3 . Most of us consider winter a great time to stay inside with a good book. Yet the winter months offer great outdoor events.

Lake Khovsgol, called the Blue Pearl of Mongolia, freezes up to 1.5 meters deep. Each year local residents have a two-day celebration, sharing their traditional songs and dances. Activities including sled races, skating and much more take place on the frozen lake. Visitors from different countries are always surprised to see how much weight the lake can hold.

North America’s largest winter festival takes place in Anchorage, Alaska. In the past, the fur trade was one of the state’s most important industries. The festival’s 86th anniversary this year will celebrate Alaska’s pioneer way of life. People can enjoy nearly 70 different activities.

Winter games and sports are a special feature as visitors celebrate the season. Tourists come from around the world to attend the festival.

If film is your passion, then Norway’s Troms film festival is for you! You will get to meet and interact with people from the international film industry. And you’ll be able to view some of the world’s best international films on Troms’s enormous outdoor screen. More than 50,000 people attend the festival each year.

Every January, ice art takes center stage in the beautiful Swiss village of Grindelwald. Artists from around the world arrive in mid-January to accept the ice challenge. They start with meter-high blocks of ice and spend six days creating spectacular sculptures (雕塑). Festival-goers are delighted to see the process as well as the finished pieces.

Don’t let the cold weather keep you inside this season. There are lots of fun and exciting events to attend!

It’s well-known that March 12^th is China’s annual National Tree Planting Day.     1     this day, people throughout China, will take spades (铲子) and buckets (桶) as well as young trees, and go out     2     (green) their hometowns.

As a matter of fact, China’s Tree Planting Day could date back to a proposal     3     (make) by Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) and QingMing Festival (April 5th) was adopted (采纳) as Tree Planting Day then. However, April 5^th was a late time for tree-planting in Southern China, so it was changed to March 12^th in honour of Sun Yat-sen,     4     passed away on March 12^th.

In February 1979, the 5^th National People’s Congress of People’s Republic of China     5     (announce) that March 12^th would be taken as Tree Planting Day, requiring the whole country to carry out tree planting     6     (activity) on March 12^th.

In recent years, the tradition of tree-planting in the spring     7     (observe) by Chinese people. For those living in the big cities, National Tree Planting Day is     8     unique moment for city skipping. It is     9     (extreme) convenient for people to have access to nature with their family members. After their fieldwork together, they harvest not only better environment but also     10     (close) family relations as well as enthusiasm for the future.