【推荐1】Journey Back in Time with Scholars

Classical Provence(13days)

Journey through the beautiful countryside of Provence，France，with Prof. Ori Z. Soltes. We will visit some of the best-preserved Roman monuments in the world. Our tour also includes a chance to walk in the footsteps of Van Gogh and Gauguin. Fields of flowers, tile-roofed(瓦屋顶)villages and tasty meals enrich this wonderful experience.

Southern Spain(15days)

Spain has lovely white towns and the scent(芳香)of oranges，but it is also a treasury of ancient remains including the cities left by the Greeks，Romans and Arabs. As we travel south from Madrid with Prof. Ronald Messier to historic Toledo，Roman Merida and into Andalucia, we explore historical monuments and architecture.

China’s Sacred Landscapes(21days)

Discover the China of “past ages,” its walled cities，temples and mountain scenery with Prof.   Robert Thorp. Highlights(精彩之处)include China’s most sacred peaks at Mount Tai and Hangzbou’s rolling hills，waterways and peaceful temples. We will wander in traditional small towns and end our tour with an exceptional museum in Shanghai.

Tunisia(17days)

Join Prof. Pedar Foss on our in-depth Tunisian tour. Tour highlights include the Roman city of Dougga，the underground Numidian capital at Bulla Regia, Roman Sbeitla and the remote areas around Tataouine and Matmata，uique for underground cities. Our journey takes us to picturesque Berber villages and lovely beaches.

【推荐2】Marvelous Scenic Walks Near London

There are plenty of walking routes in London. If you fancy something a bit more rural, then the green and pleasant land has plenty to offer.

Goring Gap and the Thames Path

If you’re in the mood for a gentle rural walk, the Thames Path is far from boring. The 5-mile footpath follows the curve of the river, winding past wildflower meadows (草地).

Post-walk pub: Pangbourne’s seventeenth-century pub The Swan serves high-end dishes. Bag a table on the riverside or keep toasty by one of its open fires.

Box Hill

To admire these spots rural views, first you’ve got to jump across 17 stepping stones and climb 272 steps to the top of Box Hill, where the path begins. The total distance is 6.8 miles.

Post-walk pub: The cavernous Tree on Box Hill has an attractive menu and huge beer garden, or sample a glass of Juniper Hill at Denbies Winerie.

A South Downs Ridge (山脊)

If you’ve already done the classic Seven Sisters clifftop walk or can’t face all those hills, this is a long but lovely alternative. The route covering 14.3 miles snakes along a ridge and a river valley.

Post-walk pub: There are always 10 real beers at the old-school pub The Wellington.

Chess Valley in the Chilterns

Chess Valley in the Chiltern Hills isn’t home to any chess masters, but it used to produce a kind of water plant. This walk of 4.9 miles follows the river, winding through rolling meadows and woods.

Post-walk pub: The George & Dragon is a simple old coaching pub on the High Street with a log fire, real beers and giant burgers.

Which of the following walks covers the shortest distance?

【推荐3】A Take a view, the Landscape(风景)Photographer of the Year Award, was the idea of Charlie Waite, one of today’s most respected landscape photographers. Each year, the high standard of entries has shown that the Awards are the perfect platform to showcase the very best photography of the British landscape. Take a view is a desirable annual competition for photographers from all comers of the UK and beyond.

What do the works by Shepherd and Smith have in common?

【推荐2】Tune in to a college football match in America, and you might think that you are watching a professional rather than an amateur sport. The biggest stadiums routinely fill over 100,000 seats. Corporate sponsorships are common. Television broadcasts are filled with ads for expensive pick-up trucks and beers. In all, America’s college athletic departments brought in a combined $18.1bn of revenue (收益) in 2017, up from $9.8bn in 2007.

Despite the popularity of their output, college athletes receive no salary. The National College Athletic Association (NCAA), which governs college sports, has long forbidden its players to receive any reward. The ordinance has caused public discussion and disagreement. After years of legal challenges and intense public scrutiny(监督), the NCAA’s restriction on paying student athletes is at last starting to crack.

