Summer is the season to dive into new activities and relax. And right now is the time to make sure that you're ready for the great outdoors, the holiday planning and travel, and the bathing suit beach days.

    If you want to lose weight before summer, concentrate on dropping no more than a pound or two a week.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} And when you trouble yourself, sooner or later you，re going to gain it back. Operate on a 500-calorie-a-day deficit (亏损).{#blank#}2{#/blank#} So if you cut 500 calories a day for seven days straight, you'll lose a pound a week right there.

    Operating at a decrease of 500 calories a day should involve both eating less and moving more. For example, you could consume 300 fewer calories and bum 200 extra per day.

    Include both healthy eating and exercise in your weight-loss plan, and break the 500-calorie goal into small groups to make it more reachable.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    To cut 100 calories:{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Have vegetable pizza instead of pepperoni (意大利辣香肠). Use our Nutritional Needs Calculator to determine how many daily calories you should consume in order to lose, gain, or maintain your healthy goal weight. Once you've reached your goal, recalculate your nutritional needs for keeping extra weight off all summer long.

    To burn 100 calories: spend 15 minutes biking. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Spend 20 minutes gardening. Keep on exercising at least 30 minutes daily a week. Reading food labels and counting calories or writing down what and when you eat can give you more control as well.

A. Here are some simple ways to get there.

B. Walk or run one mile.

C. A pound is 3,500 calories.

D. It is okay to have some snacks between your meals.

E. You should always make sure you get a lot of sleep.

F. Anything more than that usually means you're troubling yourself.

G. Eat a chicken breast without the skin.

    New Year's resolutions(决心)have been around long enough that we all scent to stick to the same ones--hit the gym, lay off the candy, read more books, call your mother-regardless of whether we follow through with our intentions.

    While January 1st seems like the perfect time to have a new start again, exactly when people developed that mindset(思维模式)isn't common knowledge. It turns out that the modern belief of' a New Year's resolution isn't as old as you thought. According to many historians, the ancient Babylonians were the first group of people to make New Year's resolutions. However, instead of making a commitment to self improvement, they made a commitment to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrowed.

    An ancient Roman tradition from 46 B. C, bears even more likeness to modern resolutions. Emperor Julius Caesar declared January the month of Janus. Romans believed Janus looked backwards into the previous year and ahead into the future. In his honor, they made sacrifices to the god and promises of good behavior for the coining year.

    But the modern New Year's resolution didn't fully form until centuries later. The practice was common enough by the early 1800s. An article in 1802 states, "Statesmen have sworn to have no other objet in view than the good of their country. the physicians have determined to advise the use of medicine no more than is necessary, and to the very reasonable in their fees.”

    The first time “New Year's resolution" appeared as a phrase was in the January 1st issue of a Boston newspaper in 1813. “I believe there are a lot of people," the article goes, “with a serious determination of beginning the New Year with new resolutions and new behavior, and with the full belief that they shall accept punishment for all their former faults and wipe them away.

    So as you make (and possibly fail at) your New year's resolutions, know that you're in good company.

    Did you know that, in 2016, over 18 million people attended classical concerts in Germany? That's more people than those who went to main league football matches! Earlier this year, Germany continued its celebration of classical music with the opening of a new concert hall in the heart of Hamburg. Germans are incredibly proud of it and it's the first thing I show to my friends when they come to visit.

    Known as the 'Elphi' by the locals, the Elbphilharmonie is a beautiful tower of glittering glass sitting atop an old warehouse by the banks of the river Elbe. The plaza(露天广场)is open to the public an from the middle of the city's tallest building, you can gaze across the harbour, miles of rooftops and passing ships below.

    The main concert hall seats over 2000 people and is one of the most advanced music venues in the world. Two smaller concert halls are used for jazz, world and contemporary music. In addition, if you're unbelievably rich, you can buy one of the 45 luxurious apartments lying within the building.

    Construction began in 2007 with a budget of €241 million and a two-year period. Fast forward ten years, the building eventually opened with a final price tag of over 800 million!

    I consider myself very lucky that the Elbphilharmonie opened during my time living in Hamburg, but unfortunately I haven't yet been able to attend a concert. Everything is sold out for six months! For now, I'm content to visit the plaza to enjoy the impressive view over the docks and see the innovative architecture up close. Hopefully one day soon, I'll be lucky enough to grab a last-minute concert ticket!

    The bristlecone pine (狐尾松) is one of the longest-living things on Earth. These trees, with their strangely shaped branches, can live up to 5,000 years, but experts worry that a warming climate in some areas may threaten its future.

