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 GearsFoot 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.

21. What is an advantage of MacBike?

A. It gives children a discount. B. It offers many types of bikes.

C. It organizes free cycle tours. D. It has over 2,500 rental shops.

22. How much do you pay for renting a bike with hand brake and three gears for two days?

A. ?15.75. B. ?19.50. C. ?22.75. D. ?29.50.

23. Where does the guided city tour start?

A. The Gooyer, Windmill. B. The Skinny Bridge.

C. Heineken Brewery. D. Dam Square.

B

When John Todd was a child, he loved to explore the woods around his house, observing how nature solved problems. A dirty stream, for example, often became clear after flowing through plants and along rocks where tiny creatures lived. When he got older, John started to wonder if this process could be used to clean up the messes people were making.

After studying agriculture,medicine, and fisheries in college, John went back to observing nature and asking questions. Why can certain plants trap harmful bacteria (细菌)? Which kinds of fish can eat cancer-causing chemicals? With the right combination of animals and plants, he figured, maybe he could clean up waste the way nature did. He decided to build what he would later call an eco-machine.

The task John set for himself was to remove harmful substances from some sludge (污泥). First, he constructed a series of clear fiberglass tanks connected to each other. Then he went around to local ponds and streams and brought back some plants and animals. He placed them in the tanks and waited. Little by little, these different kinds of life got used to one another and formed their own ecosystem. After a few weeks, John added the sludge.

He was amazed at the results. The plants and animals in the eco-machine took the sludge as food and began to eat it! Within weeks, it had all been digested, and all that was left was pure water.

Over the years, John has taken on many big jobs. He developed a greenhouse — like facility that treated sewage (污水) from 1,600 homes in South Burlington. He also designed an eco-machine to clean canal water in Fuzhou, a city in southeast China.

“Ecological design” is the name John gives to what he does. “Life on Earth is kind of a box of spare parts for the inventor,” he says. “You put organisms in new relationships and observe what’s happening. Then you let these new systems develop their own ways to self-repair.”

24. What can we learn about John from the first two paragraphs?

A. He was fond of traveling. B. He enjoyed being alone.

C. He had an inquiring mind. D. He longed to be a doctor.

25. Why did John put the sludge into the tanks?

A. To feed the animals. B. To build an ecosystem.

C. To protect the plants. D. To test the eco-machine.

26. What is the author’s purpose in mentioning Fuzhou?

A. To review John’s research plans. B. To show an application of John’s idea.

C. To compare John’s different jobs. D. To erase doubts about John’s invention.

27. What is the basis for John’s work?

A. Nature can repair itself. B. Organisms need water to survive.

C. Life on Earth is diverse. D. Most tiny creatures live in groups.

C