Save Your Time, Money and Stress with Savvy (懂行，悟性）Rental Car Strategies

    Renting a car can be expensive, confusing, and stressful — but it doesn't have to be. Here are several helpful strategies to save money, time, and stress on your next (and every) car rental.

Sign Up for Loyalty Programs

    Rental car loyalty programs are free to join, so register for any programs you might use in the future. My favorite car rental loyalty program benefit is that I can skip the counter and head right to my reserved car. Some programs allow members to choose a car from the available pool. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Optimize Your Strategy

    Do you really need a rental car from the airport? For instance, if your flight arrives at night, take a free hotel shuttle and pick up your car the next day. The car rental location might even be at your hotel or can pick you up (or deliver the car to you).{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

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    For a city trip, you may not even need a rental car. Research whether mass transit（运输）, taxi, Uber, bike rental, and other transportation methods will suffice(足够）. Parking charges at downtown hotels may cost more than your car rental rate, so it may be doubly in your favor to give up a rental car. In some locations, a bike might be more efficient and economical than a car.

 Search for Specials

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} In conjunction（结合）with your personal discount code, you may also find a last-minute rate, free rental day, or other promotion. My favorite annual travel deal is driving a car one-way out of Florida after Spring Break with rates as low as $1 per day.

Consider Alternative Rental Options

    Major car rental companies might have an associated discount brand at your rental location, like Firefly for Hertz.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} 

    An independent or smaller local agency may fit your needs; like A1 or Lucky Owl in Honolulu. Many people prefer to check rates on Hotwire and Priceline, especially for last-minute rentals.

A．Rental rates are likely lower away from the airport, plus you might save the cost of an entire rental day.

B．I use discount-finding websites to track my car reservations.

C．Smaller brands, like Thrifty and Fox, might offer better service and lower rates.

D．In addition to saving time and offering freedom of choice, loyalty members earn points and receive special promotions.

E．Check car rental company websites for current specials.

F．Skip the Car

G．Use a bike

    Children in the United States eat too much pizza that some researchers now argue the food should join the ranks of sugary drinks and fast food for the harm they do to health．

    In a new study, the researchers found that pizza is a large source of calories, saturated fat(饱和脂肪)and salt in children's diets．Children should not eat more than two slices of pizza for a meal，and should pair that with salad, rather than with another high-calorie food，the researchers concluded．

    “Parents should aim to control pizza consumption(消费), particularly as a snack where it was shown to have a very adverse impact on children, and they should put their pizza dollars toward healthier brands．”Said Lisa Powel, director of the Illinois Prevention Research Center．

    Pizza has become a matter of focus in recent years for researchers who look at the meals children eat, rather than the nutrients within them．Studies have found pizza is among the greatest sources of calories for children．

    “Since pizza remains a common part of children's diet, we need to make 'healthy' pizza．”Powel said．To make pizza healthier, food producers should reduce its saturated fat and salt, and increase its whole grain content,” she said．

    Whether or not pizza is harmful enough to be picked out as an unhealthy food, the study attracts attention to a larger issue with the modern American lifestyle, said Alexis Tindall, who was not involved in the flow research. “Many foods are eaten too frequently and in large sizes,” said Tindall．To solve the problem, people don't have to give up eating pizza, but instead, they can eat smaller and healthier pizza，”she said．

    “Make it at home, instead of ordering it out where you don't have any control over how it's made.” Tindall said. “When we make it at home, we can choose healthier ingredients，increase the vegetables, reduce fat, and put in less cheese．Pizza doesn't have to be just pepperoni(意大利辣香肠)and cheese．”

    At exactly eleven Sir Percival knocked and entered, with anxiety and worry in every line of his face. This meeting would decide his future life，and he obviously knew it.

    "You may wonder, Sir Percival,”said Laura calmly, “if I am going to ask to be released (免除）from my promise to many you. I am not going to ask this. I respect my father's wishes too much.”

    His face relaxed a little, but one of his feet kept beating the carpet.

    "No, if we are going to withdraw. (退出）from our planned marriage, it will be because of your wish, not mine.

     “Mine?” he said in great surprise. “What reason could I have for withdrawing?^'

    "A reason that is very hard to tell you," she answered. "There is a change in me.”

