Now, a new study suggests that coffeefans can make their drink taste sweeter by simply changing the color of theircups.

Scientists claim that blue and glass mugs,which are popular in some coffee shops, can reduce coffee's bitterness, withoutany need for sugar, and that coffee drunk from white cups tastes the bitterest.

    To prove their claims, the researchersinvited 36 volunteers and used three different colored cups— blue, white andtransparent glass—to do an experiment.

    In the experiment, coffee consumed fromthe white cup was found to taste less sweet when compared to the other twocolored cups, while the blue cup made the coffee taste the sweetest.

    The scientists believe that the colorbrown may be associated with coffee's bitterness because coffee in a white cupappears the brownest and tastes the bitterest.

  “Our study clearly shows that the colorof a coffee cup does influence the perceived (感受到的) taste and flavor of coffee,” said DrGeorge Doorn of Federation University Australia, “but the potential effects maybe different between a one-time purchase and a return customer.”

  “Anyhow, the effect of the color of thecup on the flavor of the coffee suggests that café owners, baristas (服务员), aswell as coffee cup manufacturers should carefully consider the color of theircups, ” he added.

    However, the idea that color can alterthe taste of food and drink is not new.

    A study published last year revealedthat red, strawberry-flavored mousse (慕斯蛋糕) served on a white plate was rated as10 percent sweeter and 15 percent more flavorous than the same food presentedon a black plate.

        In the 1960s, Douglas McGregor, one of the key thinkers in the art of management, developed the mow famous Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X is the idea that people  instinctively 1 work and will do anything to avoid it. Theory Y is the view that everyone has the potential to find satisfaction in work.

        In any case, despite so much evidence to the 2, many managers still agree to Theory X. They believe,3 , that their employees need constant supervision if they are to work effectively, or that decisions must be imposed from 4 without consultation. This, of course, makes for authoritarian (专制的) managers.

        Different cultures have different ways of 5people. Unlike authoritarian management, some cultures, particularly in Asia, are well known for the consultative nature of decision-making—all members of the department or work group are asked to 6 to this process. This is management by the collective opinion. Many western companies have tried to imitate such Asian ways of doing things, which are based on general 7. Some experts say that women will become more effective managers than men because they have the power to reach common goals in a way that traditional 8 managers cannot.

        A recent trend has been to encourage employees to use their own initiative, to make decisions on their own without 9 managers first. This empowerment (授权) has been part of the trend towards downsizing: 10 the number of management layers in companies. After de-layering in this way, a company may be 11 with just a top level of senior managers, front-line managers and employees with direct contact with the public. Empowerment takes the idea of delegation (委托) much further than has 12 been the case. Empowerment and delegation mean new forms of management control to13 that the overall business plan is being followed, and that operations become more profitable under the new organization, rather than less.

        Another trend is off-site or 14 management, where teams of people linked by e-mail and the Internet work on projects from their own houses. Project  managers evaluate  the15of the team members in terms of what they produce for projects, rather than the amount of time they spend on them.

    Good learners can inspire students or anybody to learn well. Here are some characteristics of good learners.

    Good learners are curious. They wonder about all sorts of things, often about knowledge beyond their areas of expertise(专长){#blank#}1{#/blank#} Finding out about something they didn't know satisfies them for the moment, but their curiosity is addictive.

    Good learners don't give up easily. A few things may come easily to learners but most knowledge arrives after effort{#blank#}2{#/blank#} They try to search out new information. They read, analyze, and evaluate the information they've found. Then they study more and work at what they don't understand.

    Good learners know that a lot of learning isn't fun. The journey to understanding generally isn't all that exciting{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Others need a tiresome attention to detail, and still others need periods of intense mental focus. Your backs hurt, your arms and legs get tired, and your coffee gets cold.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} There's always more to know. Good learners are never satisfied with how much they know about anything. They are pulled around by questions—the ones they still can't answer, or the ones without very good answers. Those questions follow them like day follows night with the answers bringing daylight.

    Good learners share what they've learned. Good learners are teachers committed to sharing with others what they've learned{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Good learners can also explain what they know in ways that make sense to others. They are connected to the knowledge passed on to them and committed to leaving what they've learned with others.

