Although scientists try to make sure nothing goes wrong, accidents can still happen. All the     1     on the Soyuz 11, Challenger, and Columbia spacecrafts died during their     2    . However, while these disasters brought much sadness and disappointment, the desire     3     the universe did not die. This is because people believe in the importance of     4     space exploration despite the huge risks.

I went to Dali, Yunnan Province, which is a district of diverse     5     and has a mild climate. It would be a     6     super experience. At first, I thought there would be a large percentage of constructions made of primitive materials due to     7     difficulty. However, it turned out that the downtown area contained neat bars in which jazz was played. Many people are immigrants from other places. Some come     8     or (to) earn a living while others settle down to escape from the cold north of China.

4 . Thanks to its proximity (邻近) to England, its successful tourism industry and its multicultural population, Edinburgh is quite a special city in Scotland.

Edinburgh simply makes it with culture during its long holiday season. It is not just its famous festivals in the summer but its Christmas and Hogmanay (除夕) celebrations, which fill the city with tourists from all over the world. Along with the tourists, Edinburgh has lots of students. They bring energy and variety to the culture of the city. Although this can be overwhelming (令人不知所措) at times, if you open your arms to the good that it brings you can get so much out of the city.

The Cycling Gardeners are a part of the local community. By being totally dependent on bikes for transport, we are limited to working within the city centre. We have made life a bit easier on ourselves by using electric bikes, and we often beat cars in traffic and have no problem finding place to park.

We have a great collective team spirit which is very important. Whenever you go there from May to September, you will likely meet both sunshine and rain. But the wet weather can be dealt with by helping each other out, spending time in the many local cafes, catching up with your friends and having a good discussion about the rain!

Without doubt my favourite place in Edinburgh is the Meadows Park. I was born in the hospital overlooking it and grew up in buildings around it. Much of my childhood days were spent there. I met my wife there and it is where I take my young son to play. I have the happiest memories of building snowmen when the snow comes down. I really hope that this winter brings good snow so I can review my own childhood with my son!

You’ve heard of planning a trip around a museum you desire to visit or cuisine you want to try, but is the trip focusing on getting a better night’s sleep a choice of     1     (you)? It’s called sleep tourism, a travel trend referring to travel experiences that     2     (design) specifically to improve your quality of sleep.

Going on a vacation might seem like a much     3     (strange) way to improve your sleep than taking medicine. However, many people     4     (undertake) or expressed interest in sleep tourism in the past years and it is growing in popularity, with an increasing amount of sleep-focused stays     5     (appear) in hotels and tourist attractions across the world.

Why has this trend taken off? Some experts say travelers are waking up to the idea     6     traveling doesn’t have to come at the expense of sleep. With sleep tourism, they can gain first-hand     7     (expose) to helpful sleep habits and environmental factors that work     8     them and that they can include into their daily routine. According to Hilton’s third-annual trends report, regardless of generations,     9     No. 1 reason people want to travel in 2024 is to rest and recharge. And they think more investment     10     (make) in travelers’ sleep and sleep-focused experiences could be expected in 2025.

7 . All young people dream of travelling the world. They are excited and very eager to see new sights. However, they have little idea how they would really do it if given the chances. Because their knowledge of geography is quite limited, they seldom know much about the places they wish to visit or how they would get there.

Already hundreds of thousands of Chinese student tourists are visiting these places — Wuyi, Lhasa, Lijiang, Dali, Vientiane and Phnom Penh. Indeed, these students will soon be the most travelled generation in China’s long history. The World Tourist Organization predicts that a quarter of a century from now the number of Chinese tourists going abroad will be twenty times what it is today. The largest percentage of these tourists will visit Southeast Asia. Not all Chinese who travel abroad will be tourists, however. More and more youths are deciding to volunteer their skills in this region, much like their peers in the Peace Corps and VSO.

Critical thinking skills required include planning for a trip and solving problems after the trip has begun. The focus is on how to read an atlas (地图集) to make travel plans and how to find ways of travelling. An atlas offers a wealth of information about geography and is one way to increase students’ awareness of their global environment. The use of an atlas especially addresses the needs of students with different visual and spatial (空间的) learning styles.

