1 . While most parts of the country are blanketed in snow, here in San Diego you can take advantage of the warm sunshine and dive into the high life at a resort (度假胜地) pool. Many resorts offer pool day passes for families. You can enjoy the delicious lunch at the poolside.

Here you can relax at the poolside and take a dip. You’ll find heated pools and daily family-friendly poolside entertainment and activities. Enjoy a handmade cocktail (鸡尾酒) from your chair or in a cabin. Also on tap: free Wi-Fi and self-parking for up to 3 hours.

Enjoy yourself in a pool at the paradise-like Monarch Beach Resort. Ocean views and sunny skies make an unbeatable background for a swim in two oceanfront heated pools. The day pass also includes access to the Athletic Club.

The iconic swimming pool at the Lafayette Hotel has been attracting attention since it was designed in 1946. Go for a swim in this heated pool and enjoyed excellent services, which even appeal to Hollywood stars. They often relax at the poolside in this place.

Get away from your troubles and feel a world away in the pools while appreciating the Spanish-style architecture of the inn. There are two pools: one for individual adult and one for families, as well as a hot bub, poolside food , drink services, and a fitness center.

3 . I used to travel to make myself relaxed. Two years ago, I was rather busy with my business and under a lot of ________, so I went to Las Vegas for a holiday. I just wanted to get away and ________ for a while.

When I was on holiday, an ________ suddenly came to me. I had long wished to pay a visit to the Greek island of Sanatorium. Therefore, the idea of a two-week European ________ alone was born.

I’d driven ________ across the US before, but traveling to other ________ whose languages aren’t the same as mine ________ me. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to ________ with anyone.

But I soon ________ that if I wanted to follow my dreams, I had to ________ out of my comfort area (舒适区). If I let ________ take control of me, I’d get nowhere.

As I was ________ more places to visit on my trip, I found Mykonos, Greece, which I ________ just as much as I liked Sanatorium. When I arrived in ________, it was like I was in a dream.

What I appreciated best was the bus ride to Venice. As I rode the bus and enjoyed every new thing I saw, I was completely ________ from the pressure (压力) of my work. How ________ it was to see people riding their bikes to the ________ they would like to go to!

Some people might say, “It’s not a big ________; it’s just Venice. Thousands of people go there every day.” But is was more than that to me. It was about having a ________ and when it was time for it to come true, don’t let it ________.

4 . The Historic Land of Maramures

The county of Maramures, located in the northern part of Romania. is famous for its traditional way of life that has remained unchanged for hundreds of years.

May-June for wild flowers; July-September for hiking; September for harvest events like the Chestnut Festival (Baia Mare), Onion Festival (Asuaju de Sus), and Autumn in Chioar (Remetea Chioarului).

Baia Mare is the region’s largest town and its transportation hub (交通枢纽). From Bucharest, the quickest cheice is the 85-minute direct flight to Baia Mare International Airport. Rent a car at the airport to travel regionally, and walk, hike, or bike in villages and rural areas. The English-speaking staff at the Maramures Tourism Office in Baia Mare (open on weekdays) can provide driving, hiking, and biking routes, plus information about public transportation and bike rentals.

Small, family-run guesthouses are located in many villages. Prices typically include breakfast or all meals. The Village Hotel in Breb has three guest rooms in the main house and three small houses, each restored or built using local materials.

There’s a great restaurant offering traditional Maramures tastes beside the Casa Iurca de Calinesti Hotel, located next to Elie Wiesel’s birthplace in Sighetu Marmatiei. Weather permitting, sit in the courtyard and watch the chef roast a whole lamb or pig over the open fire.

William Blacker’s memoir (回忆录) Along the Enchanted Way: A Story of Love and Life in Romania is an insightful look into the customs and cultural traditions of rural Transylvania and Maramures, where the author lived from1996 to 2004.

How are you?

Yours,

Li Jin

8 . Located in Ontario, Canada, the Niagara Falls is the seventh wonder of the world and the fastest flowing waterfall in the world. When I went to tour it, I found there were some truly amazing ways to _________ the waterfall.

One way was to take a _________ to the center of the Niagara Falls. Everyone on board was given a raincoat that looked more like a garbage bag. We would need it later on when we got close to the waterfall. There were huge waves and thick mist (迷雾), although we were still far away from Niagara Falls. Inside the mist, another boat approached us. As that boat _________, we waved hello to the blue-coated _________. After a while, we were as _________ as possible to the waterfall, which was like a wall in front of the boat. The _________ here was white with huge waves that threatened (有……危险) to _________ over the boat. The _________ was so deafening that I couldn’t even _________ the person next to me shouting. __________, the boat turned around to __________ back to the dock (码头). A few minutes was enough to make this a very exciting __________.

Another __________ was to go behind the waterfall. This adventure started with everybody walking into a wet and __________ tunnel (隧道)one by one. It was __________ by several lanterns, making us see the tunnel clearly. As the tunnel came to an end, I could see that we had __________ onto a platform at the foot of the waterfall. Here, I had a good __________ of how thick the waterfall was. It was at least one meter __________.

__________ I experienced Niagara Falls, I was shocked by how __________ it was. And I look forward to taking the zip line (滑索) next time to view Niagara Falls from the sky. It will definitely be a wonderful time, too.

9 . I was dirty, smelly, hungry and somewhere beneath all that, suntanned (晒黑的). It was the end of an Inter-Rail holiday. My body couldn’t take any more punishment. My mind couldn’t deal with any more foreign timetables, currencies or languages.

“Never again,” I said, as I stepped onto home ground. I said exactly the same thing the following year. And the next, all I had to do was to buy one train ticket and, because I was under twenty-five years old, I could spend a whole month going anywhere I wanted in Europe. Ordinary beds are never the same once you’ve learnt to sleep in the passage of a train, the rhythm rocking you into a deep sleep.

Carrying all your possessions on your back in a rucksack (背包) makes you have a very basic approach to travel, and encourages incredible wastefulness that can lead to burning socks that have become too anti-social, and getting rid of books when finished. On the other hand, this way of looking at life is entirely in the spirit of Inter-Rail, for common sense and reasoning can be thrown out of the window along with the paperback book and the socks. All it takes to achieve this carefree attitude is one of those tickets in your hand.

Any system that enables young people to travel through countries at a rate of more than one a day must be pretty social. On that first trip, my friends and I were at first unaware of the possibilities of this type of train ticket, thinking it was just an inexpensive way of getting to and from our chosen camp-site in southern France. But the idea of non-stop travel proved too attractive, for there was always just one more country over the border, always that little bit further to go. And what did the extra miles cost us? Nothing.

We were not completely uninterested in culture. But this was a first holiday without parents, as it was for most other Inter-Railers, and in organizing our own timetable we left out everything except the most available sights. This was the chance to escape the guided tour, an opportunity to do something different. I took great pride in the fact that, in many places, all I could be bothered to see was the view from the station. We were just there to get by, and to have good time doing so. In this we were not different from most of the other Inter-Railers with whom we shared passage floors, food and water, money and music.

The excitement of travel comes from the sudden reality of somewhere that was previously just a name. It is as if the city in which you arrive never actually existed until the train pulls in at the station and you are able to see it with your own tired eyes for the first time.