1 . When it comes to my fathering lessons, few adventures compare to the motorcycle trips I’ve shared with my daughter, Ewa.

Our first_______, in August 2017, was a winding (蜿蜒的) ride around the Catskills and Finger Lake districts of New York state. We _______ big highways and spent the week on_______ scenic back roads. At one point, I found myself _______along a Catskills meadow (草地) not far from Woodstock, keeping pace with a deer and shouting, “Go Bambi, go!”

On our second day, we _______ in a small town for ice cream. I asked the woman at the picnic table next to us: “What’s the_______ of this town?” “Interlaken,” she answered.“Where are you trying to get to?”

Me: “We don’t know. ”

It _______ to me then that I’d always wanted to do this no-schedule kind of trip, when you ride just for riding. Ask any middle-aged _______: We’ve all dreamed about doing the Easy Rider (逍遥骑士) thing, throwing our wristwatches into the ditch and heading toward the horizon without a_______. Now, travelling with no plan became a________ of my rides with Ewa.

Since we almost ________ knew where we were going, we were almost never ________ when we arrived, pulling ________ the road at the end of each day with satisfaction. The reason to celebrate? We________! The truth is that life on a motorbike is one close call (死里逃生) after another. On the way, riders must stay ________ 100 percent of the time. A tiny stone can be deadly. I used to be nervous, but Ewa had a different take: “To me, motorcycling is like meditation(冥想). ”

4 . I was born in Venice, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, and studied designing at university here. Though I have also spent time away, I have always come back because it’s my home.

In Venice, there are no roads, only canals, so you have to get around on foot or by boat. I live on a canal in the Rialto area in a house that was built in 1588 for the Muti family, who were businessmen in the silk trade. In the mid-eighteenth century, it was home to the Vezzi family, who made things like plates and bowls in fine china and became rich by sending these around the world. These businessmen’s houses in Venice are like palaces. Their owners had to have space to show off their goods, but the building also had to be an office, a factory, a store and a home. My house came into our family in 1919, when it was bought by my grandfather. He died before I was born but he was the director of a museum where I often do research on old documents. On some of these, I’ve seen notes in his handwriting, so, in a way, I met him through these documents.

Sadly, the population of Venice has dropped from 120,000 in the 1950s to about 60,000 now. This doesn’t include the thousands of tourists who come to visit. I welcome the tourists but unless something is done to stop everyday shops like bakeries from disappearing, the city will die. I want people who love the city to come here to live and work and give Venice back a life that is not just about tourism.