Golden Gate Bridge

    Located in San Francisco,the Golden Gate Bridge started in the year 1933 to connect the San Francisco Peninsula with Marin County.It was finally thrown open to public traffic in 1937.It cost $25.7 million in the construction.Till the year 1957,the Golden Gate Bridge,at a length of 2,737 meters,was the longest suspension bridge in the world.

    Brooklyn Bridge

    The Brooklyn Bridge is located in Brooklyn.It is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, having been opened in the year 1883.The length of the bridge is 1,843 meters.The bridge has been featured in several Hollywood movies.

    George Washington Bridge

    Also known as the Hudson River Bridge and the Columbus Bridge,the George Washington Bridge which connects Fort Lee to Manhattan came into use in 1931 after a construction period of almost 4 years.It is a two level suspension bridge that cost about $52 million to build.

    Mackinac Bridge

    This is the third biggest suspension bridge in the world at a length of 8,038 meters.The architect of this bridge was Dr.David B. Steinman who directed the construction of the bridge which started in the year 1054 and opened to the public in 1958.People using this bridge are charged a certain amount of money.

    Navajo Bridge

    Located in Arizona,this bridge crosses the Colorado River and is almost 250 meters long.The construction of this bridge started in the year 1927,ending two years later,costing $390,000.In the 1990s a second bridge was built which was opened to the public in 1994.The first bridge is now used only by pedestrians.

Top attractions

    Amsterdam is most famous for its artistic heritage. This tradition is proudly on display in the Rijksmuseum (translates as State Museum). Once you've taken in all that has to offer, artists, history fans, and families shouldn't pass up the chance to visit the Van Gogh Museum —containing around 700 paintings and drawings by Vincent and his contemporaries (同时代的人), including Gauguin, Monet, and Toulouse-Lautrec.

    Amsterdam is also home to the Anne Frank Museum, where Anne hid with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. On a lighter note, taking a canal cruise through its extensive waterways is a rewarding way to see the Dutch capital.

    Art lovers get their kicks at:

    ♦♦ The Van Gogh Museum Rijksmuseum Museum het Rembrandthuis

    Food and drink

    Cheese lovers love Amsterdam. You can find an excuse to eat cheese at any time of the day here. Gouda is Holland's favorite, developing a more intense flavor the longer it's aged. Find a selection at the markets，try a cheeseboard at dinner time, or just order cubes with mustard for dipping to accompany a drink.

When you're hungry for non-cheese food groups, you'll find Michel in-starred restaurants, vegetarian, and organic restaurants that accompany an array of global cuisine. For old-fashioned and modern Dutch food, try these Amsterdam restaurants: Moeders, Haesje Claes, Loetje, Greetje, and De Silveren Spiegel.

Don't leave without tasting:

    ♦♦ Patat (hot chips with toppings) Stroopwafel (waffle cookie) Chocomel (chocolate milk)

    Amsterdam Fast Facts

    Approximate flight times:

    ♦♦NYC/Newark 7 hours 20 minutes Philadelphia 8 hours Boston 7 hours

    ♦♦Miami 9 hours 45 minutes Los Angeles 10 hours 15 minutes

    Entry requirements: Passport must be valid for at least 3 months beyond your planned departure from the Schengen area and have 2 blank pages for entry stamp.

    We always knew our daughter Kendall was going to be a performer of some sort. She entertained people in our small town by putting on shows on our front porch when she was only three or four. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and beautiful, she sang like a little angel.

    When Kendall was five, we began to notice that she was blinking a lot and clearing her throat frequently. We took her to our local children's hospital where she was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome.

    It was pretty devastating（毁灭性的）because other children constantly made fun of her, and sadly, even a teacher teased her. Through all this, Kendall continued to sing and entertain. Remarkably, her tics disappeared when she sang.

    In 2005 when Kendall was sixteen, we thought she was pretty much out of the woods -- or at least heading in that direction. However, a freak accident happened.

    At a birthday party, Kendall hopped on a friend for a piggyback ride. Kendall flew over his back and landed on the cement floor -- on her neck. An ambulance rushed her to the hospital where she spent the next week, paralyzed from the neck down. Ironically, her biggest concern wasn't whether she would walk again, but whether she would be able to audition（试唱）for American Idol.

    Doctors said Kendall had central cord syndrome. Sometimes the pain was so unbearable that she had to bite down on a toothbrush to take her mind off it. As the days dragged on, we didn't know for sure how much of her movement would ever come back.

    I believe Kendall wanted the American Idol audition so much that she willed herself to move again. One of her friends brought a microphone to the hospital and put it on her bed. Every day, Kendall tried hard to pick it up with her right hand. It was more important for her to pick up that microphone than a spoon or fork.

    Sometimes we all cried because of the pain we witnessed. But on the day Kendall walked into the stadium to audition for American Idol – a mere three months after her accident -- we cried tears of joy. And our tears turned into shouts when she was given a golden ticket to Hollywood.

