Wealth starts with a goal saving a dollar at a time. Call it the piggy bank strategy(策略). There are lessons in that time-honored coin-saving container.

    Any huge task seems easier when reduced to baby steps. I f you wished to climb a 12,000-foot mountain, and could do it a day at a time, you would only have to climb 33 feet daily to reach the top in a year. If you want to take a really nice trip in 10 years for a special occasion, to collect the $15,000 cost, you have to save $3.93 a day. If you drop that into a piggy bank and then once a year put $1,434 in a savings account at 1% interest rate after-tax, you will have your trip money.

    When I was a child, my parents gave me a piggy bank to teach me that, if I wanted something, I should save money to buy it. We associate piggy banks with children, but in many countries, the little containers are also popular with adults. Europeans see a piggy bank as a sign of good fortune and wealth. Around the world, many believe a gift of a piggy bank on New Year's Day brings good luck and financial success. Ah, but you have to putsomethingin it.

    Why is a pig used as a symbol of saving? Why not an elephant bank, which is bigger and holds more coins? In the Middle Ages, before modern banking and credit instruments, people saved money at home, a few coins at a time dropped into a jar or dish. Potters(制陶工) made these inexpensive containers from an orange-colored clay(黏土) called “pygg,” and folks saved coins in pygg jars.The Middle English word

    for pig was “pigge”. While the Saxons pronounced pygg, referring to the clay, as “pug”, eventually the two words changed into the same pronunciation, sounding the “i” as in pig or piggy. As the word became less associated with the orange clay and more with the animal, a clever potter fashioned a pygg jar in the shape of a pig, delighting children and adults. The piggy bank was born.

Originally you had to break the bank to get to the money, bringing in a sense of seriousness into savings. While piggy banks teach children the wisdom of saving, adults often need to relearn childhood lessons. Think about the things in life that require large amounts of money— college education, weddings, cars, medical care, starting a business, buying a home, and fun stuff like great trips. So when you have money, take off the top 10%, put it aside, save and invest wisely.

    If you have spent any time living in or visiting a big city in China, you have most likely used the service that Didi provides. The convenient ride-sharing company, now known as Didi Chuxing, was praised last month by Fortune magazine. According to the magazine, it is changing the world with its environmentally friendly solution to getting around in major cities. As the magazine reported: “Didi concluded that last year its car-pooling services helped reduce total car trips in the country by 1 million a day, which saved 500 million liters of gas, cutting 13.5 million tons of carbon emissions (排放) per day.” The transport service was the only Chinese company to make the important magazine's list, and its influence can be felt in many parts of Chinese society.

    Didi is just one example of what is being called the “sharing economy”. The sharing economy is one in which regular people exchange goods and services, usually using an online marketplace. Other similar companies include companies that allow people to rent out their homes to strangers like Airbnb and Couchsurfing, and similar ride sharing services like Uber and Lyft.

    All of these services are possible partly because many people are realizing that they have underused assets in their lives. Millions of people around the world have started renting them out online to earn extra money. They rent their apartments while they are away for the weekend, lend people their cars for money and even sell their spare time.

    The sharing economy is the latest example of the Internet's value to customers. This model is now big enough for regulators and companies to have woken up to it. That is a sign of its great potential. It is time to start caring about sharing.

    See a cell phone cover that you like on Taobao? Forget about placing an order, paying the bill online and waiting for days for it to be delivered to you. In the near future, you'll be able to get it in minutes just by hitting "print" on your computer. You might find it hard to believe that you could actually "print" an object as you would a picture. But it is not that hard to understand how it would work. Just as a traditional printer sprays (喷) ink onto paper line by line, modem 3-D printers spread material onto a surface layer by layer, from the bottom to the top, gradually building up a shape.

    Instead of ink, the materials the 3-D printer uses are mainly plastic, resin (树脂) and certain metals. The thinner each layer is — from a millimeter to less than the width of a hair —the smoother and finer the object will be. This may sound like a completely new technology, but the truth is that 3-D printing has been around since the late 1980s. Back then, it was barely affordable for most people, so few knew about it.

Last year, though, saw a big change in the 3-D printing industry — printers became much cheaper. For example, 10 years ago a desktop 3-D printer might have cost £20,000, while now they cost only about £ 1,000, according to the BBC. Taken out of the factory and introduced to more diverse and common uses, 3-D printing can create just about anything you can think of — flutes (笛子), bikinis, jewelry, aircraft parts and even human organs. In fact, scientists from Cornell University in New York have just made an artificial ear using a 3-D printer, according to Science Daily. The fake ear looks and acts exactly like a natural one.

    However, as 3-D printing becomes more common, it may bring about certain problems —such as piracy. "Once you can download a coffee maker, or print out a new set of kitchen utensils (餐具) on your personal 3-D printer, who will visit a retail (零售的) store again?", an expert in 3-D printing told Forbes News. Even more frightening, what if anyone in the world could use a 3-D printer to print out a fully functioning gun?

    Saving money is a golden rule in everyday life. And in the western countries it is especially obvious. As prices and building costs keep rising, the "do-it-yourself" (DIY) trend in the US continues to grow.

    "We need furniture for our living room", says John Rose, "and we just didn't have enough money to buy it. So we decided to try to making a few tables and chairs."

    John got married six months ago, and like many young people these days, they are struggling to make a home at a time when the cost of living is very high. The Roses took a 2-week course for $ 280 at a night school. Now they make all their furniture and repairs around the house.

    Jim Hatfield has three boys and his wife died. He has a full-time job at home as well as in a shoe-making factory. Last month, he received a car repair bill for $420. "I was deeply upset about it. Now I've finished a car repair course, I should be able to fix the car by myself."

    John and Jim are not unusual people. Most families in the country are doing everything they can do to save money so they can fight the high cost of living. If you want to become a DIY, you can go to DIY classes. And for those who didn't have time to take a course, there are books that tell you how you can do things yourself.

Best sellers in children's activities ＆ crafts books

    The best bikes for the beginners

    When it comes to purchasing your first bike, the choice is endless, making it tough to know what to go for. Here are the best buys on the market right now.

    Boardman CX Comp

    This is a cross-country bike, and it's so versatile(多用途的)that you can handle any terrain(地势)on it, making it a great choice for those wanting to try various cycling subjects. If you leave on the thick tires it comes with, it can ride on various paths and can even handle some less demanding mountain bike routes. Alternatively, put on thin, slick tires and treat it as a road bike. It has basket and comes with Shimano Sora gears(齿轮), which are outstanding for its price.

    $650, Halfords

    Planet X RT-58 v2

    Planet X is based in Yorkshire, which means you'd probably have to buy this bike without seeing it. But it's worth it, because this is an excellent machine at a lower price. Planet X is a highly rated manufacture and this model comes with Shimano Sora gears.

    $439, Planet X

    Specialized Allez ES

    Specialized is one of the biggest and most popular brands in cycling, and this is its hugely popular primary road bike. It comes with solid components from front to back and you'll look great out on the road.

    $575, Evans Cycles

    Boardman Road Team Carbon

    If you can push budget further still, this bike is worth the extra investment. The frame is made entirely from carbon, which is lighter, faster and more comfortable than the composition metal models above and gives you an all-round more enjoyable ride. It also means that if you get really serious about cycling, you don't have to upgrade as quickly as you would with a cheaper bike.

    $800, Halfords