The Women's Institute is urging supermarkets to do more to help consumers reduce their home food waste, after a survey of its own membership showed widespread confusion about “best before” and “use by” labeling(标签) on packaging.

    Its new analysis of products on supermarket shelves found that “once-opened” instructions were often contradictory and often failed to make clear whether they were a guide to food safety or quality. Only 45% of 5,000 WI members surveyed understood that best-before dates were a sign of food quality, while 26% did not understand that the more important use-by dates were a decisive guide to food safety.

    In its report on food waste, the WI said supermarkets were “potentially contributing to home food waste by leading customers to buy more food than they need, and giving conflicting and confusing on-pack information that leaves customers unsure about how long a product remains safe to eat in the home setting”. The 42-page report is part of the WI's ongoing campaign to reduce food waste. To underline the point about conflicting information, it cites(引用) a can of Sainsbury's own-brand sweetcorn advising consumers to eat it within one day of opening, while a similar tin from Waitrose gave consumers two days to finish it. Green Giant sweetcorn, however, has no specified date for eating once opened.

    Marylyn Haines Evans, chair of the Women's Institute's public affairs said: “WI members are some of the more informed members of society about food and cookery, but they are still confused about food labelling and 'once-opened' information. So we would like supermarkets to extend the amount of time that consumers have to use a product in their homes by making all of their once-opened instructions on product packaging consistent, and completely remove once-opened instructions on products where food safety is not an issue.”

Certain things confident people simply don't do.

They don't make excuses.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}That's why you won't hear them blaming traffic for making them late. They don't make excuses, because they believe they're in control of their own lives.

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    Confident people don't give up the first time something goes wrong. They will figure out why it went wrong and how they can prevent it the next time.

They won't wait for permission to act.

    Confident people don't need somebody to tell them what to do or when to do it. Whether it's running a meeting or going the extra mile to solve a customer's problem, it doesn't even occur to them to wait for somebody else to take care of it. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

They don't need constant praise.

    Have you ever been around somebody who constantly needs to hear how great he or she is? {#blank#}4{#/blank#} . They don't think that their success is dependent on other people's approval, and they understand that no matter how well they perform, there's always criticism.

They won't put things off.

    Why do people postpone(拖延)? Sometimes it's simply because they're lazy. A lot of times, though, it's because they're afraid of change, failure, or maybe even success. Confident people don't sit around waiting for the right time. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. If they think it's not the right time, they make it the right time.

A. They don't quit.

B. They won't lose heart

C. Confident people don't do that.

D. They are not afraid of failure at all.

E. They see what needs to be done, and they do it.

F. They know that today is the only time that matters.

G. Confident people believe that they can make things happen.

When I was in my third year at university, my roommates were American footballers, so I decided to join them. I remember seeing them in front of me wearing pads (防护垫), and thinking they were going to kill me. I got tackled (阻截) so hard that I was frightened. But then I realized it was just physical contact. I've been addicted since.

The fundamental aim of the game is to score by running with the ball into, or receiving the ball inside the opposition's end zone. Every player on the field has a set responsibility. I'm a running back. My job is using my speed, strength and skill to carry the ball and keep running until either I score or I get put down. And it does hurt.

I've broken two fingers and hurt my shoulder, but the worst was when I trapped the ligaments (韧带) in the back of my leg. I had to take a year out. But none of that put me off- all I could think was how I was going to come back stronger. Besides training with the team, I now have my gym routine to get fitter, faster and stronger.

Although people think American football is aggressive, there's much more to it. Every team has its own playbook, outlining everyone's role in different scenes. My playbook was 73 pages long. Words can't describe how it feels when it all comes together on the field.

American football has changed my life for the better. I've learned time management, how to take responsibility for my action, and how much I treasure being part of a team. Within the four lines of the field, it is physical. Emotions run high. If you're on the opposing team, you are my enemy. But once the game is done, we're like a big family.

A Lifesaving At-Home Checkup

    More importance is attached to physical fitness nowadays. However, staying fit can be expensive when going to professional agencies for medical checkups. Here we show you three ways to do medical checkup at home, try them for a rough idea about your health condition.

