Today many people call Amsterdam "the City of Bicycles" because it is a city which is flat and convenient for bicycles.

    In the 1960s, a group of cycling fans had an idea. They believed that it would be better for everybody if only bicycles were allowed in the city centre. They hoped that this would help to save energy, reduce pollution and provide free public transport. The group painted hundreds of bicycles white and placed them in public places around Amsterdam for people to use. Anyone was allowed to use them for short journeys, whether he was a local or a foreigner. Wherever someone finished a journey, they would leave the bike there for someone else to use. The problem was that it didn't work—thieves took all the bicycles within weeks.

    However, more than thirty years later, the "white bike" is back in town—this time with a computer chip (芯片) to record its every move! To take a bicycle, you have to put a special card inside. The new "white bike" is not white any more but is an unusual design with bright colours. The bikes are parked at special parking places and people who want to use them have to take them to another place that has enough room.

    There is less traffic in central Amsterdam because both locals mad tourists have been using the white bikes. Thanks to the good ideas of lots of people, like the cycling fans in the 1960s, many people around the world have been enjoying city centre streets without cars for many years.

Nature was Chen Rui's "childhood home". The 37-year-old researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Zoology was not able to talk until he was 4 years old because of the way his brain processes sensory (感官) information. 

This made him "strange" in some people's minds. So, he didn't have friends who were around his age, which led him to turn his attention to nonhuman things around him. He became enraptured by the world of insects. "The happiest time of my childhood was in the farm fields," says Chen. "I squatted there, observing the actions of insects. I had so many questions about their activities and was full of curiosity about this world." These experiences planted a seed in his heart. 

Many years later, he's an expert in life-science research. He has visited the Amazon rainforest several times, and has found around 100 new species (物种), many of which are named after him. 

"I was a child who was ‘cured (治愈)' by nature," he says. "I wanted to grow up to share the power of nature with more young people and to popularize understanding of animals, including insects. I wanted to start classes to bring children to learn in the open air and experience the gifts nature gives." These led him to recently publish the popular science book, Du Chong Ji (Reading About Insects) 

"Insects were the earliest creatures that could fly and feed themselves by farming. They have survived three mass extinctions (大规模灭绝). No other living things have won such victories." He hopes that people will learn and draw inspiration from the "superpowers" of insects and use it to improve their own lives. 

Last week we asked 200 students from No. I middle school about their free time activities. Here are the results.