously consider the _________ of the lack of awareness about cultural heritage protection. Thus, Heritage Education is one of our main approaches. People cannot _________ value cultural heritage if they do not know why it is important or how to protect it. Over the past seven years, CHP has _________ over a hundred educational __________ to various groups, such as schools, government offices, and the general public. Many people have attended CHP seminars. Typically, each seminar lasts two or three hours and __________ of an informative presentation, __________by a longer question-and-answer session and discussion. Attendees with __________ knowledge of cultural heritage __________ it to be just the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. People often think that the duty only __________ to the government. So “Cultural and Natural Heritage Day” will be a welcome opportunity to educate the public on world heritage conservation.

7 . Over the last century, engineers all over the world have spared no effort to achieve the unachievable in bridge design.

Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge

No bridge is as long as the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge in the world. The 164.8-kilometre-long bridge built in 2011 in China serves as part of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway. The trip from Ningbo to Jiaxing that previously took 4.5 hours has been reduced to two, thanks to this bridge.

Rio-Niterói Bridge

Completed in 1974, the Rio-Niterói Bridge in Brazil is the second-longest bridge in all of Latin America connecting the cities of Rio and Niterói across the Guanabara Bay. The Rio-Niterói Bridge is technically known as a “box-girder (箱形梁)” bridge, made of special concrete. It receives an astonishing 140,000 (or more) vehicles per day.

Hartland Covered Bridge

The Hartland Covered Bridge is the world’s longest covered bridge. The 1,282-foot-long bridge was opened in 1901 and has been on Canada’s list of National Historic Sites since 1980. Although it was originally built without a roof, the bridge was capped with wooden materials during the repairs in 1921.

Jiaozhou Bay Bridge

The newly-built Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China was named “world’s longest bridge over water” by Guinness Book of World Records in 2011, a title previously held by the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. The dispute was settled when the title of “longest continuous bridge over water” was given to the causeway, with the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge receiving the title of “longest bridge over water”.