In 1975, George Carlin appeared on a popular TV show, Saturday Night Live, with his famous words about blue food. “Why is there no blue food? I can't find blue food—I can't find the flavor of blue! I mean yellow is lemon; orange is orange and red is cherry. Where is the blue food?”

    Well, Carlin pretty much has it right—there is not no blue food, but there's certainly not a lot of it. Fresh-picked blueberries are blue, though they become purple when they are turned into jam. The blue in blueberries—like the purple in grapes and red in tomatoes—is found in nature. But it isn't a hot color for food. People don't seem to prefer blue food. Some diet programs even suggest that those determined to lose weight should make their food blue.

    Eating, in part, begins with our eyes. Chares Spence—an experimental psychologist from Oxford University—points out that color can change our taste experience. Commonly, we consider red-colored foods up to 20% sweeter than they actually are; and green foods as being more sour. Spence suggests: human expectations may be influenced by our long history of watching—green fruits can become sweet as they grow up and turn red.

    But what about blue? Except blueberries, much of the blue food we see these days is dyed blue artificially. Food producers argue that artificial color doesn't do much damage to health. A lot of research shows that some physical problems of kids are related to food dyes—while other studies show no effects at all. Blue birthday cake or even blue-dyed chicken can be served on the dinner table. So what?

    Off-Peak fares are cheaper tickets for traveling on trains that are less busy, offering good value for money. The tickets may require you to travel at specific times of day, days of the week or on a specific route. Where there is more than one Off-Peak fare for a journey, the cheaper fare is called Super Off-Peak.

    You can buy Off-Peak tickets any time before you travel, either online or at a local station. The travel restrictions for your Off-Peak ticket will depend on the journey you are making. The tickets must be used on the date shown on the ticket. For Off-Peak return tickets, related journeys must be made on the date shown on your ticket as well.

    Children aged five to fifteen get a 50% discount for all Off-Peak fares. Up to 2 children under 5years can travel free with each fare paying adult. Railcard holders get 1/3 off all Standard Class Off-Peak fares. Senior, and disabled Railcard holders also get I/3 off all First Class Off Peak fares. Please note that minimum fares and time restrictions may apply to tickets bought with a Railcard.

    If you plan on a train trip with friends or your family, you may get group travel discounts. Three or four can travel for the price of just two adults—leaving everyone more money to spend on the day out! If you are traveling in a group of ten or more at Off-Peak times, you may be able to obtain a further discount through the train company you are traveling with. Contact the train company directly and be aware that you may need to book tickets in advance.

    For more information, please visit www. nationalrail. co. uk

    We know cats like to hide in boxes and knock things over. But if you make a square on your floor, what will your cat do? Turns out a lot of cats will get inside it. Amazed cat owners repeated the experiment, often with tape(带子), but others with squares made out of ribbon, sheets of paper and even shoes.

    Cat experts weigh in

    So what makes cats so interested in a square on the floor?

    “We know that cats like safe spaces. It's possible that the mark on the floor creates some illusion(幻觉) on the floor that doesn't actually exist,” says cat behavior expert Mikel Delgado. “It might have enough similarity to a low-sided box that a lot of cats are attracted to it for safety.”

    Another cat behavior expert Ingrid Johnson agrees. “I would imagine they probably feel as if they are 'in' something. Though shallow, still comforting, offers the idea of sides,” she says. Johnson points out that cats have poor close-up sight, so they may have the idea that the tape is actually the sides of a square area. “Their sight is built for distance and speed, watching a mouse run across the field,” she says. “Close up, they're blind 8 to 12 inches off their noses.”

    Kitty curiosity(好奇心)

    Another reason cats are attracted by the square? Pure curiosity.

    Because cats are very sensitive to their environment, the tape square might be attracting them just because it's new and different, she says. The same thing would likely happen if you put a piece of cardboard or a paper bag on the floor. A lot of cats would check it out.

