If you want to visit only the sights that you think are most interesting, you should definitely book one of the many private tours in NYC.

Landmark Private New York Tours

     The best way to make the most of your visit to the top NYC landmarks is to use one of the private tours in NYC.

     NY See It All: From traveling through Manhattan to getting onto a boat to visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, this private NYC tour delivers superiors service. Customize（定制） your stops and see why this tour is one of the best private tours in NYC.

     NY Limo Tour: After choosing what you want to see, this private tour in NYC lets you write the route of your day. Whether you want to see historical NYC sights, movie sights, or cultural sights, it will help make your visit memorable.

     Aerial Landmark Tour: This is a fun and exciting way to explore New York City. On this 20-minute helicopter tour, you'll see the very best landmarks in Manhattan and the Bronx. Family-Friendly Private New York Tours

     NYC isn't just a playground of adults; these family-friendly private New York City tours are ideal for people traveling with kids.

Revolutionary Era Walking Tour: When you book this informative NYC walking tour, you and your kids will wander around Manhattan's Financial District and hear all about the American Revolution. With knowledgeable guides, your kids will love the tour too.

     Kids Greenwich Village Tour: This fun NYC walking tour is specifically created for children. You and your kids will visit some famous Greenwich Village sights, while the children, led by friendly guides, play games that relate to math, science, foreign language, and the arts.

The Diet Zone: A Dangerous Place

    Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically.

    Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale(秤)instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels.

    On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don't have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.

    The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients. Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemicals that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.

    Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological and physical harm that comes from using them.

    As most people know, in the last few years, sandstorms have swept across many cities and areas of North China, polluting the air and disturbing daily lives of human beings. People look dirty and suffer many kinds of illnesses, such as breath difficulty. The sandstorm is such a serious problem that it has not only weakened the industrial and agricultural development of our country but also caused a lot of trouble to the living conditions of the Chinese people.

    Therefore, effective measures should be taken as soon as possible to stop its happening. So how should we deal with the frightening sandstorms?

    Some experts offer practical advice as follows: For one thing, more money ought to be put into tree planting and forest protection in order to keep more water on the Earth. For another, government of all countries should make laws on environment protection. For example, banning the use of throw-away chopsticks and punishing illegal tree cutting. Scientists should also study and find ways to lower the grade of its destruction and to improve the environment. As for some schools, education about sandstorms should be spread properly and timely to make more and more people attach great importance to this problem.

    How people look forward to sunny days with soft wind touching their faces now and forever! The golden days can come back so long as we try our best to protect the natural environment from today on. And the fact is that what I expect is not just a dream. There are some sweet fruits from the early efforts.

    In this day and age, you can practically do anything with the help of the Internet. While chatting with a stranger may seem new and exciting, make sure that you stay safe while still having fun.

    While there are some unpleasant people in the world, let's remember that most people are friendly! If you find someone who likes the same restaurant as you or who is also crazy about Gilmore Girls, then feel free to talk the night away! Just keep the conversation light and talk about your common interests. If a topic that doesn't fit well with you is brought up, keep in mind that you are always in control. Under no circumstances should you be forced to talk or think about anything inappropriate. Ignore your manners at this time!

    Do stay open-minded. Sometimes chatting with strangers can turn into a close bond—or just another person you can turn to for a laugh. But when you are typing away in your computer, it's easy for you to get carried away and to tell your new friends all about yourself. Keep the personal details secret, and instead talk about fun hobbies or the latest episode (一集) of The Good Wife.

    Always listen to your instincts (直觉). If something inside of you is telling you something isn't right, it probably isn't. Pay attention to how your body responds to certain people online. Remember, you never really know who you are talking to just by looking at a computer screen name, so downloading anything is absolutely no.

    See? Talking to strangers online doesn't always have to be appalling experience. By following these do's and don'ts, chatting with someone you don't know can be cool and pleasant, and can make sure that you stay safe in the world of the Internet.

    It was once common to regard Britain as a society with class distinction. Each class had unique characteristics.

    In recent years, many writers have begun to speak the 'decline of class' and 'classless society' in Britain. And in modern day consumer society everyone is considered to be middle class.

    But pronouncing the death of class is too early. A recent wide-ranging society of public opinion found 90 percent of people still placing themselves in particular class; 73 percent agreed that class was still a vital part of British society; and 52 percent thought there were still sharp class differences. Thus, class may not be culturally and politically obvious, yet it remains an important part of British society. Britain seems to have a love of stratification.

    One unchanging aspect of a British person's class position is accent. The words a person speaks tell her or his class. A study of British accents during 1970s found that a voice sounding like a BBC newsreader was viewed as the most attractive voice, Most people said this accent sounded 'educated' and 'soft'. The accents placed at the bottom in this study, on the other hand, were regional city accents. These accents were seen as 'common' and 'ugly'. However, a similar study of British accents in the US turned these results upside down and placed some regional accents as the most attractive and BBC English as the least. This suggests that British attitudes towards accent have deep roots and are based on class prejudice.

    In recent years, however, young upper middle-class people in London, have begun to adopt some regional accents, in order to hide their class origins. This is an indication of class becoming unnoticed. However, the 1995 pop song 'Common People' puts forward the view that though a middle-class person may 'want to live like common people' they can never appreciate the reality of a working-class life.

    In a room at Texas Children Cancer Center in Houston, eight-year-old Simran Jatar lay in bed with a drip(点滴)above her to fight her bone cancer. Over her bald(秃的)head, she wore a pink hat that matched her clothes. But the third grader's cheery dressing didn't mask her pain and weary eyes.

    Then a visitor showed up. "Do you want to write a song?" asked Anita Kruse, 49, rolling a cart equipped with an electronic keyboard, a microphone and speakers. Simran stared. "Have you ever written a poem?" Anita Kruse continued. "Well, yes," Simran said.

    Within minutes, Simran was reading her poem into the microphone. "Some bird soaring through the sky," she said softly. "Imagination in its head…" Anita Kruse added piano music, a few warbling (鸣,唱)birds, and finally the girl's voice. Thirty minutes later, she presented Simran with a CD of her first recorded song.

    That was the beginning of Anita Kruse's project, Purple Songs Can Fly, one that has helped more than 125 young patients write and record songs. As a composer and pianist who had performed at the hospital, Kruse said that the idea of how she could help "came in one flash".

    The effect on the kids has been great. One teenage girl, curling(蜷缩)in pain in her wheelchair, stood unaided to dance to a hip-hop song she had written. A 12-year-old boy with Hodgkin's disease who rarely spoke surprised his doctors with a song he called I Can Make It.

    "My time with the kids is heartbreaking because of the severity of their illnesses," says Anita Kruse. "But they also make you happy, when the children are smiling, excited to share their CD with their families."

    Simran is now an active sixth grader and cancer-free. From time to time, she and her mother listen to her song, Always Remembering, and they always remember the "really sweet and nice and loving" lady who gave them a shining moment in the dark hour.