Travelers to a new city are often encouraged to take a bus tour. The thinking is that they can later return to the places that attracted them，but that’s nonsense! What you see from the inside of a fast-moving bus is sanitized(净化过的)and unreal, entirely removed from the real sights, sounds, and smells outside．

The best way to experience any destination is on foot, without an itinerary, wandering where your spirit leads you．Even in the largest cities, the savvy(资深的) traveler plunges into the very center of town and walks down the nearest street, experiencing the actual life of the people while looking into the grocery stores and courtyard. You eventually get to many of the same sites that are on the bus route—the museums, the monuments, the city hall—but you will have witnessed so much more because you will have felt the contemporary life of the city you’re visiting.

“But what if I get lost?”people ask. No one ever gets permanently lost in a major city. Eventually, a trolley or a bus passes with the words “Central Station” on its front and you can easily return to the center of town. Besides, the most wonderful things can happen if you do get lost, such as stopping at a sidewalk cafe to sit and relax and then asking directions from the locals at the next table. Hopefully, your trip may be attractive by this encounter. Here are a few ways to make the most of your travels：

Know before you go. Before you depart, spend time in a library or bookstore, learning about the history and culture of your destination so you will better understand the place you’re visiting.

Move around like a local．Use the local subways, trams and buses. You’ll not only save money, but also learn how people live there, and you’ll gain a realistic perspective of the city.

Check the bulletin board. Bulletin boards list free lectures, concerts, workshops and social gatherings, giving you a chance to join or meet the area’s most dynamic residents．

Take a walking tour. If you must book a guided tour, select the nonstandard, inexpensive kinds conducted on foot.

So, the next time you feel lured by a sightseeing bus tour, save your money and instead, wander around on your own. I promise you a time you’ll remember fondly．

Electric vehicles (EVs) now are not practical for long-distance travel due to the need for repeated or lengthy stops at charging stations. But what if they could — like planes being refueled in the air from another aircraft — get a charge-on-the-go?

The idea sounds impossible, but there are already technologies in use that would help charge specialized vehicles. With rural electric charging stations almost non-existent, Swarup Bhunia and engineers at the University of Florida, Gainesville, are suggesting that “car-to-car charging” and “mobile charging stations” could likely solve this problem faster than the sudden increase of charging points or battery advancements.

Along with mobile charging stations idea, Bhunia believes that if more and more people buy electric cars, it would be super-efficient if all cars on road could share charge with one another. What Bhunia and his team are describing is a cloud system that examines all of the EV drivers on the road, where they are going, and how much charge each vehicle has. The cloud then determines, for example, that EV-A has an 89% battery charge, but requires only 4% to reach its destination, while EV-B has a 22% battery charge, yet requires 31% to reach its destination. If the two EVs are going in the same direction, the system would instruct them to carry out the charge transfer. The system would then link the provider with the receiver, and a credit system would ensure that everyone is paying for the charge they use.

Inside the given traffic network, every vehicled charge could be examined against each vehicle’s demand, and “mobile charging stations,’’ which would be large automated trucks with onboard charging equipment to fill in the demand gaps.

“We imagine a safe and firm telescopic arm (伸缩臂) carrying the charging cable,’’ said Bhunia, describing how to get one charge into another car while running down the freeway, much like to aircraft during mid-air refueling. After two EVs lock speed and are in range for charge sharing, they will extend their charging arms.

To cut greenhouse gas emissions, we need to increase cyclist numbers and that means getting more women on their bikes.

Transportation accounts for up to one­third of greenhouse gas emissions from the world's biggest cities. And traffic is the largest source of air pollution. To create healthy and liveable cities, we need to increase the number of cyclists on our streets. 【小题1】 In San Francisco, only 29% of cyclists are women. In Barcelona, there are three male cyclists for every female cyclist. In London, 37% of cyclists are female.

【小题2】

Surveys show that potential cyclists of women are stopped by similar concerns, including aggressive and speeding drivers, the threat posed by large vehicles such as lorries and buses, and bike theft. 【小题3】 So providing secure cycle roads and parking may encourage those who do not yet ride.

Also, people do what they think to be possible. Research in San Francisco found that women, especially women of colour, felt that “people like me” do not cycle. Similarly, 49% of people in London say they do not feel cycling is for “people like them”. 【小题4】 These events can be possible for women to try cycling in a relaxed environment. They can help make cycling more accessible, along with approaches such as female­led training classes.

Here is the truth. 【小题5】 It can also help handle climate change and make our cities a better place to live.