4 . Be a Traveler, not a Tourist

Last summer, I had just enough money saved to buy a golden ticket—a 3-month train pass that would take me to the furthest reaches of Europe. Excited for my journey, I packed all the necessities —except the _________.

While the convenience of the Internet was definitely a contributing factor to my _________ not to take with me the few expensive kilograms of out-of-date information, this was not the only reason why I decided to fly alone.

To be honest, my main _________ with the guidebook is that I find it _________ the pleasure of a journey—like bossy aunt who is always telling you what to do, _________ she doesn’t always know what is the best.

Experience has taught me that there is an obvious _________ between a tourist and traveler.

While waiting in a queue, I met a man who had a checklist. He showed me his list of “Top 20 Things To Do in Italy” and _________ off in a loud American accent that he’d seen everything Italy has to offer in just four days.

The problem I had with this man’s _______ to travelling was that he was too _______ information   provided   by   his   guidebook.   He   was   lost   in   the __________ attractiveness of the “must-sees” and ________ to all the wonders and adventures that might happen during the ________ trip.

So, ________ any   guidebook,   I   traveled   to   Estonia,   the   tiny   Baltic   country bordering Russia. In the __________ of advance plans as guidebooks would suggest, I had no choice but to turn to some friendly faces for advice. I __________ myself first and then asked them what was happening around the town. When this __________ an invitation to a beautiful Estonian home by a river where I   __________ a 110-degree wood-stove sauna(桑拿浴), __________ picked forest-mushrooms and the good __________ of our five newly-found Estonian friends, I was most glad that I had left my “bossy __________” at home.

5 . I was very fond of hunting when I was a young man. In the autumn of 1995, I was _________ in the northwest of India. One evening, after hunting in the forest all day, I was returning alone to the place where I had _________ up my tent. I was tired and hungry. It was getting _________ and darker, and I was walking slowly _________ a narrow path. On my right was a wide river; on my left, a thick, dark forest. All of a _________ I saw two green eyes looking at me from among the trees. I knew it _________ be a man-eating tiger. The tiger was getting ready to _________ on me.

My heart _________. What could I do? Should I jump into the river and hope to save my life _________ swimming? I looked to the __________. In the river there was a big crocodile waiting to welcome me with its mouth __________ open. I was so __________ that I shut my eyes. And I thought it would be the end of my __________. I heard branches moving __________ the tiger roared (咆哮) and jumped. __________ then I opened my eyes. What do you think had happened? The tiger had jumped right over me and now was in the jaws (嘴) of the crocodile.

6 . There is a holiday next week and I can’t decide what to do． I have a lot of work to do_______ and this would be a good chance（机会）_______. But I don’t like _______ the holiday in such a way.I can work at home all the rest of the year.Last year, I went _______ to the mountains．_______ there was beautiful,but it is too cold at this time of a year． And it’s really _______ far to go for a short holiday． I decide _______ this isn’t a good time to _______ the mountains, and I _______to go somewhere else．Perhaps this would be a good chance to go to the beach（海滨）．I like to go for walks ________ the seashore（沿着海边） ________ the warm sunshine and watch the water． It’s only eight miles away and I could get there ________ about two hours． After thinking it ________,I am sure that this is a ________ time for the seashore than ________．

Oh， here is a letter ________ Jim． He ________ he is going to his house in the mountains for the ________，and he ________ me to go with him．________ giving it more thought， I write back to Jim and thank him for that.

7 . When I was in my twenties, I travelled alone through the UK. In order to _______locations that the public transportation couldn’t get to, I bought a(n) _______car, drove in around for three months and sold it before I returned to Australia. The car cost most of my money, so I lived mainly on _______during that trip, it being cheap and filling In Ireland, my _______was stolen, and it was impossible to get another. So for the rest of the trip I _______out in my car, being too poor to afford bed and breakfast.

One morning, I _______in my old Skoda under a twisted tree on a remote lane in the Irish countryside, with no more than a _______house in sight. I had a terrible desire for a _______cup of tea and some hot water to make porridge with _______I would not have to eat the cold leftovers from the previous day.

My thermos (暖瓶) had gone cold overnight sol knocked on the door of the house. A woman opened it. Hot water? She ________let me get away with just that!I was invited indoors, seated at the breakfast table with the ________and given a delicious breakfast, as much as I could eat. I was ________to eat something more than porridge! I ________being friends with the whole family.

That was only one of many acts of ________strangers showed me when I was traveling alone in foreign regions. One London businessman rushing to work, seeing me ________offered to pull my ridiculously heavy suitcase ________several flights of stairs in the underground. After he’d done so, with a smile and a wave, he ________into the crowd.

Kindness gets ________. The other day, I was able to point out a rare parking spot to a young man who had been driving around the railway car park, looking ________desperate. His grateful smile was all the ________I needed as I dashed off to catch my train.

8 . Since my early childhood, my parents have always told me to enjoy every part of my life, no matter how ordinary it may seem. Before the summer of 2005, I never thought there was anything _______ about living in Sugar Land, Texas. All I wanted was to _______ Texas.

For most people, spending three weeks in the Tuscan countryside is a(n) _______ vacation. It also _______ my family. During my first week abroad, I admitted I _______ the foreign atmosphere. A new language and culture _______ me. For those seven days, I was totally absorbed in becoming something I could never be—a(n) _______. It was almost as if I wished to _______ my own identity for something new that was not _______ to me at all.

At some point along the drive between Florence and Genoa, it ________ me: I didn’t want to throw away who I was for any ________ wonders. Italy was an attractive and impressive country, ________ I had no emotional connection with it. I ________ Sugar Land. From that moment on, all I ________ was to return home.

I think it’s ________ that I could never fall in love with my home until I left it. Now I ________ the everyday parts of my life in Sugar Land are really the most prized treasures in my heart. Now ________, I find all my time spent living in Sugar Land made me ________. Therefore, now I can ________ say that being a Texan is who I am, and there’s no way I can ________ that.