1 . Travel inspires adventure, team spirit and growth in children, as I discovered when I took my daughter Mai with me around the world.

When she was four, we had a parent-child _________ through the Fraser River in Canada. I was a travel writer and my job covered from describing the scenery I traveled along to _________ the people I met. So while I was taking pictures, Maia, wanting to prove her _________ as an assistant, began interviewing a couple in the same ship. Unable to spell words, she _________ their answers in crayon. Then when we sat together at lunch, my daughter _________ the kids’ meal and requested the salmon (三文鱼). She explained that kids’ meals might not always be _________ during travel, so her food _________ was “try everything.” That trip proved Maia as such an easy travel _________ .

When she was six, we flew to the Riviera Maya in Mexico. I was impressed by how _________ fearless she was when we dived along a reef(礁石). And I was __________ by how she cleverly worked out that she could order chocolate cake from room __________ alone. But it was on the __________ home, when my glued-to-my-arm kid said it was okay that the airline didn’t __________ us together, that I realized how much travel was __________ her. It helped her become more __________ .

As Mai a grew older, travel continued to __________ her life. We explored the Amazon rainforest, where she learned the importance of __________ our planet. We visited famous __________ in China , where she developed a deep appreciation in its rich cultures and long history. And we __________ at an orphanage (孤儿院) in Africa, where she learned the meaning of love and care.

Travel has also helped Maia develop important life __________ such as independence, problem-solving, and communication. I am grateful for what travel has had on my daughter, and I am excited to see what the future holds for her.

3 . The sun is setting. I’m sitting on a rock top on the Jurassic Coast with my family. We are _________ and dusty after a long day of hiking. We are on a 630-mile route plan. Our only _________ is to complete it as a family by the time the children have finished secondary school.

Out in the wild, I have _________ something magical happening. My children are _________ all the time. They are capable of _________ 10 miles a day carrying their own pack. On the trail, they don’t _________ eating simple noodles or the rain that pours down. It _________ me how they do it, waking each morning totally _________, like someone hits the reset button.

After resting, with packs returned to our _________, we set off with no real plan other than walking onwards. I love the freedom that we just walk __________ until something catches our fancy.

As I walk ahead, I reflect on why we want to be out here. Mostly, I think it’s because it slows us down and __________ us deeply in nature. It’s also turned out to be about the people we meet along the way, like the kind couple who __________ to give us a lift back, or the group of teens who __________ us to join in their game. The trail gifted us meaningful __________ with these kind strangers. So far we’ve walked 120 miles. Maybe it’ll take us several years to complete the whole thing, but I’m sure there will be much __________ waiting for us ahead.

6 . When it comes to high-proof fathering lessons, few adventures can compare with the motorcycle trip I shared with my 20-year-old daughter Ewa.

In 2023, we _________ a one-week motorcycle trip in the southern part of British Columbia. Each _________ a motorcycle, we headed north on the Sea-to-Sky highway. What made this trip so _________ was that Ewa took it on herself to be the planner. We didn’t even have a _________ about it. As a father, wasn’t I supposed to plan it?

My old Harley had no gas gauge (汽油表). So, when the main gas tank was empty, the motorcycle _________. After all, these years I hadn’t known whether I would _________ it. But on the first day of our annual trip, when we were on a lonely highway leading to the US border in Sagna, Ontario, it came to a _________ after some time.

Ewa headed into the distance_________ that she was riding alone. When she _________ noticed that I wasn’t in her rearview (后视镜) mirror, she stopped and waited as I pushed my Harley to meet with her. In my adult life, while __________ children, I always followed my parents’ __________: I stood by and provided support. When Ewa __________ her own way of life, I seldom said ‘no’. But when she said she wanted to __________ with the out-of-fuel motorcycle on the side of the country road while I was going for gasoline, I said “no way”. I wouldn’t let her stay there on her own. She insisted, but I was very __________. Ewa finally __________ and went looking for gasoline with me.

I learn from the trip that however old my child is, I will never stop being a father.

