Planning a visit to the UK? Here we help with ways to cut your costs.

    AVOID BIG EVENTS  Big sporting events, concerts and exhibitions can increase the cost of accommodation and make it harder to find a room. A standard double room at the Thistle Brighton on the final Friday of the Brighton Comedy Festival (19 Oct.) cost £169.15 at Booking.com. A week later, the same room cost £118.15.

    If you can be flexible and want to know dates to avoid—or you're looking for a big event to pass your time—check out sites such as Whatsonwhen.com, which allow you to search for events in the UK by city, date and category.

    STAYAWAY FROM THE STATION If traveling to your destination by train, you may want to find a good base close to the station, but you could end up paying more for the sake of convenience at the start of your holiday.

    Don't be too choosy about the part of town you stay in. Booking two months in advance, the cheapest room at Travelodge's Central Euston hotel in London for Saturday 22 September was £95.95. A room just a tube journey away at its Covent Garden hotel was £75.75. And at Farringdon, a double room cost just £62.95.

    LOOK AFTER YOURSELF Really central hotels in cities such as London, Edinburgh and Cardiff can cost a fortune, especially at weekends and during big events. As an alternative consider checking into a self-catering flat with its own kitchen. Often these flats are hidden away on the top floors of city centre buildings. A great example is the historic O'Neill Flat on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, available for £420 for five days in late September, with room for four adults.

    GET ON A BIKE London's ‘Boris bikes' have attracted the most attention, but other cities also have similar programmes that let you rent a bicycle and explore at your own pace, saving you on public transport or car parking costs.

    Among the smaller cities with their own programmes are Newcastle (casual members pay around £1.50 for two hours) and Cardiff (free for up to 30 minutes, or £5 per day).  (358 words)

    People who like travelling have their reasons. They believe that travelling can help them expand their field of view, especially in the geographical and historical sense. They also think that touring will give them more chances to enjoy different kinds of food and experience new things that would never be brought by other activities. But those who dislike travelling also have some reasons.

    Travelling, in my opinion, does more good than harm. Most importantly, it broadens our mind. We can get in touch with other civilizations (文明), cultures, customs and ideas.

    Through history, most people travelled because of necessity (必要性)-not for pleasure. People travelled just in order to remain alive. They searched for food to eat or places to live in. They sometimes ran away from enemies. This is not to say that no one ever travelled just for the fun of it. In ancient times, for example, rich Romans travelled all the way to Greece to take part in the Olympic Games, and festivals. Of course, some people decided to travel just out of curiosity. They wanted to find out what it looked like beyond the horizon (地平线). Also business travel has been going on for centuries. Traders could not only make money but also learn to speak several languages and be introduced to different cultures.

    So, travelling does enrich our mind and draw new ideas to us. There is no doubt that we can get much from it.

    Reading makes you a smarter, better leader. But if you've been following the latest science, you'll also know that studies have shown regularly picking up a book might increase your empathy (共鸣) and protect you from feeling lonely, hopeless or suffering from dementia (痴呆) in later life. But obviously, that's not the end of the list. New research has discovered yet another benefit of being a reader who focuses one's mind on reading.

    After following those surveyed based on more than 3,500 adults over age 50 for 12 years, the team from Yale University behind the research found that those who read books for 3.5 hours a week were 23 percent less likely to die. Reading for less than 3.5 hours a week lowered participants' (参加者) risk of death by 17 percent. Put another way, picking up an interesting book could earn you about an extra two years.

    It's worth noticing that the researchers were looking exactly at time spent in reading books, rather than newspapers, magazines, or online media, and that this difference is important for the observed advantages of reading. “We found that reading books provided a greater advantage than reading newspapers or magazines,” said Avni Bavishi of the Yale School of Public Health. “This effect is likely because books attract the readers' mind more — providing more cognitive (认知的) advantages, and therefore increasing the lifespan (寿命). In short, deep slow reading rather than reading quickly and carelessly is best.”

    So how long should you be reading for, and what sort of titles should you pick up? While more reading seems to be better, the researchers suggest that anything more than

    30 minutes a day will be likely to do good to you. As for what exactly to read, the researchers can't yet offer much advice beyond making time for actual books, though they pointed out this was a promising way to future research.

