1 . For centuries, Beijing has been one of China's most important cities. _______ a place for emperors and officials, today it is an international city and a popular tourist_______. People from all over the country are moving to Beijing to _______ jobs and opportunities as this exciting city is a place where dreams can come true. Throughout the city, _______ dressed business people _______ for their offices, mobile phones held to their ears and visitors can only watch and imagine the deals and _______ being made at that very second.

Beijing's streets provide a fascinating _______ of the past and the present. In tea houses, groups of old men play chess _______ the Macdonald's next door is filled with laughing teenagers sipping milkshakes. Walking through the broad streets _______ with designer stores and multi-storey skyscrapers, you can________ a turn and suddenly find yourself in a century’s old ________ where a fruit seller chats happily to an old woman sitting in the sun. Many of the road signs and advertising billboards are now in ________, making Beijing more ________to foreigners. Public transport is efficient, new businesses are ________, and every modern convenience and international brand is ________ in this booming global city.

Beijing has some of China's most stunning ________. Visitors often come to Beijing with the single ________ to see the Great Wall, one of the ancient wonders of the world, but once they’ve arrived, they realize that this is only one of the city's ________. In fact, what visitors ever seem to only________about Beijing, is that they simply________time before seeing it all.

2 . Ask people to name the world's tallest peak and anybody with sound general knowledge will name Mount Qomolangma. But quiz them on its exact __and many will be not sure.

In 1975, Chinese surveyors __ that Mount Qomolangma （Mount Everest） was 8848. 13 meters high. As __ improved, satellites, photoelectricity, radars and gravity measurement technologies were __ to get more exact figures. Of course, someone still had to carry __ to what is the world's rooftop.

In 2005, a Chinese team scaled Qomolangma and found that it was not as high as that, as they __ the height to be 8844. 43 meters. Scaling Qomolangma is no __ task. The average air temperature there is -29 degrees Celsius, even four degrees_____ than in Antarctica. The snow there is 4 —5 meters thick and hurricane-like __ blow all the time. Team members were training to __the extreme conditions.

In a nutshell, measuring the Qomolangma's height is a tall order, __ huge amounts of money and human resources, But it is worth the_____. Qomolangma is the perfect __ for observing crustal （地壳的）movements. And changes to the peak's height could __ whether the two plates are heading toward or away from each other.

Besides, the condition of snow and other natural materials at the top is an indicator of upcoming climate change on the Tibet-Qinghai Plateau. That's __ measuring the Qomolangma's height is so significant. Put to good use, it can benefit mankind.