The Lost Rules of Etiquette

        Etiquette, or good manners, used to be the glue that held society together.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Sadly, these days it has mostly gone by the wayside. This list is several best rules of etiquette that have now disappeared.

Opening the Door

        In days gone by, a gentleman would always open doors for ladies.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}This has now almost entirely disappeared and it is pot entirely the fault of the men. I have seen women laugh at men for opening a door for them. They seem tobe confusing manners with chauvinism(大男子主义)．

Writing Thank-You Notes

        In days gone by, whenever a personreceived a gift, they would write a thank-you note as soon as possible.  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Parents would sit children down after a birthday or Christmas and coach them in theirfirst thank-you note. It is a shame that gift giving has now become a virtualobligation and the idea of a thank-you note would be laughed at.

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        We seem to have completely lost theconcept of correct timing when it comes to parties these days.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#} After all, aparty normally has a guest of honor-this is usually the oldest woman present.It was considered extremely rude in the past to leave a party before the guestof honor-and once the guest of honor left, it was a signal to all that theyshould begin their own preparations to leave.

A. Arriving on Time.

B. Leaving at the Right Time.

C. People leave with various excuses.

D. It enabled people  to get on well with each other.

E. This rule was true even if the giverwas a relative.

F. It could be the lady they weredriving, or a stranger.

G. We've thrown away the concept of aguest of honor at will.

    A brain can also simply be a smartperson,  If a person is called brainy,she is smart and intelligent. If a family has many children but one ofthem is super smart, you could say, "She's the brains in the family. "And if you are the brains behind something you are responsible for developing or organizing something. For example, Bill Gates is the brains behind Microsoft Brain trust is a group of experts who give advice. Word experts say the phrase "brain trust" became popularwhen Franklin D. Roosevelt first ran for president in 1932, Several professors gave him advice on social and political issues facingthe U.S.

    These professors were called his "braintrust." These ways we use the word"brain" all make sense. But other ways we use the word are not so easy to understand. Forexample, to understand the next brain expression, you first need to know theword “drain." As a verb to drain means to, remove something by letting it flow away. So abrain drain may sound like a disease where the brain flows out the ears. But, brain drain is when a country's most educated people leave their countries to live in another. The brains are, sort of, draining out of the country.

    However, if people are responsible for agreat idea, you could say they brainstormed it. Here, brainstorm is not an act of weather. It is a process of thinking creatively about a complex topic. Forexample, business leaders may use brainstorming to create new products, and government leaders may brainstorm to solve problems.

    If people are brainwashed, it does notmean their brains are nice and clean. To brainwash means to make someone accept new beliefs by using repeated pressure in a forceful or tricky way. Keep inmind that brainwash is never used in a positive way.

    Do you love holidays but hate the increase weight that follows? You are not alone.

    Holidays are happy days with pleasure and delicious foods. Many people, however, are worried about the weight that comes along with these delicious foods.

    With proper planning, though, it is possible to control your weight. The idea is to enjoy the holidays but not to eat too much. You don't have to turn away from the foods that you enjoy. The following suggestions may be of some help to you.

    Do not miss meals. Before you leave home for a feast(宴会),have a small, low-fat snack(小吃). This may help to keep you from getting too excited before delicious foods. Begin with clear soup and fruit or vegetables. A large glass of water before you eat may help you feel full. Use a small plate; a large plate will encourage you to have more than enough.

    Better not have high-fat foods. Dishes that look oily or creamy have much fat in them.

    Choose lean meat(瘦肉 ).Fill your plate with salad and green vegetables.

    If you have a sweet tooth, try mints (薄荷) and fruits. They don't have fat content as cream and chocolate. Don't let exercise take a break during the holidays. A 20-minute walk after a meal can help burn off excess(过多的) calories.

    Owning a smartphone may not be as smart as you think. It may let you surf the Internet, listen to music and snap photos wherever you are…but it also turns you into a workaholic, it seems.

    A study suggests that, by giving you access to emails at all times, the all-singing, all-dancing mobile phone adds as much as two hours to your working day. Researchers found that Britons work an additional 460 hours a year on average as they are able to respond to emails on their mobiles.

    The study by technology retailer Pixmania reveals the average UK working day is between 9 and 10 hours, but a further two hours is spent responding to or sending work emails, or making work calls. More than 90 percent of office workers have email-enabled phones, with a third accessing them more than 20 times a day. Almost one in ten admits spending up to three hours outside their normal working day checking work emails. Some workers confess(承认) they are on call almost 24 hours a day, with nine out of ten saying they make work emails and calls outside their normal working hours. The average time for first checking emails is between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m., with more than a third checking their first emails in this period, and a quarter checking them between 11 p.m. and midnight.

    Ghadi Hobeika, marketing director of Pixmania, said, “The ability to access literally millions of apps, keep in contact via social networks and take photos and video as well as text and call has made smartphones invaluable for many people. However, there are drawbacks. Many companies expect their employees to be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and smartphones mean that people literally cannot get away from work. The more constantly in contact we become , the more is expected of us in a work capacity(容量).”

    A machine that takes sweat-laden (浸满汗水的) clothes and turns the sweat into drinking water is in use in Sweden. The machine makes the clothes turn round quickly, heats them to remove the sweat, and then passes the steam through a kind of special material to make purified water.

    Since it has been brought into use, its creators say more than 1000 people have drunk others' “sweat” in Gothenburg. They add the liquid is cleaner than local tap water.

    The device was built for the United Nations' child-focused charity UNICEF to promote a campaign highlighting the fact that 780 million people in the world lack access to clean water.

    The machine was designed and built by the engineer Andreas Hammar, known locally for his appearances on TV tech show “Mekatronik”. He said the key part of the sweat machine was a new water purification part developed by a company named HVR.

    “It uses a technique called membrane distillation (膜蒸馏),” he told the BBC. “We use a special kind of material that only lets steam through but keeps bacteria, salts, clothing fibers and other things out. They have something similar to the International Space Station, but our machine is cheaper to build. The amount of water it produces depends on how sweaty the person is, but one person's T-shirt typically produces 10ml, about a mouthful.”

    The device has been put on show at the Gothia Cup-the world's largest international youth football tournament. Mattias Ronge, chief executive of Stockholm-based advertising agency Deportivo, said the machine had helped raise awareness for UNICEF, but in reality had its limitations.

    “People haven't produced as much sweat as we hoped – right now the weather in Gothenburg is lousy,” Mattias Ronge said. “So we've equipped the machine with exercise bikes and volunteers are cycling like crazy. Even so, the demand for sweat is greater than the supply. And the machine will never be produced in large numbers, since there are better solutions out there such as water purifying pills.”

    How many men do housework? Recently a European commission (委员会) tried to find out people's ideas and reactions to the women's movement. As part of their survey, they asked many men and women the question, “Who does the housework?” The men answered very differently from the women!

    The housework they asked people about was: preparing meals, washing dishes, cleaning the house and babysitting. 48% of British husbands said they did these things. 37% of Danish (丹麦的) men helped in the house. But only 15% of Italian men said they did the housework; many of them said they never helped at all!

    But there was an interesting point of view from the wives. According to British wives, only 38% of their husbands helped in the house. And Italian wives said that their husbands hardly ever helped. The Italian and British men did not tell the truth! The Commission found that Danish men were the most truthful husbands; their answers were the same as their wives' answers.

    Do the men you know help in the house? Do you think the survey gives a true picture in your experience? Write and tell us what you think.