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” —Lao Tzu

    If you are in a city where everyone rushes, realize that you don't have to be like everyone else. You can be different. You can walk instead of driving in rush hour traffic. You can be on your iPhone or Blackberry less, and disconnected sometimes. Your environment doesn't control your life you do. I'm not going to tell you how to give you a step-by-step guide to moving slower. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Do less.

    Cut back on your projects, on your task list, on how much you try to do each day. Focus not on quantity but on quality.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Save smaller, routine tasks for later in the day, but give yourself time to focus.

    Have fewer meetings.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}And they eat into your day, forcing you to squeeze the things you really need to do into small windows, and making you rush.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    When you do the important things with focus, without rush, there will be things that get pushed back, and that don't get done. And you need to ask yourself: how necessary are these things? What would happen if I stopped doing them?

    Practice mindfulness.

    Simply learn to live in the present, rather than things so much about future or the past. When you eat, fully appreciate your food. When you are with someone, be with them fully. When you are walking, appreciate your surroundings, no matter where you are.

    Try these things out. Life is better when unrushed. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Start to put off or cancel the unnecessary.

B. Meetings are usually a “big waste of time”.

C. The world likely won't end if you don't pass one of the examinations.

D. But here are some things to consider and perhaps adopt, if they work for your life.

E. Remember the quote: if nature can get everything done without rushing, so can you.

F. Pick 2-3 important things—or even just one important thing—and work on those first.

G. Give yourself more time to get ready and get there.

How to Keep a Healthy and Strong Relationship

    Are you new to experiencing relationships? Well, let me give you advice on having a healthy and possibly long-term relationship.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Do not hide things from them and do not lie. Don't be afraid to say things that aren't very flattering about yourself. Getting them to trust you is the most important element in any relationship. If there's no trust, there's nothing there. So please be honest and they'll learn to open up to you.

    Make sure you give them respect. Now respect isn't just simply treating her or him nicely. There's a lot more about it. You have to learn to adjust to their liking. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Don't just think about yourself; think about what your partner needs as well.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Always be willing to help them and give them honesty and positivity at the same time. Make them feel you are someone they can really count on and build a future with. This is an important step in a relationship. Your partner has to be able to count on you when needed.

    Make sure you have a good sense of humor with them. Laughter is the key to happiness. Laugh a lot with them and joke with them. Laughter may seem silly, but it's the secret to a lot in life. It will keep the sparks alive. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Make sure the communication is good. This goes along with trust, but always communicate how you feel, even if it's something that upsets you. Instead of screaming, talk to them. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} It's important to communicate with them. Don't keep it bottled up.

Tips for Procrastinators (拖延者)

    You manage to finish and hand the project in on time, but you feel exhausted. Then, your teacher says, "Get ready. We will start the test in 5 minutes." {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Many of us are guilty of delaying doing what we should do. At the same time, we might risk missing a deadline and not getting a good mark. It is also very stressful. Here are some tips for procrastinators on how to get your work done ahead of time.

    Create a to-do list. Creating a list will help organize your work and ideas while keeping you on track. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Keep it up to date by checking off completed tasks as you go along. This will keep you focused and orderly.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Chances are, you won't be able to get a lot of work done when you're tired. Finding a time of day when you are full of energy will get you to be more productive.

    Choose reliable study partners. Working with study partners will encourage you to complete the task at hand and ensure that you remain focused. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Divide the work into smaller parts. Procrastination is often a reaction to feeling overwhelmed (无法对付的). Dividing work into smaller parts will make it easy to handle. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} You will find your ability and be more likely to finish what you need to do.

    Hopefully these tips will help you do away with the stressful, last-minute efforts of a procrastinator.

A. Work when you're feeling energetic.

B. Remind yourself to turn off all the devices.

C. You forgot that there's also an examination today.

D. Try to encourage yourself to stick to your work plan.

E. Deal with your tasks a bit at a time instead of wasting time wondering where to start.

F. Put the tasks that you feel less confident about or are likely to avoid on the top of the list.

G. You know that others are relying on you and they think that you deserve trust and are responsible.