There are more bicycles than residents in the Netherlands,and in cities

like Amsterdam and The Hague up to 70% of all journeys are made by bike.

    The BBC's reporter,Anna Holligan,examines what made everyone get back in the saddle（车座）.

    Before World WarⅡ,journeys in the Netherlands were mainly made by bike, but in the 1950s and 1960s,as car ownership increased quickly,this changed.As in many countries in Europe, roads became increasingly crowded.

    The jump in car number caused a huge rise in the number of deaths on the roads.In 1971 more than 3,000 people were killed by motor vehicles,and 450 of them were children.In response a social movement demanding safer cycling conditions for children was formed.Called Stop de Kindermoord,it took its name from the headline of an article written by journalist Vic Langenhoff whose own child had been killed in a road accident.

    The Dutch love of the motor vehicle was also shaken by the Middle East oil crisis of 1973,when oil-producing countries topped export to the US and Western Europe.

    These twin pressures helped to persuade the Dutch government to invest in improving cycling infrastructure（基础设施）and the Dutch urban planners started to change from the road-building policies designed mainly for cars.

    To make cycling safer and more inviting,the Dutch have built a vast network of cycle paths.These are clearly marked,have smooth surfaces,separate signs and lights for those on two wheels,and are wide enough to allow cycling side by side and overtaking.

    Even before they can walk,Dutch children live in a world of cycling.As babies they travel in special seats on bikes.As the children grow up they ride their own bikes.And,as the Dutch are not allowed to drive until 18,cycling offers teenagers an alternative form of freedom.

    The state also plays a part in teaching,with cycling lessons a compulsory（必修的）part in Dutch schools.All schools have places to park bikes and at some schools 90% of pupils cycle to class.

    The world's first subway was built in London in 1863. At the time, the government was looking for a way to reduce traffic problems in the city of London. The poor areas of the city were so crowded with people that it was almost impossible for horse carriages to get through. The city officials were interested in trying to make it possible for workers to live outside of London and travel easily to work each day. If people had a cheap and convenient way that they could depend on to go to and from work, they would relocate their homes outside of the city. This would help ease(减轻) the pressure of too many people living in the poor parts of London. From these problems, the idea of the London Underground, the first subway system, was born.

    The plans for building the Underground met with several problems and delays, but the fast track was finally opened in January 1863. A steam train pulled the cars along the fast underground track which was 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) long. About 30，000 people got on the subway the first day. Riders were treated to comfortable seats (standing up while the train was moving was not allowed), and pleasant decorations inside each of the cars. However, the smoke from the engine soon filled the air in the tunnels(隧道) with ash and soot(煤灰), as well as chemical gases. Fans had to be put in the tunnels later to keep the air clean enough for people to breathe. Even with its problems, riding in the Underground did catch on. It carried 9 million riders in its first year.

    Standing desks have become common across Silicon Valley, offering health benefits to those willing to work on their feet. However, due to their high price, they have failed to catch on until now. Recently, Ikea has brought out Bekant convertible（可变换的） standing desk that can become a normal desk at the touch of a button. The $500 adjustable desk can transform from a standard desk to a standing one, and Ikea hopes it could make the standing desk mainstream.

    Experts say that changing from a seated to a standing desk can improve productivity. Similar desks have become a common sight at tech firms such as Google, where some employees have even installed treadmill (跑步机) and bicycle desks.

    The desk is not the first “convertible” on the market. As early as 2013, Stir Kinect brought out an adjustable desk. The $3,890 Stir Kinect desk has a motor to raise and lower itself, changing it into a standing desk or a traditional desk. The desk can even be programmed to move up and down slightly, making it appear to take a gentle breath to remind the user to change their positions. To move between sitting and standing positions, owners simply double tap on the screen. The desk can learn the user's preferences over time and suggest the best seating position.

The Stir Kinect desk was created by a team of ex-Apple and Disney engineers. It has a built-in touch screen to control and track movement, and can tell users exactly how many calories they burn by standing during their working day. It also has devices containing power points and USB ports for charging phones, to keep cables hidden.

    “Ikea's height-adjustable desk is great for opening up the lower end of the market, " said JP Labrosse, founder and CEO of Stir.

    4-Day Classic Beijing Tour The 4-day classic Beijing tour is designed for tourists who come to visit China for the first time. It covers the most popular and typical places in Beijing, fully displaying the scenery, culture, history, local lifestyles and features, food and drinks, business, etc. for you.