    1 Balance On One Leg

    Hold for up to 60 seconds. If you fall down early, you may be at higher risk for brain decline. In a Japanese study, 30 percent of older adults who could balance for only 20 seconds or fewer had microbleeds in the brain, an early sign of risk for stroke or dementia(痴呆). These microbleeds can affect balance, memory, and decision making.

    2 Touch Your Toes

    Sit with your back straight, then lean forward and try to touch your toes. Not even close? You might be at risk for heart problems. By using this test, University of North Texas researchers found that some old inflexible folks have to have the heart work harder to provide enough blood, raising the risk of heart attack or stroke.

    3 Sitting To Standing

    Time how long it takes to lift and lower yourself from a chair ten times as fast as you can. Senior adults who did ten repetitions in 21 seconds or fewer were less likely to die over the next 13 years than those who took longer. The test requires muscle strength, balance, and heart fitness; being slow could mean underlying disease before symptoms arise.

    The above are home tests everyone could do to keep you fit and they don't require much time or money. Learn what possible dangers are hiding inside you and how to deal with them.

    It has long been thought that elephants rely on their large ears and bathing in rivers to stay cool in hot climates. New research, however, has showed that the world's largest land animals have a secret trick of controlling their body temperatures.

    Scientists have long been puzzled by temperature regulation(调节)in elephants. Generally, animals with large bodies tend to hold more heat because, compared to their size, they have a small surface area for heat to escape from. Elephants, with their heavy­weight frames, would appear to be at a disadvantage in the heat of their African and Asian habitats, especially because they have thick fur to protect them from bushes and trees.

    Scientists thought that these creatures, which weigh up to 13 tons when fully­grown, grow large ears to help them stay cool. The skin on the ears is thinner, so blood which flows into them cools down more easily. But findings by researchers at two universities in Vienna have showed that elephants are also able to cool down by increasing the blood flow to skin patches(斑) in other parts of their bodies.

    The researchers studied six African elephants at Vienna Zoo as they moved between outdoor and indoor environments to see how the temperature on their skin surface would change. They found up to 15 “hot spots” all over an elephant's body surface, in addition to large patches on the ears. The study shows how these patches expand as the air temperature increases and more blood flows nearer to the skin surface. Other experiments show that elephants in the wild use the same “windows” to control their body temperature.

    Elephants have two additional ways to stay cool: flapping(拍打)the ears and bathing. Together with these tricks, the skin hot spots allow the animals to keep their body temperature always at about 36 degrees—one degree less than humans'.

    Ivy Granstrom

    Ivy Granstrom was born with impaired vision(弱视) and got a serious back injury at the age of 60 during a car accident. She participated in cold English Bay swimming events for 76 years and was therefore sometimes known as the Queen of the Polar Bear Swims.

    Gerry Hewson

    Gerry Hewson was a member of Australian Men's National Wheelchair Basketball Team. He won a gold medal in the 1996 Summer Paralympics. He coached for the West Sydney Razorbacks from 2004 to 2006.He was named as a lifetime member in recognition of the efforts he made for the promotion of wheelchair basketball. Discussing the appeal of wheelchair basketball, he commented that,“There is a coating at the edge of the rim(轮辋) that actually lights up like a spark(火花), and it stays for about two to three seconds. That is quite exciting and great fun.”

    April Holmes

    April Holmes lost her left leg below the knee because of a train accident in 2001. Remembering it she said, “I had a life-changing accident in January, 2001. And fortunately I have been able to get back to doing what I love, and that's track and field.” Through hard work, she made records in the 100, 200, and 400 meter events. To live her life to its full potential, she has set up a non-profit(非营利的) organization, the April Holmes Foundation, to help people with learning or physical disabilities while being a role model for them.

    Shauna Maria Whyte

    Shauna Maria Whyte was born in Canada in 1967. She has won many prizes in cross-country skiing competitions since 1975. In 1991, during a horseback riding competition, Shauna broke her back. She did not surrender to this change in her life, and she started using a sit sled(雪橇).