People from every corner flooded into the streets that Christmas Eve. "Frosty the Snowman," and "Jingle Bells" 1 in stores; on the pavements, the street singers performed happily. Everyone was 2 by someone else, delighted and cheerful. I was alone.

    As one of 8 kids of a Brazilian family, brought up in America's crowded apartment, I'd spent several years searching for aloneness. Now,3, at 27, a college student after the 4 with my girlfriend, every cell inside me wanted to be alone,5  not at Christmas. My family had 6to Brazil and my friends were 7with their own lives. Dusk was approaching, and the fact that I had to return to my 8 home made me sad. Lights from windows blinked (闪烁), and I hoped someone would 9 from one of those homes to invite me inside with a Christmas tree decorated with shiny fake snow and 10 presents.

    At a market, I felt more 11 when people were buying lots of goods, which12 the gifts we received as children in my mind. I missed my family and wanted to cry for wanting to be alone and for having achieved it.

    Outside the church, a manger (小耶稣) had been set 13. I stood with others watching the scene, some of them 14 themselves, praying. As I walked home, I realized that leaving Brazil was still a painful experience as I struggled with 15 I had become in 15 years in America. I'd mourned (悲叹) the 16, but for the first time, I recognized what I'd gained. I was independent, 17 and healthy. My life was still ahead, full of 18.

    Sometimes the best gift is the one that you give yourself. That Christmas, I gave myself 19 for what I'd obtained up to now and promise to go forward. It is the best gift I've ever got, the one that I most 20.

    Were you happy and a little worried at the time? I thought so. Soon it would be the holidays, but before that, there were year exams. All the 1 had been working hard for some time, reviewing their lessons for the exams. If they didn't 2, they would have to retake them in September. There were usually a few who 3, but Jane didn't want to be one of them. She had worked hard all year, 4 just before the exams she was working so hard that her sister Barbara was 5about her. She went to bed too 6. The night before the first exam, Barbara 7 that she have an early night and take a 8 pill. She promised to wake 9 up in the morning.

    She was not relaxed. As she was falling asleep, Jane was afraid that she might oversleep. Her 10 kept jumping from subject to subject. At last, with the help of 11, she went to sleep. In no time（不久）at all, she was sitting in the examination hall, looking at the examination 12 , but she couldn't answer any of the questions. 13 around her was writing pages and gages. 14she thought hard, she couldn't find anything to write 15. She kept looking at her 16. Time was running out. There was only an hour to go. She started one question, wrote two sentences, 17 and tried another one. With only half an hour left she wrote another two sentences. By this time she was so worried that she started 18. Her whole body shook. It shook so much that she 19 up. She was still in bed and it had all been a 20 dream. A minute later, Barbara called her name.

    It was Tom's first visit to England, and he was looking forward to his first journey on London's Underground Railway. And against his friends'1, he was determined to travel 2.

    He entered the station shortly after five o'clock in the afternoon. This is a 3 time to travel in London,4 crowds of people go home from work at this hour. He 5 to join a long line of people waiting for tickets. When at last his 6 came, he had some difficulty in making himself understood by the ticket seller. 7, he got the right ticket in the end and by asking people the 8, he also found the right platform. It was 9with people. He did not10 to get on the first train, but he was able to move nearer to the platform so as to be in a better 11to get on the next one. When this train came in, Tom was12 forward onto the train by the 13 of people from behind. The doors closed and the train moved off. He was unable to see the14  of the stations where the train 15but he knew that the station he wanted was the sixth 16 along the line. When the train reached the sixth station, Tom got off, feeling  17 that his journey had been so easy. But he suddenly realized that he had come to a station he had never

18 He explained his19 to a man who was standing on the platform. With a 20 on his face, he told Tom that he had caught a train going in the opposite direction.

    A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had 1 a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and 2his father could well 3it, he told him that was all he wanted.

    On the morning of his graduation day his father called him into his own study and told him how 4he was to have such a fine son. He handed his son a beautiful gift box.5but slightly disappointed, the young man6 the box and found a lovely book. 7, he raised his voice at his father and said."8all your money you give me a book？"and rushed out of the house, 9the book in the study.

