  We introduce a family of closed 3-dimensional manifolds, which are a
generalization of certain manifolds studied by M. Takahashi. The manifolds are
represented by Dehn surgery with rational coefficients on the 3-sphere, along
an n-periodic 2n-component link. A presentation of their fundamental group is
obtained, and covering properties of these manifolds are studied. In
particular, this family of manifolds includes the whole class of cyclic
branched coverings of two-bridge knots. As a consequence we obtain a simple
explicit surgery presentation for this important class of manifolds.
