Traveling by bicycle is a very popular means of transportation throughout China. China has a huge population, and it is said that there is at least one bicycle for every two people within the country. Of course, many people in China ride bicycles purely for sport or exercise, but it's also a much more commonly accepted means of everyday transportation, as compared to countries such as the United States.

    If you are living for a long period of time in China, chances are you will want to purchase your own bicycle so that you can use it whenever you want for transportation or just for the enjoyment of riding. Even if you don't use a bicycle for everyday transportation, owning one can be a great way of enjoying some of the trails in the rural areas, just for fun. However, if you are just visiting China, renting a bicycle can be a more convenient choice.

    It is important to choose the correct bicycle for your use. You'll find that in China, the one-speed style of bicycle is extremely popular. These bicycles are great if you want to ride around in the city to see the sights. They are quite comfortable and easy to ride. You can often rent a bicycle for an entire day for around $15.

    However, if you wish to ride on some of the rural paths, a mountain bike style would be a better choice. They are great for different kinds of road surfaces, providing for a safer ride. If you are planning to have a desire to tour and still be able to carry packages with you, then a touring bike would be the best choice. These are generally the most expensive to rent, but are extremely handy for carrying packages and even some of your luggage along with you.

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    LakeLander·2 hours ago

    Today, a man talked very loud on his phone on a train between Malvern and Reading, making many passengers upset. I wonder how he would react if I were to read my newspaperoutloudonthetrain, Ihave never had the courage to do it, though.

    Pak50          ···     ·57 minutes ago

    Why not give it a try? Perhaps you should take lessons on a musical instrument. The late musician Dennis Brian is said to have asked a fellow train passenger to turn off his radio. When his request was refused, he took out his French horn(号) and started to practice.

    Angie O'Edema·42 minutes ago

    I don't see how musical instruments can help improve manners in public. Don't do to others what you wouldn't like to be done to yourself. Once, a passenger next to me talked out loud on his mobile phone. I left my seat quietly, giving him some privacy to finish his conversation. He realized this and apologised to me. When his phone rang again later, he left his seat to answer it. You see, a bit of respect and cooperation can do the job better.

    Taodas                          ·29 minutes ago

    I did read my newspaper out loud on a train, and it turned out well. The guy took it in good part, and we chatted happily all the way to Edinburgh.

    Sophie 76                                     ·13minutes ago

    I have not tried reading my newspaper out loud on a train, but ,several years ago, I read some chapters from Harry Porter to my bored and noisy children. Several passengers seemed to appreciate what I did.

    New research suggests that there are only four basic facial expressions of emotion. However, how these expressions are understood might depend on where you are from.

    Research by scientists from the University of Glasgow in the UK has challenged the traditional view of how the face expresses emotions. Many scientists had believed that there were six basic emotions that people from all cultures recognized. These were happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust(厌恶). However, the University of Glasgow's work now suggests that the human face only had four basic expressions of emotions. This is because some pairs of emotions are impossible to tell apart, especially when they are first shown on the face. Fear and surprise, both share wide-open eyes. The facial expressions for anger and disgust also look the same.

    So if our faces are only able to express four basic emotions, how do we communicate much more complex feelings? The study found that the way expressions are understood is different in different cultures. Lead researcher Rachael Jack was studying this because “facial expressions were considered to be universal”, she explained. However, while looking at how people from the East and West recognize different parts of the face, they found that although there are some common features across cultures, the six basic facial expressions of emotion are not recognized universally.

    “We said we don't know what a disgust face looks like in China, so the best way to go about that is to make all combinations of facial movements and show the Chinese people and ask them to choose the ones they think are disgust faces.” With the software they developed, they discovered that in the early stages of signaling emotion, fear and surprise, and anger and disgust, were often confused. Jack explained that this development of facial expressions is related to biology and social situations.

    What has caught people's interest is the cross-cultural aspect of the work. “This study shows which emotions we share, and which are different in different cultures,” Jack said. This finding could help us develop new communication technologies, for example ones that use video-calling programs like Skype. When you talk to someone in Japan in the future, a programme could “read” your facial expressions and then “translate” them for the Japanese person. The Japanese person would see the Japanese facial expression on their screen. In this way, people from different cultures could understand each other better.

