situation in which they had to observe two circles on a screen.

    At first glance,price-comparison websites are an example of capitalism at its best.But it has caused fierce competition on price and eviscerated profits.Towers Watson,a consultancy,said that "unnecessary" price competition following the rise of comparison sites in Britain had cost insurers ￡1 billion a year.

    Consumers should celebrate that;the firms' losses are their gains.But there is a catch.Comparison sites introduce a new layer of costs,including their own advertising campaigns.In theory,competition in the market for comparison sites ought to keep those costs down.But David Ronayne of Warwick University argues that consumers often lose out from comparison sites.They earn a commission for each shopper who uses them for consumption such as buying insurance.That referral（委托）cost is included in the price the consumer ends up paying.If the increased costs outweigh the saving the comparison enables,consumers end up worse off.

    These worries are not just theoretical.In 2014,Britain's competition regulator found that many comparison sites were using their contracts with retailers（零售商）to ban them from offering lower prices elsewhere.That weakened rivals' incentive（对手的动机）to cut fees,because prices on their site could not fall.By keeping prices similar,the contracts also reduced the incentive for consumers to search on multiple sites,thus helping sites retain their users.

    Weaker incentives to lower commissions mean weaker incentives to lower costs,too.That might explain why comparison websites advertise so heavily,and sometimes offer free gifts to those who use them.In a recent paper,Ben Edelman of Harvard Business School and Julian Wright of the National University of Singapore argue that when a site knows that the prices merchants provide through it will always be the lowest available,it increases investment in attracting customers,safe in the knowledge that the merchants and at last consumers will bear the cost.

    Is there any way to ensure the market for price comparison is competitive?Asking consumers to check multiple websites defeats the point of using them.One solution is to have only one site,but regulate it as a public utility（功用）. Alternatively,the governments could run the site itself.But creating good search and comparison sites may be too hard for them.It is much better to acknowledge that consumers will always have to do some comparison themselves to "keep the system honest".

    Websites that compare the comparison sites can help,although it is easy to see how they could fall prey to the same problems.Any firm with captive users（被动用户）,be it a comparison site a search engine,or a social-media platform,can charge a high price for access to the eyes of its customers.For all their innovation,Internet middlemen are not unlike supermarkets.Shoppers would never imagine that a single store had the lowest price for all the items they need.

    My grandmother often said to me, “You can count the number of your true friends on the fingers of one hand.” For a long time I thought this was true. However, I've now discovered my grandmother was only half right. Maybe we do only make a few best friends in our lifetime, but those aren't the only people that we can call friends. There are many different types. Let me tell you about a few of them.

    One type of friends is the type I call the “football mom friend”. My neighbor Sally is a good example. We both have kids who play football in a football club, and someone has to take them to practice and pick them up. Sally and I and two other mothers take turns to do this. We meet sometimes and have tea and talk about what our kids are doing, but those are the only times that we meet each other. I enjoy being with these women, but we don't do anything else together.

    Another type is called the “hobby friend”. That's the person you share an interest or a hobby with. Michael and Cater, who are brothers, are a good example of this type. We're all in a bird watching club. Every few weekends the members of the club go on a trip to watch different kinds of birds. There's nothing romantic about my relationship with Michael and Cater, of course. We just share interest in birds.

    Then there's the “other half of the couple” type of friends. Jim is married to Rose, a friend that I've known since college. When Rose married Jim, I realized that I would have to be Jim's friend if I want to continue to be Rose's. Jim and I don't share so many interests, but we do have a friendly relationship.

    Money is the root of all evil (邪恶) and new study claims there may be some truth behind the saying. Scientists at the University of California Berkeley, US, announced on February 27 that rich people are more likely to do immoral things, such as lie or cheat, than poorer people. The scientists did a series of eight experiments. They published their findings online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNA《美国国家科学院院刊》).

    They carried out the first two experiments from the sidewalk near Berkeley. They noted that drivers of newer and more expensive cars were more likely to cut off other cars and pedestrians at crosswalks. Nearly 45 percent of people driving expensive ears ignored a pedestrian compared with only 30 percent of people driving mow modest cars.

    In another experiment, a group of college students was asked if they would do immoral things in various everyday situations. Examples included taking printer paper from work and not telling a salesperson when he or she gave back more change. Students from higher — class families were more likely to act dishonestly.