    Researchers say warmer weather is permitting a similar kind of tree, the limber pine (柔枝松), to take over good growing places from the ancient bristlecone. They say the tree is being forced out of mountainous areas where it grows.

    Scientists at the University of California, Davis, say climate change is causing the trees to compete with each other.

    Brian Smithers led the research project. “The limber pine is taking all the good spots,” he said.

    Bristlecone pines grow in high mountain forests in eastern California, Nevada and Utah. In the mountains, they face high winds and extreme temperatures.

    The difficult conditions leave the trees with twisted(变形的) branches and shapes. To survive long periods without water, parts of the trees die, including much of their outer bark (外皮). This makes the trees appear dead, except for small green pine needles. They show that the tree is indeed alive.

    The oldest living bristlecone pine is somewhere in California. It is not marked in any special way, so that people do not try to damage it.

    The limber pine is the bristlecone's distant relative and competitor, which can also live a long time — up to 2,000 years. Researchers say it is found at lower elevations (纬度), where temperatures are warmer.

    The scientists at the University of California, Davis, recently released the results of a three-year study. Their research centered on trees that have started growing in the last 50 years in the Great Basin area of California's White Mountains. The researchers found that most of the trees growing at higher elevations were limber pines.

    Smithers said, “It's very strange to see it charging higher up and not see the bristlecone charging up the mountain slopes ahead of the limber pine.”

    Smithers said the bristlecones are not in danger of disappearing, but he thinks they could be forced out of some places where they have grown for thousands of years.

If you want to convince the boss you deserve a pay rise or promotion, the solution could be simple — eat the same food as they do. Psychologists have discovered managers are much more likely to instantly trust us if we choose the same dishes as them.

    During experiments, discussions over wages and work conditions were much more successful if both sides chose to snack on the same treats. And shoppers were much more likely to buy a product advertised on TV by someone eating a similar food to them at the time.

The reason is thought to be the so–called similarity attraction theory — where people tend to like others who have similar tastes or habits to themselves. But this is believed to be one of the first studies highlighting the role of food in this relationship. Researchers at Chicago University in the US conducted a series of experiments to examine food's role in earning trust.

In a test, participants were told to watch TV — where someone pretending to be a member of the public praised a certain product. The volunteers were given Kit Kat bars to nibble, while the TV people ate either a Kit Kat or grapes as they talked.

    The results showed viewers were much more likely to express an interest in buying the product if the TV showed the other person eating a Kit Kat too. The researchers added, "Although similarity in food consumption is not a sign of whether two people will get along, we find consumers treat this as such. They feel more trusting of those who consume as they do. It means people can immediately begin to feel friendship and develop a bond, leading to smoother transactions from the start."

    Harley Street psychologist Dr. Lucy Atcheson said it was already known that wearing similar clothes could instantly create trust. But this was the first report that food had the same effect. She said, "This is really interesting. It makes sense as people feel they have common ground and can trust the other person. That means negotiations are more likely to be successful."

    It's a common belief that the roles actors play might somehow reflect their true personalities. It's usually not true, but British actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge, 34, is an exception.

    Just like Fleabag, the character she played in the comedy-drama series of the same name, Waller-Bridge feels that her life is a mess. "It's just really wonderful to know that a dirty and messed up woman can make it to the Emmys," she said. She may be "messed up", but Variety magazine calls her an "all-around icon".

    Last month, Waller-Bridge took home three Emmy awards for her work on Fleabag — best writing in a comedy series, best lead actress, and best comedy series.

    Her success is partly because of her family. Waller-Bridge was brought up in a free environment. Her mother always told her, "You can be whatever you want if you imagine it." So Waller-Bridge broke all the rules about what a "good" girl should do. "Our laws and moral codes don't apply — she lives without fear of consequence," The Sun noted.

    That fearlessness extends to being authentic (真实的) in her writing and acting. Unlike the can-do heroines and strong, successful women in many TV dramas, Waller-Bridge shows a flawed but real character. The character Fleabag was a screw-up who always found a way to say or do the wrong thing. "It resonated with the lives of stressed-out women everywhere in reality — doing their best to find balance in their lives," a viewer wrote on US movie website.

    Villanelle in Killing Eve, another hit TV series developed by Waller-Bridge, was a little bit violent but showed no interest for the rules others created, which make many people see themselves in her.

    "People have been scared to write characters like these. But I think, now, women are so relieved to have this new template (样板). And, aren't we all a bit of everything?" Waller-Bridge said in an interview with Indian Express.

    With such courage and sincerity, Waller-Bridge is, without a doubt, a "golden girl" in Hollywood, Australian news website The New Daily commented.