    He did not contact his father for a whole year10 one day he saw in the street an old man who looked like his father. He 11he had to go back home and see his father.

    When he arrived at his father's house, he was told that his father had been in hospital for a week. The moment he was about to 12the hospital, he saw on the desk the 13new book, just as he had left it one 14ago. He opened it and began to15the pages. Suddenly, a car key16from an envelope taped behind the book. It had a tag(标签)with the dealer's name, the 17dealer who had the sports car he had 18.On the tag was the 19of his graduation, and the 20 PAID IN FULL.

    When pilots fly over the grassland of the Pampas region, Argentina, they're often surprised to spot a huge guitar-shaped forest in the ordered fields. The site is more than an amazing example of land art. Behind the site is a(n) 1 love story.

    When young Argentine2 Pedro Martin Ureta, aged 28, met 17-year- old Graciela Yraizoz in his hometown, they fell in love at first 3. Two years later, they got married and4down on the farm where Ureta had been 5. Graciela had many big plans for the farm in her mind. One day when she was taking a plane on a flight 6 Pampa, Graciala noticed that another farm looked like a milking pail(桶) from the 7. Graciela thought that her family could create something even more attractive on their own farm: A huge forest 8 as her favorite musical instrument—the guitar. Graciela 9playing the guitar in her spare time and often played the guitar at the local10.

    But Ureta didn't take his wife's idea 11saying, “We'll talk about it later.” Later12 came. In 1977, Graciela died suddenly of brain cancer at the 13 age of 25 while carrying their fifth child. After her wife's death, Mr. Ureta 14not fulfilling her wish. Still heartbroken a few years later, Ureta decided that the best way to honor his15wife would be to fulfill her wish and 16the giant work of art in her honor.

    After the local government refused to17with the project, Ureta and his children took it 18. One by one, they planted roughly 7,000 trees into the shape of a guitar. It took a few rough seasons for the trees to take root, but Ureta's dedication19.

    Watching the forest grow over the years gave Graciela's children 20.

    “It was the closest thing possible to have my mother alive,” Maria Julia, Ureta's second daughter, said.

Why We Should Record Travel Moments

On a rainy summer day, I took a train to Switzerland and trekked through the mud to a medieval fortress high atop a cliff. After twisting through its dimly lit corridors, I finally {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (arrive) at the main viewpoint of Cave of the Fairies: a plunging 77m waterfall that shoots from underground into a sparkling pool. As the waterfall wet my jacket, I closed my eyes and took out my phone {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (record) the rush of dreamy reality before me.

I had come in search of a sound, not a sight.

Throughout my travels, I've found myself {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (collect) sound recordings the way other people collect souvenirs. Just as some travellers take photos of landscapes or their food, I started doing this as an artistic way to help me remember some of the most interesting details of my trips.

Environmental scientist Lauren Kuehne said, "I think that once you start to listen, once you actually start to listen, you start to appreciate how much {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (big) the world is."

This attitude {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (echo) by Samara Kester, a retired emergency medicine physician who now serves on QPI's board. "A photograph is two dimensions. {#blank#}6{#/blank#} you are looking at something you're seeing, it's maybe 180 degrees, maybe 270 degrees. Sound is 360 degrees. You hear it all around you." Kester explained {#blank#}7{#/blank#} teaching herself to be a better listener has not only expanded her sense of travel, but helped her relive her travels once she's back home. "You immerse {#blank#}8{#/blank#} in that place again. You recreate those memories and therefore recreate the feelings you had, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} are very hard to express clearly. You can re-experience that and that will send you to where you were before."

Months later back in my L.A. home, I find myself popping on my headphones and listening back to the rush of falling water inside Cave of the Fairies. When I close my eyes, I {#blank#}10{#/blank#} feel the spray of water against my skin, the sense of letting my ears lead me on a faraway adventure. Mentally, I'm right back there — if only for a moment.