Alice Thompson is a girl from Sydney, Australia. She had her first long     1     (distant) train ride at the age of 18. Together with a friend, she got     2     the famous Ghan train in Sydney and got off in Alice Springs. During the two days and nights, they ate meals     3     (cook) by experts and saw fields, desert and     4     (abandon) farms. In the daytime, Alice talked to other passengers and read some books. At night, she watched the stars in the sky     5     shone like diamonds.

Why is the train     6     (call) the Ghan? It is short for Afghanistan. A long time ago, Australians wanted to travel to the middle of their country, so they brought some     7     (train) camels from Afghanistan    8     (carry) food and other supplies, and returned with wool and other     9     (produce). They did that until     10     1920s, when the government built a new railway line and took the place of camels.