The number of tourists to Harbin to enjoy ice and snow activities began to increase as 2023     1     (draw) to a close. With the arrival of the New Year’s holiday, Harbin’s popularity soared to new heights. During the three-day New Year holiday, Harbin received 3.05 million tourists and made revenue of 5.91 billion yuan, both of    2     reached record highs.

Harbin spared no effort to show its enthusiasm to tourists. The city went all in,     3     (attend) to every detail to provide tourists with the best experience and memories possible. At Harbin Ice and Snow World, a lot of brand-new experiences were provided,     4     hovercrafts and bicycles on ice, Ferris wheels and hot air balloons.     5     arrival, tourists found themselves welcomed with live performances at the airport and temporary dressing rooms lined up for tourists to slide into warm clothing.

    6     (vary) topics related to Harbin have dominated the trending list across different social media platforms. For example, many of the tourists are from southern China, where     7     rarely snows. Most of them are much     8     (slim) compared to locals in Heilongjiang so they were given an affectionate nickname “southern small potato”, which quickly went viral online.

The holiday tourism boom in Harbin might as well be     9     the domestic tourism market needs to kick off the New Year. Hopefully, such     10     (sincere), hospitality and attention to detail can be seen across more cities.

8 . Calm seas, clear skies, gentle wind and not another boat in sight. Andrew and Jack were ________ lazily. Just then, from nowhere, a boat headed straight at them.

How could miles of open ocean send it crashing into us? As Andrew managed to ________ the boat, he stared into it ________. The fishing line out, music was being played loudly, but there wasn’t a ________ in sight. The captain must have gone ________, leaving his boat zooming ahead!

“That’s too dangerous!” Andrew said, giving several whistles as a ________. No reply. Suddenly, a horrifying new thought ________ him: the captain had suffered a heart attack.

Father and son switched places. Andrew drove their boat ________ the other while Jack jumped onto it. He brought the boat to a stop. Then he went down but found it ________.

Shocked, father and son said together, “It’s ________!”

After searching the ghost boat, they found its history log where the captain had marked ________ along his route. So, they immediately headed for the last point. There, they finally found the missing captain. He was alive in the water, ________.

Two hours ________, the captain slipped off the board. He tried to ________ the boat, but in vain. He watched his boat zoom off, taking his life jacket with it.

That evening, Andrew’s wife asked him how his day had gone. “It was a slow day catching fish,” he told her. “But we did catch a ________.”