For many people, a special sale is just too attractive to walk away from. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} But with sales items, how can you be sure you're really getting a good deal? If you understand some sales tricks, you will be able to make smart choices.

    Some tricks have been used by shopkeepers for ages. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} For example, if an item is US＄11.99 instead of US＄12.00, you'll feel like you're spending less money.

    Sellers sometimes reduce items by a certain amount. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} That means that even with the discount, you may still pay more than the original price.

    Shopkeepers clearly understand what makes you want to buy their products. But with a little preparation, you can avoid being cheated.

Tips for shoppers

*Always compare prices before buying anything.

*{#blank#}4{#/blank#} The more focused you are, the easier it is to make wise decisions.

*Don't shop when you are hungry. Studies show that you'll usually buy more than you originally planned.

*{#blank#}5{#/blank#} First ask yourself: Do I have the money to buy it? Will I use it? If not, walk away, but if so, go for it! That way you'll still feel good after you take your item home.

A．Know what you're looking for.

B．Watch for"Buy one, get one free"sales.

C．And that makes shop owners very happy!

D．One of the oldest is to make prices end in 99.

E．Don't buy something just because it's on sale.

F．Check for sales ads in the newspaper or online.

G．But before the sale begins, sellers might mark the prices higher.

    When you're lying on the white sands of the Mexican Riviera, the stresses of the world seem a million miles away. Hey, stop! This is no vacation-you have to finish something!

    Here lies the problem for the travel writer and critic Edie Jarolim "I always loved traveling and always liked to eat, but it never occurred to me that I could make money doing both of those things," Jarolim said. Now you can read her travel advice everywhere—in Arts and Antiques, in Brides, or in one of her there books, The Complete Idiot's Travel Guide to Mexican Beach Resorts.

    Her job in travel writing began some eight years ago. After getting a PhD in English in Canada, she took a Test.

    Frommer's travel guides, passed it, and got the job. After working at Frommer's, Jarolim worked for a while at Rough Guides in London, then Fodor's, where she fell so in love with a description of the Southwest of the U.S. that she moved there.

    Now as a travel writer, she spends one-third of her year on the road. The rest of the time is spent completing her tasks and writing reviews of restaurants at home in Tucson, Arizona.

    As adventurous as the job sounds, the hard part is fact-checking all the information. Sure, it's great to write about a tourist attraction, but you'd better get the local museum hours correct or you could really ruin someone's vacation.

Holidays

    On a Friday night, a poor young artist stood at the gate of the New York railway station, playing his violin. The music was so great that many people stopped to put some money into the hat of the young man.

    The next day, the young artist came to the same place, and put his hat on the ground gracefully. Different from the day before, he took out a large piece of paper and laid it under his hat. Then he began to play the violin. It sounded more pleasant than ever.

    Soon he was surrounded with people who were attracted by the words on that paper. It said, "Last night, a gentleman named George Sang put an important thing into my hat by mistake. Please come to claim（认领）it soon."

    After about half an hour, a middle-aged man rushed through the crowd to the violinist and said, "Yes, it's you. I knew that you were an honest man and would certainly come here." The young violinist asked calmly, "Are you Mr. George Sang?" The man nodded. The violinist asked, "Did you lose something?" "It's a lottery ticket（彩票）," said the man. The violinist took out a lottery ticket on which George Sang's name was seen. "Is it?" he asked. George nodded and took the lottery ticket and kissed it, then danced with the violinist.

    The violinist was a student at an arts college and had planned to attend advanced studies in Vienna. Later his classmate asked the violinist, "At that time you needed money to pay the tuition （学费）and you had to play the violin in the railway station every day to make money. Why didn't you keep the lottery ticket for yourself?" The violinist said, "Although I don't have much money, I live happily. But if I lose honesty I won't be happy forever."

    Through our lives, we can gain a lot and lose so much. But being honest should always be with us.

    A 27-year-old inventor, Joco Paulo Lammoglia, has come up with a new device ( 设 备 ) named the AIRE mask, which is capable of transforming the wind energy provided by the wearer's breath into electrical energy. This means breathing has become a source of renewable energy. The inspiration for the invention came from his watching children blowing on pinwheels (纸风车).

    The device is worn like a mask equipped with tiny wind turbines (涡轮) and it can work its magic even while people are sleeping, running or hanging around, since energy is created from one's breath. The principle of this AIRE mask is simple. The invention uses the wind flow created by breathing and changes it into energy that can charge mobile phones and iPods. Simply put this mask connected to your mobile phone on your face. The rest takes place naturally through your breath that provides power to run turbines which produce electricity.

    Lammoglia explained how useful he hopes the AIRE will become. He said, "I hope to bring the concept into production and reduce the carbon footprint. It can be used indoors or outdoors, while you're sleeping, walking, running or even reading books." Apart from saving energy and contributing to environmental protection, it also encourages the practice of physical exercise. This is an entirely all time renewable energy source. Its energy is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

    Lammoglia explained why he thought the AIRE was so useful, saying, "Though many of our modern devices offer benefits, they tend to consume a high amount of electrical energy. This may cause problems for the environment, especially if the energy used by these devices is produced by non-renewable sources.

    The AIRE mask will be future's cheaper source of charging mobile phones. It would save energy and allow people to never have to worry about their phone dying unless they stop breathing.

Simply being quiet is a growing appeal. Lots of business have appeared to meet a rising demand for quiet time, from silent weekend getaways to silent dining, silent reading parties and even silent dating. Silence can mean different things to different people. We are usually silent only with those closest to us. So there is something almost radical(不同凡响的)about the recent trend towards enjoying silence with strangers.

Mariel started a regular silent reading party in Dundee just under a year ago. Readers bring their books and meet in a bar, where they read together in silence for an hour or sometimes two and then put their books away to chat and have a drink. "When the reading party starts, everything goes quiet," says Mariel," It's a little bit surreal (超现实的), especially in what is usually a noisy bar. However, there is something special about sharing the silence with others. It offers a chance to escape from reality; everyone is so busy with work and with technology being ever present. An event like this gives people the opportunity to escape these things for a while."

Honi Ryan is an artist based in Berlin who began hosting silent dinner back in 2006. The rules of the dinner are: no talking, no using your voice, no reading or writing, trying to make as little noise as possible, not connecting with technology, and staying for at least two hours. So far she has taken her silent dinner project to Mexico, the US, Australia and China. "It's evident that the age-old connections we make over food do not depend on the words around it. Silence creates the space for the people and places involved to fill with whatever is needed; it is quite different from our usual social behaviors."