Car Hire

    Hiring a self-drive car really adds to the enjoyment of your holiday.There are so many places of interest to visit, and if you enjoy seeing more than just the city center there's no better way to explore than by car.

Hire Charges:

    What's included

    a) Unlimited mileage（英里数）.

    b) Expenses on oil,maintenance and repairs,which will be repaid on production of invoices.

    c) Full insurance except personal accident (see below).

What's not included

    a) Personal accident insurance.

    b) Garaging, petrol, parking and traffic fines.

    Conditions of Hire:

    The shortest rental period at these special low prices is three days.For prices for periods of one or two days you only see our representative at the hotel.

    Car hire must be booked six weeks or more before arrival in London to guarantee a car.But if you have been unable to make a booking in advance please see our representative at the hotel who may still be able to help you.

    The car types on the sheet are examples of the types of cars in each price range,but particular car cannot be guaranteed.

    Upon delivery the driver (s) will be asked to sigh the car hire company's Condition of Hire.

    If you decide to hire a car,just fill in the Booking Form and return it to us.A booking fee of £ 12 as part of the car hire cost is required.

    Should you be forced to cancel your car hire booking after payment in full (two weeks before date of hire),a cancellation charge of £ 12 will be made.

    That cold January night, I was growing sick of my life in San Francisco. There I was walking home at one in the morning after a tiring practice at the theatre. With opening night only a week ago, I was still learning my lines. I was having trouble dealing with my part-time job at the bank and my acting at night at the same time. As I walked, I thought seriously about giving up both acting and San Francisco. City life had become too much for me.

    As I walked down empty streets under tall buildings, I felt very small and cold. I began running, both to keep warm and to keep away from any possible robbers. Very few people were still out except a few sad-looking homeless people under blankets.

    About a block from my apartment, I heard a sound behind me. I turned quickly, half expecting to see someone with a knife or a gun. The street was empty. All I saw was a shining streetlight. Still, the noise had made me nervous, so I started to run faster. Not until I reached my apartment building and unlocked the door did I realize what the noise had been. It had been my wallet falling to the sidewalk.

    Suddenly I wasn't cold or tired anymore. I ran out of the door and back to where I'd heard the noise. Although I searched the sidewalk anxiously for fifteen minutes, my wallet was nowhere to be found. Just as I was about to give up the search, I heard the garbage truck(垃圾车) pull up to the sidewalk next to me. When a voice called from the inside, "Alisa Camacho?" I thought I was dreaming. How could this man know my name? The door opened, and out jumped a small red-haired man with an amused look in his eye. "Is this what you're looking for?" he asked, holding up a small square shape.

    It was nearly 3 a.m. by the time I got into bed. I wouldn't get much sleep that night, but I had gotten my wallet back. I also had gotten back some enjoyment of city life. I realized that the city couldn't be a bad place as long as people were willing to help each other.

    “Belittle” was first used by Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.

    Many years ago, Buffon, a French naturalist, wrote some books about natural history. The books were a great success even though some critics did not like them. Some critics said, “Buffon is more of a poet than a scientist.”

    Thomas Jefferson did not like what Buffon had said about the natural wonders of the New World. It seemed to Jefferson that Buffon had spoken of natural wonders in America as if they were unimportant.

    This troubled Thomas Jefferson. He was a naturalist, as well as a farmer, inventor, historian, writer and politician. He had seen the natural wonders of Europe. To him, they were no more important than those of the New World.

    In 1788, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his home state, Virginia. While writing, he thought of its natural beauty and then of the words of Buffon. At that moment, Jefferson created a new word－belittle. He said, “Buffon believes that nature belittles her productions on this side of the Atlantic.”

    Noah Webster, the American word expert, liked this word. He put it in his English language dictionary in 1806, “Belittle－to make somebody or something small, unimportant.”

    Americans had already accepted Jefferson's word and started to use it. In 1797, the Independent Chronicle newspaper used the word to describe a politician the paper supported. “He is an honorable man,” the paper wrote, “so let the opposition try to belittle him as much as they please.

    In 1872, a famous American word expert decided that the time had come to kill this word. He said, “'Belittle' has no chance of becoming English. And as more critical writers of America, like those of Britain, feel no need of it, the sooner it is forgotten, the better.” This expert failed to kill the word. Today, “belittle” is used where the English language is spoken.

