The Bronte sisters were three sisters who became famous novelists． Their lives and works are connected with the lonely moors of Yorkshire, England, where they lived． Patrick Bronte, the sisters' father, was a poor Irishman who became the parish clergyman of the small, isolated town of Haworth, Yorkshire． Bronte was somewhat strange and tended to be strict． His wife died in 1821 and her sister brought up the family out of duty, but with little love or understanding． The sisters went to several boarding schools where they received a better education than usual for girls at that time, but in a bad atmosphere．

Few jobs were available for women at that time, and the Bronte sisters, except for occasional jobs as governesses or schoolteachers, lived their entire lives at home． They were shy, poor, and lonely, and occupied themselves with music, drawing, reading and —above all—writing． Their isolation led to the early development of their imaginations． In 1846, under the male pen names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, the sisters published a joint volume of poems．Although only two copies were sold, all three sisters soon had their first novels published．

    Charlotte Bronte's most famous novel Jane Eyre （1847） is largely autobiographical ． Through the heroine, Charlotte relived her hated boarding school life and her experiences as a governess in a large house． Rochester, the hero and master of the house, is fictional． Jane Eyre was enormously successful, but many readers were shocked that Rochester, who tried to make Jane his mistress, should be rewarded by marrying her． Some readers were also shocked because Jane wanted to be regarded as a thinking and independent person, rather than as a weak female．

    Charlotte Bronte wrote three other novels． The first one, The Professor, was not published until 1857, after her death． Shirley （1849） is set among the labour riots of the early 1800s． Villette

    Time zone:

    Eastern Standard Time (EST): GMT+l0 hours.

    There is no daylight saving time in Queensland.

    Legal drinking age:

    18 years and older. Always keep your ID with you to prove your age.

    Alcohol (酒) shops & hotels are the only places where alcohol can be bought.

    Dangers:

    Dial 000 from a fixed line or 112 from a mobile phone. Police, ambulance, fire.

    Electricity:

    240/250 volts AC 50Hz Universal outlets for 110 volts (shavers only) standard in hotels, apartments, motels.

    Telephones:

    Australian international code is 61.

    Road rules:

    Left hand side driving. There is a 50kmh speed limit in most living areas and on open highways 100-110 kmh, seat belts must be worn all the time. If you want to hire a car, take along your driver's license.

No smoking:

    Indoors: Indoor areas are no smoking.

    Poker Machines: Poker machine areas are no smoking.

    Outdoors: Non-enclosed eating and drinking areas are no smoking.

Swimming safety:

    ALWAYS SWIM BET WEEN THE RED AND YELLOW FLAGS and pay attention to the life guards' advice. Gold coast beaches are guarded by skilled life guards and volunteers at weekends.

    Now is the best time for Hong Kong shopping lovers, as most shops and markets are having their seasonal sales. With the same amount of money, you can find different kinds of goods in this city. Women, young and old, rarely resist the attraction of this shopping paradise(乐园) at this time of year. Lovers will surely have an exciting Christmas and New year's Eve celebrations at the Time Square or in the western styled bars. Spending your holiday in Hong Kong will be easy too, as several packing tours are available from CZL Travel Service, with four-day tours for less than 15,000 yuan.

    Tour package 1(3,200 yuan): a 4-day-tour including three nights' accommodation(住宿), science helicopter flight, night ferry tour of Victoria Harbor and shuttle bus to the park to view the city at night.

    Tour package 2(1,880yuan): a 4-day-shopping tour including three nights' accommodation, tour to Golden Beach and the Vex work Museum, shuttle bus to the Peak and shopping opportunities.

    Tour package 3 (1,480 yuan): a 4-day-DIY-tour including three nights' accommodation in a four-star hotel and total freedom to do what you want, when you went.

    Kaitlin Woolley and Ayelet Fishbach report in Psychological Science that a meal taken "family-style" from a central plate can greatly improve the outcome of later negotiations.

