In ancient Egypt, a shopkeeper discovered that he could attract customers to his shop simply by making changes to its environment. Modern businesses have been following his lead,with more tactics（策略）.

One tactic involves where to display the goods. Foe example, stores place fruits and vegetables in the first section. They know that customers who buy the healthy food first will feel happy so that they will buy more junk food（垃圾食品）later in their trip. In department stores, section is generally next to the women's cosmetics(化妆品) section：while the shop assistant is going back to find the right size shoe, bored customers are likely to wander over cosmetics they might want to try later.

Besides, businesses seek to appeal to customers' senses. Stores notice that the smell of baked goods encourages shopping, they make their own bread each morning and then fan the bread smell into the store throughout the day. Music sells goods, too. Researchers in Britain found that when French music was played, sales of French wine went up.

           When it comes to the selling of houses, businesses also use highly rewarding tactics. They find that customers make decision in the first few second upon walking in the door, and turn it into a business opportunity. A California builder designed the structure of its houses smartly. When entering the house, the customer would see the Pacific Ocean through the windows, and then the poll through an open stairway leading to the lower level. The instant view of water on both levels helped sell these $10 million houses.

    Hetty Robinson learnt all about money when very young. As a child, she read the financial pages of the newspaper to her rich father. Her father died when Hetty was 30, and she inherited $1 million. When she herself died in 1916, she left almost $100 million to her two children.

    Hetty made her money on the New York stock(股票) exchange. She was a financial genius. She made money so easily that people called her the Witch of Wall Street. But although she was one of the richest women in the world, she counted every cent and spent as little as possible. She didn't own a house, because she didn't want to pay taxes. So she and her children lived in cheap hotels. She spent almost nothing on clothes, and always wore the same long black dress. She washed it herself, but to save soap she only washed the bottom of the dress, where it touched the ground. Other people had their own offices, but Hetty used a desk in the bank where she kept her money, because it didn't cost anything. She sat in the bank and ate her sandwiches while she bought and sold stocks and shares. If the bank complained, she just moved all her money to another bank.

    Hetty's family paid the price for her meanness. When she was 33 she married a millionaire, Edward Green, and they had two children. But Green lost all his money, so she left him. When her son, Ned, injured his knee, Hetty didn't want to pay for a doctor, so she took him to a free hospital for poor people. Unfortunately the doctor knew Hetty was rich and he asked for money. Hetty refused and took the boy away. His leg got worse and two years later doctors removed it.

    But eventually Ned got his revenge(报复). At the age of 81, Hetty had an argument with a shop assistant about the price of a bottle of milk. She became so angry that she had a heart attack and died. So Hetty's meanness finally killed her. Ned inherited half his mother's fortune, and he spent it all on parties, holidays and expensive jewellery.

The idea of being able to walk on water has long interested humans greatly. Sadly, biological facts prevent us ever accomplishing such a thing without artificial aid—we simply weigh too much, and all our mass pushes down through our relatively small feet, resulting in a lot of pressure that makes us sink.

    However, several types of animals can walk on water. One of the most interesting is the common basilisk Basilicus basilicus, a lizard (蜥蜴)native to Central and South America. It can run across water for a distance of several meters, avoiding getting wet by rapidly hitting the water's surface with its feet. The lizard will take as many as 20 steps per second to keep moving forward. For humans to do this, we，d need huge feet that we could bring up to our ears in order to create adequate w hitting.

    But fortunately there is an alternative : cornflour. By adding enough of this common thickening agent to water (and it does take a lot), you can create a “non-Newtonian” liquid that doesn't behave like normal water. Now, if the surface of the water is hit hard enough, particles(粒子）in the water group together for a moment to make the surface hard. Move quickly enough and put enough force into each step, and you really can walk across the surface of an adequately thick Liquid of cornflour.

    Fun though all this may sound, it's still rather messy and better read about in theory than carried out in practice. If you must do it, then keep the water wings handy in case you start to sink--and take a shower afterward!

    I grew up with a fat dad 450 pounds at his heaviest. Every week he would try a new diet, and my family ended up eating whatever strange food he was trying at that moment.