    Day 1：Arrival in Beijing

    Your guide meets you at Capital Airport, and helps you check in at your hotel.

    Enjoy Beijing Duck as welcome dinner.

    Accommodation：Beijing downtown

    Day 2：The Great Wall & the Summer Palace

    Start your day at the most famous part of the Great Wall, the Badaling Great Wall. Leave the downtown for the Great Wall at 8am. Since it is a long drive to the Great Wall （about 2 hours' riding） have a break at the Jade Museum on the way. Lunch will be enjoyed in a local restaurant. In the early afternoon come back to the city and have a sightseeing tour of the Summer Palace.

    Recommended Activity：Beijing Opera Show （Liyuan Theatre, 19：30-21：10 every evening）

    Accommodation：Beijing downtown

    Day 3：Beijing city sightseeing & Local experience

    Your guide meets you at the hotel at 8 am and set out for the day's touring：    Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City.

    After visiting the two sites, have a break and get ready for lunch.

    Hutong visit：see some traditional arts of the old Beijing, such as paper cutting and kite making, and visit a local family.

    Accommodation：Beijing downtown

    Day 4：Beijing Olympic sites

    Visit the Olympic sites：Bird's Nest, Water Cube and Olympic Park, witnessing the fast developing modern China. Enjoy some free time after visiting the sites.

    After lunch, it is shopping time and then the tour is over.

    February has long been a month of romance. With the sweet smell of roses in the air, romantic films hit cinemas and love stories fill newspapers and magazines.

    On the 14th day, it is customary for a boy to take his girlfriend out to dinner, buy her flowers and chocolates, write poems, sing to her or even spell out her name with rose petals!

    This is the scene that greets you on Valentine's Day, named after Valentine who was a priest in third century Rome. When the emperor decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives, he banned marriage.

    But Valentine continued to perform marriage ceremonies for young lovers in secret. When his actions were discovered, the emperor had him put to death.

    While in prison, it is said that Valentine fell in love with the daughter of his prison guard. Before his death, he wrote her a letter, which he signed "From your Valentine", an expression that is still in use today.

    Valentine died for what he believed in and so was made a Saint, as well as becoming one of history's most romantic figures.

    Nowadays, Valentine's Day wins the same popularity among Chinese young people. It is a time when students "don't want to be alone" according to Gao Shunjie, a student reporter for 21st Century Teens in Jinling High School, Nanjing. Some of her classmates are planning to make Valentine's cards for parents, teachers and friends. Others want to hold parties at which they will exchange small gifts and eat heart shaped cakes. The idea is to have fun and encourage people to share in the spirit of St Valentine.

    This year marks the 170th anniversary of Paul Gauguin's birth. He lived for just 54 years but he packed his brief life with activity.

    The French painter spent his early childhood in Peru before returning to France. As an adult, he continued to travel a lot. Most famously, he spent much of the last decade of his life in Tahiti, an island in southern Pacific Ocean. Indeed, Gauguin is best known for his colorful paintings of Tahitians and their culture.

    The restlessness of this great painter has been normal among modern artists since the middle of the 19th century. They're never satisfied for long with a certain style or way of life. Once something becomes conventional, it's turned down.

    The artistic culture that Gauguin developed from was that of Impressionism (印象派). Painters like Claude Monet had wanted to paint how they saw the world, not how their teachers taught them it should be seen. Gauguin, and similar artists like his friend Vincent van Gogh, moved even further away from "respectable" art than the Impressionists. For them, it was not simply a matter of seeing the world differently, but feeling and thinking about it differently, too.

    Gauguin saw, felt and thought differently from most members of European society. He thought that European culture was too fancy and not spontaneous. This is why he turned to the traditions of other parts of the world, like Africa, and, eventually, Tahiti. Artists like Gauguin used the word "primitive" for these cultures, but not as a negative term. For him, Europe, in becoming modem, industrial and scientific, seemed less natural than other parts of the world.

    In truth, Gauguin's paintings may be unconventional but they are certainly not "primitive". They are the work of a painter with great awareness of what he was doing. It was this awareness that made him such an important painter for those that came after, in the 20th century. When we look closely at the works of Gauguin we begin to understand Pablo Picasso, and especially Henri Matisse, a little better.