Shopping is a big part of the holiday season,when families and friends gather together and exchange gifts.While the popularity of shopping online has grown,such practices are not always eco-friendly or timely,as gifts bought online must be packaged and shipped,wasting valuable resources and time.

    The benefits of shopping locally go beyond convenience and reduce your carbon footprint.The following are a few ways that shopping locally this holiday season can directly benefit your community and the people who call it home.

    When men and women shop locally,they are putting money back into their local communities.Local businesses may be owned by your neighbors,and it can be comforting to know that your holiday shopping dollars are going to support a neighbor instead of a large company.Local businesses also employ your neighbors,so shopping locally can strengthen the local economy by creating jobs.

    Local businesses go a long way toward creating a neighborhood identity,and that identity can create a stronger sense of community among you and your neighbors.In addition,a unique community    identity can make your town more attractive to outsiders,and can also attract more people to local businesses in your neighborhood.

    The gifts you buy when shopping locally can also benefit your community.Gifts purchased from small local businesses tend to be more unique than items bought from national chains,as smaller retailers tend to sell more home-made items than their national competitors.Recipients of such items may find such gifts more thoughtful than mass produced items bought from national chains.

    The accessibility of customer service is another benefit of shopping locally.When you buy something from national chains,especially during the holiday season when such businesses may have to deal with orders,making contact with customer service departments can be a test of patience.A long wait on the phone or online can make the process of contacting customer service departments extremely frustrating.But such frustration is rare when shopping from local businesses,as consumers can simply buy their products in the store.In addition,shopping locally makes it more convenient for friends and family members who also live in your community to return their gifts.

    Dr. Michael Prager, a leading Botox expert, said that a growing number of women are developing something called "computer face". He also mentioned that professionals who worked long hours in front of a screen were ending up with saggy jowls(颚骨下垂),"turkey neck" and deep-set wrinkles(皱纹)on their forehead and around their eyes.

    The Botox expert said that, of all his clients, office workers were most likely to show premature (过早的)signs of aging. " If you are one of the unfortunate people who frown(皱眉)while you are concentrating on the screen then, over time, you will inevitably(不可避免地)end up with frown lines.'' Dr. Prager said. "What is perhaps more surprising is the number of women with saggy jowls because they are sitting in one position for so long. If you spend most of the time looking down then the neck muscles shorten and go saggy, eventually giving you a second neck."

    Dr. Prager, who has a practice near Harley Street in London, said he encourages his clients to put a mirror next to their computer so they can see if they are frowning at the screen. "When people are stressed or thinking hard about something, then they will often put on a grumpy(脾气暴躁的)face' without even knowing what they are doing. When my clients put a mirror next to their desk, they are often shocked by the angry, frowning face which stares back at them."

    He said, "The women I am seeing at the moment have only been using computers at work for the last decade or so. But women in their 20s have grown up with them and use them for every single task. I think the problem is going to become much, much worse. In another ten years, they could be looking quite awful."

    Dr. Prager said there were several simple steps which could avoid "computer face" such as regular screen breaks and stretching the neck muscles. And, of course, there was always Botox(肉毒杆菌). He said that, after a couple of sessions of Botox, the habit of "grumpy face" could be broken.

    Nottingham Goose (鹅) Fair started on the first Thursday in October and lasted 3 days. However, nowadays you won't find any geese there.

    The fair opened at 12: 00 on the Thursday by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, but it has an interesting and shocking history.

    For starters, it wasn't always the largest fair in the area. And the main fair for the people of Nottingham in terms of trade and economy was the Lenton Fair held at Lenton Priory.

    In the Middle Ages the Lenton Fair overshadowed (使显得逊色) the Goose Fair in size and importance. Harrisons Calendar of Fairs for 1587 mentions the Lenton Fair but not the Goose Fair. However the Goose Fair competed with its local competitors and every year over 20, 000 geese from the Fens in Lincolnshire arrived to be sold to provide the traditional Michaelmas dish.

    It wasn't just for geese either. All kinds of things were sold at the Goose Fair: sheep, horses and cattle were also sold.

    The fair has been under threat of closure many times over the years. In 1764, they actually had cheese riots (暴乱) due to an increase of a third on the price of cheese compared with the previous year, which resulted in an attack on the stallholders (摊主) at the fair.

    By 1880 the fair was reduced to a three-day event, which started on the first Thursday of October. In 1928, the fair was moved from the market square to its present site in the forest which is far away from the city centre. Despite attempts throughout its history to prevent the fair, the income from rents paid by the stallholders is financially beneficial to the local government. So regardless of the cheese riots and the various attempts to prohibit it, Nottingham Goose Fair has survived to celebrate over eight centuries of fun.

After months of preparation, my husband Bill and I flew to China to welcome our new daughter, our 18-month-old angel "Shirley". But when we picked her up, Shirley missed her Chinese mother so 1 she would barely look at Bill and me. Instead, she'd stand at our hotel room door and 2 for the only mother she had known. 

I was so embarrassed that lunch in a restaurant was out of the 3 . I was afraid people would think I was a "bad mother. " So I 4 our meals from room service. 

One time I chose the noodle plate and tried to use chopsticks for the very first time. The noodles kept 5 off my chopsticks. At this time, Shirley's screaming suddenly stopped. 

Peeking out of the corner of my eye, I saw her sitting in the room corner 6 me attentively. And in no time, a tiny hand came into 7 , took the chopsticks from my big hand. As I looked up, Shirley — with the chopsticks skillfully arranged in her little fingers — began expertly feeding me noodles, without 8 a single one. 

I looked at Bill, who was wide-eyed with 9 . "Do you think she would 10 me?" he wondered 11 . So, trembling with 12 , I asked, "Shirley, will you feed your daddy now?" and 13 to Bob. She nodded "yes" with a big smile on her face!

That meal was definitely a 14 experience. Shirley must have felt that we would 15 without her assistance!