A road trip

Out of all possible road trips, the best one is by car. You finish packing, put everything inside the car, sit inside it, buckle up, look at your friend     1     (sit) next to you, smile and ... go! And then begins the most wonderful part of the road trip. It is not the place you are heading to but what you see from the opened window of the car     2     matters. The best part is when you leave your home before the dawn. Personally,     3     I look in the direction of the east, I am always amazed by how the sun informs the world about its arrival.

I love to meet the sun while driving a road trip in a car.     4     (bring) alive in the new sunlight, everything looks promising. It always seems as if it was the first time in your life that you had seen a green leaflet, the trees,     5     grew right next to your car window, and a light smiling over the nature.

Spring and autumn are two seasons of the year that are perfect for a road trip. In my opinion, spring is the most inspiring time of the year,     6     when you open the car windows, you can actually feel that the world is clean and ready for a new life. The green grass is so fresh that you can’t wait     7     (take) a deep breath. The air is filled with a fragrant smell of the plants.

A road trip in autumn is beautiful, too. The golden brush touches     8     around the gardens, the fields, the groves, the woods. In deep autumn, the whole earth     9     (cover) by colorful plants as if you were driving through a fine carpet. The air is sharp, cool and fresh. You simply put on a warmer sweater but never put the window up!

A road trip for me is the moment of communication with nature. It is a dialogue     10     the nature and me. The beauty that you observe during a car road trip purifies you, refreshing your soul and your mind!

3 . Last summer holiday, Aunt Emily took us to a safari park (野生动物园), not far from Liverpool.

I was very happy to go as I had never been to a safari park before. It’s a very interesting park, full of wild animals running freely.

When we got there, we bought our tickets and drove into the park. We were very excited at the thought of going to see the lions. But to get to the lions’ place we had to go through the monkeys’ land first. And that was an unforgettable experience because they climbed all over the car, ate apples and bananas, and threw all kinds of things at us. They seemed very unfriendly.

Anyway, we went on our way to the lions’ place where we had to lock ourselves in the car as we knew lions could be dangerous. A lion came up very close to us. Then it was on the bonnet (车盖). It looked calm but we felt terrified. Aunt Emily, who isn’t very brave, started to call for help. The kids started crying. Only my brother, George, stayed cool. I sounded the horn (喇叭) but nobody heard us.

In the end a guard arrived in his car, and the lion just got off our car and started smelling the guard’s hand as if nothing was the matter.

4 . I’m in the area of Noailles in Marseille, France’s second largest city and its main trade seaport. Some small shops sell vegetables, meat, and, it seems, all the spices of the Middle East. In addition to French, languages spoken on the busy streets include Arabic and African French. It all adds up to one of the most ethnically diverse cities in Europe.

Close to the downtown street, I discover an Algerian restaurant, whose owner makes his signature dish-couscous with barley, not the usual wheat, using a recipe that hasn’t changed since the 1920s. Couscous is an necessary part of Marseille culture. The dish was added to the UNESCO’s Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2020.

To be honest, before I travelled here, couscous had not been the first meal that came to mind when I thought of Marseille. It was bouillabaisse, the rich soup with olive oil, garlic and saffron. I imagined enjoying it at a small portside cafe. This was clearly a romantic fantasy. For one thing, there are no small cafes at historic city. For another, the restaurants do serve bouillabaisse, but when I see the price at one place I am shocked: 69 euros! No bowl of soup should cost that much.

I give up and end up two streets away from the old harbor in a new restaurant, Ourea. For 28 euros, Chef Matthieu Roche serves a three-course lunch that includes tuna steaks and couscous.

More and more young, talented people are discovering that Marseille is an ideal place to live. There is also a growing number of Parisians moving here every year. Tired of the rush and expense of life in larger cities, the newcomers come looking for the more relaxed Mediterranean way of life.

Walking through these contrasting neighborhoods of Marseille. I think about the distinct communities here living in the same neighborhoods — together, side by side, but not mixed. They may also feel they are Marseillais first regardless of nationalities.

5 . Ancient builders across the world created structures that are still standing today, thousands of years later. Yet the concrete that makes up much of our modern world has a lifespan of around 50 to 100 years. A growing number of scientists have been studying materials from long-ago eras, hoping to uncover how they’ve held up for millennia.

Many researchers have turned to the Romans for inspiration. Starting around 200 BCE, the architects of the Roman Empire were building impressive concrete structures that have stood the test of time. Even in harbors, where seawater has been battering structures for ages, you’ll find concrete basically the way it was when it was poured 2,000 years ago. Most modern concrete starts with Portland cement, a powder made by heating limestone and clay to super-high temperatures and crushing them. That cement is mixed with water to create a chemically reactive paste. Then, blocks of material like rock and gravel are added, and the cement paste mixes them into a concrete mass. According to records from ancient architects, the Roman process was similar. The ancient builders mixed materials like burnt limestone and volcanic sand with water and gravel, creating chemical reactions to stick everything together.

In a study published earlier this year, Admir Masic, a civil and environmental engineer, proposed that this power comes from blocks of lime that are scattered throughout the Roman material instead of being mixed in evenly. Researchers used to think these blocks were a sign that the Romans weren’t mixing up their materials well enough. Instead, after analyzing concrete samples from Privernum—an ancient city outside of Rome — the scientists found that the blocks could fuel the material’s “self-healing” abilities. When cracks form, water is able to flow into the concrete, Masic explained. That water activates the leftover lime, leading to new chemical reactions that can fill in the damaged sections.

