The four theme parks below offer the most thrilling(刺激的)rides and attractions in the world.

    Busch Gardens Williamsburg

    Located(坐落)in Virginia, USA, this theme paprk has some of the highest-rated thrill rides in the world. The park's famous roller coasters include Apollo's Chariot, Alpengeist, Griffon, the Loch Ness Monster and Verbolten. The park also has thrilling water rides, rides for kids, other rides, shows, tours, animal exhibits and more. Divided into nine areas representing European countries, the park has won an award for the quality of its food.

    Everland

    One of the world's most popular theme parks, Everland is located in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do province, South Korea. The park has 40 thrill rides, including a world-famous wooden roller coaster, and many other attractions such as an hunting ride, a zoo, indoor and outdoor water parks, shows and more.

    Blackpool Pleasure Beach

    This Lancashire amusement park is one of the most visited theme parks in the United Kingdom. Among the park's 125 rides and attractions are the tallest and faster roller coaster in the U. K., a classic wooden roller coaster, a steel tower ride, the biggest indoor dark ride in the world, a host of rides for kids and more.

    PortAventura World

    Located on Spain's Costa Daurada, this park is divided into six themed areas. Five areas represent different locations including Polynesia, Mexico, the American West, China and the Mediterrancan. The sixth and newest area has a Sesame Street theme. The park has many rides and attractions suitable for visitors of all ages.

    When I was a kid in the 1960s, my parents had a country store in the small town of Frankfort, Maine. No neighboring houses could be seen From our place， and new salesmen were always amazed at the amount of business we did. Dad's motto was, “We sell everything.” If he didn't have something in store, he would pick it up for customers on his weekly trip to Bangor.

    One time Dad was in Bangor getting shoes for someone at a shoe factory, He saw big boxes full of shoes and asked about them. They were the mates(一双鞋中的一只) to faulty shoes that had been thrown away. He looked through the boxes and realized that there were usable brand-new shoes in there. He offered the manager five cents a shoe, Dad made the deal and got the manager to reserve any future boxes for him.

    Of course Mon, his business partner, was more practical, and her first reaction was, “But what are you going to do with them?” Dad bought an old school bus. He cleaned it up, removed the seats and placed big containers down both sites of the aisle(通道). When all was ready, the whole Family helped to put the shoes in place. At first， it looked like we had plenty of room on the bus, but Dad kept bringing home more boxes.

    There was no sign on the Shoe Bus. 'The only advertising Dad did was to place a piece of paper beside the store exit that read “Shoes $1 a pair. "When folks asked about the deal. They learned it wasn't that easy because they had to find their own pairs. The attraction was a combination of getting a good deal on a quality pair of shoes and the thrill of the hunt.

    To this day I still run into people who talk about the fun they had searching for pairs in Dad's Shoe Bus.

    Last week, two companies, Kitty Hawk and Uber, announced their plans to bring flying cars to reality very soon.

    Imagine never having to worry about traffic, stop lights, or road construction. A flying car would get to a place much faster than one travelling by road. On the other hand, imagine having to avoid drones (无人驾驶飞机) and other flying cars. Also, what if your battery dies when you are in the air? And, how will you know where to land?

    Kitty Hawk is a start-up tech company supported by Google co-founder, Larry Page. According to the Kitty Hawk website, its car will be able to travel at speeds up to 40 kilometers an hour in the air. It says under US aviation law such a machine “does not require registration or a pilot's license and may be flown in uncongested (不拥挤的) areas for recreational purposes.” As of now, the car can only be flown over fresh water.

    Kitty Hawk is making a list of people interested in buying the flying car. They must pay a deposit of US$100. Those who get their names on the list early will receive US$2, 000 off the final cost of the car. However, Kitty Hawk has not yet announced the price. Kitty Hawk expects its first flying cars will go on sale by the end of this year.

    At a conference last week, Uber announced plans for flying taxis to begin carrying passengers. Unlike the Kitty Hawk company, Uber does not plan to build its flying cars. Instead, it will use the resources of partner companies.

    Like the Kitty Hawk car, Uber flying taxis will use electric power. Uber says its flying taxis could travel up to 241 kilometers an hour. The company said that could reduce the travel time between San Francisco and San Jose, California from two hours on the road to 15 minutes in the air.

    Riders could use the Uber app to book a flying taxi to take them to their destinations. The company has not yet said how costly air taxi travel would be compared to road taxi travel.

Drinks Have No Wings

    You may have heard that "Red Bull gives you wings". But while most people take the advertising slogan as a metaphor(隐喻), some Americans seem to have taken it very seriously.

