Bike Rental & Guided Tours
Welcome to Amsterdam, welcome to MacBike. You see much more from the seat of a bike! Cycling is the most economical, sustainable and fun way to explore the city, with its beautiful canals, parks, squares and countless lights. You can also bike along lovely landscapes outside of Amsterdam.
Why MacBike
MacBike has been around for almost 30 years and is the biggest bicycle rental company in Amsterdam. With over 2,500 bikes stored in our five rental shops at strategic locations, we make sure there is always a bike available for you. We offer the newest bicycles in a wide variety, including basic bikes with foot brake (刹车), bikes with hand brake and gears (排挡), bikes with child seats, and children's bikes.
Prices
Hand Brake, Three Gears |
Foot Brake, No Gears |
|
1 hour |
€7.50 |
€5.00 |
3 hours |
€11.00 |
€7.50 |
1 day (24 hours) |
€14.75 |
€9.75 |
Each additional day |
€8.00 |
€6.00 |
Guided City Tours
The 2.5-hour tour covers the Gooyer Windmill, the Skinny Bridge, the Rijksmuseum, Heineken Brewery and much more. The tour departs from Dam Square every hour on the hour, starting at 1:00 pm every day. You can buy your ticket in a MacBike shop or book online.
Ryan Finley is a sketch (素描) card artist for Topps and a visual arts instructor at Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood, Ohio. Ryan and his 10-year-old daughter, Keira, recently showed their artistic talents at a Beck Center exhibition. The exhibition "Side by Side" includes the pair's artistic interpretations (诠释) of the same characters and scenes.
I first met the Finleys when I was a student in Ryan's cartooning class. Keira, now a fourth grader, has been creating art since she was a young child. "She was always next to me, lying on the ground drawing," Ryan recalled.
Keira's love for art continued, and she became a student in Ryan's class at Beck. The best part of "Side by Side" was having friends and classmates come to see the exhibit, Keira said. "I loved walking around with my dad and talking to everybody."
Keira told local news media that she'd love art even if her dad had a different career. "If my dad wasn't an artist," she said, "I'd still probably be doing this."
Ryan's interest in art also began in childhood. "I'd always be drawing when I wasn't supposed to be," he told me. "I'd get notes all the time saying, ‘You need to focus more on your study.'"
That passion never left him. "In high school, I took every art class you could possibly take," he said. Before becoming a Star Wars sketch artist for Topps, Ryan had other jobs, including working as a street artist. When asked what he liked best about his job, Ryan didn't hesitate. "Surely the art show I just had with Keira," he said. "It's hard to even put into words. It's pretty touching."
Ryan also loves working with his students. "I do my best to make sure that they're having fun with what they're doing," he said. "My favorite part is seeing the growth of my students."
Located deep in the mountains of Chongyang county of Hubei province, the Qingshan Reservoir (水库) looks like a river with many twists and turns.
For Wang Zhijun, a primary school teacher who has served the villages near the reservoir for 28 years, the river is an obstacle (障碍) to be overcome. He doubles as a ferryman to help students shuttle (往返) back and forth via boat.
A recent video of Wang went viral on social media and moved many.
He became a teacher at the primary school in Panshan village in 1995. With water in three directions, the village occupies a sort of peninsula (半岛), even though it's high on Qingshan Mountain.
Wang travels 500 meters of mountain roads to carry water to the school for the students. He rows a boat to pick them up for school, and then he takes them home afterward. Wang said he had suffered many falls with the water buckets, but the ferry trips have always been safe.
With development of the local economy, Panshan Primary School merged with (与……结合) the Chichong Primary School on the opposite bank of the reservoir in 2017. Wang could drive to pick up most of the students, but a few depend on his boat.
He said he had been given several opportunities to get out of the area for better career development, but he felt responsible for the kids and stayed.
Panshan and Chichong villages together have more than 1,000 residents. Wang is proud that 40 of his students eventually entered college. "My ultimate dream is to send them out from the mountains through education," Wang said. Meanwhile, he is proud that six of the 40 college students returned to their hometown and became teachers themselves.
Fresh fruit juice has become increasingly popular in many diets - especially among those consumers who are pressed for time and concerned about their health. Fruit juice has also been linked to beliefs that it can help people lose weight. But is juicing really as healthy as we think?
A recent study reveals hard truths about fruit juice.
All fruits contain sugars and don't seem to have harmful effects unless they contribute to excess (过量的) daily calories. This is because the fiber which is found in whole fruit is undamaged, and the sugar is contained within the fruit's cells. It takes our digestive system a while to break these cells down and for sugar to enter the bloodstream.
This is not the case with fruit juice. Different from whole fruit, the natural sugar in fruit juice counts as "free sugars", just like honey and added sugars. With the fiber removed, fruit juice's sugar is absorbed more quickly. A sudden rise of blood sugar causes the pancreas(胰腺) to release insulin (胰岛素) to bring it back down to a normal level. Over time, this system can wear out, increasing the risk of developing type-2 diabetes (糖尿病).
In 2013, after analysing the health data of 100, 000 people collected bet ween 1986 and 2009, researchers found that fruit juice consumption was linked with increased risk of type-2 diabetes. They've concluded that even when fruit juice is similar in the nutritional content to whole fruit, fruit juice leads to faster and larger changes in insulin levels since liquids pass through the stomach faster than solids.
