Opened in 1847, the London Zoo is the world's oldest scientific zoo. Today it houses over 760 different species of animal and is the only zoo in London where you can experience big animals.

    Explore the “Into Africa” exhibit (展览) where you can come face to face with some of Africa's most unusual animals including hunting dogs, or try “Meet The Monkeys” an exciting walk-through experience. Other top exhibits include the Butterfly Paradise, where you can enjoy many species of butterfly as they fly around you.

    Make sure you don't miss feeding time at the Penguin Beach and find out more about these popular creatures from the zoo's experienced keepers. Penguin Beach, with a very large pool and underwater viewing areas, allows visitors to be close to the penguins like never before.

    Built in 2013, Tiger Territory is a great experience taking visitors deep into the world of these wonderful creatures.

    Rainforest Life is London's only living rainforest, where visitors can meet a variety of beautiful rainforest species including. In the all-new “Night Life” area you will discover the bats, and rats.

    With over 12,000 animals to see and incredible animal displays taking place throughout the day (including feeds and keeper talks), no visitor leaves disappointed. Learn more about London Zoo in our Interview with a Zoo Keeper on our London Pass Blog.

    You can visit the London Zoo for free with a London Pass—a fantastic saving of £23 for adults and over £16 for children. Children aged 3-4 will be charged on entrance fee for London Zoo.

    A 12-year-old with end stage cancer, the child's parents had recently moved her from the hospital to her home in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Some days later the girl's breath quickened, and her father phoned the family's hospice nurse. Please come, he said.

    The nurse knew the visit would require more than four hours of her time: a two-hour drive in each direction, plus her time with the girl. Why don't we connect over FaceTime, she asked. The father agreed, and they connected.

The nurse asked the father to move his daughter gently to her side, then to her back, to lift the child's shirt. The nurse would ask: What do you see, what concerns you, and the father would explain. In this fashion the pair examined the girl — the nurse on her computer, the father his iPad. Together they decided that the nurse's presence was not necessary, that the child had more time.

    Later, the father reported feeling comforted by the nurse. He appreciated her availability, the fact that she could see what he saw, and their ability to discuss it in real time.

Telemedicine has become a trend in America. Some hospitals have gone so far as to specially design telemedicine clinics. The room is staged like an office but with better lighting. There's a nice desk for the clinician to sit behind, a computer situated stage left, and books in the background. A physician taking a video call from home might wear a pair of headphones, equipped with a mic — to ensure whatever the patient says isn't broadcast to anyone off-camera.

    However, there is something more than the technology bit. According to David, the head of the telemedicine pilot the girl's family had been part of, there are some people who are great in person and you put them on camera they're a dead fish. “Some physicians are camera shy. For others, the physical isolation can actually help them be more empathetic.” He adds.

    “My experience is that, once you get past some initial hurdles, you can maintain an intimate, immediate connection with patients that in some cases may be more useful than even in-person interactions,” David says.

    As a gesture of friendship，Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo，Japan gave Washington, D.C a gift of more than 3,000 Japanese cherry trees on March 17,1912.Every spring, the cherry trees in Washington，D.C. take bloom(开花)，beginning one of the country's loveliest celebrations, the National Cherry Blossom Festival (March 17-April 15). Book your trip now to see this vibrant display of pink and white in this city full of history!

    Washington, D.C. Cherry Blossom In-Depth Tour

    Priee: $45/person

    Available: Mar.25-Apr.15

    Duration: 1 Day

    Highlights: Visit Washington， D.C.; experience the peak period of cherry blossom(April 8-12)

    Itinerary: Guests will start to celebrate the National Cherry Blossom Festival and discover the beauty of cherry blossoms. Next,we will begin our sightseeing city tour including Lincoln Memorial, White House, US Capitol, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, Washington Monument and International Spy Museum. Then visit the next tourist spot, the Jefferson Memorial. It's the best location to view the cherry blossoms. Finally, guests may board a Potomac River cruise to see the city from the water. Then tour ends.

    Price Includes: Ground Transportation

    Admission Fees:

    Note: If you would like to join in the optional activities, please pay the fee in cash to the tour guide. You cannot buy the tickets on your own or use City Pass. The tour guide will arrange the tickets for the group.

