2 . It’s often hard to find family holidays that everyone will enjoy. Cruises (海上航游) can be fun,but may offer activities either for small children or adults,with not much for teenagers.

Fifteen­-year-­old Josh Sandford and his 13-­year-old sister Rowena took a cruise last year, on a ship called the Rega. “Before we left, I’d spent ages looking at the brochure (宣传册), and all the activities on offer, so I was really looking forward to it,” says Josh. “When we got on, I could see they had activities that teenagers could join in, so we couldn’t really say the brochure was wrong. But they were a bit boring—things like old movies we’d seen before. I wish there’d been somewhere for people of my age to just hang out together. My parents really enjoyed it, but they were disappointed that we didn’t. ”

Josh’s parents had almost decided they’d never take their family on a cruise again when they heard about some new cruises that were specially for families with teenagers. So earlier this year the Sandford family set off again,this time on a ship called the Flora. “We did some tours organised by the Flora when the ship stopped in different ports (港口),” says Josh. “We went off and explored some old ruins. I was worried it’d be boring,but I have to admit the ruins were actually quite cool. ”

“The biggest difference was the activities on board,though,like a great gym and two pools. There was a fantastic rock­climbing wall,too,although lots of the teenagers on board didn’t seem to want to try it. Maybe they were too scared,as it was really high. But my sister immediately managed to get all the way up it,so I just had to do the same!”

Josh and Rowena’s family had such a good time on their last cruise that they’re thinking of going again—in fact,they’re already saving up for it!

4 . Xi'an

It was called Chang'an in ancient times. As the cradle (发源地) of Chinese civilization, it has a really long history. The city passed through the Zhou Dynasty, the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty and some other dynasties as the capital city. It enjoys the title of the “four major ancient civilization capitals” with ancient Athens, Cairo and Rome.

Luoyang

It was the capital city of 13 dynasties, and it was listed as the world's largest city six times in history. Luoyang once was the starting point of the Silk Road in eastern countries. It connected Europe and North Africa with Asia.

Kaifeng

As early as the Neolithic Age (新石器时代), our ancestors lived here. Its history can be traced back to the Xia Dynasty, the Shang Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty. It was the capital city of the Later Jin Dynasty, the Later Han Dynasty, the Later Zhou Dynasty as well as the Northern Song Dynasty. It achieved great prosperity (繁荣) in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Yangzhou

As one of the 24 famous historical and cultural cities listed by the State Council, Yangzhou has a history of about 2,500 years. It reached great prosperity in the Han, Sui, Tang, and Qing Dynasties. It used to be an important business center and a center of transportation.

Chengdu

It is an ancient cultural city, with two miracles in Chinese history. One is that its name has been the same for 2,000 years; the other is that it has always been the capital city of Sichuan region. It's a capital with a glorious history.

5 . It’s no secret that Auckland (the largest city in New Zealand) is a diverse city full of different cultures and new research has shown exactly how it and the rest of the country are changing.

More than 200 ethnic (种族的) groups are recorded as living here and Auckland is considered to have a wider variety of cultural groups than London or Sydney, with 40 percent of its population made up of different ethnicities.

The changing make­up of the country’s population is featured in the latest NZ Geographic magazine, which focuses on ethnic diversity, age, wealth and attitudes, drawn from the latest census (人口普查) figures.

Massey University humanities and social sciences research director Professor Paul Spoonley said Auckland’s multiculturalism today is way beyond what experts believed likely a few years ago.

Asian communities, in particular, in New Zealand have almost doubled since 2001, when 6. 6 percent of the Kiwi people(New Zealanders) were Asian. The proportion (比例) in Auckland was 14.6 percent. By 2006, 18.9 percent of the citizens in the city were Asian and today 23 percent identify themselves as Asian.

Nationally, the census showed 11.8 percent of the population was Asian－and that figure was increasing.

“The figures are higher than I would have thought a few years back，” Mr. Spoonley said. “And the healthcare system is attracting Asian workers.”

The article also showed that Kiwis had overall become more accepting of migrant communities and particularly of Asian peoples. That had been a hugely noticeable change, Mr. Spoonley said.

An Asian community leader Kai Luey in Auckland said there were a number of things that attracted Asians to New Zealand and particularly to Auckland. “The environment is clean, there’s fresh air and there’s safety of food...There’s a good education system here in New Zealand...”

New Zealand was also considered to be a much safer place than many other countries, such as America, Canada and Australia.

The Shennongjia Scenic Area is divided into several parts. A must-visit site is the Shennong Peak, which    1    (belong) to the eastern range of the Daba Mountains. It is    2     (high) peak of Shennongjia, and stands 3,106. 2 meters above sea level.

Considering the high altitude of the mountain, an automobile ride    3     (require) to reach the top of the peak. While traveling up the mountain, tourists can stop at    4    29-meter-high observation tower built in 1985. It is used for fire    5    (prevent) and pest monitoring.

Almost every day of the year finds the peak hidden in a heavy layer of cloud cover, fog or mist, making it difficult for people    6     (get) a clear glimpse of its landscape. Only in summer and autumn,     7     the sky is clear and the fog has disappeared, can visitors look down from the top of the peak and see the rolling green hills, and trees of various kinds coming up from the ground.

For tourists    8    (plan) to reach the top of the peak, they must climb a line of stairs. The stone stairs    9     lead to the top of the Shennong Peak are paved with 2,999 marble steps. After one and a half hours, visitors will reach the top. The landscape on the top is different from the dense forests on the hillside and    10     the foot of the mountain.

During China’s dynastic period, emperors planned the city of Beijing     1     arranged the residential areas according to social classes. The term “hutong”,     2     (original)meaning “water well” in Mongolian, appeared first during the Yuan Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, the center was the Forbidden City,     3     (surround)in concentric(同心的)circles by the Inner City and Outer City. Citizens of higher social classes     4     (permit)to live closer to the center of the circles. The large siheyuan of these high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen often     5     (feature)beautifully carved and painted roof beams and pillars(柱子). The hutongs they formed were orderly, lined by     6     (space)homes and walled gardens. Farther from the center lived the commoners and laborers. Their siheyuan were far smaller in scale and     7     (simple)in design and decoration, and the hutongs were narrower.

Hutongs represent an important cultural element of the city of Beijing. Thanks to Beijing’s long history     8     capital of China, almost every hutong has its stories, and some are even associated with historic     9     (event). In contrast to the court life and upper-class culture represented by the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven, the hutongs reflect     10     culture of grassroots Beijingers.