Have you ever fancied sailing around the world or buying a holiday home in the Caribbean? Well, before you get too excited, it may help to find out if you have what it takes to become a billionaire.   

    We've all heard stories of school drop-outs who have made their fortune. Do they tend to be university graduates or self-made successful people? Are they married or single?

    Thanks to a recent analysis of people in Forbes（福布斯）Top 100 Billionaires List, we can now find out what they have in common. We know what percentage wear glasses and even how many are bald!

    If you are deciding whether or not to go to university, it may help you to know that 76% of the richest people in the world have a degree. According to this study, of those 76%, 47% have a bachelor's degree, 23% have a master's and 6% have a doctorate. Don't lose hope if you aren't very academic, though. It's worth noting that many of those on the list did not pass all their exams with flying colors. Microsoft founder Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard University after two years of study. And Chinese business magnate Jack Ma, failed his university entrance exams three times before going on to complete his degree and make his millions.

    Another interesting trend is that the world's richest people are much more likely to be married - only 12% of billionaires are unmarried. Finally, the percentage of billionaires who are bald is quite high – so don't worry if you're losing your hair.

    Have you ever felt like you are not given the kind of respect you deserve? In one way or another, all of us have felt this way. We've yearned（渴望）to be looked at as an authority, someone people look up to and trust. We're not taught in school how to do this and our parents didn't tell us the secret on how to establish our authority. It's something we learn and gain by ourselves. And the answer is as simple as changing our mindset. What? No way! Oh but it is. People tend to underestimate the power of the mind. Change your game by changing your mind.

    Take time to look back and think about people in your life who are an authority or a leader at work, who has more credibility（可信度）than you or who you look up to and inspires you. They are up there not for the reasons you think. If you really think about it, they aren't the smartest of the bunch, not the most educated, and neither are they the best. And in no way do they even call themselves an expert. Instead, they are up there because they are great teachers and advocates（支持者）for the success of their customers or employees.

    Let's take Richard Simmons for example. This famous fitness personality has been a household name ever since he started gaining popularity during the first few years of his career. Stop and think, though, do you really think he is the best person to really get people into shape? Is he the Einstein of fitness and nutrition? Or does he even call himself a master of his craft? Of course not. People look up to him and give him authority because he is a great educator. Instead of sharing information that's far too complicated to understand, he figures out what your problems are and finds out a way to fix them. He even has social media that he updates on a regular basis with topics that are helpful and easy to understand for his fans and followers.

    Depending on the field you're in, you can share with people things you know and that you think they will want to know as well. If you're a nurse, for example, you can make a blog post for common health problems and quick remedies（治疗方法）people can do at home. Remember, the simpler you can make it, the better. People will trust you completely if you give them easy solutions. Like Richard, you'll soon be the expert you'll want to listen to. You can be an advocate also by showing people that you have their best interests at heart. You can also start up conferences to take up people's concerns and try to deal with them the best way that you can.

    So, how will you be viewed as an authority? Make that mind shift .Find out what concerns and troubles your target. Give solutions. Show that you care. And help them climb up that ladder of success. Ladies and gentlemen, that's how it's done.

    In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.

    The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.

    It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.

    Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand's series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.

    People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.

    We are naturally drawn to friends and colleagues with familiar voices, scientists have found. People prefer those who have a similar accent, intonation and tone of voice to themselves, they discovered.

    Previous research has focused on how male or female a voice sounds. Men with deeper voices and women with slightly higher voices were thought to sound more attractive, because they suggest a bigger or a smaller body.

    But the new study, published by a linguistics expert in Canada, suggests there is a more complex mechanism (机制) at play. Dr Molly Babel, from the University of British Columbia in Canada, said, “The voice is an amazingly flexible tool that we use to construct our identity. Very few things in our voices are changeless, so we felt that our preferences had to be about more than a person's shape and size.”

    She recorded 30 volunteers' voices and asked each to rate the others' attractiveness on a range from one to nine. Each participant was from western America, with similar accents. The people we assessed were all in the same dialect group, but they showed that dialect to different degrees.

     “We seem to like people who sound like we sound, and we like people who fit within what we know,” Dr Babel said. She also found that breathy voices in women—typified by the famous American actress Marilyn Monroe-were seen as more attractive.

    The breathy tone, caused by younger and thinner vocal cords (声带), implied youthfulness and health. A creaky (咯吱作响的) voice, suggesting a person has a cold, is tired or smokes, was seen as unattractive. The participants preferred men who spoke with a shorter average word length and deeper voices.

    Danielle Steel, America's sweetheart, is one of the hardest working women in the book business. Unlike other productive authors who write one book at a time, she can work on up to five. Her research before writing takes at least three years. Once she has fully studied her subjects, ready to dive into the book, she can spend twenty hours nonstop at her desk.

    Danielle Steel comes from New York and was sent to France for her education. After graduation, she worked in the public relations and advertising industries. Later she started a job as a writer which she was best fit for. Her achievements are unbelievable: 390 million copies of books in print, nearly fifty New York Times best-selling novels, and a series of "Max and Martha" picture books for children to help them deal with the real-life problems of death, new babies and new schools. Her 1998 book about the death of her work shot to the top of the New York Times best-selling list as soon as it came out. Twenty-eight of her books had been made into films. She is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for one of her books being the Times best-seller for 381 weeks straight.

    Not satisfied with a big house, a loving family, and a view of the Golden GateBridge, Danielle Steel considers her readers to be the most important resource and has kept in touch with them by e-mail. While she is often compared to the heroines of her own invention, her life is undoubtedly much quieter. But, if she does have anything in common with them, it is her strength of will and her inimitable (独特的) style. There is only one Danielle Steel.

    My six-year-old son, Stephen, was in front of the TV and smiled. His favorite show was about to begin-a Phoenix Suns basketball game.

    "Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer's voice was heard, "here is your starting lineup (首发阵容)." The arena (球场) darkened and the lights flashed when the players ran into the court to sing their team song. Stephen clapped and danced around. My wife Lorrie and I laughed. Stephen had been performing this for months. "One day I'm going to take you to a game, son," I promised.

    About a year later, the construction company where I worked finished a project for a Suns player. One afternoon my boss called me. "The player has two extra tickets for tonight's game! Just pick them up at my office," he said. I picked up the tickets, but felt a little disappointed when I looked at the clock. Even if I had had a helicopter, we would never have gone to the arena in time for the player introductions. Stephen would miss his favorite part! I grabbed my key, got Stephen in my car and hit the road. "Lord," I prayed, "I'd love to see the joy on Stephen's face. Help us make it on time."

    When I drove, it began to rain heavily. Suddenly, lightning flashed right near the arena! I turned on the radio to listen to the game. The announcer said there'd been a power failure at America West Arena. Everyone was fine, but there would be a delay until they got everything running. Finally, I parked the car and we walked in hurriedly to take our seats. I hoped that we hadn't missed the introductions.

    The very moment we entered the arena, the lights darkened. The music started. "Ladies and gentlemen, here's your starting lineup!" Stephen's eyes grew wide. There wasn't enough space for him to dance around, but I could tell that his heart was leaping more than his body was able to. Thank heaven, he hadn't missed a thing. And neither had I.