Guilin is my favorite city in China because of its beauty, its waterways, its cafes, and most of all because I met my wife there. It is her hometown and we will both retire there in a few years.
Not only is Guilin a fascinating city, there are many interesting places to visit within a short drive from there. The Ling (sometimes called Lingqu) canal is the oldest canal in the world. It was built about 2,200 years ago and connects two major river systems, the Yangtze (to the east) and the Pearl River.
Longsheng Rice Terraces (龙胜梯田) is another manmade wonder that was built around 650 years ago. I have some photos of both of these places in my China Daily homepage Albums. Gudong Waterfall Park(古东瀑布) is another attraction that is worth visiting. The hike to the top of all these waterfalls isn’t very difficult and if you want, you can take a ride to the bottom on a personal rail car whose speed you can control with a brake.
If you want you can also climb up some of the waterfalls with the help of chains that are placed for the convenience of amateur climbers.
I have only been in Guilin during the winter and spring but my wife tells me it gets pretty hot in the summertime. That's OK because I grew up in the Midwest of the US where it gets very hot and humid during the summer months. It rarely freezes in the winter and the spring and autumn are pleasant. Guilin receives a lot of rain, especially in late spring and early summer. Because of this there is lush(多汁的) plant life and many large trees in the area.
Being from California I’m used to having a car to get around. In fact, it's practically a necessity in California. But in Guilin almost everything is within walking distance and if you need to go further, public buses are available every five minutes on the busy streets and every 10-15 minutes just about everywhere else. There are plenty of taxis too and most trips are only six yuan.
It's a perfect place to retire.
Two hundred years after Charles Darwin's birth, studies have found new details of his life at the University of Cambridge. Six leather-bound ledgers (皮革账本) discovered in the university show this.
He lived in the most expensive rooms provided for a rich student at his time.He had someone to clean his room, make his bed and take care of the fire in his bright rooms. He hired a dishwasher, a clothes washer and a man who cleaned his shoes. A tailor (裁缝), hatter and barber made sure he was well presented. A chimney cleaner and a coalman kept his fire going. Christ's College's basic food was meat and beer.
Darwin's bill topped 636 pounds during his three years of study at Cambridge. Later he described this time as the most joyful of his happy life. That large sum (金额) would have been fairly common for a student at Cambridge in the 19th century.
In those days Cambridge was full of rich students living a pretty good life and Darwin was just one of them.And thus he had plenty of time for socializing or private study. He would be out shooting, collecting beetles, doing his scientific hobbies or visiting friends. He played cards and drank wine at night, just like students always have.
A. Thanks to the richness, he was able to hire servants to help with the daily life.
B. The findings were published on the Internet.
C. So he paid five and a half pence extra each day to have vegetables.
D. He enjoyed the kind of comfortable university life that most of today's students can only dream about.
E. He had several people to help him to deal with the daily housework.
F. When you look at the ledgers, you can find there were many rich students in Cambridge.
G. The bills were paid by his wealthy father, Robert Darwin, a doctor.
Please your energy your studies.
