Four Famous Train Rides Around the World

Take a step back in time and enjoy train travels which might be your once-in-a-lifetime journeys.

The Rocky Mountaineer

This Canadian trip has earned a lot of praise in the luxury train travel world.The most well-known are the breathtaking panoramic(全景的)views from your seat thanks to the glass-domed(玻璃穹顶的)coach that brings the outside in along with good meals. There are four routes to take. A favorite is the Coastal Passage, which provides special Pacific Ocean views.

Price: $680 per person

The Belmond Andean Explorer

Called as South America's first luxury sleeper train, Peru's Belmond Andean Explorer deserves a spot on your wish list. The train will bring you quite a different feeling while it drives on one of the world's highest rail lines.Each carriage has its own bathroom, shower, and built-in oxygen tanks and masks for fear that the altitude will get to you.

Price: $600 per person

Seven Stars in Kyushu

Considered one of Japan's most luxurious trains, this service features a mere seven carriages and 14 suites(套房).The significance of the train's name, Seven Stars, is a representation of the seven most important aspects of a visit to Kyushu:hot springs,nature,power spots,history and culture,food,the friendliness of its people, and its train system. Choose from a one-night trip or a four-day journey.

Price: $1,600 per person

The Presidential Train

Portugal's Presidential Train dates back to 1890, when it operated as the Royal Train for King Dom Luis I. Now, it offers luxurious journeys through the Douro Valley. The journey is a gastronomical(美食 学的)event for enthusiasts of food. Each weekend, a different Michelin-starred chef is brought on to please your appetite.

Price: $1,100 per person

The film Hacksaw Ridge tells a story of World War II hero Desmond Doss, who saved lives without ever firing a gun. The film stars Garfield as Doss, and is directed by Mel Gibson. The film is based on the 2004 documentary. The Conscientious Objector produced by Terry Benedict. When he was just 10 years old, he first knew about Doss. After becoming a filmmaker, Benedict approached Doss, encouraging him to tell his story.

Hollywood had been knocking on Doss's door for many years, but Doss wasn't interested. “He didn't want to mention his life in the war,” Benedict explains. But when Benedict insisted on making a documentary about his life, Doss finally agreed. Then Benedict spent the next three years interviewing Doss and his fellow soldiers in World War Ⅱ.

Not long after the documentary's debut, Benedict met with the then president of the 20th Century Fox. The two wanted to make Doss's story into a film, Hacksaw Ridge. Then Gibson signed on to direct. Benedict shared his knowledge of Doss with the director and the leading actor Garfield. Benedict took Garfield on a road trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee where Doss lived most of his adult life.

In the film Hacksaw Ridge, in a hard-fought battle in Okinawa, Doss repeatedly ran into the land controlled by the enemies to rescue friends and get them down the hill to safety. Even when the rest of his troop abandoned the battlefield, Doss stayed, searching for survivors and pulling his tired body to get as many of his men home as he could.

“Doss was a very consistent man of faith. He was a rock,” Benedict says, “He was the same in the war. He was the same all the way up until the day he died. He set us a good example.”

Thinking of getting your child to take up a sport that involves a coach or instructor? There is a piece of good news. A new study finds that children who join in organized physical activities at a young age are less likely to have emotional difficulties by the time they turn 12.

“The primary school years are a critical time in child development,” said Frédéric N. Brière, a professor of psycho-education who led the study. And every parent wants to raise a well-adjusted (适应性强的) child. Besides keeping children from sitting for long, physical activities, such as structured sports, have the potential physical and mental benefits, Brière believes, something parents seem to know instinctively (直觉地).

“We followed a large representative population of typically developing Canadian children over time to examine whether consistent participation in organized sports from ages 6 to 10 would lessen risks associated with emotional distress, anxiety, shyness, social withdrawal (不合群) at age 12, said Brière. “Our goal was to test this question as critically as possible by excluding pre-existing child or family conditions that could offer a different explanation.” To do this. Brière and his team examined data from children born in 1997 or 1998. From ages 6 to 10, mothers reported whether their child participated in organized physical activities. At age 12, teachers reported on the child's levels of emotional distress, anxiety, shyness, and social withdrawal at school.

“The results revealed that children who participated in sports consistently from ages 6 to 10 showed fewer cases of those factors at age 12 than their peers who did not engage in physical activities in a consistent way,” said Brière. “We found these benefits above and beyond pre-existing individual and family characteristics.”