A. Good learners stay positive.

B. They write about it, and talk about it.

C. They love the discovery part of learning.

D. Good learners never run out of questions.

E. Some knowledge can broaden our views.

F. Good learners are willing to put in the time.

G. Some learning tasks require boring repetition.

    In an industry with low margins (利润) where the traditional wisdom is led by Walmart, the key to success is lowering operating costs. A big part of those costs are in labor, so it is no surprise that the retail industry has been a leader in using more part-time workers to keep labor costs down, holding the line on wages, not training, and with few exceptions, seeing employees as a cost to be minimized. There is no doubt that these businesses fight for every dollar of margin. Unlike trend-leading hi-tech companies which spend a lot of money on employees to get them innovated, retail industry can spend very limited money on their employees.

    What researchers found was that companies were often staffing their stores far too low, and that many stores tended to perform better with higher staffing levels and were more profitable. Let's let that sink in for a minute. The stores were making more money (with all other things being equal) when they spent more on employees.

    They also found that retailers didn't do a very good job when staffing levels are just the actual demand in those stores. In fact, they set staffing levels identically across stores, even when the needs of the stores varied considerably. The average store did not appear to be understaffed, but there were enough that were understaffed and effect on overall company profitability was substantial.

    Interestingly, the same researchers persuaded the retail chain to run an experiment with them and slightly raise staffing levels to the amount that their analysis of historical data suggests would be ideal. Yes, labor costs obviously jumped when they did that, but so did profits. In retail, labor is a small percentage of costs—the biggest part is the cost of the products they sell. So, the net effect was an increase in profits of $7.4 million across 168 stores on an annual basis.

    What can we learn from this? One question worth thinking of is: How can traditional retail industry survive the increasingly severe market? Especially now with the growth of online retail, the one thing stores still have going for them is one to one customer contact with salespeople. If retailers cut that down to almost nothing, then they have effectively eliminated their competitive advantage against online stores.

    The fiddler crab (蟹) is a living clock. It indicates the time of day by the colour of its skin, which is dark by day and pale by night. The crabs changing colour follows a regular twenty-four hour plan that exactly matches the daily rhythm (节奏) of the sun.

    Does the crab actually keep time, or does its skin simply answer to the sun's rays, changing colour according to the amount of light strikes it? To find out, biologists kept crabs in a dark room for two months. Even without daylight, the crab's skin colour continued to change exactly on time.

    This characteristic(特性) probably developed gradually in answer to the daily rising and setting of the sun, to help protect the crab from sunlight and enemies. After millions of years it has become completely regulated (受控制) inside the living body of the crab.

    The biologists noticed that once each day the colour of the fiddler crab is especially dark, and that each day this happens fifty minutes later than on the day before. From this they discovered that each crab follows not only the rhythm of the sun but also that of the tides (潮水). The crabs period of greatest darkening is exactly the time of low tide on the beach where it was cought!

Traveling to Europe can be so expensive. If you have a tight travel budget, we have other options for your next European vacation. We found some places as cheap as Thailand while looking as pretty as Spain, Greece or Italy.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria is often characterized as being a country of stunning landscapes and friendly people with a rich history of culture. And it has a Mediterranean climate with hot summers and mild winters. In Bulgaria you can find accommodation for under fifteen dollars per night and a meal at a local restaurant will cost you no more than five dollars. From Sofia the capital, why not take a train to Istanbul for about fifteen dollars? What an adventure!

Romania

Romania is a country that not a lot of people know about, but it might be one you want to try on your next trip. Bucharest has a rich, historic architecture and a great nightlife for younger travelers. Besides the capital, there are many other beautiful places to explore in Romania, like you can go to Transylvania and see Dracula's castle. Good accommodation and a lot of restaurants are available here at a low cost. What a deal!

Albania

A perfect alternative to Spain or Italy, Albania has a lot of history and culture, but without all the crowds of tourists that you'll find in those places. It has some of the best beaches in Europe, so you can take advantage of that as well. The food is cheap and the average cost of accommodation in Albania is also low, with around thirty dollars per night for a mid-range budget.