1 . The ebike has become an essential item, and even the King has been spotted riding one. According to the market research company Mintel, sales have almost tripled over the past five years. While ebikes have become increasingly commonplace, they are still undeniably expensive. You can pick up a perfectly adequate push bike for £300, but most ebikes cost nearly £2, 000. Now, Cycling Electric, designed to help consumers choose an ebike, offers the following recommendations.

Best folding bike

Carbo Model X

Price: £2, 799 | Weight: 13. 3kg

Range: up to 34 miles

This is one of the most convenient bikes, from a little-known label. The lightweight Carbo X is the perfect example of convenience thanks to its carbon frame and belt drive, instead of a metal bike chain. This makes it lighter and less likely to get messy than an electric Brompton, with its more traditional, oily chain.

Most stylish

Temple Cycles Classic

Price: from £2, 995 | Weight: 19kg

Range: up to 74 miles

This Bristol-based brand is known for its elegant pushbikes, which are hand-built in the city. This is its electric version. It’s a very sleek and functional commuter option and not too heavy. Temples have fewer proprietary (品牌专卖的) parts and so are serviceable in any bike shop. Stylish as they may be, the VanMoofs and the Cowboys can be a bit more complex to get back-up and service.

The money-no-object option

Riese & Müller Nevo4 GT Vario GX

Price: £5, 380 | Weight: 28. 4kg

Range: up to 93 miles

This is a prime example of the attention to detail delivering a high-quality experience in functionality, comfort and practicality — if you can afford it. It has the capacity to handle 25kg of luggage in a pannier, powerful road lights and a beautifully smooth motor.

2 . Beer Worth Traveling For

One could give to beer the higher status of a universal human truth. Think Irish Guinness or Japanese Sapporo, each culture has a beer all its own. But in recent years, smaller, more local craft breweries (啤酒厂) have been on the rise, necessitating globe-trotting to gain a taste of the regional takes on the classics.

From well-established breweries in South Africa and California, to the growing markets in Southeast Asia, craft beer is worth travelling for.

Szot Brewery

Talagante, Chile

A Californian and Chilean husband-and-wife team established this brewery outside Santiago in 2016. ......

The Dancing Camel Brewery

Tel Aviv, Israel

Located in a converted grain storage facility dating from the 1930s and established in 2005, Dancing Camel is Israel’s oldest microbrewery. ......

Young Master Brewery

Hong Kong SAR, China

As one of the first craft breweries in Hong Kong, Young Master Ales has been a hot spot since 2013. In addition to......

Young Henrys Brewery

Sydney, Australia

In the heart of the city, this brewery is all about the community, including reducing its environmental impact.......

6 . In 1916, two girls of wealthy families, best friends from Auburn, N. Y. — Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood — traveled to a settlement in the Rocky Mountains to teach in a one-room schoolhouse. The girls had gone to Smith College. They wore expensive clothes. So for them to move to Elkhead, Colo. to instruct the children whose shoes were held together with string was a surprise. Their stay in Elkhead is the subject of Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden, who is a magazine editor and Dorothy Woodruff’s granddaughter.

Why did they go then? Well, they wanted to do something useful. Soon, however, they realized what they had undertaken.

They moved in with a local family, the Harrisons, and, like them, had little privacy, rare baths, and a blanket of snow on their quilt when they woke up in the morning. Some mornings, Rosamond and Dorothy would arrive at the schoolhouse to find the children weeping from the cold. In spring, the snow was replaced by mud over ice.

In Wickenden’s book, she expanded on the history of the West and also on feminism, which of course influenced the girls’ decision to go to Elkhead. A hair-raising section concerns the building of the railroads, which entailed (牵涉) drilling through the Rockies, often in blinding snowstorms. The book ends with Rosamond and Dorothy’s return to Auburn.

Wickenden is a very good storyteller. The sweep of the land and the stoicism (坚忍) of the people move her to some beautiful writing. Here is a picture of Dorothy Woodruff, on her horse, looking down from a hill top: “When the sun slipped behind the mountains, it shed a rosy glow all around them. Then a full moon rose. The snow was marked only by small animals: foxes, coyotes, mice, and varying hares, which turned white in the winter.”

7 .

Lakelander·2 hours ago

Today, a man talked very loud on his phone on a train between Malvern and Reading, making many passengers upset. I wonder how he would react if I were to read my newspaper out loud on the train. I have never had the courage to do it, though.

Pak50·57 minutes ago

Why not give it a try? Perhaps you should take lessons on a musical instrument. The late musician Dennis Brain is said to have asked a fellow train passenger to turn off his radio. When his request was refused, he took out his French horn (号) and started to practise.

Angie O’Edema·42 minutes ago

I don’t see how musical instruments can help improve manners in public. Don’t do to others what you wouldn’t like to be done to yourself. Once, a passenger next to me talked out loud on his mobile phone. I left my seat quietly, giving him some privacy to finish his conversation. He realized this and apologised to me. When his phone rang again later, he left his seat to answer it. You see, a bit of respect and cooperation can do the job better.

Taodas·29 minutes ago

I did read my newspaper out loud on a train, and it turned out well. The guy took it in good part, and we chatted happily all the way to Edinburgh.

Sophie76·13 minutes ago

I have not tried reading my newspaper out loud on a train, but, several years ago, I read some chapters from Harry Potter to my bored and noisy children. Several passengers seemed to appreciate what I did.

9 . Many of us love July because it’s the month when nature’s berries and stone fruits are in abundance. These colourful and sweet jewels from British Columbia’s fields are little powerhouses of nutritional protection.

Of the common berries, strawberries are highest in vitamin C, although, because of their seeds, raspberries contain a little more protein (蛋白质), iron and zinc (not that fruits have much protein). Blueberries are particularly high in antioxidants (抗氧化物质). The yellow and orange stone fruits such as peaches are high in the carotenoids we turn into vitamin A and which are antioxidants. As for cherries (樱桃), they are so delicious who cares? However, they are rich in vitamin C.