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    If you have a chance to go to Finland, you will probably be surprised to find how “foolish” the Finnish people are.

    Take the taxi drivers for example. Taxis in Finland are mostly high-class Benz with a fare of two US dollars a kilometer. You can go anywhere in one, tell the driver to drop you at any place, say that you have some business to attend to, and then walk off without paying your fare. The driver would not show the least sign of anxiety.

    The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their guests, but also serve outside diners. Hotel guests have their meals free, so they naturally go to the free dining rooms to have their meals. The most they would do to show their good faith is to wave their registration card to the waiter. With such a loose check, you can easily use any old registration card to take a couple of friends to dine free of charge.

    The Finnish workers are paid by the hour. They are very much on their own as soon as they have agreed with the boss on the pay. From then on, they just say how many hours they have worked and they will be paid accordingly.

    With so many loopholes (漏洞) in everyday life, surely Finland must be a heaven to those who love to take “petty advantages”. But the strange thing is, all the taxi passengers would always come back to pay their fare after they have attended to their business; not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms. And workers always give an honest account of the exact hours they put in. As the Finns always act on good faith in everything they do, living in such a society has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”.

    In a society of such high moral practice, what need is there for people to be on guard against others?

    Societies all over the world name places in similar ways. Quite often there is no official naming ceremony but places tend to be called names as points of reference by people. Then an organized body steps in and gives the place a name. Frequently it happens that a place has two names: One is named by the people and the other by the government. As in many areas, old habits died hard, and the place continues to be called by its unofficial name long after the meaning is lost.

Many roads and places in Singapore(新加坡) are named in order that the pioneers will be remembered by future generations. Thus we have names such as Stamford Road and Raffles Place. This is in keeping with traditions in many countries — in both the West and the East.

Another way of naming places is naming them after other places. Perhaps they were named to promote friendships between the two places or it could be that the people who used to live there were originally from the places that the roads were named after. The mystery is clearer when we see some of the roads named in former British bases. If you step into Selector Airbase you will see Piccadilly Circus — obviously named by some homesick Royal Air Force personnel.

    Some places were named after the activities that used to go on at those places. Bras Basah Road is an interesting example, "Base Basah" means "wet rice" in Malay(马来语). Now why would anyone want to name a road "Wet Rice Road"? The reason is simple. During the pioneering days, wet rice was laid out to dry along this road.

    A few roads in Singapore are named by their shapes. There is "Circular Road" for one. Other roads may have part of their names to describe their shapes, like "Paya Lebar Crescent". This road is called a crescent (月牙) because it begins on the main road, makes a crescent and comes back to join the main road again.

    Mother Teresa (August 26, 1910-September 5, 1997) was a great woman, who did a lot to improve the social condition of mankind. Due to her contribution in serving the society, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize aged 69.

    She was brought up in a Catholic family. When she was only seven, she lost her father. Even as a young child, she was interested in the life of missionaries (传教士). At the age of 18, she decided that she would become a nun. She left her home and went to join the Sisters of Loreto. It was the first step that she made towards providing services for mankind.

    On the 7th of October in the year 1950, Mother Teresa received Vatican permission to start the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, the mission of which would be to take care of the needy, the homeless, and people who were shunned by the society. Then it had a number of branches all over the country. The journey of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity started with the setting up of homes for "the Dying".

    In the year 1983, Mother Teresa suffered from a serious heart attack, while she was in Rome. However, she recovered. But, later in 1989, she again got an attack. Her health went worse and in the year 1991, she suffered from pneumonia. Taking her health problems into consideration, Mother Teresa decided to resign (辞职) from the post of head of the order.

    A secret vote was conducted in which all the nuns voted for the stay of Mother Teresa except herself. So, she agreed to continue serving as head of the Missionaries of Charity. Day by day her health was getting worse. On September 5, 1997, exactly nine days after her 87th birthday, this great soul departed for heaven.

    Do you have any stress in your daily life and do you know how to reduce your stress?

    Our world is changing with ever increasing speed and many people are finding it difficult to keep up with it. Although no one can control the world at large, people do have the power to control their personal world by controlling stress and their responses (反应) to it.

    Of course a certain amount of stress, both physical and mental is normal and healthy for humans but too much can be fatal. According to a report on the Mayo Clinic's website, "80% of patient visits to their doctors are stress related. Almost 60% of all employee absences from work are related to stress. Over one million people (in the U. S. ) die each year due to diseases related to stress. This includes obesity(肥胖), lung cancer (due to smoking), heart disease and high blood pressure. "

    The result of stress or the way it shows in a person's life is, in part, their reaction to the situation. Some of the ways in which stress "shows up" are signals that need to be recognised, before more serious conditions develop. A few of these are: stomachaches, chest pain, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem (自尊) and impatience.

    The good news is that these reactions can be changed naturally. By using positive suggestions a hypnotist (催眠治疗师) can help us make great changes. A deep, relaxing hypnotic rest is a very safe, pleasant and enjoyable process and stress reduction is a natural by-product.

    If you would like to get the tools to reduce stress naturally, hypnotism can be very helpful. A professional hypnotist not only guides people through stress reducing exercises and offers suggestions for dealing with stress, but also teaches self hypnosis skills which can be used throughout life.

Do you continue to be healthy in social isolation? NASA is looking for people to spend 8 months locked in a Russian lab for a new experiment.

When humans go to the moon and travel to Mars, they will need to be prepared for long-term space travel and even longer stays on these far-off destinations. Currently, NASA's Artemis program aims to land humans on the moon for the first time since NASA's Apollo 17 mission landed in 1972.

While the moon is the main goal of NASA's Artemis program, the agency's larger goal is to send people to Mars. But long-term space travel and habitation won't be easy. Such missions will present both physical and mental challenges as astronauts work to not only survive, but perform important scientific research in uniquely difficult environments.

In the upcoming NASA-Russia experiment, a group of people will live in a closed facility at Russia's Institute for Biomedical Problems, which is in Moscow. This habitat facility was used in2011 for notable series of Russian mock (模拟的) Mars missions known as Mars 500. During these missions, groups of people spent 520 and 105 days on two separate missions in the facility.

The facility, according to the statement, will have "environmental factors similar to those astronauts are expected to experience on future missions to Mars". The group of people will spend 8 months living together in isolation and working on scientific research.

By living and working in this Mars-like environment, participants in this study will help NASA researchers better understand the psychological and physiological (心理和生理的) effects of isolation. These missions help researchers not only perform relevant science experiments but also see how people might get on under strange conditions for long periods of time.

So, if you're finding that living in social isolation works for you, you might be particularly well-suited for living in a Mars-like environment and this could be for you. But first, you have to qualify. NASA is looking for "highly motivated" Americans between the ages of 30-55, who must speak both Russian and English fluently and have a Master of Science, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Medicine, or military officer training. Applicants with other related experience may also be considered. Those who are chosen to be a part of this group will be paid for their work.