Winters can be harsh in Heilongjiang, China’s northeastern province     1     (border) Russia.

The residents of Harbin, Heilongjiang’s capital, brighten the winter     2     (month) by carving fantastic frozen sculptures for the International Ice and Snow Festival that takes place in January and February every year. Once a     3     (region) affair, the festival has grown to be a major international event.

“It’s quite surreal (梦幻般的), due to both the scale (规模)     4     all the beautiful lighting—like being     5     a fantasy movie,” says Christian Stanley of the China Travel Company. “It’s so big that you can’t help wondering     6     they managed to build all of this so quickly.”

It’s also a good choice to take a break from Harbin’s winter wonderland with a visit to the Siberian Tiger Park.     7     (locate) a few miles northwest of the city on the Songhua River, the park     8     (establish) in 1996 to help protect these animals, the largest felines (猫科动物) in the world. Hundreds of Siberian tigers—accustomed (适应) to the winter cold—     9     (free) walk around the nature reserve, along with leopards and black puma. Visitors must ride in special buses to get protected from the tigers as the animals gather around out of     10     (curious).

5 . Best Hotels Along the California Coast

Crystal Cove Beach Cottages

These 1938 beachfront rooms occupy a part of Newport Beach’s Crystal Cove State Park. At the beginning, developed as a movie set, these attractive houses, now repainted in lively beach style, aim to remain the original look with Murphy beds.

Advance booking is required, as the rooms sell out the moment they are available (可获得的).

www.crystalcove.org.

Montage Laguna Beach

Standing guard over 30 beachfront acres, Montage Laguna Beach transports you to that pleasant house with marble baths, comfortable bedding and ocean views.

Three swimming pools, including one just for kids and another relaxation space, four onsite restaurants and a kids club are just a small part of the outstanding service offered by this hotel.

www.montagehotels.com.

Terranea

Just south of Los Angeles, atop the Palo Verdes Peninsula, Terranea offers ocean-view guest rooms along with heated baths and rain showers.

Families love the huge swimming pool, the water slide, the kids program, the nightly bonfire (篝火) and the selection of kid-friendly restaurants. The young appreciate the dirt road that snakes away into the distance.

www.terranea.com.

El Capitan Canyon

Just north of Santa Barbara in a coastal corner, El Capitan Canyon promotes a life lived outdoors, with some extra comfort.

Guests stay in heated tents (帐篷) decorated in the Native American style with raised beds, and private outdoor picnic tables. Guests can also access a swimming pool, and taste dinners at the award-winning restaurant.

www.elcapitancanyon.com.

8 . Where can you find the first successful airplane, one of the world’s biggest bugs (虫子) and Kermit the Frog? They’re all at the Smithsonian Institution, Americans’ storehouse of the coolest things ever, in Washington，D.C.More than 138 million objects have been collected by their 19 museums, with more coming in every day.

The Smithsonian was founded in 1846 and named after James Smithson, an English businessman. Smithson never visited America, but he left his entire fortune to the United States to build an institution “for the increase of knowledge”.

Here are just a few of the amazing things in the Smithsonian collection.

Big bugs

The Smithsonian has 35 million bugs. The largest insect in the collection is a beetle (甲虫) from South America called the titan beetle. Titan beetles can grow to more than 6 inches long.

Flying machines

The first powered plane to fly, the 1903 Wright Flyer, is displayed in the National Air and Space Museum. The Smithsonian has the first supersonic (超声速的) airliner, the Concorde, which could cross the Atlantic Ocean in fewer than four hours.

The longest beard

The Smithsonian is home to the longest beard ever recorded. Norwegian immigrant Hans Langseth had grown his facial hair to 18 feet 6 inches by the time he died in 1927. The Smithsonian has 17 feet 6 inches of it because, even though Langseth’s final wish was to have his entire beard preserved, his family decided it wouldn’t be right to bury him clean­shaven.

Time and admission：

Smithsonian museums are open every day of the year except December 25 unless otherwise noted. Most museums are open daily from 10 a. m. to 5：30 p. m. The American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery are open 11：30 a. m. to 7 p. m.

Admission is free for all Smithsonian museums and the zoo in Washington，D.C., and the American Indian Museum’s George Gustav Heye Center in New York. A fee is required at the Cooper­Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York (Members and children under 12 are admitted free).

Anji, a small county in East China’s Zhejiang Province,     1     (receive) over 28 million tourists every year. There are more than 300 coffee shops there,     2     in terms of population density has surpassed that of Shanghai. “A cup of coffee bridges the gap between the big city and the small county,” said Han Jie, a Shanghai tourist who     3     (temporary) escaped the large city and came to Anji over the weekend. In Zhejiang,     4     increasing number of coffeehouse owners are venturing into rural areas to meet the demands of a growing population of young and adventurous coffee enthusiasts.

    5     (locate) in the bamboo forests of Penghu Village in Anji , a café called Waterfall Coffee has gained popularity     6     social media influencers. Visitors can not only taste coffee on the cliff halfway up the mountain, admiring waterfalls in the distance,     7     enjoy boating on the lake with an excellent view.

The outdoor café, the Deep Blue Coffeehouse, has received 350,000 tourists in less than a year, with the highest daily number of visitors     8     (reach) 8,000 people. By far, the small coffee shop has fueled the rural economy of Hongmiao Village in some way, causing university students     9     (cooperate) with the local government in organizing a start-up fair, with the aim of attracting more university     10     (graduate) to start business in the village.

Jiezi Ancient Town is located in Chongzhou, Sichuan Province. “Jiezi” means small street. In the Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties, it was called “Hengqu”,     1     means across Weijiang River. Due to wars, the lively town turned into     2     street along the river in 1615 in the Ming Dynasty. The local people set this street a new name “Jiezi Chang” for marketing. Hence, it got “Jiezi”.

The town has a     3     (combine) of mountains and water, and travelers can enjoy elegant natural scenery and historical sites in the same visit. It is famous for its ancient bluest one roads, ancient houses and locals who have lived here for     4     (generation). The best way to explore it is    5     (simple) wandering around the old streets     6     (discover) the old shops with old books, handmade straw shoes, old furniture. Immerse (沉浸) yourselves in the old time and relax your eyes by     7     (overlook) the beautiful mountains.

Visitors can see a wealth of relic sites     8     (distribute) around Jiezi Old Town. It features Guangyan Buddhist Temple, Fengqishan Scenic Spot, Primitive Forest, Millennium gingko tree, well-preserved Qing-dynasty street and 32 temples. Jiezi Ancient Town also proudly serves     9     the birthplace of Tang Qiu, a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty, who     10     (adopt) the pen name “Gourd Ladle (瓢)”, the special container of his poems.