    According to the scientists, rich people often think money can get them out of trouble. This makes them less afraid to take risks. It also means they care less about other people's feelings.

    Finally, it just makes them greedier. “Higher wealth status seems to make you want even more, and that increased want leads you to bend the rules or break the rules to serve your self- interest,” said Paul Piff, lead scientist of the study.

    Piff pointed out that the findings don't mean that all rich people are untrustworthy or all poor people honest. He said the experiments were to show how people living in different social situations express their instincts（本能）and values in different ways.

    Wrist watches are regarded as a tool to tell the time. At first, watches were created as women's decorative bracelets (手镯). At the same time, men used pocket watches. The first men's wrist watch was available in 1904. A pilot called Alberto Santos-Dumont personally asked a watchmaker to create a wrist watch to use on flights. Soon after that, men's wrist watches were available on the market. Since then, watches have been considered fashionable accessories for men, and watchmakers have started to make men's fashion watches.

    At present, watches are not indispensable to tell the time for most people have cell phones which have watch functions. But a new market has been created for wrist watches, which are not only used to tell the time, but also as important fashion statement pieces.

    Generally speaking, watches for formal occasions are beautifully made and more like pieces of jewelry than watches. Men's watches for informal and semi-formal events include simple, slim designs and large-and-thick-sized styles. Nowadays, men usually don't follow any specific style of dress for watches, and the luxury brands of the expensive and strongly made sports watches have made them believe that they look more stylish because of their high prices. Some of the fashion watches have a diamond and some others are completely decorated with precious stones such as diamonds.

    Men's watches also have many advanced functions. For example, the dual-time watches for travelers make them know the time in most other countries as well as the time in their home if they are abroad.

In a word, a men's watch is one of the few accessories for men's cupboard. Men can choose their most suitable watches to go with their personal taste.

    Life is a process. It is said that it doesn't come the same again; it is glad that the same doesn't have to come back again.

    In this life, what did you miss?

    The wife asked the husband when she was 25. Worried, the husband replied, "I missed a new job opportunity."

    When she was 35, the husband angrily told her that he had just missed the bus.

    At 45, the husband sadly said, "I missed the opportunity seeing my close relative before his last breath."

    At 55, the husband said disappointedly, "I missed a good chance to retire."

    At 65, the husband hurriedly replied, "I missed an appointment with the dentist."

    At 75, the wife did not ask the husband anymore, the husband was kneeling in front of the very sick wife. Remembering the question the wife used to ask him, this time he asked the wife the same question. The wife, with a smile and peaceful look, replied, "In this life, I did not miss having you!"

    The husband was full of tears. He always thought that they could be together forever. He was always busy with work and something unimportant. So much had he never been thoughtful to his wife. The husband hugged the wife tightly and said, "Over 50 years, how I had allowed myself to miss your deep love for me."

    In the busy city life, there are many people who are always busy with work. These people are busy with their jobs, and sacrifice all their time and health to meet the social expectations. They are unwilling to spend time on health care. They miss the opportunity to be with their children in their growing up. They neglect the loved ones who care for them, and also their health.

    Nobody knows what is going to happen one year from now. Life is not permanent, so always live in the now.

    Michael Jackson was on the road of performing when he was five years old. As is known to all, the road to fame and fortune is a long, hard one.

    Michael remembers those early years when he was young." My father was a machine operator," he explained, "and he worked at a steel plant. My mother worked at Sears, a big department store. But they were both musicians."

    Michael's father Joe Jackson realized his sons had a lot of talent, and he knew he could train them to become fine musicians. In those days there were plenty of music groups and some of them were very good. He knew if his sons were to stand out, they would have to be the best.

    Practice makes perfect. And the Jackson boys practised! Gradually the group took shape. Then word of this group began to get around. Thus Michael got a chance to do some solo(独唱) songs. In the following years, Michael was always on the top. One million records of his were sold in New Zealand, which has only a total population of three million!

    When Michael was eighteen, he entered another field of his career(生涯)—acting. "I plan to star in movies," he told his friends, "but of course, my first love is music."

    Michael wrote a lot of his own songs. "Songs came about in the strangest ways," he said, "I'll just wake up from sleeping and there is a whole song coming into my head. And then I put it down on the paper."

    Still, with all his success, Michael managed to keep his head calm. "I just do a different job from other people," he said, "but it doesn't make me think I'm better than other people."

    To be quite honest, his fans just love to hear and watch him!