Portable lights and puzzles (part I) 手提燈籠和謎語（一）.docVIP

PAGE PAGE 5302/305/307 英文講義 1 970213座號 姓名Record crowd of Chinese tourists arrives in TaiwanAs many as 700 Chinese tourists are expected to make port in Taiwan today aboard the Rhapsody of the Sea -- Asias largest ocean liner -- making them the largest Chinese tourist group ever to be allowed to visit the nation, the Chinese-language United Daily News reported yesterday. To welcome the tourists, the Mainland Affairs Council has decided to relax the governments no more than 1,000 visitors per day restriction and to offer the tourists rapid customs clearance, the report said. MIXED FEELINGS The report said that the council was torn between loving and fearing the visit by such a large number of Chinese travelers -- anticipating that the visits would provide a shot in the arm to the administrations doubling the number of foreign tourists plan, while fearing that some of them might abscond in Taiwan. FINES Council regulations mean that the two local travel agencies authorized to sponsor the visits would be fined NT$200,000 (US$6,200) for every Chinese tourist that runs away. The Rhapsody of the Sea is scheduled to berth at Keelung Harbor today -- the last day of the six-day Lunar New Year holiday -- and at Kaohsiung TAIPEI The tourists are scheduled to be bused to Taipei City today for a half-day tour, with another half-day tour of Kaohsiung The visitors are expected to generate NT$10 million in the two cities, the travel agencies said. The Royal Caribbean Internationals Rhapsody of the Sea is the first ocean liner to be given the green light by the council to bring Chinese tourists to Taiwan via a third country or area. With more than 2,000 visitors aboard from Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, the Rhapsody of the Sea is scheduled to leave Kaohsiung late tomorrow for its return voyage to Hong Kong.（取材於 Taipei Times 2008.02.12）Holiday travelers jam roads, pack airportsHIGH VOLUME: As 1.83 million vehicles hit the road