Directions:
Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that
there is one word more
than you need.
|
A
forgotten B hesitate C initial D. marine E. marvelous
F
leisurely G sources H specific I symphony J tapped
K.
witnessed
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Touring
Cenotes
My parents and I traveled to Mexico to
visit my grandparents last summer, and we visited the cenotes (say-NO-tays),
the natural swimming holes located on the Yucatán Peninsula. The term "swimming
hole" might make you think that cenotes are just average, but cenotes are
truly {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. I had the most exciting experience of
my life exploring these wonders of nature.
Thousands of years old, the cenotes formed
and created sinkholes underneath. Though the ancient Mayans (玛雅人) used the cenotes as water {#blank#}2{#/blank#}, people can now swim, dive, take
photographs, and admire local trees and {#blank#}3{#/blank#} life, all through water as clear as
liquid diamond.
In Cenote Azul, my parents, my
grandparents, and I swam through water that seemed too blue to be real. I {#blank#}4{#/blank#} countless younger kids diving into the
water from a small cliff, but I dared not to jump at first. I finally worked up
the courage, and my {#blank#}5{#/blank#} try instantly put all my worries to
rest.
A few days later, we went to Cenote
Ponderosa. We stayed in the sun-covered pond, where we {#blank#}6{#/blank#} floated while others did diving and
took underwater photographs. Being surrounded by a valley of trees made
everything else in the world seem to disappear.
Grutas de Loltún were definitely the most
magnificent of all the cenotes, even though there was no swimming involved.
Grutas are caves, and the Grutas de Loltún are among the biggest caves on the
entire Peninsula. Our guide, Carolina, walked us through several caves, where
we saw many drawings thousands of years old on the cave walls! Just one brief
look at those drawings made me feel like I had stepped back in time to a(n) {#blank#}7{#/blank#} era of history. Our group thought
Carolina was joking when she claimed she could make the stalagmites(石笋) sing for us, but when she {#blank#}8{#/blank#} them, we heard what sounded like the
words "Lol" and "Tun"—the name of the caves! I cannot
imagine that a(n) {#blank#}9{#/blank#} played at a concert at Carnegie Hall
would have been any better.
Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula is filled with
beauty, but the cenotes are a one-of-a-kind opportunity to commune with nature
in a way that is impossible anywhere else on Earth, and I would not {#blank#}10{#/blank#} to do it all again.