    Science fiction writers create imaginary worlds. The way things work in your imaginary worlds will be based on actual science. So it's important for you to be familiar with the scientific principles and inventions that are related to your creation. For example, if you're writing about human living on a planet with zero gravity, then you need to know the effects of zero gravity on the human body.

    Then you have to figure out the exact rules of your imaginary worlds. And you have to follow them. If humans are able to breathe underwater in Chapter 1, your character can't drown in a swimming pool in Chapter 3. The issue here is maintaining your readers' trust. That means the readers are willing to pretend along with you. If you start out with an ordinary detective novel and then throw in someone breathing underwater in the 6th chapter, you will pull the readers out of their imagination. The same thing happens if you change the rules halfway.

    Part of your preparation work for the novel is to map out its worlds in great detail. You should decide the following issues: the history of the world, the geography, what possibilities it offers, how everything works in this new reality, and how all of these factors affect the way your characters think, feel, and react to things. You don't have to tell your readers all the rules in the first chapter. But you have to let readers know enough to understand what's going on. This also allows you to work out logical problems and contradictions before you start writing.

    When you are writing, remember to make it feel real. You are inviting readers to visit a new world. They will want to be able to see, hear, feel, smell, and even taste what it's like. Whether your novel is about a world without disease or an undiscovered planet, help your readers feel like they're actually there.

    Dark Sky Parks around the World

    Warrumbungle National Park

    Situated in the central west slopes of New South Wales is Australia's only dark sky park, Warrumbungle. The park has served as a dark sky park since July 2016. Its crystal-clear night skies and high altitude make it a natural, educational, and astronomical heritage site in the southern half of the earth. Tourists can use Australia's largest optical telescope within the park boundaries to view the auroras(极光)，the Milky Way, and faint shooting stars.

    Sark

    Sark is a Channel Island near the coast of Normandy under the protection of the UK. It was the World's First Dark Sky Island set up in January 2011. Its historical and cultural blend attracts over 40,000 tourists annually. With no motor vehicles and public lighting on the island, there is an exceptional view of the dark skies. A rich Milky Way is visible in the dark night skies from the shores of the island.

    Pic du Midi de Bigorre

    Pic du Midi de Bigorre in France was designated as a dark sky park in December 2013 making it the second largest dark sky park in the world. The park covers 3.112 square kilometers spread across the Pyrenees National Park and UNESCO's World Heritage site, Pyrenees-Mont Perdu. The park attracts over one hundred star watchers every year. The Observatory Midi-Pyrenees, which was built in 1870, is one of the world's highest museums at a height of 2,877 meters above sea level.

    Ramon Crater/Makhtesh Ramon

    Ramon Crater is a unique 1,100-square-kilometer nature reserve located in the Negev Desert in Israel. In 2017, the Ramon Crater became the first designated dark sky park in the Middle East. Its location, rough climate, and forbidding landscape that are characteristic of the Negev have largely defeated historical attempts for human settlement, making it a great place to view the night skies. Stargazers usually camp in the desert to have an uninterrupted view of the stars, planets, and the Milky Way.

    Do you suppose Darwin, one of the greatest scientists of all time, really did foolish experiments? Or did he do experiments that were so simple and basic that other people just thought they were foolish?

    Sometimes, people think they already know the answer to a question or the solution to a problem. Sometimes, they really do know an answer or a solution, but without thinking they are important.

    Charles Darwin didn't settle for(满足于) just thinking he knew something. And, he believed all things could be important however simple they seemed to be.

    Suppose you drop sheets of paper that are of exactly the same size and shape. If you drop them at the same time in the same place, they will fall in the same way. Now make one of the sheets of paper into a tight little ball and let it drop along with the other sheets. What happens? You have done an experiment that is so simple that you might think it couldn't be worth anything.

    But this simple experiment is important. It explains part of our present-day understandings of physics, ideas that were worked out long ago by Galileo and Newton. And these understandings set aside some of ancient Greek physics.

    Scientists sometimes stop to look at very simple things and to think very hard about them. Even the simplest idea, which we might think is foolish, can shake the foundations of science.