Many people wrongly think that cities don't have farms and fruits and vegetables are only grown in the country. Believe it or not, there are more urban farms popping up in cities all over the world.

    Alexandra Sullivan, a food systems researcher in New York, studies urban agriculture. Urban agriculture is another name for farming and gardening in a city environment. Ms. Sullivan studies everything from tiny gardens in empty lots between buildings to bigger fields that have been planted and grown. According to Ms. Sullivan, “Urban agriculture has existed since cities have, across the world.”

    The number of humans living in urban areas, or cities, is increasing. The amount of people who wanted to garden in urban areas is also rising. Ms. Sullivan says, “In small gardens, on rooftops and indoors, city residents grow fruits, vegetables, grains, and herbs, and raise animals to produce milk, eggs, honey, and meat. City residents use these foods as supplements to food produced by rural agriculture.” Even though some people who live in urban areas grow crops, urban residents still need to rely on food grown in rural areas. This is because a city doesn't have enough space to grow enough food for everyone living in it.

    In New York City, urban farmers have come up with many different ways to grow their own produce, even though there isn't a lot of room. For example, Brooklyn Grange is a farming operation that has two rooftop vegetable farms in New York City. All together, the farms are made up of 2.5 acres of rooftop space. This makes Brooklyn Grange one of the largest rooftop farming operations in the world.

    Brooklyn Grange grows all kinds of things. The farming company sells its vegetables to local residents and restaurants. And because the farms are on rooftops, they are specially adapted to their urban location. They use available space that is not needed for anything else. As more urban farmers find ways to grow food in cities, urban residents will be better able to get fresher materials for their meals.

    Superman, Spider-Man, Batman and Iron Man ... .There is no shortage of superheroes. You find them in comic books, on TV and the big screen.

    In a survey of fans by the sci-fi（科幻）and fantasy website, SFX.co.uk, Batman, 70 years old this year, was voted Britain's favorite superhero.

    Unlike many crime-fighting superheroes Batman has no special powers. He can't fly like Superman or shoot a sticky web like Spider-Man.

    Bruce Wayne is born to a wealthy Gotham City business family. However, when his parents are murdered his life changes completely.

    Wayne feels angry at their deaths and guilty that he did not prevent them. He travels around the world learning how to fight. Upon returning to Gotham, he creates a disguise (伪装) to enable him to fight crime without being recognized.

    A childhood fear of bats leads him to choose to dress as one. His idea is that through the bat persona (角色) he can prove to himself that he has overcome his childhood fears.

    Wayne is the CEO of the company he inherits from his father. He seems to live the lifestyle of a millionaire playboy. But this is a ruse (计策). He works hard at the image to allow himself the freedom he needs to do his work as a crime fighter. "Bruce Wayne, playboy" is the disguise; Batman is the real person.

    "Wayne is not a born superhero. Instead, he is a real, complex person," said Dace Golder, editor of the website. "He is the most realistic of all the superheroes. I am particularly interested in the emotional process by which a boy becomes a hero. His superhero qualities come from within."

China Train Guide

    Quick Guide on China Train Travel

    If you're looking for an affordable and comfortable way to get around China, train travel is the way to go. Getting train information and cheap train tickets has never been easier. Online train ticket booking makes it easy for travelers to look through China's train timetable, compare train fares, and look for ticket availability. Once you've found a suitable train, you can book online and pick your tickets up at the train station or get them delivered to your home or hotel. Train tickets can be booked online a minimum of 35 minutes and a maximum of 60 days before departure.

    How to choose train types

    When you're buying China train tickets online, you'll notice that the journey duration differs depending on which type of train you choose. China train types can be recognized by their letter codes G, D and C trains are high-speed trains, while Z, T and K are slower or overnight trains. China's high-speed trains run between Chinese provincial capitals and first-tier Chinese cities. G trains (high-speed trains, standing for gāotiě) are China's bullet trains—the fastest trains with a maximum speed of 400 km／h. Tickets for these trains are the most expensive.

    How to buy train tickets

    Unless you can read Chinese, there are only two ways to make train reservations in China:

    —Online train ticket booking with a travel agency (up to 60 days before departure).

    —At the train station／local ticket agency with your passport (up to 58 days before departure).

    How to read train tickets

    When reading your train ticket, please take note of the Chinese characters and Pinyin printed next to your departure / arrival city. Directions (North, South, East, and West) appear in Pinyin (Bei, Nan, Dong, and Xi), not English. Please make sure you are going to the correct train station.

