Taishan, a tall mountain, has been a source of 【小题1】(inspire) for poets and thinkers for thousands of years. It’s in the east, and in Chinese culture east 【小题2】 (regard) as a sacred(神圣的) direction because the sun and the moon rise from there. Many people like climbing to the top of Taishan, no matter 【小题3】 challenging the journey is. Confucius once ascend(攀登) to its top and said there: “Climb Taishan and the whole world looks small.” His words express the 【小题4】 (philosophy) idea that the higher you climb, the greater your vision. For me, the higher I climbed the more steps I saw, until finally I got to the steps 【小题5】 led up to the cable car station. Of course, Confucius wouldn’t have taken a cable car, but I wasn’t Confucius. I spent two hours climbing steps, and that was enough for me.

In the morning, we got up at 4 a. m. to position 【小题6】 (we) for the sunrise. From Jade Emperor Peak, we were fortunate enough 【小题7】 (see) a clear sunrise among hundreds of others. After breakfast, we walked for about five hours down the mountain and through Peach BlossomValley, 【小题8】 beautiful walk through pine trees and flowering peach trees, waterfalls and pools of water. The green plants up the mountain made 【小题9】 a unique climb, and the second-day valley walk was the highlight to me, and not just because there were no steps up. It was peaceful, allowing me to enjoy the greater vision I 【小题10】 (get) from the top.

I'm above the Arctic Circle,【小题1】in summer the sun never sets. Even though the sun is brightly shining, 【小题2】(tell) whether it is morning or night is impossible. I'm in the remote far north of Sweden in Sarek National Park, 【小题3】place with no roads or towns. Around 9,000 years ago, reindeer began to arrive at Sarek's mountains. 【小题4】(follow)the reindeer were the Sami people, 【小题5】made this territory their home. In 1909, Sarek was made a national park 【小题6】(keep) the land in its natural state. Being in such a beautiful and wild place makes me feel 【小题7】(bless) to be alive.

On our way to the house, it was raining 【小题1】 hard that we couldn’t help 【小题2】(wonder) how long it would take 【小题3】 (get) there. It was in the middle of Pearl City.

We were first greeted with the barking by a pack of dogs, seven to be exact. They were well trained by their masters 【小题4】 had great experience with caring for these animals. Our hosts shared many of their experiences and 【小题5】 (recommend) wonderful places to eat, shop, and visit. For breakfast, we were able to eat papaya(木瓜) and other fruits from their trees in the backyard.

When they were free from work, they invited us to local events and let us know of an interesting 【小题6】 (compete) to watch, together with the story behind it. They also shared with us many 【小题7】 (tradition) stories about Hawaii that were【小题8】 (great) popular with tourists. On the last day of our week-long stay, we 【小题9】 (invite) to attend a private concert on a beautiful farm on the North Shore under the stars, 【小题10】 (listen) to musicians and meeting interesting locals.