2 . The Silk Road is the name of different roads that long ago connected Europe, Africa and Asia. People reached these different places along these roads. Scientists believe people began to travel the Silk Road about 3000 years ago. By the time the Chinese silk trade became important in the world, the Silk Road covered almost 6500 kilometers. It spread from Rome to China, which is from the West to the Far East.

Traders travelling along the Silk Road carried silk, of course. They also carried and traded spices (香料), cloth, valuable stones and gold.

There is a famous old story along the old road. It is said that Roman soldiers travelled through central Asia. They started to live somewhere near the ancient Chinese village of Liqian. Sortie of these Romans married local Chinese women and the story of blue-eyed villages of China was started.

During its busiest period, the Silk Road allowed people from many different cultures and countries to meet each other and mix. The Silk Road allowed the sharing of valuable goods and new ideas. These included people and trading goods from the Mediterranean, Persian, Magyar, Armenian, Bactrian, Indian and Chinese areas. All these peoples travelled the Silk Road, and they shared goods, stories, languages, and cultures.

In modern times, the old Silk Road routes (路线) are still used, but now they are crossed by trains instead of camels and horses. There is even a Silk Route Museum in Jiuquan in China. It has over 35,000, objects from all along the Silk Road. In this way, China protects the history of many countries and peoples.

The Vikings, whose ancestors came from Scandinavia, were the first Europeans     1    (reach) America. They had lived in many places of northern Europe. In 982 AD, a man     2    (call) Eric the Red was forced to leave Iceland because of a murder, for     3    he got into trouble. Eric discovered Greenland and persuaded some people     4    (settle) in Greenland. Eric set sail again, but only half of the ships made     5    to Greenland this time.

Later a man, Biarni set sail from Iceland in search     6     Eris’s party. But he     7    (blow) off course and found himself in an unknown land, from where he     8    (eventual) reached Greenland.

In the year 1002, Leif, Eric the Red’s son, followed Biarni’s directions and sailed to     9    is believed to be the coast of present-day Canada. He also discovered Newfoundland. Actually, Eric the Red and Leif’s     10    (deed) are the first records we have of Europeans sailing to the Americas.

A small town in England is teaching the world that it is important     1     (grow) your own food. Any open space     2     (use) to grow fruit and vegetables. There are apples, pears, peaches, strawberries, cabbages and carrots, here and there. Everyone can pick them     3     free. Eight years ago, a woman named Pam in Todmorden dug up her rose garden. She planted vegetables, knocked down the garden walls and put up a sign     4     (say), “Help yourself.” Today, Pam has     5     (complete) changed the town. A new town has been born,     6     is called “Incredible Edible Todmorden”. Pam explained why she thought the idea was popular. “It’s possible and positive. Many people know we have to change,     7     how we do that is a question.” So one day, gathered all the     8     (villager) together. They decided to do something different at once. They didn’t write reports. They didn’t ask for permission. They just did it. Only a short time later, Todmorden     9     (become) a big garden of fruit and vegetables. In Todmorden, there is a motto: If you eat, you are in. But that’s not all. There are     10     (many) than 700 edible towns popping up around the world, from Canada to Mali. People there think about food and protect the environment at the same time.

How have you been lately? You said you want to know about the Great Wall. I’m happily to tell you about them here. The Great Wall was build more than two thousand years ago. It is 8,851.8 kilometers long, six to seven meters high but four to five meters wide. The Great Wall, that represents the long history of China, is great wonder created to protect the ancient Chinese people. Now the Great Wall have become one of the most famous attractions in China, and it attracts a large number of visitor from all around the world each year.

I hope you can come to China to visit the Great Wall on one day. I’m sure you will love it.

Yours,

Zhang Hong

8 . 72 hours in Beijing

Traveling to China is no longer a luxury for many foreign passport holders. The Chinese government has permitted a 72-hour visa free policy that offers access to visitors from 53 countries including the US, France and Austria. Let’s start with the capital of China, Beijing. Here’s a pick of the best in Beijing.

Your trip to Beijing isn’t really complete without seeing one of the “New Seven Wonders of the World” — the Great Wall of China. The Mutianyu section of the Great Wall is by far the most well-preserved of all. Taking a one-hour bus ride, Mutianyu would be your ideal location for a half-day of hiking away from the large crowds in the city. Also, the authorities have allowed tourists to paint graffiti on a specific section of the Great Wall since 2014. The Great Wall was designated (把……定名为) a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

Located in northwestern Beijing, the Summer Palace is by far the city’s most well-preserved royal park. With its huge lake and hilltop views, the palace offers you a pastoral escape into the landscape of traditional Chinese paintings. The Summer Palace was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998.

This would be on the top of my list! Named after the 798 factory that was built in the 1950s, the art zone is home to various galleries, design studios, art exhibition spaces, fashionable shops and bars. You could easily spend half your day wandering around the complex, feeling the contrast of the present and the past.

While in Beijing, apart from trying the city’s best-known Peking duck, the Sichuan provincial restaurant is one of places where you can enjoy regional delicious food. It offers one of China’s eight great cuisines, Sichuan Cuisine, which ranges from Mapo tofu to spicy chicken.

In Sarek National Park, the remote far north of Sweden in the Arctic Circle,     1     in summer the sun never sets, I wake up to the sound of the wind     2    (buffet) the cloth of my tent. Standing at the edge of the mountain, watching the Rapa River flow     3     the valley below, I feel so     4    (bless) to be alive and have this rare opportunity to explore this unique territory, which is almost unknown to the outside world.

Sarek’s mountains, home to the Sami people, who are the native residents of the park, used to     5    (cover) by vast sheets of ice. Around 9,000 years ago, this ice melted, leaving behind about 100 glaciers. For hundreds of years, the Sami lived with reindeer, moved with them, and accompanied     6     for hundreds of years. Today, most Sami have left their ancient cottage in the mountain valleys and live a modern life in     7    (village) near Sarek instead. Though the Sami are allowed to continue their     8    (tradition) way of life in the park, no one else can live here, and all new development     9    (ban) within the park boundaries. At the far side of the valley,     10     ancient Sami cottage is visible. Close by, there are a few reindeer feeding on grass.

10 . Today, we visit one of the most famous parks — Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. This huge park in the southeastern part of the state covers more than 10 thousand square kilometers of the Alaskan wilderness. It includes mountains, glaciers, fjords (峡湾), and even rain forests. Glacier Bay supports hundreds of kinds of animals, including many species of birds, fish, bears, whales and sea lions.

As its name suggests much of Glacier Bay is covered by glaciers. A glacier is a large area of ice that moves slowly down a slope or valley, or over a wide area of land. Glaciers cover a large area of the park.

The glaciers found in the park today are what remain from an ice development known as the Little Ice Age. That period began about 4,000 years ago. During the Little Ice Age, the cold weather caused the ice to grow and develop. That growth continued until the 1700s, when the climate began to warm. The hotter temperatures caused the ice to start melting (融化). That melting led the huge glacier to divide into more than 1,000 different glaciers.

The extremely tall mountains seen in Glacier Bay were formed by the ice developing and then melting over time. The melting of the ice also created water that filled in and created the many fjords within the park. Fjords are narrow parts of the ocean that sit between cliffs or mountains.

Glacier Bay is a popular place for people searching for adventure. Some visitors choose to explore the park by kayak. The small, narrow boats offer visitors a chance to experience the park’s many fjords and its hundreds of kilometers of coastline.