    His face went so pale that even his lips lost their color. He turned his head to one side.

    "What change?" he asked, trying to appear calm.

     “When the promise was made two years ago,” she said, ⁴⁴ my love did not belong to anyone. Will you forgive me, Sir Percival, if I tell you that it now belongs to another person?”

    “I wish you to understand, “Laura continued, “that I will never see this person again, and that if you leave me, you only allow mc to remain a single woman for the rest of my life. All I ask is that you forgive mc and keep my secret."

    ‘I will do both those things, “he said. Then he looked at Laura, as if he was waiting to hear more.

    "I think I have said enough to give you reason to withdraw from our marriage, “she added quietly.

    “No. You have said enough to make it the dearest wish of my life to marry you, ” he said.

    Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson, Arizona. He moved there a few years ago, and I was eager to see his new place and meet his friends.

My earliest memories of my father are of a tall, handsome successful man devoted to his work and family, but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him; as a school girl and young adult I feared him and felt bitter about him. He seemed unhappy with me unless I got straight A's and unhappy with my boy- friends if their fathers were not as "successful" as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.

    On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father's friends for lunch at an outdoor cafe. We walked around that afternoon, did some shopping, ate on the street table, and laughed over my son's funny facial expressions. Gone was my father's critical air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father, who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around? What had held him back before?

    The next day my dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him than at that moment. After so many years, I'm at last seeing another side of my father. And in so doing, I'm delighted with my new friend. My dad, in his new home in Arizona, is back to me from where he was.

Londoners are great readers. They buy vast numbers of newspapers and magazines and of books — especially paperbacks, which are still comparatively cheap in spite of ever-increasing rises in the costs of printing. They still continue to buy "proper" books, too, printed on good paper and bound（装订）between hard covers.

    There are many streets in London containing shops which specialize in book-selling. Perhaps the best known of these is Charring Cross Road in the very heart of London. Here bookshops of all sorts and sizes are to be found, from the celebrated one which boasts of being "the biggest bookshop in the world" to the tiny, dusty little places which seem to have been left over from Dickens' time. Some of these shops stock, or will obtain, any kind of book, but many of them specialize in second-hand books, in art books, in foreign books, in books on philosophy, politics or any other of the countless subjects about which books may be written. One shop in this area specializes only in books about ballet!

    Although it may be the most convenient place for Londoners to buy books, Charring Cross Road is not the cheapest. For the really cheap second-hand books, the collector must venture off the beaten track, to Farringdon Road, for example, in the East Central district of London. Here there is nothing so impressive as bookshops. The booksellers come along each morning and pour out their sacks of books onto small hand carts. And the collectors, some professionals and some amateurs, have been waiting for them. In places like this they can still, occasionally, pick up for a few pence an old one that may be worth many pounds.

    Imagine possessing something that you loved so much. Imagine what it would feel like if you lost it. While that item may be something as simple as a doll, you would still feel very upset, but you could replace it with a new one. Now imagine losing something that you depend on for survival and cannot be replaced. That is what it would be like if we lost the natural environment around us.

    Firstly, I believe the environment should be preserved because it supports human life. One of the largest examples is that we get all of our food and drinks from the environment. If the environment were to be destroyed beyond revival, then the human race would be over in months. Scientists have yet to find another planet with similar conditions to the Earth, and if it's found, we don't have the technology to get to that planet on time.

    Secondly, I believe that the environment serves as an amazing educational tool for students. When I was in second grade, I had an absolute interest in animals. When we had a field trip to the Daggerwing Nature Center, I was very excited. When we got there, I could hardly believe what I was seeing. There was a bridge to get to the main building, and under the bridge was a small swamp (沼泽) with turtles, fish, and my personal favorite, alligators. I was so surprised that I almost ran into the tour guide. We walked into the building and saw various animals in their habitats. I was so inspired by this visit. Six years later, I have taken an animal behavior class for three weeks. Meeting by chance with the environment can inspire people, and if preserved it will continue to inspire people.

    In conclusion, the environment is so valuable because it can't be replaced, keeps us alive, and serves as a great educational tool.