Tibet, which is famous for its special culture and food, lies in the southwest of China. It is home to about 3.2 million Tibetans, making it one of the country’s     1     (large) minorities (少数民族). In recent years, Tibet     2     (gain) recognition and appreciation across the globe. With some of the world’s tallest mountains, Tibet attracts many people     3     want to climb Mount Everest.

When it comes to traveling to Tibet, you should know     4     best time to travel there is from April to October every year. If you plan to visit Tibet, it is important     5     (bring) enough clothes. Moreover, besides credit cards,     6     is necessary to bring some cash. To discover more about the cultural traditions of Tibet, it is     7     (high) advised to have a traditional Tibetan meal.     8     (visit) can buy some statue crafts in markets and shops.

A trip to Tibet can offer a unique travel experience, filled     9     rich cultural traditions and beautiful natural scenery. It will also offer us a chance to find out that     10     (recognize) and keeping our differences is important.

Earthquakes are quite common. In fact, thousands of earthquakes are happening almost at every moment.     1    , most of them are too weak to feel. During a big earthquake, there is often a big noise first. Then the earth shakes     2     (terrible) and many houses fall down.

As one of the most deadly     3     (nature) disasters in the world, earthquakes often result     4     many people being injured or killed. In 2008, a strong earthquake     5     (strike) China’s Sichuan Province,     6     (kill) lots of people there.

Besides the great damage and deaths     7     (cause) by the earthquake, other accidents such as fires often follow. More buildings may be damaged and more     8     (injure) may be caused. For centuries, people have been making studies of earthquakes.     9     is said that about 2,000 years ago, for example, someone invented a machine     10     could find out the direction where the earthquake waves came.

Strange things were happening in the countryside of northeastern Hebei. For several days, the water in the village wells rose and fell, rose and fell. There were deep cracks     1     appeared in the well walls. At least one well had some smelly gas     2     (come) out of it. Chickens and even pigs were too nervous     3     ( eat), and dogs refused to go inside buildings. Mice ran out of the fields looking for places to hide, and fish jumped out of the water. At about 3:00 a.m., on 28 July 1976, bright lights were seen in the sky outside the city of Tangshan and loud noises     4     (hear). But the city’s one million people were asleep as usual that night.

At 3:42 a. m., everything began to shake. It seemed as     5     the world were coming to an end! Eleven kilometres directly below the city, one of the most deadly     6     (earthquake) of the 20th century had begun, a quake that even caused damage more than 150 kilometres away in Beijing. Nearly one third of the whole nation felt it! A huge crack, eight kilometres     7     (length) and 30 metres wide, cut across houses, roads, and waterways. Hard hills of rock became rivers of dirt. In less than one minute, a large city lay     8     ruins. Two thirds of the people who lived there were dead or     9     (injure). Thousands of children were left without parents. The number of people who were killed or     10     (bad) injured in the quake was more than 400,000.

Some theme parks not only make people feel     1     (amaze) but also are educational. Take the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) in Hawaii for example. It not only shows visitors the Polynesian way of life but also     2     (protect) their skills and culture for the future. Polynesia is     3     name given to the groups of small islands that are spread about the Pacific Ocean.

The     4     (villager) from many island communities come to the Polynesian island villages to show visitors their styles of dress and different customs. They are the places     5     visitors can learn how the islanders make clothes from bark (树皮) and how the islanders climb very tall trees with their bare feet.

One of the important skills for Polynesians is boat-building. It allows the islanders     6     (explore) all the islands in the Polynesian Triangle.     7     (obvious), they were sea travellers in their history moving     8     island to island. They were     9     (confidence) of finding their way by     10     (use) the smell of the wind, the movements of the fish and seaweed, and the heights and directions of the waves.

Twin giant pandas have been born at a breeding (繁殖) center in southwestern China,    1    is a sign of progress for the endangered species as they struggle for survival due to occupation on their land by agriculture    2    industry.

The male and female baby pandas, born on Tuesday at the Qinling Panda Research Center in Shaanxi Province, are the second pair of twins born to    3     (they) mother, Qin Qin. She was also born at the center and    4     (previous) gave birth to twin females in 2020.

Chinese researchers for years have been working    5     (promote) the population of the animals, which reproduce rarely in the wild and rely    6    a diet of bamboo in the    7     (mountain) of southwestern China.

The efforts have paid off, with some captive-bred pandas being released into the wild. The population of wild pandas    8     (increase) over the past few years,    9     (reach) an estimated 1,800. About 500 others live in zoos and reserves, while the    10     (major) live in the mountainous, heavily forested province of Sichuan.

On February 16, 1861, a big earthquake struck Sumatra, an Indonesian island. The earthquake shook the western side of the island,     1     (cause ) a tsunami. That wall of water poured onto shore, destroying towns and taking thousands of    2     (life) .

Recently, though, a team of scientists discovered that another earthquake occurred before this deadly event. According to the record, that earthquake     3     (start) in 1829 and lasted for 32 years but no one felt even one shake. This kind of slow-moving earthquake    4     (call) “silent earthquakes” because no instrument can find them. Scientists have only begun discovering them because    5     the advances in GPS technology in the last twenty years.

    6     (find) out what is going on under the ground, scientists need to study earthquakes. Every earthquake, either small     7     big, can teach scientists something about how much the ground will shake in the future. Unluckily, no one can predict (预测) when an earthquake will hit. Scientists just have to prepare to study all earthquakes    8     hit.

But silent earthquakes like the one in Sumatra change the game for scientists. These silent earthquakes happen all over    9     world. Sometimes, a silent earthquake happens just before a regular one, both of which might be related. By studying silent earthquakes, scientists hope to better understand regular earthquakes and    10    (possible) predict them.