1 . Direction: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Iceland shows off nature

Found just south of the Arctic Circle, it’s far from the northernmost country on Earth. But as a travel destinations, Iceland is on top of the world.

Known as‚ “the land of fire and ice”, the country has many natural wonders. As the Today website put it, “It is     1     nature choose Iceland to be its shop window to…remind humanity that nature is still the unstoppable force.”

As the world was reminded when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted six years ago, Iceland is a country “still in the making, and few other places offer the same opportunities to see the earth     2     action, ” commented National Geographic magazine.

Ice is Iceland’s other big attraction-to be exact, the huge glaciers which travel toward the coast,     3     (make) strange pools of water. Even better are the northern lights, which are     4     (good) to see from October to March.

On Sept 28, the country’s capital Reykjavik decided to turn off all streetlights for an hour at night to give people a unique chance to enjoy the northern lights. Thanks to the glaciers and the dark sky, the   bright,   colourful     5     (dance)   lights   became   “a   heavenly   light   display”,   travel guidebook publisher Lonely Planet noted.

And     6     Iceland’s unique natural features are the biggest attractions for visitors, the country also offers inspiration. Iceland has     7     higher percentage of writers in its population than any other country in the world, the BBC reported. And it is not surprising     8     the country publishes more books per person than any other country in the world, reported the NPR radio station, Iceland     9     (be) the birthplace of important literary works and authors-from the Vikings’ Iceland sagas(传说) to author Halldór Laxness, winner of the 1955 Noble Prize in literature.

“The beast in Iceland, with its harsh(严酷的) nature and bitter, ever-changing weather. We cannot escape it,” Haraldur Jonsson, an Icelandic artists, told the Observer newspaper while describing     his     inspiration.     “So     we     find   ways to live with it. We     10     have a rich life to fill the empty spaces.”