On September 10th, California passed a bill which would allow athletes at colleges in the state with profitable sports programs to hire agents and earn money on the side through sponsorship deals or autograph(签名) sales. The bill still needs to be signed by the governor, and would not come into effect until 2023.

Some lawmakers would like to go one step further. Senator Bernie Sanders put it plainly on Twitter: “College athletes are workers. Pay them.” Yet treating athletes as employees could make things more complicated. Would this mean that colleges would pay their female players as much as males, for example, even if the men bring in more revenue?

Richard Borghesi, an economist at the University of South Florida-Sarasota, has written a pair of papers looking at how much top athletes would make if they were paid according to their ability to generate revenue for their colleges. Mr Borghesi estimates that the top 10% of football and 16% of basketball players would be paid around $400,000 and $250,000 a year respectively.

The NCAA opposes California’s efforts. The association notes that college athletes are already rewarded in the form of scholarships, and argues that they shouldn’t get any further reward as amateur players. The NCAA has also threatened to ban Californian colleges from competing in national championships.

Although the NCAA’s objections may have been reasonable at some point, they make little sense today. The two most profitable college sports, American football and basketball, are highly competitive. Many universities are willing to make every effort to admit talented players.

【推荐2】By day, Robert Titterton is a lawyer. In his spare on stage beside pianist Maria Raspopova — not as a musician but as her page turner. “I’m not a trained musician, but I’ve learnt to read music so I can help Maria in her performance.”

Mr Titterton is chairman of the Omega Ensemble but has been the group’s official page turner for the past four years. His job is to sit beside   the pianist and turn the pages of the score so the musician doesn’t have to break the flow of sound by doing it themselves. He said he became just as nervous as those playing instruments on stage.

“A lot of skills are needed for the job. You have to make sure you don’t turn two pages at once and make sure you find the repeats in the music   when you have to go back to the right spot.” Mr Titterton explained.

Being a page turner requires plenty of practice. Some pieces of music can go for 40 minutes and require up to 50 page turns, including back turns for repeat passages. Silent onstage communication is key, and each pianist has their own style of “nodding” to indicate a page turn which they need to practise with their page turner.

But like all performances, there are moments when things go wrong. “I was turning the page to get ready for the next page, but the draft wind from the turn caused the spare pages to fall off the stand,” Mr Titterton said, “Luckily I was able to catch them and put them back.”

Most page turners are piano students or up-and-coming concert pianists, although Ms Raspopova has once asked her husband to   help her out on stage.

“My husband is the worst page turner,” she laughed. “He’s interested in the music, feeling every note, and I have to say: ‘Turn, turn!’ “Robert is the best page turner I’ve had in my entire life.”

Which of the following best describes Titterton’s job on stage?

【推荐3】It’s not often to see a woman who’s seven months pregnant running a marathon. But Beatie Deutsch is anything but typical.

The 30-year-old mother of five is ranked as one of the top women marathon runners in the world and, as of today, has qualified for the 32nd Summer Olympics. What impresses people more deeply is that, unlike many Olympic hopefuls who have been training their whole lives, Deutsch only took up running four years ago.

Why did she train for a marathon? “I was really out of shape after having five kids,” she said. “So I set the goal for myself of running a marathon and that helped me. I needed something to be motivated to get out there and train every day. I didn’t ever expect it to take me to this.”

The Israeli press has been tracking her with pride, calling her “Speedy Beatie”. Hoping to add more purpose to her newfound fame, Deutsch uses her running as a way to raise money for a charity Beit Daniella. This nonprofit organization provides a recovery center for youths who are struggling with mental health issues.

That mission is helping fuel her Olympic dreams. At the Tiberias Marathon last month, Deutsch was the fastest woman in the race. This past September, she finished the Cape Town Marathon in two hours and thirty-six minutes. That’s a few minutes shy of her personal best of two hours and twenty-nine minutes, a time that qualifies her for the Olympics. She will try to shave even more time off when she competes in the Rotterdam Marathon this April.

It’s remarkable for someone who started her athletic career in her late 20s. “I always tell people to have big dreams, and set huge goals. Don’t get caught up in the place where we are right now and have tunnel vision and are limited in what we see of ourselves,” said Deutsch, who now travels the world as a motivational speaker.