1 . Places for holidays

What Central Europe lacks in glitz (奢华) more than makes up for it in scenery and adventure. And in these parts-from Poland to Slovenia, your money will go further, too.

Slovenia: Friendly farm stay

Surrounded by grasslands, Dolinar farmhouse offers simple double rooms with wooden furnishings as well as larger apartments. Outside, crickets (蟋蟀) sing at sunset, and guests can help milk the goats if they wish, or even join in with haymaking.

● Double rooms from £44 B&B, apartment for four £70 a night, dolinar-krainer.com. Flights as previous

Croatia: Cycle Istria

The Istria peninsula’s coast attracts crowds of sunseekers, but travel inland and it’s more about hilltop villages. It is also a paradise with fresh seafood.

● From £895pp for seven-nights’ B&B, three dinners, cycle hire, maps and notes and luggage transfers, but not flights, inntravel.co.uk .Jet2, and TUI fly to Pula from several UK airports.

Czech Republic: Three-country tour

Families who want to mix some urban exploration into a rural getaway might like Families Worldwide’s eight-day Prague and Tatras Adventure (for children aged 8 and over). Crossing the Polish border, it takes in Niedzica castle and boating in the Dunajec gorge.

● From £1,099 (£999 children) including B&B and activities, but not flights, familiesworldwide.co.uk. Fly to Prague and back from Krakow.

Poland: High Tatra trek

Between Poland and Slovakia, the High Tatras has some of the finest wilderness in Europe and is home to wolves, brown bears and golden eagles.

● £685pp including transfers, accommodation and meals but not flights, departures June to September, keadventure.com. Jet2, easy Jet, and Ryanair fly to Krakow from several UK airports.

Yours,

Li Hua

As everyone knows, it is Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province where the local porcelain (瓷器) is highly desirable that is the center of world porcelain. Last year, my school held a two-day research activity,     1     (guide) by the slogan, “Exploring ceramic (陶瓷的) culture, traveling through ancient and modern times”. The aim was to build students’     2    (aware) of traditional culture.

On our way to Jingdezhen, our guide introduced     3     (we) to the basics of porcelain production. Our first stop was the Museum of Chinese Ceramics, which has     4     unique and exquisite collection of porcelain made from materials such as clay (陶土) and stone.

The guide told us the great achievements in ceramics from ancient times until today. I listened carefully to everything.     5     (date) back to Neolithic (新石器时代) period, clay was used to make pottery (陶器),     6     was used to carry water and food. Today, we still use porcelain but our pottery is really far more beautiful than the products of those times.

    7     the second day, the team leader took us to a small DIY porcelain factory. Under the guidance of the teacher, we     8     (give) some clay and the chance to design a piece of pottery. Although our efforts were not as beautiful as the articles in the museum, they were our own work. The two-day activity was enjoyable and     9    (meaning). I learned a lot about porcelain and     10     (make) an item on my own. It meant a lot to me.

7 . The Taj Mahal(泰姬陵)is a love story, a sad and beautiful one. If it didn’t exist, we would easily imagine that the story of its construction was simply a fairy tale. Three hundred years ago, there lived an Indian emperor called Shah Jahan. His wife was a beautiful and bright woman whom he loved greatly. Her title was Mumtazl

Mahal: its shortened form Taj Mahal, means “pride of the palace”. In the year 1630 this beloved wife of the emperor died. He was so brokenhearted that he thought of giving up his throne(王位). He decided out of his love for his wife, to build her the most beautiful tomb that he had ever seen.

He summoned the best artists and architects from India, Turkey, Persia and Arabia and finally, the design was completed. It took more than twenty thousand men working over a period of 18 years to build the Taj Mahal, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.

The building itself stands on a marble platform 29 meters square and 6—7 meters high. Towers rise from each of the four comers. The Taj Mahal itself soars another 61 meters into the air. It is an eight-sided building made of white marble.

The emperor planned to build an identical(相同的)tomb of black marble for himself on the other side of the river connected by a silver bridge. However, his son put him into a prison in the palace before he could finish, and for the rest of his life, he could only gaze across river at the tomb of his beloved wife.

8 . Sometime in the early 1960s, a significant thing happened in Sydney, Australia. The city discovered its harbor. Then, one after another, Sydney discovered lots of things that were just sort of there — broad parks, superb beaches, and a culturally diverse population. But it is the harbor that makes the city.

Andrew Reynolds, a cheerful fellow in his early 30s, pilots Sydney ferryboats for a living. I spent the whole morning shuttling back and forth across the harbor. After our third run Andrew shut down the engine, and we went our separate ways — he for a lunch break, I to explore the city.

“I’ll miss these old boats,” he said as we parted.

“How do you mean?” I asked.

“Oh, they’re replacing them with catamarans. Catamarans are faster, but they’re not so elegant, and they’re not fun to pilot. But that’s progress, I guess.”

Everywhere in Sydney these days, change and progress are the watchwords (口号), and traditions are increasingly rare. Shirley Fitzgerald, the city’s official historian, told me that in its rush to modernity in the 1970s, Sydney swept aside much of its past, including many of its finest buildings. “Sydney is confused about itself,” she said. “We can’t seem to make up our minds whether we want a modern city or a traditional one. It’s a conflict that we aren’t getting any better at resolving (解决).”

On the other hand, being young and old at the same time has its attractions. I considered this when I met a thoughtful young businessman named Anthony. “Many people say that we lack culture in this country,” he told me. “What people forget is that the Italians, when they came to Australia, brought 2000 years of their culture, the Greeks some 3000 years, and the Chinese more still. We’ve got a foundation built on ancient cultures but with a drive and dynamism of a young country. It’s a pretty hard combination to beat.”

He is right, but I can’t help wishing they would keep those old ferries.

9 . As Ginni Bazlinton reached Antarctica, she found herself greeted by a group of little Gentoo penguins (企鹅) longing to say hello. These gentle, lovely gatekeepers welcomed her and kick-started what was to be a trip Ginni would never forget.

Ever since her childhood, Ginni, now 71, has had a deep love for travel. Throughout her career (职业) as a professional dancer, she toured in the UK, but always longed to explore further. When she retired from dancing and her sons eventually flew the nest, she decided it was time to take the plunge.

After taking a degree at Chichester University in Related Arts, Ginni began to travel the world, eventually getting work teaching English in Japan and Chile. And it was in Chile she discovered she could get last-minute cheap deals on ships going to Antarctica from the islands off Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of the South American mainland. “I just decided I wanted to go,” she says. “I had no idea about what I’d find there and I wasn’t nervous, I just wanted to do it. And I wanted to do it alone as I always prefer it that way.”

In March 2008, Ginni boarded a ship with 48 passengers she’d never met before, to begin the journey towards Antarctica. “From seeing the wildlife to witnessing sunrises, the whole experience was amazing. Antarctica left an impression on me that no other place has,” Ginni says. “I remember the first time I saw a humpback whale; it just rose out of the water like some prehistoric creature and I thought it was smiling at us. You could still hear the operatic sounds it was making underwater.”

The realization that this is a precious land, to be respected by humans, was one of the biggest things that hit home to Ginni.