Many people believe high heels(E)make women look good. It seems that the organisers of the Cannes Film Festival reportedly stopped women in low-heeled shoes from walking the red carpet. But all this charm comes at a cost, wearing heels over 10em high can damage your feel.

    A study by Hanseo University in South Korea suggests that continuous wearing makes women run the risk of getting hurt, and makes them easy to lose their balance, A total of 40 women who wear high heels at least three times a week took part in the study, The strength of their feet was measured regularly, researchers found that two of the four main muscles became stronger after a period of between one and three years, This created an imbalance in their feet, Dr Yong Seok Jee from Hanseo University says that the habit of wearing heels can result in feet out of shape, back pain and unhealthy walking patterns He suggests that women limit the use of these kinds of shoes and exercise their foot muscles properly.

    High heels are considered by some people to be female, but in fact the fashion started with men's feet. These shoes were a form of riding footwear, and were seen on the feet of 17th century Persian soldiers, Elizabeth Semmelhack of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto says: “When the soldier stood up in his stirrups (马镫), the heel helped him keep balance so that he could shoot more effectively.

    Before becoming a main part of modern women's clothing, high heels were used by Louis XIV of France. These shoes were status (身份) symbols Lets face it-nothing shows off status like uncomfortable, expensive and impractical clothing. They say the wearer doesn't have to work in fields or walk very far.

    Britain and France are two important countries in Europe. They are neighbors, separated only by the 20-mile seaway of the English Channel. And for most of the time that the two countries have existed, the French and the British have been rivals or even enemies. One conflict between the two countries lasted over 100 years, and the British and French were at war through the 18th century.

    There is no fighting now, of course. But there is still a strong sense of rivalry (敌对) between the two nations. That's why a recent survey in the UK caused a major shock.

It revealed (揭露) that one third of the British people would like to live in France. It also showed that twenty-one percent of British people would actually prefer to have been born in France.

    Many reasons were given. France has a better climate and a more relaxed lifestyle, with some of the longest holidays in Europe. It is thought to have better public services in every area from health to transport. People in France work shorter hours and enjoy longer vacations. And think of the food and wine!

    Estimates (估计) of the numbers of Britons living in France range from 100,000 to half a million. But it is not one-way traffic. Around 15,000 French people per year come to live in Britain, mainly settling in London. They are attracted by higher pay in Britain, lower taxes, a more dynamic lifestyle. Now it seems that people can go to the place that suits them best.

    A name is more than just a word. It carries the weight of a person's whole identity. A name can represent a person's ethnicity (种族身份) and culture, or show respect for their ancestral roots. A self-given name may represent a person's beliefs or chosen identity.

    Everyone has the right to have their name pronounced correctly. It is a sign of respect for a person's individuality. "A person's name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language," Dale Carnegie writes in his book How to Win Friends and Influence People. Behind each name is a story, and when a name is anglicized (英语化), mispronounced, or ignored, that story is dismissed.

    A name mispronounced for a long time can negatively impact a person's attitude toward their own identity. It can create feelings of shame or embarrassment because they are made to feel like a burden. In the long term, this might cause someone to distance themselves from their roots. They may begin shying away from their native language, culture, and family for the sake of fitting in.

    In order to avoid this, many international students living in the U.S. choose English names. People shouldn't have to ignore their identities for the sake of someone else's convenience.

    Everyone makes mistakes, and not everyone can get a name right on the first try. Mispronouncing a name repeatedly, however, shows a lack of effort. It is not okay to be comfortable with mispronouncing names, and being unfamiliar with a language is no excuse.

    If you're unsure whether you're pronouncing a name correctly, just ask. Think of it as a way to expand and strengthen understanding, both personally and culturally. When meeting someone for the first time, make sure that you heard the name correctly. It doesn't take a lot to simply repeat the name back. Spell it out. Write it down. Do whatever you have to do to get the name right. Making the effort to correctly pronounce someone's name is an essential part of cultural competency (文化素养). Without this, we cannot expect to show respect and tolerance for our diverse community.

    Your kids learn a lot from their friends—things you can't teach them, no matter how much you want to.