    After my third-grade year, my dad landed a life-changing job in Manhattan. My mom, my little sister and I had to move away from our hometown, Chicago, and leave my grandmother and her beautiful food behind.

    Leaving my grandmother was far more frightening than the move to New York City.  There would be no more special weekends at my grandmother's house, the only place I can remember feeling happy, safe and nourished (有营养的). It was what I desired. In this new city, I felt extremely alone and lost, and I missed my grandmother terribly.

    My grandmother knew just how I felt. And she knew the cure. Every week, she would send me a card with a$ 20 bill, a recipe and a list of what to buy at the market. It kept us bonded, and her recipes filled my body and soul.

    Over the years, I have grown to better understand my father's struggles with weight and the toll (代价) it took on him and those who love him. I have come to realize he was driven not by vanity (自负) or selfishness as much as by a deep pain, I  And in spite of growing up in such an unhealthy eating environment ( or perhaps be-cause of it), as an adult I found a passion and a career as a nutrition consultant.

    Today, my father weighs 220 pounds and is a vegan(素食者). How he got there is a story I hope to share in the coming weeks. More importantly, food is no longer a barrier that keeps us apart, but a bridge that keeps us connected. There is nothing my dad enjoys more than talking with me about dietary theories and his weightloss victories. And now I am the one regularly sending recipe cards to my father s house, just as my grandmother did for me.

    It is increasingly popular for Chinese young people to share their experiences on Social media, such as the “moments” (朋友圈) on popular instant messaging service WeChat.

    “I have been reading 'Jane Eyre' for 40 days with 48,000 words finished,” Li Anqi said. Li has been sharing her reading experience on WeChat moments every day since January. Working in Yinchuan, capital of Northwest China's Ningxia, Li wants to learn English very much, but cannot bare (摆脱) the daily grind (日常工作) of school lessons.

    “I found many of my WeChat friends had been reading books or learning English on mobile reading apps, and I did not want to fall behind,” Li said.

    In January, she spent more than 100 yuan purchasing an online reading class at the Bohe Reading app, which tells customers they can: “Finish reading your first English book here.” At the reading class, teachers assign reading homework and give instructions to 430 class members every day.

    A survey report released (发布) on Thursday said 70.9 percent of primary and middle students in China use the Wechat instant messaging App. At the same time, 75.9 percent of Chinese children have their own mobile phones, according to China National Children's Center.

    The figures were based on a survey of nearly 9,000 children across China. However, 28.8 percent of them never read news online and 43.2 percent have never touched newspapers.

    The Center called for efforts to address the digital divide between urban and rural education and protect children's privacy as Internet users.

    People from Britain and Ireland first came to live in Australia in 1788. They brought different dialects （方言）of English with them. These different kinds of English began to mix and change. The newcomers soon began to speak with their own typical accent（口音） and vocabulary. More and more people came to Australia during the Gold Rush in the 19th and 20th centuries. Some came from Britain and Ireland; others came from non-English speaking countries. Australian English continued to grow and change.

    Australian English has also been influenced by American English. During the Second World War, there were many American soldiers staying in Australia. More importantly, American television shows and music have been popular in Australia since the 1950s.

    Australians use many words that other English speakers do not use. The famous Australian greeting, for example, is G'day! A native forest is called the bush and central Australia is called the outback. Many words were brought to Australia from Britain and Ireland. For example, mate means "friend", and it is still used in Britain. Some of these words have changed in meaning. Some words have come from Australian original languages, many of which are names for animals, plants and places, like dingo and kangaroo.

    Australian spelling comes from British spelling. In words like organise and realise, -ise is the expected and taught spelling method. In words like colour, favourite, -our is the normal, but nouns such as the Labor Party and Victor Harbor are spelled with -or. Program, on the other hand, is more common than programme.

    There are also differences in the definition （定义）of words Australians use in different parts of the country. For example, football means "rugby" in New South Wales and Queensland, but "Australian rules football" in everywhere else in Australia. In New South Wales, a swimming costume is called a cossie or swimmers, while in Queensland it is called togs and bathers in Victoria.