Venice—The Risk of the Disappearance of an Entire City

Venice is a stunning oddity. It is a city built atop around 120 islands, crisscrossed by 177 canals, and is best explored via the use of its 391 bridges. But the city is not well recently. Indeed,     1     drastic measures are taken, the city’s days could be numbered.

This is far from hyperbole(夸张): Venice is at very real risk of     2     (consume) by the sea. In worst-case scenario, the city could disappear beneath the waves by 2100. Meanwhile, many of its building are sinking     3     being damaged by the wakes of boats. It is also routinely overwhelmed by tourists, while its local population is in continual decline.

Globally, a lot of cities    4     (hit) by similar problems of sinking land and rising sea levels in Venice. Low-lying Jakarta(雅加达), for example, is in such a terrible situation that it is being replaced     5     the capital city of Indonesia by Nusantara, a city not yet even built.

In November 2019, Venice suffered its second-worst flooding. It created headlines around the world, with onlookers     6     (astonish) by the incredible images of Saint Mark’s Square, one of the city’s lowest lying areas, covered in feet of water.

The tide reached a peak height of 187cm above sea level,     7     (result) in more than 80% of the city being under water. A state of emergency was declared, and there was an estimated €1bn euros worth of damage.

The worst ever flooding event, which happened in 1966,     8     (see) water levels rise to 194cm above sea level, and is thought     9     (damage) at least three quarters of the city’s shops, businesses and studios.

    10     a gap of over 50 years separated these events, recent trends suggest that we won’t have to wait half a century to see another disastrous flood. Since water levels started being officially recorded in 1923, they have reached 150cm or more on only 10 occasions, but five of those have been in the last three years.

5 . Traveling means going from one place to another or from one country to another. It is immensely beneficial in many ways. From cutting down on stress to lowering your chances of developing heart disease, the health benefits of traveling are huge. Furthermore, traveling fosters understanding between nations. It is an important factor in establishing world peace.     1    

Traveling and education both are interrelated. During traveling, a traveler visits different places and comes into contact with people in different regions. Thus it provides the traveler with first-hand knowledge. The knowledge we acquire in schools and colleges is mainly bookish in nature.     2     Traveling can remove this gap because true education takes place outside the classroom. Bookish knowledge can be made perfect and meaningful only by traveling.

    3     The benefit of traveling to a new place is that it forces you to face the unknown and think differently. We have read the majesty of the Himalayas, the vastness of the ocean and the beauty of the Taj Mahal from books.     4     It impresses our mind with the vastness, and wonder of nature’s creation. Traveling helps the traveler to know how the wonderful earth is full of natural beauty.

In general, it can be said that traveling essentially has a great educative value. Traveling is adventurous, exciting, and a great stress buster. So, educational institutions of our country should give greater facilities to their students to undertake tours to various places of importance at home and abroad.     5     Seeing the world with your own very eyes will give you a better learning experience than any book can provide.

Visits to Red tourism attractions are expected to rise this year as the Communist Party of China (CPC) celebrates the 100th anniversary of     1     (it) founding. Their increasing popularity will not only     2     (strength) people’s knowledge of CPC history, but also bring significant economic     3     (benefit).

    4     (recognize) as one of the most important revolutionary bases in China, Yan’an is home to 445 memorial sites. The city’s Red tourism market     5     (receive) 1.6 million visitors and recorded nearly 1.5 billion yuan during the past national day holiday.

“I’m quite lucky that I was born after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, but I never forget what my father told me about their hard life in the war,” Zhao Yanping, a 67-year-old visitor from Zhejiang province, said. “He told me to be grateful to the CPC, without it we could not live such     6     good life nowadays.”

Yang Guangyuan, director of Yan’an’s publicity department, mentioned the     7     (big) attraction of Yan’an is the spirit,     8     has been passed down by generations of CPC members. “In the past 100 years, the CPC     9     (grow) from weak to strong, leading China’s revolution to get out of difficulty.” he said. The city now has its traditions well protected while looking forward to     10     (build) an energetic future.

