Planning a visit to the UK? Here we help with ways to cut your costs.

    AVOID BIG EVENTS  Big sporting events, concerts and exhibitions can increase the cost of accommodation and make it harder to find a room. A standard double room at the Thistle Brighton on the final Friday of the Brighton Comedy Festival (19 Oct.) cost £169.15 at Booking.com. A week later, the same room cost £118.15.

    If you can be flexible and want to know dates to avoid—or you're looking for a big event to pass your time—check out sites such as Whatsonwhen.com, which allow you to search for events in the UK by city, date and category.

    STAYAWAY FROM THE STATION If traveling to your destination by train, you may want to find a good base close to the station, but you could end up paying more for the sake of convenience at the start of your holiday.

    Don't be too choosy about the part of town you stay in. Booking two months in advance, the cheapest room at Travelodge's Central Euston hotel in London for Saturday 22 September was £95.95. A room just a tube journey away at its Covent Garden hotel was £75.75. And at Farringdon, a double room cost just £62.95.

    LOOK AFTER YOURSELF Really central hotels in cities such as London, Edinburgh and Cardiff can cost a fortune, especially at weekends and during big events. As an alternative consider checking into a self-catering flat with its own kitchen. Often these flats are hidden away on the top floors of city centre buildings. A great example is the historic O'Neill Flat on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, available for £420 for five days in late September, with room for four adults.

    GET ON A BIKE London's ‘Boris bikes' have attracted the most attention, but other cities also have similar programmes that let you rent a bicycle and explore at your own pace, saving you on public transport or car parking costs.

    Among the smaller cities with their own programmes are Newcastle (casual members pay around £1.50 for two hours) and Cardiff (free for up to 30 minutes, or £5 per day).  (358 words)

    Do you want to live another 100 years or more? Some experts say that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last tens of years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span.

    “I think we are knocking at the door of immortality (永生),” said Michael Zey, a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. “I think by 2075 we will see it and that's a conservative estimate (保守的估计).”

    At the conference in San Francisco, Donald Louria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in using genes as well as nanotechnology (纳米技术) make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what has been possible in the past. “There is a great effort so that people can live from 120 to 180 years,” he said. “Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 200 or 300 or 500 years.”

    However, many scientists who specialize in aging are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last past about 120 years. Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they say failure of the brain and organs will finally lead all humans to death.

    Scientists also differ on what kind of life the super aged might live. “It remains to be seen if you pass 120, you know; could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life?” said Leonard Poon, director of the University of Georgia Gerontology Centre. “At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all.”

    Embassy Suites by Hilton Sauta Ana Orange County Airport

Neighborhood: John Wayne Airport (SNA), Orange County 1325 East Dyer Road, Santa Ana, CA

    OVERALL GUEST SCORE

    Very Good

    Based on 163 Guest Ratings

Free Breakfast                Free Airport Shuttle

Fitness Center                Business Center

    Hotel Description

    Being close to airport and freeway access makes the Embassy Suites a top choice for our guests in the area. The 300-room Embassy Suites offers homey comforts for those on business and vacation alike-suites with separate living and sleeping areas, refrigerators, microwaves, coffeemakers, Wi-Fi access and two TVs. Wake up to a free cooked-to-order breakfast and enjoy the indoor pool and fitness center. A two-hour evening reception offers drinks and appetizers and the on-site restaurant serves American favorites. The property also has a business center with copy and fax services. Parking is available for an additional fee. Less than two miles from 1-405, the Embassy Suites is within a half-mile of various restaurants and just three miles from John Wayne Airport. Our guests say the Embassy Suites' location, “brilliant” breakfast and “friendly” staff make it one of their favorite Santa Ana properties.

    China officially informed the World Trade Organization on Tuesday that it will ban the import of 24 different types of solid waste by the end of this year as part of a campaign to deal with environmental pollution and protect people's health.

    In response to growing public concerns over the potential environmental and health danger caused by the increasing amounts of solid waste imported into the country for recycling and treatment, China passed a special law in 1995 to control imports of waste materials, such as plastics, slag from steelmaking, unsorted scrap paper and discarded textile materials.

    A year later, the country published a list for solid waste imports and began implementing a permit system to control the import volumes and types of waste imported.

    However, due to the lack of effective supervision（监管）and the failure of relevant departments to fulfill their duties, solid waste imports have not been effectively controlled.

    So far, China is the world's largest importer of solid waste. According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, China imported 7.3 million metric tons of plastic waste worth $3.7 billion in 2016, accounting for 56 percent of global imports of solid waste.

    Correct recycling of solid waste materials is an important part of the global economy, and moderate imports of scrap plastic, scrap paper and scrap rubber products, such as vehicle tires, can to some extent, make up for China's shortage of various raw materials.

    However, the lack of supervision has resulted in the country's severe soil and environmental worsening.

    Given that China's continuing efforts to push for industrial transformation and upgrading have resulted in a noticeable decline in the demand for the materials recycled from solid waste imports. It is right for the country to restrict such imports for the sake of the environment and public health, and to better adapt to the changed industrial structure.

    One fine afternoon, I was walking along Fifth Street when I remembered that it was necessary to buy a pair of socks. Why I wished to buy only one pair was unimportant. I turned into the first sock shop that caught my eye. A boy clerk, who could not have been more than seventeen years old came forward. “What can I do for you, sir?” he said. “I wish to buy a pair of socks.” I replied.

    His eyes shone. There was a note of excitement in his voice. “Did you know that you had come into the finest place in the world to buy socks?” I had no idea of that, as my entrance had been accidental. “Come with me,” said the boy, eagerly. I followed him to the back of the shop, and he began to pull down box after box from the shelves, showing their contents（内装物）for my choice.

    “Hold on, lad,” I said, “I am going to buy only one pair!” “I know that,” said he, “but I want you to see how beautiful these are. Aren't they wonderful!” There was on his face an expression of seriousness and pride and delight as if he were showing me the secrets of his religion（宗教信仰）. I became far more interested in him than in the socks. I looked at him in surprise. “My friend,” said I, “if you can keep this up, if this is not merely from having a new job, if you can keep up this high spirit and excitement day after day, in ten years you will own every sock in the United States.”

    "Have a nice day!" may be a pleasant gesture or a meaningless expression. When my friend Maxie says "Have a nice day" with a smile, I know she sincerely cares about what happens to me. I feel loved and secure since another person cares about me and wishes me well.

    "Have a nice day. Next!" This version of expression is spoken by a salesgirl at the supermarket who is rushing me and my groceries out the door. The words come out in the same tone(腔调)with a fixed procedure. They are spoken at me, not to me. Obviously, the concern for my day and everyone else's is the management's attempt to increase the business.

    The expression is one of those behaviors that help people get along with each other. Sometimes it indicates the end of a meeting. As soon as you hear it, you know the meeting is at an end. Sometimes the expression serves us when we don't know what to say." Oh, you just had a tooth out? I'm terribly sorry, but have a nice day."

    The expression can be pleasant. If a stranger says "Have a nice day" to you, you may find it heart-warming because someone you don't know has tried to be nice to you.

    Although the use of the expression is an insincere, meaningless social custom at times, there is nothing wrong with the sentence except that it is a little uninteresting. The salesgirl, the waitress, the teacher, and all the countless others who speak it without thinking may not really care about my day. But in a strange and comfortable way, it's nice to know they care enough to pretend they care when they really don't care all that much. While the expression may not often be sincere, it is always spoken. The point is that people say it all the time when they like.