1 . Sitting back in my seat, I can’t quite believe that I’m about to travel along the railway that many foreign experts claimed was “impossible”. The train has been racing along steadily since it left Xining. All this time, the song “Sky Railway” has been_________inside my head. The words “railways like massive dragons are winding among the mountains” seem particularly_________as I travel across the “roof of the world”.

I was one of the people who came from all parts of China to work on this railway._________years to complete, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is a record of all of our efforts to_________the most difficult engineering challenges. How to_______the delicate ecosystem was among the top concerns.

The first_________to catch my eye is the splendid Qingshuihe Bridge, the world’s longest bridge built over permafrost. Look! A group of Tibetan antelopes is moving under the bridge, with some stopping to eat grass at their_______. Thirty-three passages have been built under the railway to allow the animals to move safely and freely in their natural_________. Wild animals such as these Tibetan antelopes have now been using these_________for years. They seem totally__________that we are speeding past at over 100 kilometres an hour.

To prevent__________to wetlands and grasslands, 675 bridges with__________about 160 kilometres were built between Golmud and-Lhasa. We even moved 140,000 square metres of wetland to a new area in order to protect its distinct ecosystem.

The journey has been flying by, and before I know it, we have reached Tanggula Station.__________at over 5,000 metres above sea level, this is the__________railway station in the world. In locations such as this, the thin air,__________weather and high levels of UV radiation presented perhaps the greatest__________ for railway workers. To make sure we stayed__________, several oxygen-making stations were constructed. We were also able to enjoy__________breaks in lower areas.

As we pass Cuona Lake, I feel a sense of pride and achievement. Using thousands and thousands of sandbags, we built a twenty-kilometre wall along the lake to protect it from construction waste. Cuona Lake is so close to the railway that I want to__________and touch its pale blue mirror-like surface. Water birds playing in the lake, and cattle and sheep wandering the grasslands bring the scenery to life.

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has been attracting people’s admiration for centuries. Now, thanks to our efforts, passengers from all over the country have been enjoying these magical landscapes. I am proud that we built our “impossible” railway, and did so with the care that the environment__________. It truly is an extraordinary “Sky Railway”.

3 . On Christmas of 2017, I was born again. We like to spend our Christmas holidays somewhere warm abroad, and that year we _______Uganda. Nature, wildlife, and sunny days were a_______when it was so _______ and dark in Europe. Life was beautiful, and we had a rental car and a busy schedule ahead to explore the country.

This is where this short travel story turns into one of my most _______travel experiences. At Murchinson Falls National Park, we had a car accident. I lost_______of the car, and it rolled over, destroying windows, chassis (底盘), and the engine. But we were alive! My right arm was_______injured, but we_______ to walk to our lodge (旅馆)，not far inside the_______. In the lodge, I was_______to learn that there was a pretty decent American hospital in Masindi that was just a one-hour drive away. Moreover, one of the lodge’s guests was a nurse who ________to the wound while we were waiting for the taxi. The hospital took care of us and after a couple of injections and stitches (缝合), I was ________to head to our new hotel in Masindi; however, my wound required daily________and more injections, so we were________to stay in town for a few days.

The town’s highlights were the market and our ________visit to the hospital, so we________looking for the small things, ________mod with the medical staff and the people in the market, and learning more about their customs.

We learned to slow down. When we were allowed to________ we took a road trip through the country to see something else. We did not care about our travel bucket ________anymore—we were________, and we wanted to enjoy Uganda’s unique nature and its people. In the end, our Uganda trip was not about the places that we saw, but the people that we met. It was travel for________ more than sightseeing.

5 . My name is Wang Kun. Ever since middle school, my sister Wang Wei and I have dreamed about taking a great bike trip. Two years ago she bought an expensive mountain bike and then she persuaded me to buy one. Last year, she visited our cousins, Dao Wei and Yu Hang at their college in Kunming. They are Dai and grew up in western Yunnan Province near the Lancang River, the Chinese part of the river that is called the Mekong River in other countries. Wang Wei soon got them interested in cycling too. After graduating from college, we finally got the chance to take a bike trip. I asked my sister, “Where are we going?” It was my sister who first had the idea to cycle along the entire Mekong River from where it begins to where it ends. Now she is planning our schedule for the trip.

I am fond of my sister but she has one serious shortcoming. She can be really stubborn (固执的). Although she didn’t know the best way of getting to places, she insisted (坚持) that she organize the trip properly. Now I know that the proper way is always her way. I kept asking her, “When are we leaving and when are we coming back?” I asked her whether she had looked at a map yet. Of course she hadn’t; my sister doesn’t care about details. So I told her that the source of the Mekong is in Qinghai Province. She gave me a determined look — the kind that said she would not change her mind. When I told her that our journey would begin at an altitude (海拔) of more than 5,000 meters, she seemed to be excited about it. When I told her the air would be hard to breathe and it would be very cold, she said it would be an interesting experience. I know my sister well. Once she has made up her mind, nothing can change it. Finally, I had to give in.

Several months before our trip, Wang Wei and I went to the library. We found a large atlas with good maps that showed details of world geography. From the atlas we could see that the Mekong River begins in a glacier on a Tibetan mountain. At first, the river is small and the water is clear and cold. Then it begins to move quickly. It becomes rapids as it passes through deep valleys, traveling across western Yunnan Province. Sometimes the river becomes a water fall and enters wide valleys. We were both surprised to learn that half of the river is in China. After it leaves China and high altitude, the Mekong becomes wide, brown and warm. As it enters Southeast Asia, its pace slows. It makes wide bends or meanders (蜿蜒) through low valleys to the plains where rice grows. At last, the river delta enters the South China Sea.