1 . Borneo is home to some of the most extraordinary wildlife. Several years ago, I decided to go there for a visit. A local person offered to be my guide, which was a great bonus for me.

One day, my guide turned off the smooth road and took me across a ________ hillside instead. We picked our way carefully when ________, a Rafflesia (大王花) popped into my view among those stones. Oh, dear! More than ________, I bent down and put my nose practically inside the flower’s core.

________, to my surprise, it was only one of the ________ during the trip.

As I ________ the end of my trip, there was still something I had yet to see. We planned to ________ most feared creature there, the saltwater crocodile, which can grow to a ________ of 6 meters or more. When we shone a flashlight towards the muddy shore, little sounds ________ in the darkness as if something unseen underwater had broken the ________ Taking a second look, we spotted two greedy ________ just above the water line. As we drew near, it ________ and we saw clearly it was a crocodile. With great caution, we neared it and finally could ________ its true dimensions. It was a baby-no more than 0. 6 meter long. Aha, whatever, I could now report to the ________ back home, who had never been to Borneo, that I had ________ a hungry crocodile in the wild and lived to tell the tale.

The world out there is so fascinating. Don’t let work run your life. Why not step outdoors and enjoy the wonders nature offers to you?

2 . The bell rang. Jacob smiled and he was glad his math class was _______. He grabbed his lunch bag out of his backpack and looked inside. He blinked. Beside his usual lunch, there was an envelope. Jacob opened it and slid out a (n) _______. It was of a suitcase. Jacob _______ what it meant.

The next day at lunchtime Jacob opened his bag. A new envelope peeked out. Inside was a tiny toy _______. Now he was _______! When he got home, he asked his mother, “Are we taking a plane somewhere?” She just _______ at him, her eyes sparkling. “I guess it’s a mystery(谜)” was the only _______ she gave him.

Over the next few days, Jacob _______ more: a small American flag, a leaf from a palm tree and _______ a juicy orange. Then one day, when he finally got to open his lunch bag, there was ________ in it except for his usual lunch. His heart sank. Maybe he had been wrong after all. Maybe there was no trip. He was very ________.

Just before the end of the day, the school secretary handed Jacob a small box. “This is for you and ________ your mother outside.” He opened the box. A smile slid across his face. He ________ and pulled out a small black hat with two round mouse ears.

He hurried down to the main school doors where his mother and father were waiting, with suitcases. “We’re going to Disney World, right?” Jacob couldn’t contain his excitement. “Mystery ________,” laughed his mother. “Come on, we’re headed to the ________!”

3 . Bill and Cathy wanted to go on a holiday. They chose a place called Maldives (马尔代夫). And they decided to _________ there for two weeks in spring, because they heard that the weather there was _________at that time. They worked very hard for several months. Finally, they made enough money for their dream _________. But their trip was more like a nightmare (噩梦)!

The problem _________ when the flight was put off because of bad weather. They couldn’t leave _________ night. They finally got on the plane twelve hours later! But they couldn’t fly to Maldives because there was a _________. They had to fly to the capital city _________. There they stayed in a small hotel _________ the airport.

The hotel was next to the sea, but the sea was _________ dirty that they couldn’t __________in it. And the hotel swimming pool was full of leaves! The food was __________, too. For breakfast there was only bread and milk! The worst part was when the storm came, they felt really __________. Because of the __________weather, they had to stay for another night in the small hotel. And they had nothing to do. It was so __________. Finally, they __________ at Maldives three days later. And someone told them the weather there had been wonderful all the time!

4 . The Great Wall of China is one of the greatest wonders of the world. With a ________of more than 2, 000 years, some parts of the Great Wall have disappeared. ________, it is still a very popular place of interest.

It is the ________wall ever built. It is about 8 meters high. The top is 8 meters wide and it ________even wider at the bottom. It is made ________stone and brick. People built it by ________and it took a long time to finish.

No one knows ________when the building of the Great Wall was started. It is believed that the wall was built to ________parts of the country in the old days. It also made people live a (n) ________life.

Today, many of the visitors go to see the Great Wall. ________they stand on top of a tower and look down on this wall, they can’t help saying, “Wow, that’s fantastic!”

5 . Before our round-the-world trip we always thought that in Peru visiting Machu Picchu would be our most amazing experience.

Although Machu Picchu is simply indescribable, it _________ out that a totally improvised (即兴的) adventure gave us a much stronger _________. When we were staying at a Couchsurfer’s place in Cusco, we _________ him whether it would be _________ to visit a real Quechua village.

He said we could _________, although we would have to find it out ourselves since these Quechua _________live quite far in the Andes. _________, there’s no public transport to get there. In the end, we got very lucky. While_________ for transport, we found out that the local doctor and other social workers were going to _________ some of these tribes and they let us join them.

We were __________ happy because we had the chance to stay in a Quechua community. We __________ about their traditions, saw the colorful clothes they wore every day and __________ their daily routine for some time. We often had to use __________ to communicate, since most of these people don’t speak Spanish, only Quechua. This is one of our most interesting travel __________ and a real heart-warming experience that we will never __________.

6 . The young couple looked dusty, tired and worn out. _______down the window, I asked, “Where are you_______? ” The woman replied, “We were supposed to meet our mate there, with the car, at the crossroads.” My husband and I_______each other and nodded our agreement in giving them a_______. We opened the trunk and they put their packs inside.

Although talking was difficult with the steep and_______road, we discovered that the wife came from Edmonton, Canada and her_________was from the Netherlands. They had been out on the_______ for four nights, seen about 12 bears, not much_______because of the smoke from the big wildfire in Glacier National Park. We were having_______problems with the poor air quality. We________how my husband and I had backpacked along that same trail many years ago and our own________of searching for bears.

I asked them if they wanted any more help from us, ________ they said they could manage themselves. They had__________ to go back to her mom’s in Canada, regroup, and then__________ round the world for a year, maybe Bali, New Zealand, but they weren’t________ sure yet. For now, they were looking forward to________ their friend and getting a special pizza because they had________ a lot before about how good the pizza was.

I gave them each a big “bear” hug, with blessings (祝福) for a________ journey. I put some cash into the young woman’s hand,__________ her “Get some pizza! Our treats.” I smiled, thinking of them ________pizza and good wishes from kind strangers—my husband and me.

7 . I was 11 years old when my family went on a holiday to Beijing. That was my first trip to China. One morning, my brother became _______ and had to stay in the hotel to rest. As my mum had to be with him, she told me to _______ breakfast from the food store in front of the _______. She also told me that she would be right by the window, _______ me.

Had I been back home, it would have been a(n) _______ task. But my inexperience and the _______ to the environment turned it into a highly challenging experience I still remember _______. The food store had a lot of people coming and going. I had no _______ what to do. Overwhelmed (不知所措的) and on the point of crying, I suddenly _______ what my mum had told me. I stepped out of the shop and looked up. True to her __________, she was just by the fifth-floor window, giving me the thumbs-up (翘拇指). I was comforted.

Although she wasn't right by my side, I knew she was __________ giving me the confidence to complete the task. On the top of the __________ were all Chinese characters (汉字), with most characters unrecognizable to me. At that moment, I __________ my task. My mum had given me very simple instructions—buy several cakes—but among the __________, what she said was gone.

I realized that was the biggest challenge I faced. I had no idea how to __________, or to whom to give my orders. Fortunately, a lady saw me and communicated with me in fluent English. That made me remember what I wanted to buy.