Multitasking

    What is the first thing you notice when you walk into a shop? The products displayed (展示) at the entrance? Or the soft background music?

    But have you ever notice the smell? Unless it is bad, the answer is likely to be no. But while a shop's scent may not be outstanding compared with sights and sounds, it is certainly there. And it is providing to be an increasing powerful tool in encouraging people to purchase.

    A brand store has become famous for its distinctive scent which floats through the fairly dark hall and out to the entrance, via scent machines. A smell may be attractive but it may not just be used for freshening air. One sports goods company once reported that when it first introduced scent into its stores, customers' intension to purchase increased by 80 percent.

    When it comes to the best shopping streets in Pairs, scent is just as important to a brand's success as the quality of its window displays and goods on sales. That is mainly because shopping is a very different experience to what it used to be.

    Some years ago, the focus for brand name shopping was on a few people with sales assistants' disproving attitude and don't touch what you can't afford displays. Now the rise of electronic commerce (e-commerce) has opened up famous brands to a wider audience. But while e-shops can use sights and sounds, only bricks-and-mortar stores (实体店) can offer a full experience from the minute customers step through the door to the moment they leave. Another brand store seeks to be much more than a shop, but rather a destination. And scent is just one way to achieve this. Now a famous store uses complex man-made smell to make sure that the soft scent of baby powder floats through the kid department, and coconut (椰子) scent in the swimsuit section. A department store has even opened a new lab, inviting customers on a journey into the store's windows to smell books, pots and drawers, in search of their perfect scent.

    In England, people often talk about the weather because they can experience (经历) four seasons in one day. In the morning the weather is warm just like in spring. An hour later black clouds come and then it rains hard. The weather gets a little cold. In the late afternoon the sky will be sunny, the sun will begin to shine, and it will be summer at this time of a day.

    In England, people can also have summer in winter, or have winter in summer. So in winter they can swim sometimes, and in summer sometimes they should take warm clothes.

    When you go to England, you will see that some English people usually take an umbrella (伞)or a raincoat with them in the sunny morning, but you should not laugh at them.

    If you don't take an umbrella or a raincoat, you will regret (后悔) later in the day.

    Researchers have created a backpack that has a computer and medicines in it that can help even untrained soldiers save the lives of wounded troops. Wounded soldiers have a better chance of survival if they get help soon after being hurt and are quickly taken to a hospital or clinic. But soldiers who do not have medical training may not know how to help their injured friends.

    Doctors and engineers have developed what they call an “intelligent backpack”. It has a computer and electronic measuring devices. The backpack also has robotic instruments and medicines ready to give to injured troops.

    About 16 doctors and engineers from the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and several other places are working on the project. The U. S. Department of Defense has given money to the project.

    Ron Poropatich leads the project. He is a retired army surgeon. He says the backpack will help soldiers care for those who are injured. The devices included in the backpack can monitor a person's heart rate and blood pressure. The robotic instruments can even tell whether the soldier has a collapsed lung.

    The intelligent backpack's computer can compare information gathered about the injured soldier with thousands of similar cases, and quickly tell the best methods to use to save the soldier's life.

    Sometimes, it is not always possible to quickly remove the injured soldier from the battlefield. So, Dr. Poropatich says, the researchers hope to create a backpack that will have devices that can keep a soldier alive for a long time. Dr. Poropatich hopes the backpack and its instruments will be ready for testing animals in about three years.

    On her first morning in America last summer, my daughter went out to explore her new neighborhood alone, without even telling my wife or me. Of course we were worried; we had just moved from Berlin, and she was just 8. But when she came home, we realized we had no reason to panic. Beaming with pride, she told us how she had discovered the little park around the corner, and had made friends with a few local dog owners.

    When this story comes up in conversations with American friends, we usually meet with polite disbelief. Most are horrified by the idea that their children might roam(闲逛) around without adult supervision(监管).

    A study by the University of California has found that American kids spend 90 percent of their free time at home, often in front of the TV or playing video games. Such narrowing of children's world has happened across the developed world. But German parents are generally much more accepting of letting children take some risks.

    “We are depriving(剥夺) them of opportunities to learn how to take control of their own lives,” writes Peter Gray, a research professor at Boston College. He argues that this increases the chance that they will suffer from anxiety, depression, and various other mental disorders, which have gone up dramatically in recent decades(十年).

    I am no psychologist like Professor Gray, but I know I won't be around forever to protect my girls from the challenges life holds in store for them. And by giving kids more control over their lives, they learn to have more confidence in their own abilities.

    Nelson Mandela is respected and admired around the world. And to South Africans he is a superstar. He is a hero who shocked the world by fighting for peace between races, despite the 27 years he spent in the prison of the South Africa's white, racist regime (种族主义政权).

    Mandela who won the nation's first all-race elections after the fall of apartheid (种族隔离) in 1994, retired in 1999. But he remains as popular as ever. His popularity has inspired an entire national industry. His portrait (肖像) has appeared at many places, including on some goods. His face has appeared on a South African coin, and some business leaders hope to build a statue in his likeness—the Statue of Freedom. It would stand taller than New York's Statue of Liberty.

    “His popularity is similar to that of John F. Kennedy with US or Winston Churchill in Britain, but few politicians in his times have achieved his level of admiration,” said Tom Lodge, head of the political science department of the University of the Witwatersrand, “What a skilled performer Mandela has been throughout his political career! He's a very, very clever man.”

    However, he is far from perfect. Most articles for his birthday, which appeared in every major South African newspaper on the day, briefly mentioned that Mandela did have his shortcomings.

    Then they returned to their flowing praises. “Through the ages, the human race has had its icons (偶像)—men and women who rose above ordinary people to inspire their generations,” The Mail and Guardian Weekly said. “In our generation, the gods presented us Nelson Mandela.”

    When Warren Buffett, the most successful investor, was asked about the secret to his wealth and success, he revealed that he read every day, 500 pages, to be precise. Unfortunately, if you're already working 9‒5, you might not have the time to read at all, let alone an entire book a day. But what if you could get the benefits of reading without sacrificing all of your free time? You can! With the Blinkist app, you get the key learning in minutes, not hours or days. Our experts transform these books into quick, easy-to-understand insights. Start with the 5 most-read books.

    ⒈Thirteen Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do

    by Amy Morin             12 min reading time             147k reads

    Do you struggle to get over your failures? Getting over these can have a profound influence on your everyday life. Morin shares how her most successful patients overcame these difficulties.

    ⒉How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

    by Dale Carnegie           19 min reading time            238k reads

    Ever wondered why you can't stop worrying about something? By defining the source of your stress, you can get over it once and for all. Carnegie came up with a formula that helps you handle any overthinking situation.

    ⒊How Will You Measure Your Life?

    by Clayton M. Christensen       13 min reading time        137k reads

    Are you making the right trade-offs (权衡) in life? While career achievements can be satisfying, neglecting your family and friends can be bad in the long-run — in ways you can't even imagine.

    ⒋Finding Your Element

    by Ken Robinson               13 min reading time        62.4k reads

    Everyone has a passion. If you don't know what yours is, it just means you haven't discovered it yet. Find out how you can break free of society's strict rules and find your calling in life.

    ⒌Emotional Intelligence

    by Daniel Goleman             16 min reading time        318k reads

    Did you know if your pulse rate rises above 100 bpm, you're deemed too emotional to think rationally? You probably let feelings cloud your judgment more often than you know. Goleman explains how you can avoid letting your emotions rule you and make better decisions in life.