Food festivals around the world

Stilton Cheese Rolling

    May Day is a traditional day for celebrations, but the 2,000 English villagers of Stilton must be the only people in the world who include cheese rolling in their annual plans. Teams of four, dressed in a variety of strange and funny clothes, roll a complete cheese along a 50-metre course. On the way, they must not kick or throw their cheese, or go into their competitors' lane（赛道）. Competition is fierce and the chief prize is a complete Stilton cheese weighing about four kilos (disappointingly, but understandably the cheeses used in the race are wooden ones). All the competitors arc served with beer or port wine, the traditional accompaniment for Stilton cheese.

Fiery Foods Festival—The Hottest Festival on Earth

    Every year more than 10,000 people head for the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. They come from as far away as Australia, the Caribbean and China, but they all share a common addiction—food that is not just spicy（辛辣）,but hot enough to make your mouth burn, your head spin and your eyes water. Their destination is the Fiery Food and BBQ Festival which is held over a period of three clays every March. You might like to try a chocolate-covered habanero pepper—officially the hottest pepper in the world—or any one of the thousands of products that are on show. But one thing's for sure—if you don't like the feeling of a burning tongue, this festival isn't for you!

La Tomatina—The World's Biggest Food Fight

    On the last Wednesday of every August, the Spanish town of Bunol hosts Ea Tomatina—the world's largest food fight. A week-long celebration leads up to an exciting tomato battle as the highlight of the week's events. The early morning sees the arrival of large trucks with tomatoes—official fight-starters get things going by casting tomatoes at the crowd.

    The battle lasts little more than half an hour, in which time around 50,000 kilograms of tomatoes have been thrown at anyone or anything that moves, runs, or fights back. Then everyone heads down to the river to make friends again—and for a much-needed wash!

Yawning（哈欠）sends out certain messages—either “Oh, this movie is boring" or "I probably need to get some sleep". But did you know that a yawn can also help your brain to cool down when it is so overheated?

    A new study, led by a research team of Princeton University, has indicated（表明）that yawning could be the brain's natural way of regulating temperature. People yawn more often when the temperature outdoors is lower than their body temperature but are less likely to yawn when it is hotter outdoors, according to Sciencedaily.com.

    The research team did an experiment on 160 people, 80 in summer and 80 in winter, to examine how often they yawned at different air temperatures. The study found that people yawned more often in winter than in summer. Scientists say that when the air temperature is lower outside the body, there is heat exchange between the overheated brain and the cool air. But when the air temperature is higher than or equal to the body, people are less likely to yawn because the hot air they breathe in will make the brain even hotter.

    When people yawn, their jaw is also stretched, which increases blood flow and may also help cool the brain.

    The study showed that the amount someone yawned could be related to the amount of time they spent outside. The longer they spent outside in summer, the less they yawn. Nearly 40 percent of participants yawned within their first five minutes outside, but after that the percentage was reduced to less than 10 percent.

    However, the result was the opposite in winter. The number of people who yawned increased when they spent more than five minutes outdoors. But the change was only slight compared to summertime.

    According to Gallup, this is the first report to show that yawning frequencies(频率) change depending on season. This could help us to understand better the way our brains work. It may also help us understand the reason why frequent yawning can sometimes be a sign of brain disease.

Happy birthday

    The China National Opera (CNO) will give a concert to celebrate its 50th birthday.

Different generations of CNO vocalists, like Li Guangxi, Yao Hong and Ma Mei, will present the concert which will feature both songs from famous Chinese operas like “The White-haired Girl” and “The Hundredth Bride”, as well as, arias of such Western opera classics as “Madame Butterfly”, “La Traviata” and “Rigoletto”.

Time/ date: 7:30 p.m., September 7th, 8^th

Location: Tianqiao Theatre

Tel: 6551-4787, 8315-6170

Tickets: 60-500 yuan (U.S. $7.2- 60.2)

Folk music

    A concert will be held to feature some recently composed traditional Chinese music works. The concert, given by the Folk Orchestra of the China Opera and Ballet Theatre, will include such pieces as “Memory of Childhood”, “Memorial Ceremony for God” and “Wine Song”.