    Having conducted previous research in 2017 revealing that eating similar foods led to people feeling emotionally closer to one another, Dr Woolley and Dr Fishbach wondered whether the way in which food was served also had a psychological effect. They theorized that, on the one hand, sharing food with other people might indicate food scarcity（短缺）and increase a feeling of competition. However, they also reasoned that it could instead lead people to become more aware of others' needs and drive cooperative behavior as a result. Curious to find out, they did a series of experiments.

    For the first test they recruited 100 pairs of participants from a local cafe, none of whom knew each other. The participants were seated at a table and fed tortilla chips with salsa. Half the pairs were given their own basket of 20 grams of chips and a bowl of 25 grams of salsa, and half were given 40 grams of chips and 50 grams of salsa to share. As a cover for the experiment, all participants were told this snack was to be consumed before the game began.

    The game asked the participants to negotiate an hourly wage rate during a fictional strike. Each person was randomly assigned to represent the union or management and follow a set of rules.

    The researchers measured cooperation by noting the number of rounds it took to reach an agreement, and found that those who shared food resolved the strike significantly faster（in 8. 7rounds）than those who did not（13.2 rounds）. A similar experiment was conducted with 104

participants and Goldfish crackers（饼干）, this time negotiating an airline's route prices. The results were much the same, with the food-sharers negotiating successfully 63. 3%of the time and those who did not share doing so 42. 9%of the time.

    Over the next decade, technology will decimate more jobs in many professions.

    Some robots already cost less to operate than the salaries of the humans they replace, and they are getting cheaper. Boston Consulting Group predicts that, by 2025, the operating cost of a robot that does welding (焊接) will be less than $2 per hour, for example. That's more affordable than the $25 per hour that a human welder earns today in America.

    Uber and many other companies are working on developing cars and trucks that don't need a driver in the driver's seat. According to the American Trucking Associations, approximately 3 million truck drivers were employed in the United States in 2010, and 6. 8 million others were employed in other jobs relating to trucking activity. So roughly one of every 15 workers in the country is employed in the trucking business. We could be talking about millions of jobs disappearing in the early 2020s.

    And then there is the "Gig Economy (零工经济)" that has some businesses moving toward part-time, on-demand employment. Uber has already done this to taxi drivers, and other technology companies are doing it to a wide range of jobs. A study by Intuit predicted that, by 2020, 40% of American workers will be self-employed, and that full-time jobs will be harder to find. We are talking about 60 million people in this category. The problem is that not only do such part-time workers lack reliable full-time jobs and sick pay, but they can't enjoy health insurance and longer-term benefits.

    The measures to be taken are to raise trade barriers. But closing the doors to foreign trade won't bring jobs back. It will only slow the global economy and hurt American exports, shrinking the U. S. economy and accelerating job loss.

It was a typical weekend for Mitch White and his friends. They were out celebrating a bachelor party, sailing the peaceful waters of the Minnesota River. They never expected that this single party would transform from a relaxed canoe trip into a painful rescue mission. With the sun setting, an unexpected bark changed everything.

Led by Mitch White, the soon-to-be-married man, they searched for the source of the sound along the banks of the river. Suddenly, a weak cry for help came from the mud. They were surprised to find that the head of a 13-year-old St. Bernard named Ed was barely visible in the thick mud. Mitch said, "The dog wasn't moving on its own, so we should feed it and give it water. " The dog looked like i had used all its strength.

The men took up their oars（桨） and began digging, their festive mood giving way to a focused rescue mission. It took them more than half an hour to free the trapped dog as it was already breathing very feebly after possibly being trapped for 24 hours. When they got the poor fellow out of the mud, he couldn't walk, so they carried him back to the house. Back home with his owner, George Niskanen, Ed began his slow restoration-a happy ending to a dangerous adventure. George was thankful to the bachelor party heroes.

Now, the people of Carver, Minnesota, have new heroes to cheer for. Indeed, this incredible act of bravery and compassion redefined the meaning of a bachelor party. It became a heroic tale of humanity, friendship, and the instinct（本能）to do what's right.