situation in which they had to observe two circles on a screen.

    At first glance,price-comparison websites are an example of capitalism at its best.But it has caused fierce competition on price and eviscerated profits.Towers Watson,a consultancy,said that "unnecessary" price competition following the rise of comparison sites in Britain had cost insurers ￡1 billion a year.

    Consumers should celebrate that;the firms' losses are their gains.But there is a catch.Comparison sites introduce a new layer of costs,including their own advertising campaigns.In theory,competition in the market for comparison sites ought to keep those costs down.But David Ronayne of Warwick University argues that consumers often lose out from comparison sites.They earn a commission for each shopper who uses them for consumption such as buying insurance.That referral（委托）cost is included in the price the consumer ends up paying.If the increased costs outweigh the saving the comparison enables,consumers end up worse off.

    These worries are not just theoretical.In 2014,Britain's competition regulator found that many comparison sites were using their contracts with retailers（零售商）to ban them from offering lower prices elsewhere.That weakened rivals' incentive（对手的动机）to cut fees,because prices on their site could not fall.By keeping prices similar,the contracts also reduced the incentive for consumers to search on multiple sites,thus helping sites retain their users.

    Weaker incentives to lower commissions mean weaker incentives to lower costs,too.That might explain why comparison websites advertise so heavily,and sometimes offer free gifts to those who use them.In a recent paper,Ben Edelman of Harvard Business School and Julian Wright of the National University of Singapore argue that when a site knows that the prices merchants provide through it will always be the lowest available,it increases investment in attracting customers,safe in the knowledge that the merchants and at last consumers will bear the cost.

    Is there any way to ensure the market for price comparison is competitive?Asking consumers to check multiple websites defeats the point of using them.One solution is to have only one site,but regulate it as a public utility（功用）. Alternatively,the governments could run the site itself.But creating good search and comparison sites may be too hard for them.It is much better to acknowledge that consumers will always have to do some comparison themselves to "keep the system honest".

    Websites that compare the comparison sites can help,although it is easy to see how they could fall prey to the same problems.Any firm with captive users（被动用户）,be it a comparison site a search engine,or a social-media platform,can charge a high price for access to the eyes of its customers.For all their innovation,Internet middlemen are not unlike supermarkets.Shoppers would never imagine that a single store had the lowest price for all the items they need.

    Patients with light or moderate depression can be successfully treated by swimming with dolphins, researchers said on Saturday.

    The study was carried out in Honduras, including patients who were thought by the doctors with light of moderate depression coming from the United States and Honduras.

    For two weeks, half of the group swam and snorkeled (潜泳) with dolphins for an hour a day. At the same time the other half group carried out the same type of water activities, but with the absence of dolphins. Researchers want to find out the influence of water and the natural setting.

    All the study volunteers didn't continue to take any drugs or psychotherapy ( 心理治疗) at least for weeks before the start of the study and did not take any drugs during the study, said the researchers from the division of clinical Psychiatry at t e the University of Leicester Medical School.

    By the end of the study, those people who swam with the dolphins had a greater average reduction in their depressive symptoms than those who did not.

    The researchers noted that the study supports the theory of biophilia, which thinks that human health and well-being depends partly on the human connection with the natural world. The findings appeared in the issue of the British Medical Journal.

    Coming from the Greek, biophilia means “love of life”, and it has been developed by biologists to reflect the humans' natural tendency to connect with nature and animals, leading to interactions and positive emotions that result in psychological treatment.

Things to Do in Atlanta

    Need a run-down of the top things to do this weekend? Here is what's on in Atlanta.

    In the Mood

    Date: May 22 through May 26, 2018

    Time: 2:00 pm—5:30

    Phone: 770-916-2800

    If you love the music of the 1940s, then here's what you need to do this Sunday. Go to a 1940s musical show at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. The music of Glenn Millet has a distinctive sound. No need to ask me twice. Are you "In the Mood"?

    Party With the Penguins(企鹅)

    Date: May 20 through May 25, 2018

    Time: 11:30 am—2:00 pm

    Phone: 404-581-4000

    Celebrate Penguin Awareness Day at Georgia Aquarium's annual Party with the Penguins. The party will feature fun activities, including the chance to see an African penguin up close and team how to help protect this in-danger species.

    Callanwolde Arts Festival

    Date: May 21 to May 22, 2018

    Time: 10:30am—5:30pm

    Phone: 404-872-5338

    Located at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, this event is a festival for artists and by artists, letting them have a voice in the creation and operations of the festival. If you are of the artistic persuasion or enjoy a creative scene, don't miss out.

    Foollio's Hoodilly Storytime

    Date: May 21 through May 27, 2018

    Time: 1:00 pm—4:30 pm

    Phone: 404-523-3141

    We make up a brand-new story every week. Come and enjoy a new story each tithe at Dad's Garage Theatre. Little ones will get to help provide key parts of the story and even add in their own jokes. Interactive and out-of-the-ordinary fun for kids and parents!

    It's no surprise to hear the honking of horns in New York. Whoever tries every day to get more than a few minutes of sleep in the morning in the city will tell you that he could do nothing about it! No one can deny honking of horns is just one of his most widely enjoyed pastimes.

    But Andy, a Japanese website developer has had enough of it. Once, the 27-year-old man approached the open window to wait for the driver to finish honking, delivered a polite "excuse me" and then yelled "Ho-o-o-o-onk!", which means fierce anger in Japan. Then he threw three eggs from the window of his apartment on to a passing car honking loudly below when his patience was worn out. Instead of apologizing to him, the driver threatened to kill him angrily. So, nobly, Andy turned to non-violence. He started writing anti-honking haiku verses, a form of Japanese poetry, and submitted them to local newspapers:

    Oh. forget Enron;

    The problem around here is; All the damn honking (Enron: a major American company that recently caused a scandal because of corrupt(腐败) mismanagement)

    "Then this kind of chain reaction started happening," Andy says. "All these other haiku started appearing unexpectedly" Andy's community is now covered in anti - honking poetry, written by all walks of life.

    Patience slowly fades;

    Residents store up their eggs; That day is coming soon.

    It's understandable that Andy has set up a website — www.honku.org — and now people from across the country send him news of their own anti - honking activities. It seems that poetry can change the world after all. Then, just recently, anti-anti- honking haiku started to appear, launched by locals who thought Andy should stop worrying about honking and start worrying about starving children, or war in the Middle East instead. Andy has an answer for that. "Stop me if this is too ridiculous," he says, "but they talk about the violence in the Middle East like it's a force of nature, like it's beyond our control. But actually it's kind of like the honking - the violence is man -made. If we can figure out how to stop honking on the streets, I think we could learn some things that we could use on a large scale."

How was 2019 for you? Was it pleasant and full of joy? Or was it unpleasant and full of sadness? Either way, some good things happened this year that can warm your heart. Let's take a look.