If you live in northeastern China, you expect long, cold winters. People     1     (live) in Harbin don’t just stand the cold, however; they welcome it. The city is home to the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture (雕塑) Festival,     2     is considered to be the largest ice festival in the world. Even with temperatures usually close to zero, thousands of people head to city parks     3     (see) great ice sculptures, many bathed in colored lights.

The festival includes several thousand ice sculptures. Some of these works     4     (be) the recreations of castles, historic landmarks and famous people, lit up at night in bright colors.     5     (visit) can climb ice stairways and go down ice slides (滑坡). They can also take part     6     sporting events, including skating, ice football     7     well as ice swimming.

The city started     8     (it) icy event in 1963 with the Ice Lantern (灯笼) Garden Party, a celebration of the tradition of creating lanterns out of blocks of ice. The larger festival     9     (begin) in 1985 and added sculptures, which have grown in number and size over the years. As it has gotten bigger, the festival has become popular outside the city.

    10     (official), the festival starts on January 5th and lasts over one month.

2 . Tracy: You know the weather     1    (be) awful so far this summer.

Dean: I know. This is very unusual for Japan. Usually by now it’s really hot and humid. I’m not sure why, but this summer we’ve had very little rain and     2    (surprising) cool temperatures.

Tracy: Well, either way I love it. I remember last summer. Oh, it was terrible. I didn’t have an air conditioner, and my apartment was on the     3    (five) floor. Every night I slept on top of my bed     4     the windows open and a fan six inches from my face.

Dean: That     5    (sound) pretty rough. I guess I’ve got used to the heat,     6     I don’t notice it as much. However, last year was definitely a lot     7     than this year. And, to be honest, I am enjoying the break.     8     are summers like in your hometown?

Tracy: For one thing, there’s little humidity. Seattle is right on     9     ocean so we always have a nice offshore breeze     10    (blow) in, and it doesn't really get hot until late July. That's why I found it so oppressive(闷热的) last year. Our summers are just so different.

Dean: Interesting. Seattle sounds like a great place to visit during the summer.