    I believe in the power of science fiction, not just for its capacity to transform dreams into reality, but also for its power to bond together those who share a common vision of the future. For me, that's true for my relationship with my dad. Some fathers and sons bond over sports, fishing or hunting, but my dad and I bond over Star Trek. We tried a trip to Disney World, but one of my earliest memories wasn't Mickey, but a Klingon battle cruiser(巡洋) on the screen.

    Over the years, nearly every setting and situation has become far away for my dad and me. When it's warm at night, we're not driving along some dark streets in Indiana, but going at a slow speed with stars dimly shining. Both of us are thinking of them, without needing to say a word. All these visions of other universes have together created a private universe for my dad and me.

    Gene Rodenberry, creator of Star Trek, once said, " Science fiction is a way of thinking, a way of logic that bypasses(绕过)a lot of nonsense. It allows people to look directly at important subjects. "A lifetime of science fiction has influenced more than just my relationship with my dad, but has also helped me shape my own hopes for the future. I'm now a science writer.

    Yes, science fiction has made me into a "nerd"(书呆子), and it also has been a source of joy for my family, making me an optimist while enabling me to think critically about the danger of technology. Thank those authors who have shared their visions; the world and my family are better for it. Thank my dad, who is both the best storyteller and the best man I have ever known because he helped me realize the truth of Tennyson's words," Since I dipped into the future, I saw the vision of the world, and all the wonders that would be."

    Once I spoke at a high school. After the speech, I was asked to see a special student. An illness had kept the boy at home, but he had expressed an interest in meeting me, and it would mean a great deal to him. I agreed. He was Matthew. When he was born, the doctor told his parents that he would not live to see five, then they were told he would not make it to ten. Now he was thirteen. He wanted to meet me because I was a gold-medal weight lifter, and I knew about overcoming obstacles (障碍) and going for my dreams.

    I spent over an hour talking to Matthew. Never once did he complain (抱怨). He spoke about winning and succeeding and going for his dreams. He knew what he was talking about. He just talked about his hopes for the future, and how one day he wanted to lift weight with me.

    When we finished talking, I went to my briefcase and pulled out the first gold medal I won and put it around his neck. I told him he was more of a winner and knew more about success and overcoming obstacles than I ever would. He looked at it for a moment, then took it off and handed it back to me. He said, "You are a champion (冠军). You earned that medal. Someday when I get to the Olympics and win my own medal, I will show it to you."

    Last summer I got the news that Matthew had died and a letter Matthew had written me a few days before:

Dear Rick,

    My mom said I should send you a thank-you letter for the picture you sent me. The doctors tell me that I don't have long to live any more. But I still smile as much as I can.

    I told you some day I was going to the Olympics and win a gold medal. But I know now I'll never make it. But I know I'm a champion, and God knows that too. When I get to Heaven, God will give me my medal and when you get there, I will show it to you.

    Thank you for loving me.

Your friend,

Matthew

    When I was small, my mother and I would walk to our local library in Franklin Square. As we didn't always have access to a reliable car, walking hand in hand was the most convenient way to get anywhere. It was at story time for children that both my mother and I made lasting friendships.

    Today, I am fortunate to live around the corner from the Cold Coast Public Library in Glen Head and a short walk to the Sea Cliff Children's Library. My 18-imonth-old son, Colin, and I find ourselves in Sea Cliff several times a week, meeting and making friends. Well, that is what many people don't understand-a library is more than books; it's a community.

    Sure, the library in Franklin Square was the place where I was introduced to Judy Blume novels. But it was also the place where I got my first email address in 1997. At the library, friends and I learned how to research colleges and search for scholarships on the Internet. The library was the place where we sometimes giggled(咯咯笑)too loudly, and where the librarians knew us by name. Their knowing our names wasn't a bad thing. When I came home from my first term at Binghamton University, Mary LaRosa, the librarian at the Franklin Square library, offered me my first teaching job.

    I now teach reading at Nassau Community College. My students are often amazed that they can check out books via their smartphones and virtually(虚拟地)visit a variety of Long Island libraries. The app used by Nassau and Suffolk county public libraries, as well as the college library, makes their homework easier by helping them find resources. Even though they can't always easily visit their local libraries, the library is always with them.