Brière concluded, “Getting kids actively involved in organized sports seems to promote global development. This involvement appears to be good on a socio-emotional level apart from the physical benefits it brings. Being less emotionally troubled between primary and high school is a priceless benefit for children,as they are about to enter a much larger universe with bigger academic challenges.

If you feel like you can't even consider consuming a candy bar without checking its caloric content, you're right. The same thing goes for just about every piece of packaged food you see in stores, plus every bottled or canned beverage: A Nutrition Facts label shows detailed information on the amounts of fat, sugar, sodium and more found inside. But while your favorite sodas and sandwich fixings have this type of in-your-face transparency, you may have noticed that alcohol is not the case. Why?

The answer lies in the powers behind that. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the safety of food, including non-alcoholic beverages, it doesn't govern the alcohol industry. It is because of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau(TTB), an agency that doesn't require labeling. The reasons behind different labeling requirements of the FDA and TTB go back to Prohibition.

While beer, wine and spirits companies aren't legally required to print the nutritional information on their products, consumer advocates have been calling for the TTB to change that. And it has, sort of. In 2013,the TTB made nutrition labels optional for alcohol. But some health experts don't feel the move was brave enough.

Sara Bleich, a public health researcher, said, “Many adults take in a lot of calories from alcohol, and they have no idea.” Her work revealed that the average American regularly consumes 400 calories a day from alcohol alone. The public should be given the power to make informed decisions about their health.

At present, substances that people might be sensitive to have to be labeled, but other ingredients do not. Wines that contain 14 percent alcohol or more have to display alcohol content, while wines from 7 to 14 percent don't have to list alcohol content. What about wines with less than 7 percent alcohol? Those aren't regulated by the TTB at all—those are under the control of the FDA and so they're required to display Nutrition Facts labels.

Change is going on though, at least the beer industry has agreed to voluntarily display nutrition facts next year. Cheers!

In the past,interior(室内的)design was a concept known only to people of high social rank.The idea of designing interior spaces was not something in the minds of any but those with grand houses.     16    Small homes and skyscrapers both attach importance to interior design.

Some of the most interesting parts of the design process come in the choices made for things like window fittings and wall angles.These elements can surely change the overall look of a space.    17    Decisions on things like decorative light fixtures(装 置)also fall within this category.

    18    In nearly all cases, suggestions or changes must be added into an overall building plan that takes technical elements like wiring and pipeline design into account.Decisions about major things like wall placement must usually be cleared with the help of professionals.

Many people choose to hire professional interior designers to help plan out a given space.These experts typically work in design firms.     19    Once hired, designers will work with building owners to create personalized environments.

Designing a space does not always need to turn to professionals.Many interior design resources exist to help home and business owners plan out their own spaces. Books, magazines and websites are some of the best places to get ideas. It's usually a good idea for do-it-yourselfers to seek advice from an architect or a construction manager before they make great changes about interior spaces.    20    

People are at special risk because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They have found creative ways to ____their neighbors, healthcare workers, and loved ones during the ____ times. However, it's not just people who are ____ and volunteering. Loki, a two-year-old Rottweiler therapy (治疗)__,is doing her part to help hospital workers.

Loki and her ___, medical student Caroline Benzel, have delivered over 4,500 medical kits (成套工具)to medical staff at a local hospital. Each kit contains a lot of things, ____ a nice photograph of Loki. The items are even travel-sized, ___ hospital workers can carry them around as they work.

Loki, who is also known as the “Dogtor”, was no __ to the medical center and already had a very special ____ with the staff. Beginning in December 2019, the dog would go to the hospital three times a week to ____ patients and staff.

“We were doing therapy for the __ hospital system,” said Benzel, whether they are nurses, doctors, patients, or even family members in the waiting room.”

When Loki __ a shoulder injury and Benzel could not afford the ___, the medical center staff raised all the funds to __he bills.

Recently, as hospital restrictions ___ Loki's therapy visits, Benzel continued Loki's visits ___ at their house.“ We started contacting people and just checking in, ___ they were doing okay. Then we started doing Face Time __," Benzel said.

Benzel wrote on Loki's Facebook page,“ This is not only to help front line workers, but to __ others to do the same in their counties and states. Thank you for all the love and ____ shown through all of this.”