The ancient architectures suggested using extracts from local chukum and jiote trees in the lime mix. When researchers tested out the recipe, they found the resulting plaster was especially durable against physical and chemical damage.

Studies have found all kinds of natural materials mixed into structures from long ago: fruit extracts, milk, cheese curd, beer, even dung and urine. The paste that holds together some of China’s most famous structures—including the Great Wall and the Forbidden City — includes traces of sticky rice.

“Some of these ancient builders might have just gotten lucky”, said Cecilia Pesce, a materials scientist at the University of Sheffield in England, “They’d throw just about anything into their mixes, as long as it was cheap and available.”

Today’s builders can’t just copy the ancient recipes. Even though Roman concrete lasted a longtime, it couldn’t hold up heavy loads: “You couldn’t build a modern skyscraper with Roman concrete,” Cecilia said. “It would collapse.” Instead, researchers are trying to take some of the ancient material’s specialties and add them into modern mixes.

6 . I wanted the pleasure of being in Africa again. Feeling that the place was so large that it contained many untold tales and some hope and comedy and sweetness too, I aimed to reinsert myself in the bundy, as we used to call the bush, and to wander around. There I had lived and worked, happily, almost forty years ago, in the heart of the greenest continent.

In those old undramatic days of my school teaching in the bundu, folks lived their lives on bush paths at the end of unpaved roads of red clay, in villages of grass-roofed huts. They had a new national flag, they had just gotten the vote, some had bikes, many talked about buying their first pair of shoes. They were hopeful, and, so was I, a schoolteacher living near a settlement of mud-huts among trees and fields—children shouting at play; and women bent double—most with infants on their backs—hoeing(锄地) the corn beans; and the men sitting in the shade.

The Swahili word safari means “journey”, it has nothing to do with animals, someone “on safari” is just away and unobtainable and out of touch. Out of touch in Africa was where I wanted to be. The wish to disappear sends many travellers away. If you are thoroughly sick of being kept waiting at home or at work, travel is perfect: let other people wait for a change. Travel is a sort of revenge(报复) for having been put on hold, or having to leave messages on answering machines, not knowing your party’s extension, being kept waiting all your working life. But also being kept waiting is the human condition.

Travel in the African bush can also be a sort of revenge on mobile phones and email, on telephones and the daily paper, on the aspects of globalization that allow anyone who chooses to get their hands on you. I desired to be unobtainable. I was going to Africa for the best of reasons—in a spirit of discovery—simply to disappear, to light out, with a suggestion of I dare you to try to find me.

Home had become a routine, and routine made time pass quickly. I was a sitting duck in this predictable routine: people knew when to call me, they knew when I would be at my desk. I was in such regular touch that it was like having a job, a mode of life I hated. I was sick of being called up and asked for favors, hit up for money. You stick around too long and people begin to impose their own deadlines on you.

9 . How to Travel to Machu Picchu

Mysterious. Brilliant. Powerful. These words describe the Inca (印加). Every year, visitors rush to the Incan citadel (堡垒) of Machu Picchu (meaning “the ancient peak”) in search of the lost civilization. But getting to this UNESCO World Heritage site isn’t cheap and easy. Here’s how to expertly navigate your way to Peru’s most famous destination.

Hiking to Machu Picchu

* The most famous way to hike to Machu Picchu is along a section of one of the Incan roads built as the empire expanded. Dozens of tour operators offer Inca Trail hikes with varying durations and levels of comfort (though all require camping).

* For those who would like a less crowded experience, there are a number of diverse hiking alternatives, one of which is around Salkantay Mountain, one of the most imposing peaks in the Peruvian Andes. Several tour companies offer the treks, but Apus Peru offers an express Salkantay trek, which shaves a day off the normal itinerary for those eager to push their physical limits on their way to Machu Picchu.

* Travelers interested in archaeology should consider the Choquequirao Trek with a Machu Picchu extension. This itinerary includes spectacular hiking in the less-traveled steep Apurimac Canyon and exploration of the Choquequirao archaeological site before heading for Machu Picchu. Note that the trail is closed in December every year for regular maintenance.

Tips for Visiting

* Getting Acclimated (适应水土): Where you`re coming from is probably much lower than Machu Picchu. We highly recommend you go to Aguas Calientes first, and spend a night getting used to it before exploring Machu Picchu. Meanwhile, avoid alcohol and physical exertion to help your body slowly adjust to the thinner air.

* Entrance tickets: If you’re traveling independently, you can buy individual entrance tickets, though you should note that you’ll be required to hire a local guide before entering the site. If you book a tour package through a travel agency, all services should be included. Moreover, all entry tickets are timed, allowing entrance on the hour, and you’re allowed to stay at the site for up to four hours.

*Bring: Water and a rain jacket, even if it looks like a beautiful sunny day. And speaking of sun, remember that the ozone layer (臭氧层) over Peru is compromised. That, combined with the elevation, makes the sun extremely strong, so wear a hat and use high SPF sunscreen.

* Don’t bring: Drones, walking sticks, trekking poles or umbrellas since they’re all prohibited at Machu Picchu. Travelers who require sticks for mobility can bring them in but only with protective rubber tips over the ends.