    Michael Faraday was the son of a blacksmith. There were four children in his family and, with his father often ill and unable to work, Michael Faraday had to earn his living from an early age. This meant little or no schooling. However, the family belonged to a religious group, and Faraday learnt to read and write at Sunday School.

    When he was only fourteen, Faraday found a job as a bookbinder（装订工）.He used to read the books he was given to bind and he became very interested in the scientific books, particularly the ones about electricity. His interest soon took a practical path and he began conducting his own experiments. These were very basic because Faraday had to make all of his equipment himself. However, he was very careful and kept a clear written record of all his findings.

    One day he was given an entrance ticket to the Royal Institute chemistry lecture, given by Humphry Davy. Determined to work for this great scientist, he sent Davy a job application and included his laboratory reports on the experiments he had carried out. In 1813 Davy offered Faraday a job as one of his laboratory assistants. Faraday learnt quickly and soon was recognized as a very able analytical chemist. Later he went to work at the Royal Institute.

    Michael Faraday was, perhaps, the greatest practical scientist of the 19th century. As a chemist, he discovered the benzene（苯）,which is now the focal point of chemical study. He also proved the relationship between electricity and chemical bonding（化学键合）.As a physicist, he invented the dynamo, which led to the later invention of the electric motor. He also discovered the effect of magnetism（磁）on light rays.

    Most airlines go all out to ensure their passengers have the best possible flight experience. Now, Europe's low-budget airline, easyJet, wants to extend the positive experience beyond the plane ride with “Sneakairs” —smart shoes that allow visitors to explore new cities and towns without ever looking at a map.

    To transform Sneakairs from an ordinary shoe to a tour guide，all the wearer has to do is enter his or her desired destination into the easyJet smartphone app. A built-in GPS will determine the wearer's starting location while the Google Maps navigation (导航)tool will help chart the best route. Whenever a change of direction is necessary, the app will communicate with the appropriate shoe via the Bluetooth and cause it to vibrate(振动). For example, if the wearer needs to turn right, he/she will feel the sensation in the right shoe. Should the user miss the turn, the smart shoes will both vibrate at the same time, reminding him/her to change course.

    Visitors that wander off the suggested path or decide to take a break for a cup of coffee or a meal have nothing to worry about. The smart app will automatically determine the new location and chart out a new route. Once the desired destination is reached, Sneakairs will vibrate three times to inform the user of the arrival and then go back to being ordinary shoes—until their navigation services are needed again!

    Sneakairs is certainly not the first navigation shoe in the market. However, easyJet is the first airline to offer them to passengers just as they are about to land in an unknown city. However, before Sneakairs can go mainstream, the easyJet team still needs to make some adjustments. Among the challenges that need to be addressed is the smart shoe's three-hour battery life, which is hardly enough for a tourist to catch all the delights a new city or town has to offer!

Intelligence is traditionally viewed as the ability to think and learn. Yet in a complex world, there's another set of cognitive (认知的) skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink. Therefore, my aim in this book is to explore how rethinking happens by seeking out the most convincing evidence and some of the world's most skilled rethinkers.

The first section focuses on opening our own minds. You'll find out why a forward-thinking businessman got trapped in the past, how a Nobel Prize-winning scientist welcomes the joy of being wrong, how the world's best forecasters update their views, and how an Oscar-winning filmmaker has productive fights.

The second section examines how we can encourage other people to think again. You'll learn how an international debate champion wins arguments and an African-American musician persuades people to abandon discrimination (歧视). You'll discover how a special kind of listening helped an officer convince the opposing side to join in peace talks. And if you're a Yankees fan, I'm going to see if I can convince you to root for the Red Sox.

The third section is about how we can create communities of lifelong learners. In social life, a lab that specializes in difficult conversations will cast light on how we can communicate better about debated issues like climate change. In schools, you'll find out how educators teach kids to think again by treating classrooms like museums, and approaching projects like rewriting time-honored textbooks. I close by examining the importance of reconsidering our best-laid plans.

This book is an invitation to let go of knowledge and opinions that are no longer serving you well, and to establish your sense of self in flexibility rather than consistency. If you can master the art of rethinking, I believe you'll be better positioned for success at work and happiness in life. Thinking again can help you generate new solutions to old problems and revisit old solutions to new problems. It's a path to learning more from the people around you and living with fewer regrets.