7 . We Have a Painter to Thank for Yellowstone

Before artist Thomas Moran set foot in the park, it was seen as a hellish place. After, it was marketed as a wonderland.

Before Thomas Moran arrived, Yellowstone in the popular imagination was a harsh, wild place pocked with hellish geysers(间歇泉). After the painter’s work was finished, Yellowstone was established as a national park and marketed as a wonderland.

In 1871 Moran and photographer William Henry Jackson had joined the first U.S. government survey of the region. For two weeks Moran filled a sketchbook with the landscape’s most stunning sights. The survey results, Jackson’s photos, and Moran’s watercolors—the first color illustration of the area—were presented to Congress that fall. “The photographs were proof that what the artist was showing really existed,” says Eleanor Harvey, senior curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

In March 1872 lawmakers officially made Yellowstone a national park, the world’s first. By April, Moran had transformed some of his sketches into a 7-by-12-foot painting. The gold-splattered valley and billowing Lower Falls of “The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone” fascinated the public. “It is too grand and wonderful for words,” declared the Ladies’ Repository that August, “and none can ever be a judge of its wonders from any engraving or photograph in mere black and white.”

Though Moran later painted Lake Superior, the Grand Canyon, and the Rockies, his reputation was so attached to Yellowstone that he took to signing his paintings “TYM”.

8 . On arrival one cannot fail but to be impressed by its magical beauty. My six-year-old daughter compared it to a fairy-tale (童话般的) castle as she stood staring at it, speechless, for once in her life. Even for us adults it had its magic.

Unexpectedly, the inside was not as cold as the outside. Extremely warm sleeping bags are provided in each guest room. With temperatures ranging from -4°C to -7°C, guests are encouraged to bring their own warm underwear. For those who are not so brave, there are “warm” rooms on the ground floor, where the temperature is more bearable. This was a choice for which my wife and daughter were grateful, while I didn’t like it, wishing to set an example and go for two nights at well below freezing.

The first ice hotel in Sweden was founded in 1989 and was also the world’s first ice hotel. It is in fact both an art exhibition and a hotel, made of nice, a mixture of snow and ice from one of Europe’s last wild rivers. The snow, used to build the hotel, reflects the sun rays and protects the ice inside the hotel from melting.

More than 50 people are involved (参与) in the construction of the hotel. However, at the end of November, artists arrive from all over the world; this means a total of about 100 people. Artistic ice sculpture (雕塑品) are on show throughout the hotel and guests can create ice sculptures themselves.

The amount of rooms differs from year to year with usually around 65 rooms. The hotel is never the same, but a new “artwork” each year to receive 50,000 to 60,000 visitors every year, including day visitors and overnight visitors.

We all said our goodbyes on the third day, knowing that we had actually lived a unique experience. It was very hard to imagine that, if we ever returned, it would be a completely different ice hotel, another products of the creative minds who come here yearly to build this magical huge igloo.

The Getty Center sits on a hilltop in the Santa Monica Mountains,     1    (tower) above the city of Los Angeles. The museum was     2    (origin) constructed to house the vast art collection belonging to oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. Today, the modernist complex     3    (stock) with so many art works that the exhibit arenas can show just a part of them at a time, making the artistic special exhibitions a highlight of any visit to the Getty.

The Center’s award-winning architect, Richard Meier, did     4     outstanding job of creating a public space that has surprised many visitors. Visitors go to the Getty thinking they are visiting a museum with works of art on the inside.     5     they discover instead is a work of art with a museum inside. Meier took some basic     6    (material): metal, stone and glass. Working with a billion-dollar budget, he combined them to create a work of architecture that can excite visitors as much as the art collection inside     7    (do). Around every corner and at every turn, there is a new view     8     store for guests. And then, just     9     they think they have seen it all, a new fountain or landscape pops up.

In addition to museum tours, the Getty also provides various free on-site tours, including tours of the gardens. These explorations are a must for anyone     10    (interest) in learning more about Meier’s techniques and ideas.