The ancient city of Kashgar (喀什), which has a population of around 200,000,     1     (greet) over 7 million tourists so far this year. Since the Belt and Road Initiative (“一带一路”倡议)     2     (propose), the ancient city has once again drawn attention as a gateway to opening up to the outside world.

As the night closes in. street     3     (light) come on. Kashgar becomes even     4     (much)alive with tourists joyfully exploring a city with     5     history of more than 2,000 years. Already famous for many years because of its colourful culture and architecture,     6     (tour) has continued to grow rapidly in the ancient city of Kashgar in recent times, with travellers from all around the world going there.

Neil Munro, from Britain, walks into a restaurant with friends     7     (taste) the famous local barbecue and beer. After a two-day stay in Kashgar, the group will motorcycle through several other Chinese provinces including Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan, before finally     8     (arrive) in Laos. This is Munro’s third visit     9     Kashgar. When he first travelled there in 1999, he was shocked by the unique culture and he soon began learning Chinese.

“The people here are welcoming. Kashgar is full of energy,” said Sirpa Jarvenpa, from Finland,    10     took part in the long motorcycle ride along with her husband.

3 . In 1983, Ski Rixen USA became the first water ski cable park in the United States. Located in Deerfield Beach, Florida, the park offers riders a chance to experience all kinds ofwater sports.

In the past 40 years, Six Rixen USA has welcomed more than 1.5 million visitors. The park was the brainchild of engineer Bruno Rixen. Born in 1931 in Germany, Rixen grewfrustrated with the sport of water skiing, which required pulling by a motor boat.

“He used to wait for four hours in line to do three laps around the lake, ” explained Allan Wlodarczyk, the manager of Ski Rixen USA. He added that riding five minutes and waiting another four hours sparked Rixen’s idea of cable parks. Rather than relying on a boat, Rixen considered his own cable way. He also designed skis and set up a power source.

“The first cable was actually an old farm tractor, ” Wlodarczyk said. “Rixen took the wheels off, attached some ropes to the wheel disks, and started pulling people back and forth around the lake.” Over the years, Rixen improved his design and earned several patents. He opened the world’s first commercial cable water park in 1966 in Benidorm, Spain.

The sport grew from entertainment to international contests. Rixen died in 2020, but his idea has taken hold around the world. Today, there are more than 500 cable water parks on different continents. Typically, the cable tows riders at a speed of about 20 miles per hour.

But for beginners, who can take lessons, the speed is about 15 miles per hour.

Ski Rixen USA also offers riding opportunities and events to people with special needs to ski effortlessly. “We have a specially designed ski, called a sit ski,” Wlodarczyk said. “It’s a larger board with a lot of surface area. The riders are completely seated in the water and don’t actually have to hold onto the rope.”

4 . I found a wonderful picture of Maolan karst cones online and presented it to the innkeeper. “You can’t go there,” the innkeeper ______ me. “The viewing platform has been closed due to ______ that too many visitors could cause geological damage.”

Despite our disappointment, we ______ an alternative: a seven-hour hike through the “funnel forest”. Initially, we were ______ to run the risk. However, I had ______ the tourism motto in the nature reserve: “If you don’t do it now, you won’t do it in your lifetime.” Three of our group ______ decided to venture into the forest. The innkeeper responded with a knowing ______ : “Great. Bear Grylls went there.”

The next morning, we set off with a local ______ . Rain came and went three times, and before I actually ______ to climb over the first mountain, I had already got wet to the skin. I was a walking ______ of mud and water.

Our guide, in his 50s, behaved like a botanist, introducing the locally specific plants to us, but I was hardly in the ______ . Every step sank into the muddy, sucking ground. Every log or rock in front of us was a physical ______ . “One can never reach those places without strong willpower,” I murmured, reciting that millennium-old ______ , over and over again.

Sinkholes and entrances to underground rivers kept popping up along our ______ . Thinking of them leading to an unknown world, I began to ______ the road that I can control even more.

Wandering in a green chaos without any obvious landmarks is also breathtaking.

Hangzhou, a paradise on earth

Hangzhou,     1    is now in the spotlight as the main host of the 19th Asian Games, is one of the seven ancient capitals of China, ever     2    (serve) as the capital of the Wuyue Kingdom during the Five Dynasties and the Southern Song Dynasty. As a core city of the Yangtze River Delta, Hangzhou     3    (be) one of the most prosperous cities in China for more than 1, 000 years     4    is home to a large number of natural attractions and historical heritages.

Marco Polo, the famous 13th century Italian traveler and merchant, described Hangzhou     5     “the finest and the noblest in the world”.

Now as Hangzhou has grabbed the world’s attention, tourists from     6    (vary) places have gathered to this heavenly city to enjoy its slow life pace and beautiful natural     7    (surround).

The West Lake is     8    (definite) a place people can never miss when visiting Hangzhou. The lake     9    (it) covers 6 square kilometers, and includes some of Hangzhou’s most famous scenic places. Situated in the center of the city, it has convenient public transport access. The Hangzhou government also offers free public bikes for tourists     10    (travel) around the lake. The parks around the lake are all free to visit.

7 . We travelled in Thailand. The staff at the hotels we stayed in went out of their way to make us feel welcome. You may say that they were just doing their jobs, but this is not how it felt to us. At the iuDia Hotel in Ayutthaya the staff went above and beyond what we would have expected. The dining room was not open in the evening and when we asked where we could get a takeaway meal the front desk girl walked us to the nearby restaurant. She explained that the hotel staff would provide us with plates and dishes once we returned. Not only did they provide what we needed, but they also put our food in servicing bowls and took care of the clean-up while we slept. We were grateful and deeply touched by their kindness and care.

For the rest of our visit to Thailand we stayed at the Novotel in Rangsit. Since we were there for a long period of time we became familiar with a few of the staff. They paid attention to our needs and did their best to ensure our stay was a pleasant one. They were also happy to stop and chat with us, asking questions about our stay, what we had done that day, recommending things for us to do and sharing parts of their personal lives with us.Again, it may be said that their friendliness was part of their job but somehow, I did not feel that was the case. It felt natural, open and honest and I would like to think that they enjoyed our conversations as much as we enjoyed theirs.

On one of our walks my brother and I were offered bottles of fresh water by one of the locals. She felt that we needed it and did not want to take payment for the two bottles she offered. She finally agreed to take 10 Thai bahts(泰铢). Instead we gave her 20.