Time/date: 7:30pm, September 13th

Location: Concert hall at the National Library of China

Tel: 6848 –5462, 6841-9220

Tickets: 30-200 yuan (U.S. $3.6-24.1)

Moon music

    A concert of traditional Chinese music will be given on the eve of the Moon Festival which falls on September 21^st this year. The concert will feature a number of famous pieces centered on the theme of the moon, such as “Moonlight”, “Spring night on a Moonlit River” and “Lofty Mountain and Flowing River.”

A number of established traditional Chinese music performers like Zhou Yaokun and Fan Weiqing, will play solos as well as collaborate with the folk music orchestra.

Time / date: 7:30 pm, September 21^st

Location: Grand Theatre of the Cultural Palace of Nationalities

Tel: 6606-8888, 6606-9999

Ticket: 40-240 yuan (U.S. $4.8-27)

    When people find themselves in difficult conflicts, they often turn to mediation(调解). Mediator are advised to listen attentively, avoid favoring the ideas of one party, and make both sides feel at ease. Surprisingly, new research that my colleagues and I conducted shows that, to effectively help people settle their conflicts, mediators should adopt a hostile(敌对的) attitude rather- than a calming one. A hostile mediator, we find, brings better results than a nice one

    Why would adding more negativity to an already hostile situation prove beneficial? Consider how parents typically react when they can't get their children to stop quarreling: "I don't care who started it, both of you, go to your rooms!" At first sight, a calm mediator seems likely to be more effective. But as anyone with brothers or sisters knows, parents' seemingly unsympathetic treatment of the situation can have an unusual effect,

    In our research, we created situations in which pairs of negotiators were part of a heated conflict. In some cases, the mediator had a "nice" approach-calm and polite. In others, he was hostile-aggressive and somewhat rude. Across different types of conflicts, we found that negotiators were more willing and able to reach an agreement in the presence of a hostile mediator than in the presence of a nice one.

The main result of the test is not that hostility pays off. In fact, recent research has documented the social costs of negative behavior. For example, being the target of rude behavior reduces people's performance on a variety of tasks. Other research shows the social benefits of positive behavior. People are more likely to close deals and become future business partners.

    Even with the widespread social benefits of positive behavior and costs of negative behavior, hostility can pay off in certain situations.

    If you're planning on travelling, there are a few simple rules about how to make life easier both before and after your journey.

    First of all, always check and double­check departure (起程) time. It is amazing how few people really do this carefully. Once I arrived at the airport a few minutes after ten. My secretary had got the ticket for me and I thought she had said that the plane left at 10：50. When I arrived at the airport, the clerk at the departure desk told me that my flight was closed. Therefore, I had to wait three hours for the next one and missed an important meeting.

    The second rule is to remember that even in this age of credit cards, it is still important to have at least a little of the local currency (货币) with you when you arrive in a country. This can be necessary if you are flying to a place few tourists normally visit. Once I arrived at a place at midnight and the bank at the airport was closed. The only way to get to my hotel was by taxi and because I had no dollars, I offered to pay in pounds instead. "Listen! I only take real money!" the driver said angrily. Luckily I was able to borrow a few dollars from a clerk at the hotel, but it was embarrassing.

    The third and last rule is to find out as much as you can about the weather at your destination before you leave. I feel sorry for some of my workmates who travel in heavy suits and raincoats in May, when it is still fairly cool in London or Manchester, to places like Athens, Rome or Madrid, where it is already beginning to get quite warm during the day.

    The cold and icy land that is the Eskimo's home is a dangerous one. The Eskimo once believed that to be safe from danger he had to obey taboos(禁忌). Taboos were rules that told him what he must do and must not do.

    The Eskimo had taboos connected with almost everything he did. He had to keep them in mind at all times. He believed that to break one would bring disaster. For the Eskimo, it was taboo to store reindeer(驯鹿) and seal (海豹) meat together. He could not even eat them on the same day. He believed the Goddess Sedna had separated the land animals from the sea animals. He thought bringing them together would cause the hunting to be bad.

    There were other taboos concerning animals. When a dead seal was brought into the house, the women had to stop working. They had to give its spirit a drink of water. If they did not, the spirit would be angered. It would keep other animals from being caught.

    When the Eskimo broken a taboo, he believed a black cloud formed around his head. He had to tell the others in the village what he had done. He thought that if he did not tell his neighbors, they would catch the black cloud. Then the whole village would have bad luck.