New York City Tour Guide

CENTRAL PARK PHOTO TOUR $79

With Sam L.

    Come to shoot in the Central Park of New York that will allow you to take home digital postcards. This tour is a great introduction to Central Park and combines views of the bridges, lakes and skyline.

    At each stop of the photo tour, I will provide you with explanations around photography(摄影)，camera settings etc. You will be able to put these tips to good use immediately.

NEW YORK RUNMNG TOUR $50

With Sebastien B.

    Love running? Love New York? Do you want to see the sites of the city? Contact me and we'll take a special tour. All you'll need to do is to put on your sports shoes and we'll be off. I'll show you my favorite running spots along the Hudson River or north of Central Park and away from all the tourists.

    If you re thinking of training for something, I'll give you the explanations and tips to make the best of your time training!

GREENWICH VILLAGE FOOD TOUR $75

With Manhattan W.

    Discover unbelievable places to eat. This is the real Greenwich Village gastronomic(美食的) experience. Along the way, find out how the village has kept its unique character throughout the years, from the Dutch and English controlled periods to today.

Tour runs every day from 12:30 PM—2:30 PM.

NEW YORK BY NIGHT PHOTO TOUR $115

With Sam L.

    We have already prepared NYC for the most unique points for you. During the -hour walking tour, we share these special comers of NYC.

    The night tour teaches night photography techniques while discovering the “darker” side of the city that never sleeps： the UN headquarters, 42nd street, Grand Central Terminal, the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall.

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内。

    It was a village in India. The people were poor. However, they were not unhappy. After all, their forefathers had lived in the same way for centuries.

    Then one day, some visitors from the city arrived. They told the villagers there were some people elsewhere who liked to eat frog's legs. However, they did not have enough frogs of their own, and so they wanted to buy frogs from other place.

    This seemed like money for nothing. There were millions of frogs in the fields around, and they were no use to the villagers. All they had to do was catch them. Agreement was reached, and the children were sent into the fields to catch frogs. Every week a truck arrived to collect the catch and hand over the money. For the first time, the people were able to dream of a better future.

    But the dream didn't last long. The change was hardly noticed at first, but it seemed as if the crops were not doing so well. More worrying was that the children fell ill more often, and, there seemed to be more insects around lately.

    The villagers decided that they couldn't just wait to see the crops failing and the children getting weak. They would have to use the money earned to buy pesticides(杀虫剂) and medicines. Soon there was no money left.

    Then the people realized what was happening. It was the frog. They hadn't been useless. They had been doing an important job—eating insects. Now with so many frogs killed, the insects were increasing more rapidly. They were damaging the crops and spreading diseases.

    Now, the people are still poor. But in the evenings they sit in the village square and listen to sounds of insects and frogs. These sounds of the night now have a much deeper meaning.

    When the weather is good, most children would like to play outside. So we asked some kids and their parents whether the following toys kept them happy.

All Surface Swingball, $35.99

    Played by Martin, nine, and five-year-old Alex in Crewe, Cheshire.

Mother Jennifer says, “The boys thought the toy was excellent and really wanted to play with it. It can be played with alone or with another child. It's for the right age range but I believe the toy can be played with by all ages and is suitable for the whole family.”
Rubberwood Quoits Set, $13.99

    Played by Jessica, four.

    Mother Lucy Hayburst, 37, in Chichester, West Sussex, says, “Jessica played with this toy for a few minutes but quickly stopped playing with it. Since we bought this toy for her, she only played several times. The quality is very good. It can be played with by one child or more. Besides, I believe it's more suitable for older kids.”

Wooden Animal Skittles, $14.99

    Played by Matthew, two.

    Father Richard Lee, 36, from Dartford, Kent, says, “Matthew was very interested in the toys and liked to play with them, but that only lasted for around five minutes. The skittles were fun at first but that feeling soon disappeared. Two or more children can play with the toy together. And I think they are most suitable for kids aged between three and seven. Our youngest son, Ethan, just kept trying to eat the lion's head.”

First Tailball Net Set, $22

    Played by James, five.

    Mother Sarah Schwar, 39, from Grays, Essex, says, “James loved the toy.” He enjoyed balls so it was perfect for him We used it in the summer as it was easy to take on trips It is suitable for kids over five years old I think the price is fair and your children deserve it.”

    Suppose you want to go abroad and learn about the foreign exchange in culture in different countries. Here is some information you may need.

    "Farm to table" is the name of a movement that encourages people to eat locally grown food. The farm-to-table idea has become more popular in recent years. But there is also a movement that brings "table to farm". Its purpose is to connect people to the land and to honor local farmers by creating a sort of restaurant without walls.

    Its founder, Jim Denevan, got the idea for this kind of "culinary adventure (美食探险)", as he called it, ten years ago. He recently prepared tables for more than a hundred people at Briars Farm in Virginia. He and his eight-member team arrived the night before. Chefs (厨师) from a local  restaurant prepared the dinner.

    Jim Denevan's brother is a farmer and he himself is a chef. He thought that the idea of a meal served right on the farm made sense, though not everyone agreed.

    "But I wanted to make the idea work, so I decided to cross the country, " said Denevan. "I went all the way across the United States and set the table on farms, ranches (大牧场) and beaches, and all the places where food came from. "

    "This kind of event connects us with a lot of enthusiastic people, people that we can form relationships with, " said Matt Szechenyi, who operates Briars Farm.

    The tour of the farm ends at the dinner table. The meats in the meal come from Matt Szechenyi's farm. The vegetables come from nearby farms. Guests and local farmers sit together.

    Annoica Ingram came with a friend. "The food is wonderful. I appreciate their hard work. I see everything they have to do to take care of the animals and make sure they are well-cared-for. Without them, I think, we'll have big problems, " she said.

In the past decade ocean oxygen levels have taken a dive — an alarming trend that is linked to climate change, says Andreas Oschlies, an oceanographer at the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Germany, whose team tracks ocean oxygen levels worldwide. "We were surprised by the intensity of the changes we saw, how rapidly oxygen is going down in the ocean and how large the effects on marine ecosystems are," he says. It is no surprise to scientists that warming oceans are losing oxygen, but the scale of the drop calls for urgent attention. Oxygen levels in some tropical regions have dropped by an astonishing 40 percent in the last 50 years, some recent studies reveal. Levels have dropped less significantly elsewhere, with an average loss of 2 percent globally.

A warming ocean loses oxygen for two reasons; First, the warmer a liquid becomes, the less gas it can hold. That is why carbonated drinks(碳酸饮料) go flat faster when left in the sun. Second, as polar sea ice melts, it forms a layer of water above colder, more salty sea waters. This process creates a sort of lid that can keep currents from mixing surface water down to deeper depths. And because all oxygen enters the surface, less mixing means less of it at depth.

Ocean animals large and small, however, respond to even slight changes in oxygen by seeking refuge(避难所) in higher oxygen zones or by adjusting behavior, Oschlies and others in his field have found. These adjustments can expose animals to new predators or force them into food-scarce regions. Climate change already poses serious problems for marine life, such as ocean acidification, but deoxygenation is the most pressing issue facing sea animals today, Oschlies says. After all, he says, "they all have to breathe."

Aside from food web problems, animals face various other physiological challenges as their bodies adjust to lower oxygen levels. Chinese shrimp(虾) move their tails less vigorously to preserve energy in lower oxygen environments. Some creatures, such as jellyfishes, are more tolerant of low oxygen than others are. But all animals will feel the impact of deoxygenation because they all have evolved their oxygen capacity for a reason, says Oschlies. "Any drop in oxygen is going to damage survivability and performance," he says.