"Although fruit juice is better than no fruit at all, there are lots of limits," said Dr. Amy Smith, professor of medicine at the University of Virginia. "It particularly comes with risks when we consume more than I50ml of free sugars per day, or when it puts us over our recommended calorie intake. It provides us with vitamins - but fruit juice is far from a quick fix"
Lots of people find it hard to get up in the morning and put the blame on the alarm clock. In fact, the key to easy morning wake-up lies in resting your body clock . Here is how to make one.
•In order to make a change, you need to decide why it's important. Do you want to get up in time to have breakfast with your family, get in some exercise or just be better prepared for your day? Once you are clear about your reason, tell your family or roommates about the change you want to make.
• Rethink mornings. Now that you know why you want to wake up, consider re-arranging your morning activities. If you want time to have breakfast with your family, save some time the night before by setting out clothes, shoes, and bags.That's a quarter-hour more you could be sleeping if you bought a coffee maker with a timer.
• Keep your sleep/wake schedule on weekends. If you're tired out by Friday night, sleeping in on Saturday could sound wonderful. But compensating (弥补) on the weekends actually feeds into your sleepiness the following week, a recent study found..
• Keep a record and evaluate it weekly. Keep track of your efforts and write down how you feel. After you've tried a new method for a week, take a look at your record.If not, take another look at other methods you could try.
A. Get a sleep specialist.
B. Find the right motivation.
C. A better plan for sleep can help.
D. And consider setting a second alarm.
E. If the steps you take are working, keep it up.
F. Stick to your set bedtime and wake-up time, no matter the day.
G. Reconsider the 15 minutes you spend in line at the cafe to get coffee.
Every Saturday, Grandpa and I walked to a nursing home. "Whoever visits the sick gives them life," Grandpa 1 believed.
One day Grandpa was suddenly 2 to hospital. Worse still, we were told he was 3 to recover, deep sadness over our family.
Saturday came. I had not 4 to go there, but Grandpa's words rang in my head. So alone I went. Everyone was happy to see me but 5 when not seeing Grandpa. When told his 6 , they comforted me in turn, "Do your best and God will do the rest." They all tried in their unique way to cheer me up and 7 for Grandpa.
For days, neither could Grandpa sit up, nor would he speak or eat. The atmosphere was awfully 8 . Suddenly the nurse came in, saying, "You have visitors." I 9 . The guys Grandpa and I visited every Saturday were all present.
They all showcased their best to the fullest, thus making grandpa's day. Visiting hours went so fast that they had to 10 and told grandpa they would come again soon. I was 11 in tears.
That evening, Grandpa sat up and asked the 12 what he could eat. Day by day he 13 for the better. Grandpa' recovery was a medical 14 , the doctors thought. But I knew the truth: His friends' 15 had made him well.
Beethoven, a famous German composer,(regard) as one of the greatest composers in the history of music. He lost his hearing in his twenties, and he thought about giving up.
(inspire) by his struggles with deafness, he composed some(amaze) pieces. He proceeded with the(compose) until his death, (write) more than 130 musical works, including his Symphony No. 9 in D minor.
In February 1824, Beethoven's ninth symphony was finally completed, and he (proud) signed his name at the bottom of the page.
Before the performance, Beethoven felt that the performance would be a disaster, for the conductor could not hear the orchestra. The audience applauded loudlyhe walked onto the stage. Beethoven togetherMichael Umlauf took charge of the orchestra. Beethoven waved his arms wildly in the air and turned the pages of the score madly. As the joyous note signalled the end of the symphony, the audience jumped to their(foot). In the end, the performance proved to be success.
注意:1. 词数80左右;2. 在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Dear Ken,
……
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
Finding Niesha's Courage
Niesha could not forget the way she had frozen in front of the class today. Mr Roberts had divided the class into groups to do presentations. Today had been Niesha's turn. However, her hands had shaken so badly that she couldn't read her notes. Her voice had become softer even to silence. Mr Roberts kindly ended Niesha's part of the presentation even though she had clearly not finished. He had also asked Niesha to stay after class for a moment.
"Niesha, I know you're shy, but you worked hard on this project. I'd hate to see you give up on yourself." Mr Roberts had hesitated, "If I give you another chance tomorrow, do you think you can find, your courage?"
Niesha had nodded, grateful for the chance. She had gone as quickly as she could to her next class. She had kept her head down and hoped the school day would end soon.
When she reached her back steps that afternoon, she could see an inviting light coming from the kitchen windows. Momma was baking.
Momma studied Niesha's face as she came into the kitchen. "What's wrong, Niesha?"
Tears shone in Niesha's brown eyes. She told her the whole story. Momma was silent for a moment, her hands still busy with the cake.
"Why is it that you can talk to me about anything and everything, but you can't talk to your class?" Momma asked. She set the timer and then said, "Let me show you something."
Niesha followed Momma to her bedroom. There Momma showed her a book filled with newspaper clippings and pictures. In it there was a blue ribbon that said "First Place" and a picture of herself when she was very young, standing with her parents.
"I won it for public speaking. I started the school year as the shyest girl on the speech team, but I ended the year as the blue ribbon winner. It wasn't easy because I was lacking in confidence—not sure of myself at all. I worked hard, and mostly I faced my fears. You just need to find your courage."
注意:1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右;2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
That was the second time someone had told her that today.
……
The next day Niesha again walked to the front of the classroom to give her presentation.