Good manners are important, but you can easily make a social blunder when you visit a foreign country, because sometimes good manners in one place are bad manners in other places.

    Suppose you visit some friends in Mongolia and they ask you to eat with them. What kind of manners do they want you to have? They want you to give a loud “burp” after you finish eating. Burping shows that you like your food. But in some other countries, if you give a loud “burp”, you are supposed to say, “Excuse me, please.”

    In many places people like to eat together. But in some parts of Polynesia it is bad manners to be seen eating together. People show their good manners by turning their backs on others while they eat.

    What are manners like in an East African town? The people try not to see you. When you are visiting a friend, he may not see you at all. If you are polite, you will sit down beside him. You will wait until he finishes what he is doing. Then he will talk to you.

    If you visit a friend in Arabia you should walk behind other tents until you come to his tent. If you pass in front of other tents, you will be asked into each one. The people will ask you to eat with them. And it is bad manners if you say no.

    Manners are different all over the world. But it is good to know that all manners help people show that they want to be friends.

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    What will people die of 100 years from now? If you think that is a simple question，you have not been paying attention to the revolution that is taking place in bio-­technology（生物技术）. With the help of new medicine，the human body will last a very long time. Death will come mainly from accidents，murder and war. Today's leading killers，such as heart disease，cancer，and aging itself，will become distant memories.

    In discussion of technological changes，the Internet gets most of the attention these days. But the change in medicine can be the real technological event of our times. How long can humans live? Human brains were known to decide the final death. Cells（细胞） are the basic units of all living things，and until recently，scientists were sure that the life of cells could not go much beyond 120 years because the basic materials of cells，such as those of brain cells，would not last forever. But the upper limits will be broken by new medicine. Sometime between 2050 and 2100，medicine will have advanced to the point at which every 10 years or so，people will be able to take medicine to repair their organs（器官）. The medicine，made up of the basic building materials of life，will build new brain cells，heart cells，and so on－in much the same way our bodies make new skin cells to take the place of old ones.

    It is exciting to imagine that the advance in technology may be changing the most basic condition of human existence，but many technical problems still must be cleared up on the way to this wonderful future.

    How to keep a good figure may be important to you. In fact, your house may have an effect on your figure. Experts say the way you design your home could play a role in whether you pack on the pounds or keep them off. You can make your environment work for you instead of against you. Here are some ways to turn your home into part of your diet plan.

    Open the curtains and turn up the lights. Dark environments are more likely to encourage overeating, for people are often less self-conscious when they're in poorly lit places—and so more likely to eat lots of food. If your home doesn't have enough window light, get more lamps and flood the place with brightness.

    Mind the colors. Research suggests warm colors fuel our appetites. In one study, people who ate meals in a blue room consumed 33 percent less than those in a yellow or red room. Warm colors like yellow make food appear more appetizing, while cold colors make us feel less hungry. So when it's time to repaint, go blue.

    Don't forget the clock—or the radio. People who eat slowly tend to consume about 70 fewer calories per meal than those who rush through their meals. Begin keeping track of the time, and try to make dinner last at least 30 minutes. And while you're at it, actually sit down to eat. If you need some help slowing down, turn on relaxing music. It makes you less likely to rush through a meal.

    Downsize the dishes. Big serving bowls and plates can easily make us fat. We eat about 22 percent more when using a 12-inch plate instead of a 10-inch plate. When we choose a large spoon over a smaller one, total intake jumps by 14 percent. And we'll pour about 30 percent more liquid into a short, wide glass than a tall, skinny glass.

    Do you need help in creating a character for your novel? Well, you have come to the right article.

    Write down your characters full name.

    You can also write down any other name/nickname/title he or she has. Try not to use your name or someone else's name that you know, as this may be considered personal information. You may be writing a mystery and your main character may just be referred to as, for example, the Man, all the way through the novel. Even if in this situation, to add depth to your character, you should know the character inside-out even if the reader will not.

    Describe your character's physical features.