Shanghai has added another 162 parks this year, bringing     1     total to 832 and making a big step towards     2     (it) goal of “a city in the parks”. Of the 832 parks, 265are pocket parks that provide small outdoor places     3     (cover) an area of between 400 to 10,000m² for the public.

Parks in Shanghai are not just places to relax or take a walk.     4     (actual), they have become “ecological parlors (客厅)” of the city, in     5     people can enjoy various activities. For example, one of the parks     6     (feature) art and cultural elements to enrich the visitor experience. At present, around 200 activities have been scheduled for these parks.

Shanghai is also developing a number of parks with     7     (diverse) functions than the present ones. Heping Park in Hongkou District is going to introduce a bookstore with a     8     (collect) of more than 1,500 journals. while Lujiazui Central Greenland in the Pudong New Area will host coffee-themed activities such as coffee culture festivals. A pop-up cafe. Coffee Cube, is to start trial operation in the park next month.

Of course, parks have also become sports and fitness venues (场地), and nearly 300 parks in urban areas have been equipped     9     fitness and sports facilities (设施). Xujiahui Park in Xuhui District has constructed a basketball court, a fitness track and a table tennis venue, and Gongqing Forest Park and Binjiang Forest Park have introduced activities such as fishing and walking     10     (raise) health awareness among the public.

9 . Ru Ling loves spending time in skywells. To her, these courtyards of old houses are the perfect place to be in on a hot and humid day. From 2014 to 2021, Ru lived in a century-old wood-framed home in the village of eastern China’s Anhui province. She moved there for a change of life after living and working in air-conditioned buildings for many years.

A skywell, or “tian jing”, is a typical feature of a traditional home in southern and eastern China. They are relatively common in historic residences in Sichuan, Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi. In today’s rapidly urbanizing (城市化) China, fewer and fewer people live in skywell dwellings—air-conditioned flats in multi-storeyed buildings and tower blocks are the main forms of homes.

But a revival (复苏) of interest in traditional Chinese architecture is leading some of historic buildings with skywells to be restored for modern times. Meanwhile, as a government push has made low-carbon innovations in the building sector a trend, some architects are drawing inspiration from skywells and other traditional Chinese architectural features to help keep new buildings cooler.

Ancient “green wisdom” such as skywells continues to inspire today’s climate adaptive design and innovations in passive cooling, according to Wang Zhengfeng, a researcher at the Institute for Area Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Passive cooling is a method that incorporates design and technology to cool a building without the use of power.

However, Wang points out some challenges for bringing skywells into modern designs. The mechanisms of courtyards facilitating natural lighting, ventilation and rain collection are well known, but applying these principles needs to be site-specific. Because traditional skywells had different shapes, sizes and features, adding skywells into modern buildings requires designers to be sensitive to their project’s context (环境) and situation, she explains. When asked about why skywells have appealed to modern Chinese people, Wang says that the courtyard is also designed to serve as a gathering space for families or communities. “Perhaps changes in the lifestyle could also lead to nostalgia among people living in concrete and glass forests.”

10 . Visiting a science museum is a highly underrated leisure activity. Many people believe that museums are where you go to see the remains of dinosaurs and learn more about the origin of man.     1     Science museums offer much more educational activities and other fun-filled activities. Below are some benefits of making a trip to a science museum.

Gain learning resources.     2     At any science museum, you can find tons of materials. They’re offered to promote science literacy (科学素养) of people of various ages, education levels and backgrounds. Kids can even get involved in lessons to gain scientific knowledge.

Take professional development courses. If you think science museums aren’t for you because you’re not a child, you are mistaken. They also offer a number of development courses for specialists. Teacher training is such a course where educators can be given a better understanding of tour of a city’s culture, history, arts, and science.     3    

Attend fun-filled summer camps. Most people don’t know this, but some science museums have summer camp programs for kids of all ages.     4     Kids can not only gain some useful life skills but also make new friends there. In addition, abilities like independence can be developed.    5     It’s very likely that you will engage in some interactive program sand exhibitions when you visit a science museum. Exhibition halls like planetariums (天文馆) show explorers the wonders of the universe. Some other halls also encourage visitors to actively participate in the exploration of scientific concepts (概念) and phenomena by allowing them to touch, handle, and experiment with various objects and exhibits according to the proper procedure.