2 . Brad Ryan, 38, is taking his 89-year-old grandma Joy Ryan on a tour of all 61 US national parks.

The idea for the________ came in 2015, when Brad told his grandma about a hike he had completed. Joy really________ that she didn’t get to do more of that type of thing and have more________ in life. She grew up in a small town and worked into her 80s without going out to see the world. So when Brad________ to visit Great Smoky Mountains National Park, he called to invite his grandma to________ with him.

As for Grandma Joy, she was ready for that________. “You can just stay in your________ old corner of the world for so long,” she________. “There wasn’t anything there. And so, I just thought it would be________to have an adventure.”

After that first trip, Brad________taking Grandma to national parks. So far, they have visited 21 US national parks.

“Grandma helped me to slow down. She would________ the little things like the color of the mushrooms (蘑菇),” Brad said. “My attention was on goals, like climbing a mountain, but sometimes it’s not all about the________views, it’s about________ those little moments too.”

“I just hope everyone gets some________and realizes your life’s not over. You can always________one more thing,” said Grandma Joy.

5 . In 2019, I went on a winter break trip with my family. One of our _________ was London. The first thing that I _________ when I landed in London was the weather. It was too _________ for my liking as it required me to wear a thick jacket.

After some _________ using a map of London, we decided to go to Buckingham Palace first.

Buckingham Palace was one of the _________ of a “hop-on, hop-off (随上随下)” bus that we took. The palace itself didn’t look very big or impressive from the entrance _________ it got much more impressive when you entered the gates.

While continuing on the “hop-on, hop-off” bus, we _________ the London Bridge, which I didn’t notice until the driver pointed it out to me. While it felt kind of special to be driving on such an iconic (符号的) bridge, the _________ was not as cool as one would imagine it to be.

Besides its history, this bridge was just another bridge that _________ two masses of land, something that pretty much all __________ do.

When we __________ Big Ben, we decided to hop off the bus and take some __________. Big Ben was a pretty __________ experience for me. In many pictures of London, Big Ben is a very visible (看得见的) building in the skyline, and it was very nice for me to see the clock tower __________. I am a big fan of skyscrapers (摩天大楼) and skyscraper-like buildings so this clock tower certainly caught my __________.

6 . The Neelakurinji flower that blooms after a cycle of twelve years was the main attraction behind choosing the Blue Mountains or Western Ghats for the family outing. A long drive along the _________ paths of Kodaikanal was a treat in itself and all the members of the family enjoyed _________ the tender(娇嫩的)green plantation along the road.

The carpet of the purple Neelakurinjis along the hill slopes _________ in front of our eyes as we reached the picnic spot. After freshening up at the restroom of the picnic area, we set out to _________ the forests, through which we would reach the slopes of the Neelakurinji flower meadows. Rain had eased off by then and a magical mist _______ from the top of the mountains.

The soil was _________ but there was no clogging of water(积水), which made hiking through the grassland easy for us. The number of flowers gradually increased and finally we were standing in a purple-flower-laden grassland where soil could not be seen beneath.

We spent a lot of time taking _________ of the rare flowers before hiking back to the picnic area. The caretaker of the picnic spot _________ us with coffee sourced from the nearby coffee plantation. The lunch was _______     fried rice, chili chicken and fried vegetables which are also __________ from the farm nearby.

We spent some more hours watching the rain in the mountains while having the fruit custard(蛋奶沙司)prepared by the caretaker’s __________. The couple also talked with us regarding his farms and the picnic spot which is ________   with tourists during public holidays. Waving goodbye and __________ to return someday, we were homeward bound.

A __________ from the dullness of life not only added a sense of quiet to our mind, but also helped each of us spend quality time with each other, something we do not get in the routine schedules. The Western Ghats outing was a lifetime __________ with the Neelakurinjis.

9 . A hundred years ago, the largest city in the world was London, with a population of 6.5 million. Today it is beaten by Tokyo. With barely a quarter the population of London a century ago, the Tokyo metropolitan area has since ______ to 34 million, promoting it to first place in the global city league table. Tokyo’s phenomenal growth is largely due to a single factor: migration from the countryside to the city.

This ______ migration can now be seen in scores of cities around the globe. And it has brought us to a crucial moment in human history. In 1990, most people lived in the countryside, with a little over 10 percent of the world’s population living in ______. From next year, the UN Population Division predicts that for the first time in history, more people will live in cities than in the country, and the biggest growth will be in “mega-cities,” with populations over 10 million.

The ______ of mega-cities - there are now 20 in total - has brought with it huge environmental and social problems. Cities occupy just two percent of the land surface of the Earth but consume three-quarters of the resources that are used up each year. Their residents are making ruinous ______ on soils and water supplies for food and on forests for wood and paper.

______ the world’s population to the countryside isn’t an option. Dividing up the planet into plots of land on which we could all survive self-sufficiently would create its own natural disasters, not to mention being highly unlikely to ever ______. If we are to protect what is left of nature, and meet the demand to improve the quality of living for the world’s developing nations, a new form of city living is the only option. ______, governments, planners, architects, and engineers are beginning to wake up to this idea, and are dreaming up new ways to green the mega-cities. Their approaches ______ two main principles: recycle whatever possible and remove as many cars as possible. So as well as developing energy-efficient buildings, emphasis is being placed on increasing the use of ______ and redesigning how cities are organized to integrate work and living areas into a single neighborhood, rather than ______ cities into residential, commercial, and industrial zones.

Planners and architects now agree that to improve the social and environmental condition of cities the top ______ is to cut car use. They say zero-emission cars running on electricity or burning hydrogen are not ______. What is needed is a wholesale rethink of how new cities are laid out — and how existing ones expand — to ______ the need for cars in the first place. One way of achieving this is to build cities with multiple centers where people live ______ their work in high-rise blocks that are also near public transport hubs. In parts of the world this is already taking place.

10 . “You are about to experience something very special,” the card on my bed reads.

I’m about to start one of the most _________ evenings of my life: a night spent in a transparent dome(透明的穹状建筑物)_________ a few feet away from Asian elephants in the bush(灌木丛)of Thailand’s Golden Triangle. Although I’m one of the first people to _________ it and I should be nervous, honestly, I could not be more _________!

It’s been my longtime _________ to visit the conservation area of the Golden Triangle to get closer to the elephants here. When I discovered the Jungle Bubbles, I _________ the chance to spend sundown to sunup with these great animals.

I’m as _________ as a kid opening presents as I take picture after picture of the elephants standing nearby. It’s very _________ here. The only thing I have to do is _________ elephants. No phone, no news. I watch as the three elephants that will be my __________ tonight play in a mud(泥)hole.

The elephants finally __________ the mud as it gets dark, blowing hard to clear the mud out of their noses.

The stars begin to look through the sky, and it’s very peaceful. The three elephants are __________ enough that I can hear them breathing and snorting(打响鼻).

I drink my coffee and __________ while they are munching(用力咀嚼)leaves. There can be no __________ way to ever spend a night. The Jungle Bubbles are truly a __________ into the great world of these fantastic animals.