    American and British people use different greetings. In the USA the commonest greeting is “Hi”. In Britain it is “Hello!” or “How are you?”. “Hi!” is creeping(不知不觉地进入) into British, too. When they are introduced to someone, the Americans say, “Glad to know you.” The British say, “How do you do?” or “Pleased to meet you.” When Americans say “Good-bye”, they nearly always add, “Have a good day.” or “Have a good trip.” etc. to friends and strangers alike. Britains are already beginning to use “Have a good day.”

    The British usually use “got” in the sense of “have”. The Americans hardly ever do.

AmE: Do you have a car, room, etc.? Yes, I do.

BrE: Have you got a car, room, etc.? Yes, I have.

    There are a number of differences between American and British English in the spelling of words, e.g. check(US)/cheque (UK). Many American words ending in “or”, e.g. honor, labor are spelt in British English with an “our,” e.g. honour, labour. Many verbs in American English with “ize” or “izing” forms, e.g. organize, realizing are spelt in BrE with “ise” or “ising”, e.g. organise, realising. In American English, “practice” is used both for the verb and noun. In BrE, the verb is spelt “practise”, and the noun “practice.” In American English, one writes “traveler,” while in British English, one writes  “traveller”.

    It was once predicted that British and American English would become separate languages finally. But the opposite has happened. The links(联系) between the two countries are so strong that linguistically(语言上地),and probably culturally(文化上地) too, they are closer together than ever.

    The audiences of the UK will have an opportunity to enjoy a feast of Chinese culture when the China National Peking Opera Company returns to the country for the fourth time for a series of workshops and performances. Events will be held at the British Library, Oxford's Ashmolean Museum and the world-famous dance theater of Sadler's Wells, featuring artists including Lisa Lu, Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu.

    On Thursday at the British Library, Lisa Lu, who also played a role in recent cinema hit Crazy Rich Asians, will lead a group of artists from China, the US and the UK to discuss their experiences of working across a variety of artistic fields in different cultures over many decades.

    The series of activities also include interactive workshops, which explain the intricacies（错综复杂）of the attractive art of Peking Opera. The secrets behind a great opera, from music to instruments, from make-up to martial arts, will be revealed at the British Library workshops on Saturday and Sunday.

    Events end on Oct 19 and 20 at Sadler's Wells in North London, with two performances of The Emperor and the Concubine, one of the most celebrated operas, as well as The Crossroads Inn and The Monkey King and The Leopard.

    Li Shengsu, who led the cast of The Emperor and the Concubine, explained that the show is the beautiful love story championed by Peking Opera Master Mei Lanfang, and it is one of the very few works from the Master Mei's that had been handed down since 1920s.

    The productions are being presented in partnership with London-based Sinolink Productions, a company that promotes Chinese art, culture and performance to British audiences.

    Zhang Kewei, producer and director of Sinolink, said, “It is delightful to see that the China National Peking Opera Company returns to London for the fourth time with another two masterpieces this year. The performances so far have received very positive comments from audiences and the United Kingdom's media and we are looking forward to further expanding our program.”

"Given that signs of Alzheimer's disease (老年痴呆症) start to accumulate in the brain several decades before the disease begins, understanding the connection between sleep and cognition (认知) earlier in life is critical for understanding the role of sleep problems as a risk factor for the disease," said study author Yue Leng, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco.

The study involved 526 people with an average age of 40. They were followed for 11 years. Researchers looked at participants' sleep duration and quality. Participants wore a wrist activity monitor for three continuous days on two occasions approximately one year apart to calculate their averages. Participants slept for an average of six hours. Participants also reported bedtime and wake-up time in a sleep diary and completed a sleep quality survey with scores ranging from 0 to 21. A total of 239 people reported poor sleep with a score greater than five.

Researchers also looked at sleep fragmentation (碎片化), a measure of restlessness during the sleep period expressed as a percentage. The higher the value, the more sleep is interrupted. Participants were divided into three groups based on their sleep fragmentation score. Of the 175 people with the most interrupted sleep, 44 had poor cognitive performance 10 years later, compared to 10 of the 176 people with the least interrupted sleep.

After adjusting for age, sex, race, and education, people who had the most interrupted sleep had more than twice the possibility of having poor cognitive performance when compared to those with the least interrupted sleep. There was no difference in cognitive performance at midlife for those in the middle group compared to the group with the least interrupted sleep.

However, due to the small sample size, the researchers were unable to fully investigate potential race or sex differences. "More research is needed to assess the link between sleep disturbances and cognition at different life stages and to identify if critical life periods exist when sleep is more strongly associated with cognition," Leng said.