    Does he/she have red or blonde hair? What color is his/her skin? Is he or she a human, animal, robot or imagined creature? Make your character unusual. Describe your character in an interesting way, even if your character is meant to be common or average. The possibilities are vast; just make the descriptive language good, so that it conjures up(使在脑海中显现)the character for the readers.

    Describe the character's personality in detail

    They are all great for working with as a writer, but you must choose a reasonable one that best fits your

Character—don't try to give the character an unlikely combination of many features. Don't give the character merely neutral or good features. Also add the bad habits and weaknesses. Your character is best if presented as defective (in actions, appearance or personality).Your character can make mistakes, have bad habits, and have little interesting strange habits. This is what makes the character interesting.

    Work out a good plot.

    What is a good story without a good plot? Maybe your character has become mixed up with some bad people or a strange mystery. Maybe your character has only months to live and wants to do something great

    But, the plots must be connected to the character. Keep imagining.

    Nine years ago, a few days before Christmas, I was a director at a company in San Francisco, and I was called into a meeting that was already in progress. That meeting turned out to be my exit interview. I was 64 years old at the time. It wasn't completely unexpected. I signed a pile of papers and left the company.

    So, 40 plus years of employment was over. I had a good reputation and background. Retirement was not a choice for me. I wanted to do something. And then an idea came into my mind, born from my concern for our environment. I wanted to build my own business, designing and producing biodegradable(可生物降解的)packaging from waste. This is called clean technology, and it was really meaningful to me. It could help reduce billions of pounds of single-use plastic packaging wasted each year.

    Five years later, I'm delighted and proud to share with you that our income has doubled every year and we have no debt. Meanwhile, I have a wonderful partner, and we've won more than 20 awards for the work that we've done.

    And I am doing the most rewarding and meaningful work of my life right now. But what I really long for is to find other first-time entrepreneurs(企业家)who are my age. I want to connect with them.

    So I want to do something about that in a few years. I want us to start talking more about people who don't become entrepreneurs until they are seniors. And then connecting all of them across industries, regions and countries—building a community.

Clair Hughes initiated her quest for frugal methodologies to extricate herself from a £3,500 educational advance that had spiraled into a financial overhang. This economic strategist commenced an online odyssey in search of vouchers that would provide her with markdowns on her purchases. She divulged that the full value of an item seldom left her wallet, proclaiming, "Deductions are perpetually accessible; the key lies in meticulous organization. Initially, I anticipated an onerous endeavor, but I have now assimilated this lifestyle to the point where it has become second nature. I have effortlessly amassed savings exceeding £15,000."

In the year 2010, Ms. Hughes directed her attention towards fiscal conservation when she relocated to share a domicile with her significant other, Shane Byrne, an instructor within the telecommunications sector. Seeking counsel through digital means, she implemented a series of astute financial maneuvers, such as transferring her financial overdraft to an account that levied no interest. Subsequently, after a few years, she encountered an online collective of individuals devoted to the art of voucher accumulation and resolved to experiment with their practices.

She dedicated considerable time to navigating the digital expanse in pursuit of vouchers, meticulously printing each one to accompany her on her commercial forays. Over the passage of time, she has secured some remarkable bargains. On one occasion, a pair of luminaries valued at £140 were hers for the mere sum of £35.

Two years prior, Ms. Hughes expanded her repertoire of economic strategies by incorporating rebate applications that offer monetary restitution on a spectrum of items from alcoholic beverages to personal care products. Post each commercial venture, she uploads visual documentation of her financial transactions, which are subsequently scrutinized, and restitution is granted on certain acquisitions.

Among her other premier recommendations for financial prudence, Ms. Hughes advocates participation in remunerative online surveys, which have yielded her a substantial cache of vouchers. She remarked, "I have encountered accounts of individuals gathering forsaken receipts from shopping carts to seek overlooked discounts. The extent to which vouchers and rebate applications have been of service to me is astonishing. The community significantly enhances my financial endeavors. There is invariably an individual prepared to elucidate the operational intricacies."