7 . This happened on March 1, 2020. Just weeks before much of the country issued shelter-in-place orders, a mother and her teen daughter _________ on a near-six-month-mission: to backpack the Appalachian Trail, a 2,000-mile _________ thruway (过境道路) that passes through 14 Eastern states.

When they began, the pair—Briana Sullivan and her daughter Cambyr, who started out 13 but _________ 14 on the journey—had intended to simply disconnect from the “typical world”. It wasn’t _________ a few months into their journey, when the _________ of the pandemic began to reach them in the woods and small towns they passed through, that they realized they were now _________ from the outside, too. They leaned on each other to get through all the _________.

Eventually, the pandemic made it _________ for the pair to shop and find places to sleep._________ they came across what they __________ as ‘trail magic’ and people who were looking out for them, offering them the support hikers needed. Although it may seem __________ to spend the days walking, the Sullivans shared it never felt that way.__________, each day felt different from the next as the two kept themselves busy learning new skills and __________ a stronger relationship with one another.

Throughout their journey, “__________ is everything.” That got them through every day, knowing that “when you feel __________, the only way you can go is up…if you wait long enough, the moments going to change,” Cambyr says.

8 . He Cuiying lives on a mountain peak in Yunnan province, at an altitude of 3,000 meters. Every morning, the 91-year-old woman is _______ by floating fog, which creates a fairy-tale landscape.

Four years ago, He Cuiying opened a homestay (民宿) in her yard with the help of her granddaughter, He Qingmei. Ever since, she has _______ her stories, the beautiful scenery and the _______ culture of her village with visitors from across China and other parts of the world.

He Cuiying is a member of the Naxi ethnic group, while her husband is from the Tibetan ethnic group and he is a _______ in Tibetan Buddhism. In Qibie village, He Cuiying’s home, eight ethnic minorities live _______ in the same village, where local people _______ 102 homestays.

The villagers say they have turned “houses into homestays and people into _______”. They speak the Naxi language, _______ Tibetan customs and warmly welcome tourists from all over the world. In just eight years, they have developed a _______ multiethnic (多民族的) homestay village, becoming a key demonstration project for cultural ________ in Yunnan.

He Cuiying loves ________. Whenever guests visit her home, she sings songs and offers blessings continuously. Her favorite song is Chairman Mao Is Like the Sun. She remembers how the remote village was liberated and ________ poverty under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, so she has a sincere ________ for Beijing as the capital city.

Now, as He Cuiying gets older, He Qingmei and her cousins are gradually ________ the homestay. They hope to share the beautiful scenery and stories of Grandma’s home with more people through the ________ of guests from all over the world.

9 . I grew up hiking and climbing mountain s a lot. It was my dad who accompanied me and taught me how to hike and climb mountains. On our first hike, our group ran ahead without us. Dad and I ended up _________ the path toward the top. This was the _________ part of the climb, where we had to climb rocks. I was scared not to have the path to tell us where to go. Mainly, I was afraid that Dad would fall off the mountain when he went _________ to seek for the best way for me to climb up. I was grateful for his _________. He always made me feel like I was safe with him — even when he insisted that we should not _________.

When we were close to the top, we _________ some hikers. One of them crouched (蹲) down on a rock, grasping at branches of a bush. His face was _________ and looked frozen, like a statue. Dad asked what was going on. The man _________ told him that he was frightened of _________. In my 7-year-old mind, I thought, “But, you’re climbing a mountain!” Dad always helped people in trouble. He told the man to __________ him while he led him to a spot below that was __________ by trees, with no view of the valley below. Dad told him to wait there for his group of hikers to come back and __________ him up. Dad taught me sympathy and to help others in need whenever I can.

When we finally reached the top and __________ our group, we sat on the highest point, looking at the breathtaking scenery. I was so __________ we hadn’t stopped halfway. Dad taught me, “Don’t give up, especially when you’re almost there.” This has been a valuable __________ that has got me through some big challenges in my life.