    Benjamin Careathers had been drinking the drink for 10 years, expecting to at least feel more energetic, but nothing happened. Feeling fooled by the ad, he took the issue to court.

    In October, the Austria-based company agreed to pay $ 6.5 million (39.7 million yuan) to customers who have bought the drink since 2002. People in the US can apply for a share through energydrinksettlement.com before March 2015.

    But is the case really that ridiculous?

    Red Bull said they had done nothing wrong and they only paid the money to save the cost and trouble of legal action.

    However, the suit(诉讼) told a different story. Even though there is no evidence that Red Bull energy drinks provide more benefit for consumers than a cup of coffee, the company markets their products as a superior source of energy that costs little.

    "Such conduct means that Red Bull's advertising and marketing is not just 'puffery' (吹捧) but is misleading and therefore actionable (可诉讼的) ," the suit said.

    The company said that the drink could promote healthy joints and reduce the risk of eye diseases. However, according to the organization, the product contains a lot of sugar, which could actually lead to many health problems.

    Coca-Cola agreed to pay $ 1.2 million in compensation in July. But to fully stop the company from linking the drink to health benefit, Truth in Advertising, another non-profit organization, took the issue to court again in late October.

    False advertisements have become a common problem around the world. China changed its consumer rights last year to ban advertising companies and media from making or publishing false advertisements. Celebrities are also made responsible if they endorse (代言) false or substandard products.

    I use tea to refer to a snack(点心)taken in the late afternoon or early evening (ie after getting home from work but before the main meal, which I call dinner) and I don't think that's rare(罕见)at all. I think the difference is when you originally had your main meal and I would agree that it's a class thing, not a north/south thing(I've heard the midday meal referred to as both lunch and dinner by different people in all areas of England).

    Dinner was always the main meal. In the past, working class men worked near(or even at)home and came home for their main meal at midday, and so that was their dinner. Middle class men worked in offices far from their homes(often working in the city centre, and living outside the city) and so couldn't go home for a meal at midday. They therefore had a light meal at midday and had their main meal with their family in the evening after they go home from work, so dinner was in the evening. Because most children at state schools were working class, we still use dinner for school meals. For middle and upper class people, tea was a light snack served in the mid-afternoon at which ladies(who didn't, of course, go out to work)could entertain their friends. For working class people, however, tea was the light snack you had before going to bed. Supper, for all classes, was the light snack you had before going to bed.

    However, because work patterns changed and many working class people started eating their main meal in the evening too, dinner, tea and supper started to become interchangeable for them. Also many working class families have since become middle class, so the terms have become less of a current class thing(if class still exists at all) and more of a system of terminology inherited(家族术语)from grandparents etc, different from family to family. When I was a child(Southern English, middle class family, but with working class forebears(祖先)) we called the midday meal dinner and the evening meal tea, but when I was in my early teens I had a new stepfather(from a family that had always been middle class for generations)who used lunch and dinner, and that's what I've used ever since.

My challenge for you is this: to read a book for 15 minutes every single day for a month.

Let me explain a bit, by telling you where the challenge came from. I have many things in common with my dad, like music taste and sense of humor, but sadly reading isn't one of them. I can happily spend a whole day with a book, but my dad can't read a book for longer than about 5 minutes. He reads emails, websites and papers for work, but not books. He's busy, so I think sitting down to read for just 15 minutes a day is a good way to relax and to introduce him to reading.

My dad is not the only person who avoids books. I know lots of people would rather relax on their computers or in front of the TV. Everyone is different and has their own interests, but I think there are lots of benefits to reading, which screen-based activities don't have.

Firstly, it's better for your eyes. Looking at screens can be very stressful for your eye muscles, and clearly you should avoid looking at screens for an hour before bed, to get a good night's sleep.

One thing I personally love reading, is being transported to another world—I would often forget the time or things around me! Reading is a great way to switch off before you go to bed, because you think more about the world of the book, rather than the real world, so you can truly relax. I know you can be transported to a different world in a film or a TV show, but I think books do it better.

I also enjoy hearing what people are doing and finding out what they think. Reading gives me the chance to get to know hundreds of new people! It also teaches you to see things from other people's point of view, and understand other people's decisions or opinions. With a book, you can hear everything a character is thinking or feeling—you really can be inside someone else's head!

So give it a go! Take 15 minutes when you are waking up, going to bed, eating lunch, or having a coffee. If you read a lot, why not try 15 minutes of an English book, or pass the challenge on to someone else? Good luck, and happy reading!