You need some bread and milk. But half an hour later, you leave the supermarket with a trolley（推车）full of food. What games do supermarkets play to make us spend so much money?

    The tricks usually start before you walk in. Outside the supermarket entrance, anybody who walks past can smell warm, fresh bread. That makes us hungry and ready to buy lots of food, not just bread.

    Now you're inside and, of course, a small basket would be fine, but all they have are trolleys. And of course the problem with a trolley is that it looks sad and lonely with just one or two goods inside. So we may fill it with something. In fact, supermarket trolleys are actually getting bigger so that we buy more.

    Of course, many people shop in supermarkets because they think everything is cheaper than in other shops. So supermarkets offer very cheap prices on some things but then have higher prices for other goods. One new trick is to put red stickers（标签）on them. Customers usually connect red stickers with lower prices so the red stickers is easy to be seen, even when there is no reduction! Interestingly, this trick appears to work more with men than with women.

    There is a story behind the position of everything in the supermarket. The most expensive goods are usually at eye-level so you see these immediately. The exception is anything that children might like. These goods are on lower shelves so that kids see them.

    Apart from what you see and smell in a supermarket, what about what you listen to? In most supermarkets they have soft, slow music. It's so relaxing that you slow down and spend more time (and money) in the store. Experts suggest it's better to shop when it's quieter, on a Monday or a Tuesday for example. And be careful with queues at the checkouts（收银台）. These are sometimes on purpose, to make you buy something from the checkout shelves while you wait.

    So, next time you go into your local supermarket, remember these tricks and see if you can come with just the things you went for.

    Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now, the website BookCrossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.

    Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share. BookCrossing provides an identification number to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place, hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.

    Bruce Pederson, the managing director of BookCrossing, says, “The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. BookCrossing combines both.”

    Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.

    People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E-mails are then sent to the BookCrossing to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce Pederson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.

    BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back to the “real” and not the virtual（虚拟）. The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty-five countries.

    Why do people drink too much, eat too much, smoke cigarettes or take drugs? What's to blame for all the bad behavior? Most people would say that, while these self-destructive (自我毁灭的) acts can have many root causes, they all have one obvious thing in common: they are all examples of failures of self-control, lacking the will power to resist them.

    According to a recent study, however, if you really think about it, something about that simple answer doesn't quite make sense. In fact, it turns out that sometimes it's having will power that really gets you into trouble.

    Think back to the time you took your very first sip of beer. Disgusting, wasn't it? When my father gave me my first taste of beer as a teenager, I wondered why anyone would voluntarily drink it. And smoking? No one enjoys their first cigarette — it tastes awful. So even though smoking, and drinking alcohol or coffee, can become temptation (诱惑) you need will power to resist, they never, ever start out that way.

    Just getting past those first horrible experiences actually requires a lot of self-control. Ironically (讽刺的是), only those who can control themselves well, rather than give in to them, can ever come to some day develop a “taste” for Budweiser beer, Marlboro cigarettes, or dark-roasted Starbucks coffee. We do it for social acceptance. We force ourselves to consume alcohol, cigarettes, coffee and even illegal drugs, in order to seem experienced, grown-up, and cool.

    These bad habits aren't self-control failures — far from it. They are voluntary choices, and they are in fact self-control successes. Self-control is simply a tool to be put to some use, helpful or harmful. To live happy and productive lives, we need to develop not only our self-control, but also the wisdom to make good decisions about when and where to apply it.

    If you follow these insider tips, your photos will look like you had the place to yourself at the popular tourist attractions.

    Vatican Museums: Vatican City

    The Vatican draws more than five million people each year, and queues can reach four hours during peak season. Christie Hudson, senior communications manager at Expedia，recommends, choosing a skip-the-line tour.“ This not only lets you avoid the ticket counter，but also includes the use of a private partner entrance.” Extra time to visit the Sistine Chapel? Yes!

    Bamboo Forest: Kyoto, Japan

    Bamboo Forest is the most worthy sight in Kyoto. If you're longing to enjoy the pathways and take pictures in total quietness, Kyoto Arashiyama Travel Guide recommends hitting the famous Bamboo Grove Path as early in the morning as possible—think 7 a.m. if you're up for it. Don't miss these hidden treasures you can only witness in Japan.

    Chichen Itza: Yucatán，Mexico

    Home to E1 Castillo and the Temple of the Warriors, Chichen Itza is a must-see. Want to beat the rush? Schedule an early tour that takes place before a site opens to the public. Led by an archaeologist guide，it's full of fascinating insights and facts—without tons of pack-wearing tourists.

    Louvre Museum: Paris, France

    The Louvre is one of the most popular museums on the planet. If waiting around in line to get in isn't the way you prefer to spend your time in Paris，consider purchasing a reserved ticket. This will give you entry to the pyramid within a half-hour window. The Louvre is also open until 9:45 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays, if you're up for some late-night art visits.

    Arthur Miller(1915-2005) is universally recognized as one of the greatest dramatists（剧作家） of the 20^th century. Miller's father had moved to the USA from Austria-Hungary, drawn like so many others by the “Great American Dream”. However, he experienced severe financial hardship when his family business was ruined in the Great Depression (大萧条时期) of the early 1930s.

    Miller's most famous play, Death of a Salesman, is a powerful attack on the American system, with its aggressive way of doing business and its insistence on money and social status as indicators (标志) of worth. In Willy Loman, the hero of the play, we see a man who has got into trouble with his system, Willy is “burnt out” and in the cruel world of business there is no room for sentiment (情绪): if he can't do the work, then he is no good to his employer, the Wagner Company, and he must go. Willy is painfully aware of this, and at a loss as to what to do with his lack of success. He refuses to face the fact that he has failed and kills himself in the end.

    When it was first staged in 1949, the play was greeted with enthusiastic reviews, and it won the Tony Award for Best Play, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for drama. It was the first play to win all the three of these major awards.

    Miller died of heart failure at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, on the evening of February 10, 2005, the 56^th anniversary of the first performance of Death of a Salesman on Broadway.

    Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now, the website Book Crossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.

    Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share. Book Crossing provides an identification number to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public lace hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.

    Bruce Pederson, the managing director of BookCrossing, says, "The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. BookCrossing combines both."

    Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.

    People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E-mails are then sent to the BookCrossing to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce peterson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.

    BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back to the "real" and not the virtual(虚拟). The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty-five countries.