“When in Rome, do as the Romans do”, so when you want to do business in France, you have to get to know French culture, to make marketing plans, and to run your business by local laws.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The French take great pride in their language, so anyone who does not speak it may run the risk of being disrespected by his French colleagues or business partners. Also, another reason why learning French is important is that it is a great way to show every possible French business partner that you care and respect their country's culture and language.

    There are obvious ways of greeting people in French. When you meet someone new, it's usual to shake his hand firmly and always look at the person in the eye. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

        Dress well. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Your business clothing is a reflection of your success and social status. Always try to be stylish. Women are advised to dress simply but elegantly. Wearing make-up is practiced widely by business women.

    The French are passionate about food, so lunches are common in doing business in France, which usually consist of an appetizer, main meal with wine, cheese, dessert and coffee, and normally take up to two hours. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Do not begin eating until the host says, “Bon appetite”. Pass dishes to the left, keep wrists above the table and try to eat everything on the plate. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}This may suggest that you find the food tasteless. If eating in a restaurant, the person who invites always pays.

A. The French draw information about people based on their appearance.

B. This is a time for relationship building.

C. Maybe you have heard the expression.

D. Language should be the focus of anyone planning to do business in France.

E. Be careful with adding salt, pepper or sauces to your food.

F. When you meet a friend, kissing is common.

G. English and French are both spoken in formal occasions.

    Sometimes you'll hear people say that you can't love others until you love yourself. Sometimes you'll hear people say that you can't expect someone else to love you until you love yourself. Either way, you've got to love yourself first and this can be tricky. Sure we all know that we're the apple of our parents' eyes, and that our Grandmas think we're great talents and our Uncle Roberts think that we will go to the Olympics. But sometimes it's a lot harder to think such nice thoughts about ourselves. If you find that believing in yourself is a challenge, it is time you build a positive self-image and learn to love yourself.

    Self-image is your own mind's picture of yourself. This image includes the way you look, the way you act, the way you talk and the way you think. Interestingly, our self-images are often quite different from the images others hold about us. Unfortunately, most of these images are more negative than they should be. Thus changing the way you think about yourself is the key to changing your self-image and your whole world.

    The best way to defeat a passive self-image is to step back and decide to stress your success. That is, make a list if you need to, but write down all of the great things you do every day. Don't allow doubts to occur in it.

    It very well might be that you are experiencing a negative self-image because you can't move past one flaw or weakness that you see about yourself. Well, roll up your sleeves and make a change of it as your primary task. If you think you're silly because you aren't good at math, find a tutor. If you think you're weak because you can't run a mile, get to the track and practice. If you think you're dull because you don't wear the latest trends, buy a few new clothes. But remember, just because you think it doesn't mean it's true.

    The best way to get rid of a negative self-image is to realize that your image is far from objective, and to actively convince yourself of your positive qualities. Changing the way you think and working on those you need to improve will go a long way towards promoting a positive self-image. When you can pat yourself on the back, you'll know you're well on your way. Good luck!

This year's flu season is pretty scary. To try to minimize the effects, public officials are still urging anyone who hasn't yet gotten their flu shot to get one as soon as possible. However, even if every single person got a shot in the arm, the vaccine(疫苗)— with its excellent 36 percent effectiveness—would not prevent everyone from getting infected with the annoying virus. Knowledge is power, so here's what goes on in your body when you come down with the flu.

    The influenza virus primarily attacks your nose, throat, and the tubes that lead to your lungs. But the flu is so much more than that. Your muscles ache, your head hurts, and your appetite goes down, among other things. To our surprise, almost all of these symptoms have less to do with the virus itself than with your immune(免疫的)response to them. Unfortunately, the very defense you have in place to ge rid of the flu is the reason you feel so painful when you recover.

    The virus usually enters through your mouth, typically by way of your hands. But it takes a few days for symptoms to set in. While this process might cause some harm to your nose and throat, it's nothing major, and nothing like the symptoms that typically accompany a bad or even mild case of the flu.

    The real fun starts when your immune system begins to fight. Your immune system comes in two parts: the innate system and the adaptive. The innate immune system is essentially an all-purpose tool. As soon as your body senses the presence of any injury or invader (入侵者), the innate immune system launches into action by producing tiny proteins called cytokines and chemokines. The cytokines reproduce almost immediately and start to attack the virus. This increase in immune cells creates an serious inflammation(炎症) throughout the body. But the worst is still to come. Meanwhile, the chemokines work with the adaptive immune system to help create T cells. These cells are a special type of white blood cell that works in a much more specific way: They find the influenza virus, identify what's special about it, and create something unique on their surface that finds and destroys similar invaders.

