Sometimes it is difficult to talk to taxi drivers. They must give all their attention to the road as they work out the shortest way to the place where you are going. However, passengers from Wangfujing were in surprise when they took a taxi. The driver just would not stop talking in English.

    Organized by the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy, “Dare to Speak” examines if Chinese people will speak English in “real-life” situations.

    Matthew Knowles, an acting student from South Carolina at Beijing Film Academy, acted the part as the “driver”. He collected six passengers on Saturday morning, most of whom were female white-collar （白领）workers.

    “Of course they were surprised at first, wondering why I'm driving a taxi, and wondering whether this is a real taxi, but then most of them were pretty willing to speak,” he said. Knowles said he was also surprised by his “passengers”. “Apart from my first ‘passenger', who could speak very little English, all the rest spoke English very well, and it was fun to communicate with them,” he said, adding that some “passengers” were quite talkative.

    The “foreign taxi driver” project was just one of the “Dare to Speak” activities, which have been going on since the end of October. Other projects included a foreign store owner near a high school in Beijing, a cook in a Shanghai university canteen. They were testing the willingness of Chinese people, especially students and white-collar workers, to speak to foreigners in English.

    Rong Xin, senior manager of IELTS （雅思） with the British Embassy, said they hoped to let IELTS takers in China know that communication is the ultimate goal of IELTS.

    “We hope that more and more IELTS takers in China can realize the importance of communicating in English in real life, instead of just getting high test scores,” she said.

    Can eating a chocolate bar every day really prevent age-related memory loss? No. But a new research shows that large amounts of flavones, substances found in cocoa, tea and some kinds of vegetables, may improve age-related memory failure.

    Dr. Scott Small is a professor of neurology (神经病学) at Columbia University in new York City. He is the lead writer of a research paper describing the effects of cocoa flavones on brain activity. His study involved 37 volunteers aged between 50 and 69. Researchers gave them a high-level flavones drink made from cocoa beans or a low-level flavones drink. For a period of three months, some subjects got 900 milligrams of flavones a day. The others got 10 milligrams of flavones each day. Brain imaging and memory tests were given to each study subject before and after the study. Dr. Small says that the subjects who had the high-level flavones drink showed much improvement on memory tests.

    The researchers warn that more work is needed to be done because this study was performed only on a small group. Dr. Joann Manson is the lead researcher of a four-year study involving 18,000 adults. This study will use flavones capsules(胶囊). The study subjects will be divided into two groups and will take two pills per day. The capsules used will all look the same. But one group's capsules will contain flavones, while the other group will take capsules made of an inactive substance, or placebo

    Dr. Manson says it's not necessary for people to start eating more chocolate, because a person would have to eat a huge amount of chocolate to get the same level of flavones given to the rest subjects. He adds many manufacturers have planned to remove the flavones from their chocolate products. Similarly, Dr. Manson says a cocoa-based flavones extract(提取)may be developed in the future But he says that more studies are needed to see how much flavones is good for our health.

    There's no doubt that water is vital to any life. About 60 percent of the average adult human body is made of water. This includes most of your brain, heart, lungs, muscles and skin, and even about 30 percent of your bones. Yet there's little scientific agreement about the exact amount of the stuff an individual should consume each day. So how much water do you actually need to drink to be healthy?

    You may have heard that you should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. Yet, the downside of this rule, researchers say, is that drinking water by the glass is not the only way that humans take in it. The “8 X 8” rule essentially overlooks two big sources of daily water consumption. One such source is food. Everything you eat contains some water. Watermelons, for example, are more than 90 percent water by weight. Different diets naturally contain different amounts of waters, and the counts. The other key water sources are other beverages. Non-alcoholic drinks such as coffee, and tea, contain mostly water and all contribute to your hydration（水量）.

    So, between all the food, water and other fluids you consume in a day, how much water should you aim to take in?

    The National Academics of Sciences suggests that woman consume a total of approximately 2.7 liters (91 ounces) of warm from all beverages and foods each day and men 3.7 liters (125 ounces). But these are just general guidelines.

