Would you like the chance {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(discover) a place of mystery and beauty in the south­west of China? If your answer is 'yes'， consider a trip to Shangri­la!

    The word 'Shangri­la' first appeared in a classic novel by James Hilton. Hilton described a beautiful kingdom{#blank#}2{#/blank#}three rivers joined together, steep mountains reached to the sky, and fields of long grass covered the earth. In this perfect world lived people who {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(discover) how to stay young forever.

    Which place could {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(official) take the name of this wonderful land? There were arguments over {#blank#}5{#/blank#} tourist spot{#blank#}6{#/blank#}win) the name of Shangri­la. Many years after the book was published, some people realized that the Shangri­la of the novel was{#blank#}7{#/blank#}perfect match for Zhongdian in Yunnan Province, China. In September 1997, the government of Yunnan Province announced that Zhongdian was the Shangri­la of Hilton's story.

    Three mountains, Meili, Baimang and Haba, which {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(cover) with snow, tower over the land. Their snowy mountaintops form a beautiful picture that will leave you at a loss for words.

    Below the mountains, the sunshine reflects on the many lakes, making them shine like diamonds{#blank#}9{#/blank#}the rich countryside.

    Nature has provided Shangri­la with endless natural treasures，{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (make) the land a happy home for the local people.

    The weather changes so quickly that people say you can experience four seasons in one day. The best times to visit Shangri­la are spring and autumn when the temperature is at its mildest.

    Young sunflowers face the sun as it rises in the east and follow it across the sky until it sets in the west. Why does this happen? A team of scientists has finally been able to figure{#blank#}1{#/blank#} how and why young sunflowers move.

    Older sunflowers always face east. However, as it{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(turn) out, an internal（内部的）clock helps young sunflowers track the sun so that they can grow better. US biologist Stacey Harmer and her colleagues had it{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(explain) in a recent paper published in the journal Science on Aug. 5.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(depend) on the time of day, certain growth genes seem to work to different degrees on different{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(side) of young sunflowers' stems（茎）. The east side of their stems grows faster during{#blank#}6{#/blank#}day, causing the stems to {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(gradual) bend from east to west. The west side grows faster at night, preparing them for the next morning.

    All this move is highly{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(benefit) to sunflowers. The team found that flowers kept away from the sun had leaves{#blank#}9{#/blank#}were 10 percent smaller on average. According to Harmer, sunflowers which{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (face) with the sun receive more bees and other insects because they like warm flowers.

    Crying marriage? Surprising, isn't it? Actually, the custom of crying marriage{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (exist) a long time ago in many areas of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, and remained in fashion until the end of the Qing Dynasty. Though not so popular {#blank#}2{#/blank#}before, the custom is still observed by people in many places, especially Tujia people,{#blank#}3{#/blank#} view it as a necessity of the marriage procedure.

    It is very much the same in different{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (place) of the province. According to elderly people, every bride had to cry at the wedding. Otherwise{#blank#}5{#/blank#} bride's neighbors would look down upon her as a {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(poor) educated girl and she would become the laughingstock of the village. In fact, there were cases in which the bride {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (beat) by her mother for not crying at the wedding ceremony.

    In a word, crying at the wedding is a way to set off the{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (happy) of the wadding through falsely sorrowful words. However, in the {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (arrange) marriages of the old days of China9 there were indeed quite a lot of brides who cried over their {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (disappoint) marriage and even their unhappy life.