A city without cars would be very strange, right? But Venice is such a city.

    Venice is in the northeast of Italy. It wasn't built on land like Beijing or Shanghai, but on more than 110 islands. Seawater is everywhere around the city.

    Even so, travel isn't difficult. The water ways have always been the best way to get around. There are 177 canals and more than 400 bridges that can guide you to where you want to go. People in Venice move from place to place by boat. They like to enjoy the scenery and cool summer nights while taking boat trips. They can talk to other people as they go along.

    Venice grew out of small islands in saltwater lakes when some Italians escaped from a war over 1,500 years ago, and built homes there.

    Water makes the city special, but it is also a big problem. Sometimes tourists will have such strange experiences. One moment they walk across the Rialto Bridge, and there's nothing special. But when they come back to the bridge an hour later, it's underwater and everyone is wearing rain shoes.

    Once, people used too much underground water. This made the city get lower little by little. Now the city has gone down by about 23 centimetres. Another problem is the rising seawater. The temperature has risen over the years. This has made the ice of the Arctic Ocean(北冰洋) melt(融化) .

    Every year, high water hits the city in autumn and winter. When a lot of water comes, more than half of the city is underwater.

    Scientists are trying different ways to stop the city from getting even lower. The Italian government has asked some of Italy's biggest companies to build the MOST project, which is planned to be built under the seawater to stop the rising water. Anyway, this project is helping solve the problem.

    Mike is the manager of a computer company. He is going to Shanghai for an important meeting. The meeting will start on September 24th.When he calls the booking office for a ticket, he is told that there are only flights to Shanghai on September 23rd.One is at 10：30 in the morning, and the other is at 3：30 in the afternoon. Mike can't leave until lunchtime, so he has to take the3：30flight.The flight number is BA345.He has to pay 800 yuan and another 50 yuan for the airport construction fee(建设费) .

—Sorry, I'll drive it away at once.

—Oh, please ask him to come in.

—It is about two kilometres.

    New York is a very large city with eight million people. How do so many people move on their way to work or school? In New York you can travel by subway, bus, taxi and private car. The subway runs on the railroad lines under the city. Travelling by subway is the fastest way to get around the city. The second way to travel around the city is by public bus. It is a slower way to travel. This is because the traffic is very heavy. You can also travel around the city by taxi. This is very expensive, but the taxi will take you to the very place you want to. If the traffic is heavy, the taxi will be slow, too. During the mornings and afternoons, there is the “rush hour”. This is the time when the traffic is very heavy with people going to and from work. The last way to get around New York is using your own private car. It is inconvenient（不方便的） because you will perhaps be driving during the “rush hour”. The best time to travel around the city is from 9 am to 4 pm, because it isn't the “rush hour”.