    The truth is, there is no magic standard for hydration—everyone's need vary depending on their age, weight, level of physical activity, general health and even the climate they live in. The more water you lose, the more water you'll need to replace with food and drink. If you are looking for concrete advice, though, the best place to look is within. Drink up when you're thirsty.

    Open work spaces definitely have their benefits，but they come with the drawback of offering employees little to no control over visual distractions(干扰)．With so many people around and so much going on，some of us can easily get disturbed by this information overload and lose focus in what's really important．That's where the Focus Cap comes into play．

    “As we are still cavemen or mammals kept in an unnatural environment，I believe that only by reclaiming(收回)the normal，stress-free human state through simple tools and techniques can we finally release our actual creative potential and create our meaningful work for a brighter future，”says German designer Hannes Greblin，inventor of the Focus Cap．

    After looking at other products designed at minimizing visual distractions，Greblin decided that most of them were either too expensive or too uncomfortable to become mainstream，so he decided to go with something much simpler —a simple cap with a retractable visor(可伸缩的帽沿)．

    Greblin's Focus Cap is really straightforward．You just wear it like a regular cap'with the sides of the visor retracted，and just collapse the sides whenever you need to focus on what's ahead of you．Whether you're trying to focus on a task in an open work office．Trying to study at university，or practicing yoga in a park and trying to ignore stares from strangers，the Focus Cap can help．

    To be honest，this whole project sounds like a joke，but the Focus Cap does have its own website where people interested in this unusual accessory can actually sign up for updates on when it will go on sale．Greblin claims it will cost 30 euros($37)plus shipping．

    It's not easy being a teenager— nor is it easy being the parent of a teenager. You can make your child feel angry, hurt, or misunderstood by what you say without realizing it yourself. It is important to give your child the space he needs to grow while gently letting him know that you'll still be there for him when he needs you.

    Expect a lot from your child, just not everything. Except for health and safety problems, such as drug use or careless driving; consider everything else open to discussion. If your child is unwilling to discuss something, don't insist he tell you what's on his mind. The more you insist, the more likely that he'll clam up. Instead, let him attempt to solve things by himself. At the same time, remind him that you're always there for him if he seeks advice or help. Show respect for your teenager's privacy (隐私). Never read his mail or listen in on personal conversations.

    Teach your teenager that the family phone is for the whole family. If your child talks on the family's telephone for too long, tell him he can talk for 15 minutes, but then he must stay off the phone for at least an equal period of time. This not only frees up the line so that other family members can make and receive calls, but teaches your teenager moderation (节制). Or if you are open to the idea, allow your teenager his own phone that he pays for with his own pocket money or a part-time job.

    You probably know who Marie Curie was, but you may not have heard of Rachel Carson. Of the outstanding ladies listed below, who do you think was the most important woman of the past 100 years?

    Jane Addams (1860-1935)

    Anyone who has ever been helped by a social worker has Jane Addams to thank. Addams helped the poor and worked for peace. She encouraged a sense of community(社区) by creating shelters and promoting education and services for people in need. In 1931, Addams became the first American women to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

    Rachel Carson (1907-1964)

    If it weren't for Rachel Carson, the environmental movement might not exist today. Her popular 1962 book Silent Spring raised awareness of the dangers of pollution and the harmful effects of chemicals on humans and on the world's lakes and oceans.

    Sandra Day O'Connor (1930-present)

    When Sandra Day O'Connor finished third in her class at Stanford Law School in 1952, she could not find work at a law firm because she was a woman. She became an Arizona State Senator(参议员) and in 1981, the first woman to join the US Supreme Court（高等法院）. O'Connor gave the deciding vote in many important cases during her 24 years on the top court.

    Rosa Parks (1913-2005)

    On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks would not give up her seat to a white passenger. Her simple act landed Parks in prison. But it also set off the Montgomery bus boycott. (抵制行动) It lasted for more than a year, and kicked off the civil-rights movements. "the only tired I was, was tired of giving in." said Parks.