    When men get together, they seldom talk about their feelings or inner thoughts. However, they talk about a lot, like their newest computer, how to repair their car, or even business.

    Talk might move to the best place to find fish or women, jump to computer games, then continue to the sport of the season. They also like to tell jokes each other and spend a fair amount of time playing one-up and boasting (吹牛). Men seldom call each other to chat.

    When man meets woman, he usually wants to make a good impression. Many single men try hard to carry on amusing, fun, and pleasant conversations. They use conversation to discover her interests and feelings in order to learn how to be attractive to her.

    Some men, either out of nervousness or ignorance, spend most of the time talking about themselves, often appearing to show off their achievements or talk endlessly about their problems or work. Even the quietest man talks to his woman when love is new.

    When women get together, they talk about feelings and relationships, their work and their family. They enjoy talking but also want the give and take of talk, then listen. Women often call each other to chat. Conversation is an important part of most women's lives.

    As relationships progress, however, many a man turns on the television and forgets how to talk. This raises anger and cry from his woman partner who says, “You never talk to me anymore.” Some men start talking. Many, however, mainly discuss their own achievements and problems.

    When the woman starts talking about her favorite subjects: feelings, family, relationships, friends and her work, many men lose interest or bring the conversation back to themselves. Pretty soon, the man is back to staring at the television each night, wondering where his relationship has gone. The woman is talking to her friends, mom, sister, or neighbor, often about that very relationship and how she is hurting.

    Frank Woolworth was born in Rodman, New York, in 1852. His family were very poor farmers, and there was never enough to eat. Frank decided he did not want to be a farmer. So he took a short business course, and went to work as a salesman in a large city.

    Woolworth realized he had a natural skill for showing goods to attract people's interest, but he soon learned something more important. One day his boss told him to sell some odds and ends (小商品) for as much as he could get. Frank put all these things on one table with a sign which said FIVE CENTS EACH. People fought and pushed to buy the things and the table was soon cleared.

    Soon afterwards, Woolworth opened his own store, selling goods at five and ten cents. But he had another lesson to learn before he became successful. That is, if you want to make money by selling low-price goods, you have to buy them in large quantities(大量) directly from the factories. Once, for example, Woolworth went to Germany and placed an order for knives. The order was so large that the factory had to keep running 24 hours a day for a whole year. In this way, the price of the knives was cut down by half.

    By 1919, Woolworth had over 1000 stores in the US and Canada, and opened his first store in London. He made a lot of money and his name became famous throughout the world. He always ran his business according to strict rules, of which the most important was: “ THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.”

    People always think men are more skilled than women in driving. Nowadays women appear to have a positive image of themselves as safer drivers than men.

    In a survey done by insurer MetLife, 51% of women said they drive more safely. The evidence is on their side: Men are 3.4 times more likely than women to get a ticket for careless driving and 3.1 times as likely to be punished for drunk driving. “Women are on average less aggressive and more law abiding(手法的) drivers, which leads to fewer accidents,” the report says. However, not all male drivers share the same opinion. Of the men surveyed by MetLife, 39% claimed male drivers were safer. The findings did back them up on one point: automotive knowledge. The report showed that more men are familiar with current safety equipment such as electronic stability control, which helps prevent rollover accidents.

    Auto safety unavoidably matters to money. Insurance companies focus on what classes of drivers have the lowest dollar amounts of claims, and for now, that mainly includes women. In general, women pay about 9% less for auto insurance than men. A study by the website Insweb also showed that auto insurance rates are lower for women in most states. Among individual states, women get the greatest advantage in Wyoming(where they pay 20% less), South Dakota and Washington, D.C., where their insurance costs are 16% lower.

    “More than 11,9000 male drivers died in U.S. traffic accident in 2009, compared with just under 4,900 women drivers,” according to the study. “Based on miles traveled, men died at a rate of 2.5 deaths per 100 million miles traveled, vs. 1.7 deaths for women.”