    Kendall is eighteen now, living every day to its fullest. She's recorded a CD with some of John Mellencamp's band members. I'm absolutely sure she's going to make it big some day. Kendall just puts it all in God's hands.

    When she was a little girl trying hard to be strong, she looked up at me, her big eyes brimming with tears, and asked me why she had to have Tourette's Syndrome. My heart ached to make the word right for my child. But I looked right back at her and told her the truth as I see it.

    “Kendall, God gave you a pure heart, an angelic voice, a strong mind, and a beautiful presence. With all of that, he had to make it fair for everyone else.”

    If you find yourself checking your phone first thing in the morning, if you find you're text-messaging while driving, checking your phone instead of working on an important assignment—you are addicted.

    Don't worry. The new NoPhone might be just the thing you need. It looks and feels exactly like a smartphone, but it does nothing. It's just a piece of plastic that you can carry around in your hand to fool yourself.

    NoPhone is currently a prototype(手机模型) that will cost only $12 once it hits the market. Its makers are trying to raise $30,000 in order to cover the production and marketing costs.

    Dutch designer Ingmar Larsen, who helped create the NoPhone, said that he had the idea as a joke along with his friends Van Gould and Ben Langveld. To their great surprise, the idea received a lot of attention online and people from all over the world started placing requests for NoPhone of their own, so that's when the three friends decided to raise money for mass production.

    David H said," I used to sleep with my phone in my hand, but my night terrors would cause me to throw it across the room in an unconscious panic. With the NoPhone, I can still enjoy the comfort of holding a phone in my sleep, without waking up to a broken screen, thanks, NoPhone."

    If you're interested in NoPhone, but concerned about not being able to take selfies anymore, don't worry. The makers do have an update at no extra charge—the mirror sticker. That way, they say, you can enjoy "real-time" selfies with your friends when they're standing right behind you.

    A growing number of Chinese tourists are helping to save a dying town, after a like-known tourist attraction was featured on a number of Chinese travel blogs.

    The residents of Sea Lake, a town of just 600 people, barely see travelers stop at their gas station while driving by, but the sudden influx of Chinese tourists is helping keep the town's economy alive.

    The tourists come to see Lake Tyrrel—a shallow, salt crusted and often dry lake just out of town. According to a local teacher, Rachel Pearce, the extremely beautiful nightscape combined with the mysterious appearance of stars reflected on the salt lake gives people the impression of walking among the stars. Besides, the town is so far away that no light pollution ruins the particularly attractive views, and as it is situated in a barren(寸草不生的), dry part of the country, there are rarely any clouds to spoil the night sky.

    The attraction's growing sought-after status has resulted in the town's motel rooms being full almost every night, and while local farmers are suffering in a two-year drought, tourism is keeping the town's agricultural-based economy stable.

    Despite the popularity of the town and its attraction, locals are still confused as to why their little town deserves so much attention. Sea Lake's population has fallen from around 1, 200a decade ago to 600 today. "We're still unsure why Lake Tyrrel is such a big, big tourist attraction," one local says. "It's quite a shock."

    A Latin phrase beloved by every old-fashioned British schoolmaster was mens sana in corpora sano—a healthy mind in a healthy body. Greater physical activity is associated with better mental, as well as physical health. And it might also be linked to greater worker productivity, and thus faster economic growth. That is the conclusion of a new report from a European think tank — RAND.

    The RAND study looks at different measures: absenteeism (when workers take time off for illness) and presenteeism (when they turn up for work but are less productive because of sickness). The latter measure was self-reported by employees, who were asked whether their work was negatively affected by health issues. The survey suggests that between 3 and 4.5 working days each year are lost as a consequence of workers being physically inactive. This is between 1.3% and 2% of annual working time. Most of this was down to presenteeism.

    Another potential gain from improved fitness is reduced health-care costs. In America, where health care is often provided through employment-based systems, firms could benefit. RAND estimates that total American health savings could be $6bn a year by 2025. But the study's authors conclude that if people met certain exercise targets, global GDP could be around 0.17-0.24% higher by 2050. Nothing to laugh at in a world of slowing growth.

    How to encourage workers to become more active? Rewards are useful but only if they have conditions; giving all employees free gym membership does not seem to work. Another RAND Europe study examined an experiment in which workers were each given an Apple watch, payable in instalments (分期付款) at a discounted price—but only to those who agreed to have their physical activity monitored. Monthly repayments depended on how much exercise they took.

    The problem is that many people are too optimistic about their health, ignoring the risks they face. This means that participation in workplace exercise plans tends to be low, around 7% in the sample studied by RAND. Firms are not the only ones that can encourage a healthier lifestyle; friends and families are likely to be more important. But businesses can play a bigger role.

    If RAND is right, this may bring them financial benefits. Company taskmasters may yet grow fond of an adapted saying: mens sana in corporate sano.