    Africa is a very diverse land with many different tribes. One tradition that many of these groups share is painting or marking their bodies and faces in color. They do this for many reasons. Some marks are used to identify people as part of the group. Other marks are used for ceremonies such as wedding and during times of war. Let's look at some different examples of body painting.

    Red is a common color in body painting because it often represents health and long life. Among the Masai of East Africa, when men are old enough to marry and make decisions for their people, they participate in a special ceremony in which they paint their heads and faces red. This ceremony takes place every seven to fourteen years, so there is not an exact age for participating in it.

    The Samburu, also from East Africa, like to paint their faces and hair red because they think it looks pretty.

    The Masai men also have a unique way of showing that they are brave. To show that he has killed a lion, a man will paint his body with a natural white material, making special marks to represent this accomplishment. The Masai men also use this white to show that they are no longer boys and are considered adults.

    One quite unusual example of face painting is done by the Wodaabe people of West Africa. Once a year, they have a beauty contest for men. The men paint their faces yellow and red. Then they add white and black circles and lines. Black paint is used near the eyes and on the lips to draw attention to the whiteness of their eyes and teeth, which the Wodaabe consider most beautiful. The women then decide which man they like best.

    As you travel, enjoy the beautiful and bright colors of Africa.

    The Perfect Sleep Chair is designed to be the most comfortable recliner chair. Whether you are sitting upright, relaxing in your favorite TV viewing position, or lying completely flat for sleeping, it's like being on a cloud. A cloud that has built-in heat and massage settings to match your own personal comfort level. It even has a battery backup in case of a power cut.

    With Perfect Sleep Chair, there's a perfect position for everybody, even those that prefer to lie flat but want the additional support that most mattresses(垫子) don't provide. At the touch of a button, the Perfect Sleep Chair gently lifts you to an almost standing position so you can get back on your feet with ease. Some owners use this feature daily, while others use it when recovering from an illness.

    Time and time again, our customers tell us they are tired of having to replace their recliners due to quality issues. We hear you! That is why the Perfect Sleep Chair is handmade in the USA using quality hardwoods and only the highest quality upholster(垫衬物). Each chair is carefully crafted by workers and not just a bunch of robots. Every chair structure is guaranteed for life and the electronic components are generously warranted for three years. Simply put, it's the highest quality chair on the market—but it doesn't end there…

    When you purchase the Perfect Sleep Chair, you'll get your choice of cloth and colors! You'll also receive White Glove Delivery. Professionals will carry the chair to the exact spot in your home where you want it, unpack it, inspect it, test it, position it, and even take the packaging away!

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For future humans to survive long periods on Mars, growing food on the planet is a must. It would be too costly and risky to rely upon rocket deliveries to meet the food needs of settlers. With this in mind, scientists are exploring ways to improve space farming.

Researchers work in a controlled greenhouse. They have identified a way that could improve crop production in simulated （模拟的） Martian soil, with different crops grown together. The method is called "intercropping", invented by ancient Maya farmers in what is now Central America.

In their experiments, the researchers grew cherry tomatoes, peas and carrots together in small, round containers. Tomatoes grown in this way produced about double the amount of tomatoes grown alone—or "monocropped"—in the same simulated Martian soil. The tomatoes were also bigger. They flowered and matured earlier, gave more fruit per plant and had thicker stems. The amounts of peas and carrots did not increase with intercropping.

Rebeca Goncalves, an astrobiologist and lead writer of the study, said the research is the first time the intercropping technique was used in space soil, and that it was a big find—one that they could now build further research on. The crops were grown in simulated Martian regolith, a soil with no organic matter —a near-perfect physical and chemical match to real Martian soil.

The researchers added useful bacteria and nutrients. They also controlled the gases, temperature and humidity inside the greenhouse to match conditions expected in a Martian greenhouse. Intercropping involves growing plants with properties that could help each other grow. The method makes the best use of resources including water and nutrients.

The researchers said the tomato plants in intercropping may have benefited from being close to the pea plants. That is because the peas are good at turning nitrogen from the air, with the help of bacteria introduced into the soil, into an important nutrient. Overall, the tomatoes, peas and carrots grew well, though not as well as in Earth soil in the same greenhouse.