Our historic1740 Shenandoah Valley Bed and Breakfast is the perfect place to relax and enjoy the beauty and history of the Valley. Once a haven (避难所) against Indian attacks on the Virginia frontier and later Stonewall Jackson's headquarters during the Valley Campaign (战役) of 1862, our Shenandoah Valley inn(small hotel) now welcomes travelers looking for comfortable bed and board and friendly welcome.

    On Route11，the Old Valley Turnpike, only two miles from Interstate 81 at Woodstock, the inn has a country atmosphere on five private acres along the Shenandoah River. The inn offers 12 guest rooms, a well-equipped meeting room for small managing meetings, many common areas, and lovely grounds to host sendoffs and family gatherings.

    A hearty Inn at Narrow Passage breakfast will get your day off to a great start! If you have special food needs, tell us ahead of time, and we will try to have just what you need.

    “We had a wonderful four-day stay. Quiet and peaceful with the warmth of fireplaces in the room and bar to comfort and relax you. Ed and Ellen make you feel like family. Breakfast was outstanding.” A visitor said.

    After a busy day of hiking or sightseeing, return for a cool drink on the porch in summer or hot, spiced tea by the fire in winter. In the evening, walk down to the river to feed the ducks, or maybe spend a little time fishing.

    We hope you'll be able to visit us soon. We'll do all we can to make your stay a happy one.

    A crisis is on the way．Global warming? The world economy? No，the decline of reading．People are just not doing it anymore，especially the young．Who's responsible? What is responsible? The Internet，of course，and everything that comes with it—Facebook，Twitter，etc..

    There's been a warning about the coming death of literate civilization for a long time．In the 20th century，first it was the movies，then radio，then television that seemed to end the written world．None did．Reading survived；in fact it not only survived，it has developed better．The world is more literate than ever before — there are more and more readers．and more and more books．

    The fact that we often get our reading material online today is not something we should worry over．The electronic and digital revolution of the last two decades has arguably shown the way forward for reading and for writing．Interconnectivity allows for the possibility of a reading experience that was barely imaginable before．Where traditional books had to make do with photographs and illustrations，an e-book can provide readers with an unlimited number of links：to texts，pictures，and videos．

    On the other hand，there is the danger of trivialization(碎片化)．One Twitter group is offering its followers single-sentence-long“digests”of the great novels．War and Peace in a sentence? You must be joking．We should fear the fragmentation(碎片)of reading．There is the danger that the high-speed connectivity of the Internet will reduce our attention span—that we will be incapable of reading anything of length or which requires deep concentration．

    In such a fast-changing world，in which reality seems to be remade each day，we need the ability to focus and understand what is happening to us．This has always been the function of literature and we should be careful not to let it disappear．Our society needs to be able to imagine the possibility of someone entirely in pace with modern technology but able to make sense of a dynamic，confusing world．

    The story of Sir Nicholas Winton is the one that you would imagine could only happen on the silver screen. Sir Nicholas Winton was a British man who went to heroic efforts, potentially putting himself at risk, during World War II. Sir Winton was responsible for ensuring the safety of 669 Jewish children by aiding their escape from countries occupied by Nazis. Finally, the Jewish children were brought to England where he worked to make sure families in his native country would help the kids by taking them into their homes.

    Recently, this unbelievable story has again been making the rounds on the Internet, particularly after a rerun of the BBC show called "That's Life", which featured Sir Winton. People around the world were moved at the details of the story, with saying it to be the best story they've ever seen.

    Sir Winton kept his entire plan completely secret, even his wife had no idea about his planning until fifty years later. After the war, years passed and many people remained in the dark about Sir Winton's extraordinary achievement. Some fifty years later, his wife Greta was searching in their house and discovered a Winton's notebook which documented the names of all the children. She worked with BBC and they produced a TV episode(插曲) of their program "That's Life" that served as an honor for Sir Winton's work.

    In 2003, Sir Winton was knighted by the Queen of England for his work. He also was even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. He also had a small planet named after him by Czech astronomers. Sir Winton died peacefully in his sleep at the old age of 106, in 2015. Leaders around the world paid tribute(悼念). Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Daniel Taub, said, "He was a hero of our time, having saved 669 Jewish children from Nazis. His story, as a point of light in a period of darkness, will forever be remembered."

    This day marks the rising of a new food startup, the first company to be financed entirely by the crowd, and of it every business thus relies on thousands of customers to grow. Lisa, 25, its main founder and CEO, believes it will be a path that will become increasingly popular, and ultimately will produce more thriving（繁荣的）businesses from the scratch.

    “In the food industry, no venture capital (VC, 风险投资) will even look at you until you've hit a million in sales. As a fresh hand in business, unless you're independently wealthy, you will likely need to raise some money before then,” Lisa complained. So few businesses approached VC firms at the beginning. It was no exception with her. Thus, she turned to a new financing tool at hand, crowdfunding, to raise money from the crowd who'd like to take a bet on her company.

    But for a company, it didn't make sense to seek investments when all they had was an idea and a few months of consumer testing data. The food market is extremely competitive. No investor would put money behind a totally unproven new super food product founded by a bunch of twenty-somethings. “But we had a story. And crowds love stories.” Lisa said delightedly. So she put together an online crowdfunding campaign, explaining how she began working with this amazingly nutritious plant in the Peace Corps and then started selling it in the U.S. to support the poor in the West Africa.

    On the online platform where they were to raise the money, a friend convinced them to change their goal from $20,000 to $50,000. Lisa stayed up all night worrying they wouldn't hit it. But they reached $24,000 in 24 hours and ended their funding with $53,000. Seeing the number, Lisa said, “Thank you! To my crowd and for your belief!”

    A new study warns that about thirty percent of the world's people may not have enough water by the year 2025.

    A private American organization called Population Action International did the new study. It says more than 335 million people lack enough water now. The people live in 28 countries. Most of the countries are in Africa or the Middle East.

    P-A-I researcher Robert Engelman says by the year 2025, about 3,000 million people may lack water. At least 18 more countries are expected to have severe water problems. The demand for water keeps increasing. Yet the amount of water on the earth stays the same.

    Mr. Engelman says the population in countries that lack water is growing faster than in other parts of the world. He says population growth in these countries will continue to increase.

    The report says lack of water in the future may result in several problems. It may increase health problems. Lack of water often means drinking water is not safe. Mr Engelman says there are problems all over the world because of diseases, such as cholera, which are carried in water. Lack of water may also result in more international conflict. Countries may have to compete for water in the future. Some countries now get sixty percent of their fresh water from other countries. This is true of Egypt, the Netherlands, Cambodia, Syria, Sudan, and Iraq. And the report says lack of water would affect the ability of developing to improve their economies. This is because new industries often need a large amount of water when they are beginning.

    The Population Action International study gives several solutions to the water problem. One way, it says, is to find ways to use water for more than one purpose. Another way is to teach people to be careful not to waste water. A third way is to use less water of agriculture.

    The report also says long-term solutions to the water problem must include controls on population growth. It says countries cannot provide clean water unless they slow population growth by limiting the number of children people have.

London Underground

    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 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.