    Probably the most important thing kids learn is how to have peer relationships. As a parent, you can't do this, because you and your child aren't equals.

    For example, when you're sitting on your family room floor and your very young child asks you to pass him the blocks, you probably hand them right over. If your child is sitting with a peer and asks the same thing, though, he might not get what he wants.

    To succeed, your child will need to learn strategies for getting what he wants. For example, he might simply yank (猛拉) the toy out of his friend's hand. If he does that, he may learn that it's not the best way of getting what he wants because it leads to fighting and time­outs. The successful child will learn that he needs to negotiate a trade, to wait patiently, or to find something else equally fun to play with.

    Friends also provide emotional support, something that is part of the foundation of healthy adulthood. You can't be with your child on the elementary school playground or at the high school dance. Your child's friends will be the ones to stick up for her, to include her in games, and later, to tell her she looks great even if her lousy prom (糟糕的舞会) date wanders off instead of dancing with her.

    Friends also help your children learn. Friends solve problems together, imitate each other, and pass on knowledge.

    Some experts believe that the single biggest predictor of your child's success later in life is her ability to make friends. In fact, they claim it's even more important than IQ and grades.

    This doesn't mean that the kids who are most popular in school do the best later on in life. What matters is not the number of friends a child has but rather the quality of the relationships.

    This is good news for those of us who hate to think that popularity really is the Holy Grail of childhood and adolescence. While it's true that popularity has many advantages, and that many popular kids really are nice people—and not just the best dressed or best looking—it's better to have a few good friends than to have the admiration of the masses.

Freelance writers Wanted

    Associated Content is an online publishing platform that enables anyone to earn money by writing articles on the Web.

    Writing for AC is a great work opportunity for students, stay­at­home parents and freelance writers. You can work on your own time and provide papers, reviews, essays, etc. on any topic that you have interest in. This is a job you can do from anywhere—all you need is access to the Internet.

    Here's how you get started:

    ⑴ Go to www.associatedcontent.com/join/hotjobs.

    ⑵ Follow the instructions to register.

    ⑶ Follow in your profile (简介),making note of your previous experience and your areas of experience (if any).

    ⑷ Start providing articles. You'll begin earning money as soon as your articles are published and the amount is based on the page views it receives.

    In addition to our own library of content, we have hundreds of partners (Partner Content Team) who work with AC to obtain high­quality. As such, there are lots of opportunities for our most talented and productive writers to accept "Partner Assignments" on an as­needed basis.

    If you're interested in accepting higher paying Partner Assignments, send us a link to your AC profile once you have provided at least five articles. We will review all articles and pass them along to our Partner Content Team. If selected, you will start receiving special paid assignments from us on a regular basis, which you are free to accept or ignore.

    NOTE: we pay our writers via PayPal daily.

    Any questions ? Email me: demel@asociatedcontent.com

    War can be deadly for wildlife, too. A new study reports that war is the biggest threat to Africa's elephants, rhinoceroses, and other animals. Researchers examined how years of conflict in Africa have affected populations of large animals. More than 70 percent of Africa's protected wildlife areas have been within a war zone at some point in the last 70 years. The more frequent the fighting, the greater the drop in animal populations, said Josh Daskin, an ecologist at Yale University. He was the lead author of the study, which was published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

    It takes very little conflict, as much as one conflict in about 20 years, for the average wildlife population to be declining, Daskin said. "Areas with frequent fighting — but not necessarily the bloodiest fighting—lose 35 percent of their large animal populations during each year of war," he said.

Some animals get killed by weapons of war. Yet, many also die because of changes in social and economic conditions in an area as a result of war, said Rob Pringle. He is an ecologist at Princeton University and the study's co-author. "People in and around war zones are poor and hungrier. So they may begin to illegally hunt animals for valuable tusks or hunt protected animals to eat," Pringle said. "And during wartime, animal conservation programs do not have as much money or power to protect wildlife."

    The new study examined the entire African continent over 65 years. The researchers looked at 10 different factors that could change population numbers. They included war, drought, animal size, protected areas and human population density. The number of wars had the biggest effect on wildlife population. The intensity of the wars — measured in the number of human deaths — had the least effect on animals.