—_________was my cousin.

     —Yes, but it needs to go_______ the clouds for hours.

A city without cars would be very strange, right? But Venice is such a city.

    Venice is   1    the northeast of Italy.  It wasn't built    2  , like Beijing or Shanghai, but on more than 110 islands. Seawater is  3  around the city.

    Even so, travel isn't difficult. The waterways have always been the best way to get around. There are 117 waterways and more than 400 bridges   4 can guide you where you want to go. People in Venice move   5  by boat.  They like to enjoy the scenery and cool summer nights while  6 boat trips. They can talk to other people as they go along.

    Venice grew out of small islands in saltwater lakes when some Italians    7    from a war over 1,500 years ago, and built homes there.

    Water makes the city special, but it is also a big problem. Sometimes tourists will have such strange8. One moment they walk across the Rialto Bridge, and there's 9   . Butwhen they come back to the bridge an hour later, it's underwater and everyone is wearing rain shoes.

    Once, people used 10  underground water. This made the city get lower   11  .Now the city has gone down by 23 centimeters. Another problem is the   12 seawater.The temperature has risen over the years. This has made the ice of the Arctic Ocean(北冰洋) melt.

    Every year, high waters hit the city in autumn and winter.  When a lot of water   13   , more than half of the city is underwater.

    Scientists are trying different ways to stop the city from getting   14 lower. The Italian government has asked some of Italy's biggest companies to build the MOST project, which was planned  15   under the seawater to stop the rising water. Anyway, this project is helping solve the problem.

The Sydney Opera House is a very famous building in the world. It has become Sydney's best-known landmark and international symbol. The Opera House with a “sailing roof” was designed by a famous Danish architect (丹麦建筑师), Utzon. The base for the building was started in 1959, years before the designs were finished. Utzon spent four years designing the Opera House. In 1962, the designs were finalized(定稿) and the construction began. In 1967，they started the decoration inside. It took 14 years in total to build the Opera House. Queen Elizabeth II officially opened it on October 20th,1973.

  The Sydney Opera House cost around ＄100 million and was paid for by the public. 6,225 square meters of glass was used to build it. The Opera House includes 1,000 rooms. It is 185 meters long and 120 meters wide. The building's roof sections weigh about 15 tons. Each year, this fantastic building attracts 200,000 tourists to come for a visit or enjoy events in it.

 The Opera House reaches out into the harbor(港湾). It is amazing and unforgettable, offering people a strong sense of beauty.

There are several ways you can find out about the countries and places you wish to visit. You can talk to friends who have traveled to the places, you can go and see a colour film about them, or you can read travel books.

   It seems that there are three kinds of travel books. The first are those that give a personal,  subjective(主观的) idea of travels which the writer has got himself. These books can be useful if the writers share their traveling experiences with others. The second kind are those books which give objective( 客观的) information of things to be done and seen. If a cultured person has written such a book about the facts of a place, then it is more useful. The third kind are those books which are called "a guide" to some place or other. If they are good, they will describe and explain the place in detail. Like the first kind, they can be interesting and exciting, but their main purpose is to help the reader plan his travel in the most practical way.

Whatever kind of travel book you choose, you must make sure that the book does not describe everything as interesting, exciting or fantastic. You must also keep an open eye on its date of publication(出版）because travel is a very practical matter and many things change quickly in the 21st century. Finally, you should make sure that it's easy to find the useful information for your travel.

There are several ways you can find out about the countries and places you wish to visit. You can talk to friends who have traveled to the places, you can go and see a colour film about them, or you can read travel books.

   It seems that there are three kinds of travel books. The first are those that give a personal,  subjective(主观的) idea of travels which the writer has got himself. These books can be useful if the writers share their traveling experiences with others. The second kind are those books which give objective( 客观的) information of things to be done and seen. If a cultured person has written such a book about the facts of a place, then it is more useful. The third kind are those books which are called "a guide" to some place or other. If they are good, they will describe and explain the place in detail. Like the first kind, they can be interesting and exciting, but their main purpose is to help the reader plan his travel in the most practical way.

Whatever kind of travel book you choose, you must make sure that the book does not describe everything as interesting, exciting or fantastic. You must also keep an open eye on its date of publication(出版）because travel is a very practical matter and many things change quickly in the 21st century. Finally, you should make sure that it's easy to find the useful information for your travel.

During the National Day holidays last year, my parents and I had a trip abroad. My father is i       in old countries so he chose to visit India. India is in the south of A      . It has a long h       and the most famous s       is Taj Mahal( 泰姬陵).

   We f      to India from Shanghai. It took us just a few hours to get there. I c      a camera with me so that I could take photos of the beautiful views. There are many elephants in India. The guide a      me to ride on an elephant. Though my heart was f       with fear, I rode on it at last. I rode on the elephant for half an hour and it was an exciting e      . My father took some photos of me. We e        ourselves in India. What's more, we learned more about this old country.