Charles Darwin lived an unusually quiet life. In 1842, Darwin and his wife Emma moved from London to Kent in southern England to have as little disturbance (烦扰) as possible. They already had two children then, and would go on to have eight more in the country.

Darwin had very regular (有规律的) habits. He rose early and went for a walk. After breakfast he worked in his study until 9: 30 am, his most productive time of the day, and then read his letters lying on the sofa before returning to work.

At midday he would go for another walk with his dog, stopping at his greenhouse to inspect (查看) his experiments. Then he would go for another walk around an area of woodland. While walking on his "thinking path", Darwin would consider his unsolved scientific problems.

After lunch he read the newspaper and wrote letters. His network of friends provided information from all corners of the world.

The Darwins were not very strict parents and the children were always seen running wild. Their father worked patiently to a background of playful shouts and little footsteps walking past his study door.

After dinner Darwin played backgammon (a game for two people to play) with his wife. He once wrote, "Now the result with my wife in backgammon stands like this: she…has won only 2, 490 games, while I have won, hurrah (a cheer of joy or victory), hurrah, 2, 795 games!"

Although he had poor health, Darwin continued to publish (出版) a lot of creative works until his final book in 1881 came out. He died the following year, aged 73.

Rather than a quiet space in the local churchyard, which he called "the sweetest place on Earth", Darwin was given a state funeral (国葬) in London's Westminster Abbey.

Our street is a short, one-way street, four blocks from the Charles River. It's lined with three-family homes, built at the turn of the century for people who worked at factories and needed places to live.

There are families and single people, older couples and students in this street. There are Greeks and Chinese and white Americans.

If you head down the street and make a left turn, you may run across Billy Davis. He was born on that street and is now a retiree (退休人士). He'll tell you all about Cambridge in the old days. He'll tell you how he couldn't act up because there were so many watching mamas on his street and they all had eyes on the naughty (顽皮的) kids in the neighbourhood. He might do something wrong, but the minute he walked in his own house, his mum would say "Hey, what were you doing down at the park?" and it was all over. His stories need telling and we are eager (渴望的) listeners.

Walk over a block and you reach our neighbourhood mechanic, Phil. He's the best mechanic in all Cambridge and will give you fair prices and honest statements of what's wrong with your car.

Walk the other way to Central Square and you'll come across the Village Grill, run by Theo and Helen. It's a small neighbourhood restaurant. Whatever you order, you will always find it is worth every penny (便士). You don't just pay for food, but you pay for conversation and it is always interesting. Theo and Helen are Greek, so the conversation turns Greek sometimes.

I walk out of the house on this Monday morning, and smile at my neighbourhood. It's going to be a hot day, and tonight will see many of us at our front door, observing (观察) each other through plants.

The American travel website company TripAdvisor publishes a list of the world's best beaches every year. Today, we are going to explore some of this year's top beaches in the world.

⒈Baia do Sancho, Brazil

It is named as this year's best beach in the world. Its water is calm and clear. Its sand is fine and soft. But getting to Baia do Sancho is not so easy. It is on Fernando de Noronha, a volcanic(火山的) island more than 300 kilometers off Brazil's coast. Travelers must take a plane or boat from major cities in northern Brazil to get there. And no more than 420 visitors can be on the island at one time.

⒉Grace Bay, Turks and Caicos

While Baia do Sancho is difficult to get to, TripAdvisor's second-ranked beach could not be much easier for tourists to reach.

This beach has impossibly clean and clear waters and pure white sand. Its calm waters make it extremely safe for swimming, or simply floating. Once on land, many visitors enjoy walking barefoot for several kilometers on the soft, warm sand.

⒊Eagle Beach, Aruba

To get to the third-best beach, we head south to the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba. Like Grace Bay, Eagle Beach has clear, calm waters and soft white sand.

It offers visitors a chance to try different water sports, including tubing and jet skiing. Eagle Beach may be best known, however, for its dramatic sunsets. On clear nights, the sky turns red, orange, and purple.

⒋Playa Paraiso, Cuba

The fourth-best beach is Playa Paraiso, an island off Cuba's southern coast. It has a fun, laid-back restaurant for those who wish to eat and drink. There is little else on the beach. And that is exactly what visitors like about it. People come here for the sugar-like sand and calm waters filled with colorful wildlife.