The Winner's Guide to Success

    Do you know what makes people successful? To find out the answers, an American reporter recently visited some of the most successful people around the world.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Be responsible for yourself

    Sometimes you may want to blame others for your failure to get ahead. In fact, when you say someone or something outside of yourself is stopping you from making success, you're giving away your own power.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

Write a plan.

    It's very difficult to try to get what you want without a good plan. It's just like trying to drive through strange roads to a city far away.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Without this “map”, you may waste your time, money and also your energy; while with the “map”, you will enjoy the “trip” and get what you want in the shortest possible time.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

Nothing great is easy to get. So you must be ready to work hard—even harder than you have ever done. If you are not willing to pay the price, you won't get anything valuable.

Never give up.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}When you are doing something, you must tell yourself again and again: Giving up is worse than failure because failure can be the mother of success, but giving up means the death of hope.

A. A good plan is like a map to you.

B. It seems to us that everyone knows this, but it is easier said than done.

C. Some people achieve success much later in life because they don't work hard earlier.

D. You're saying, "You have more control over my life than I do."

E. Someone else's opinions of you don't have to become your reality.

F. Be willing to pay the price.

G. Here are some keys to success that they give.

    What if our babies could somehow tell us what they're thinking about, what they want, and what makes them unhappy? Robyn Holt, researcher for Baby Talk New Zealand, says they can. Holt heard about baby sign language through an advertisement and decided to go along to a workshop (研讨会).

    “Sign language is something that's always interested me, and I thought, it could be really cool to try this with a baby because we are always guessing all the time what they actually want.”

    Holt started using baby sign language with her baby son Benjamin, now 12, and within two weeks he started to sign the sign for milk. She has since used it with her two younger sons Dominic, 8, and Matthew, 3.

    Baby sign language is nothing new: the practice (which is based on adult sign language) has been out in America for more than 30 years. But it is enjoying a rebirth in New Zealand.

    The idea behind baby sign language is that babies do have the ability to communicate their needs if they are given the right tools to do so. Although many mothers develop an intuition (直觉) about whether their baby's crying is from hunger, tiredness, or pain, baby sign language creates a direct form of communication that unlocks the mystery.

    When babies are between 6-months and 12 to 13-months, parents can begin to teach them sign language: use the sign for milk while feeding, and also talk about milk, so that the child begins to make the link (关联) in their brain. Then they can begin to add other signs, i.e. food, sick or pain.

    “I know of one parent. Her child was signing the sign for hurt by his mouth, and she realised his first teeth were growing. It makes life so much easier,” said Holt.

    Life in the Clear

    Transparent animals let light pass through their bodies the same way light passes through a window. These animals typically live between the surface of the ocean and a depth of about 3,300 feet—as far as most light can reach. Most of them are extremely delicate and can be damaged by a simple touch. Sonke Johnsen, a scientist in biology, says, “These animals live through their life alone. They never touch anything unless they're eating it, or unless something is eating them.”

    And they are as clear as glass. How does an animal become see-through? It's trickier than you might think.

    The objects around you are visible because they interact with light. Light typically travels in a straight line. But some materials slow and scatter(散射) light, bouncing it away from its original path. Others absorb light, stopping it dead in its tracks. Both scattering and absorption make an object look different from other objects around it, so you can see it easily.

But a transparent object doesn't absorb or scatter light, at least not very much, Light can pass through it without bending or stopping. That means a transparent object doesn't look very different from the surrounding air or water. You don't see it —-you see the things behind it.

    To become transparent, an animal needs to keep its body from absorbing or scattering light. Living materials can stop light because they contain pigments(色素) that absorb specific colors of light. But a transparent animal doesn't have pigments, so its tissues won't absorb light. According to Johnsen, avoiding absorption is actually easy. The real challenge is preventing light from scattering.

Animals are built of many different materials—-skin, fat, and more—-and light moves through each at a different speed. Every time light moves into a material with a new speed, it bends and scatters. Transparent animals use different tricks to fight scattering. Some animals are simply very small or extremely flat. Without much tissue to scatter light, it is easier to be see—through. Others build a large, clear mass of non-living jelly-lie(果冻状的)material and spread themselves over it .

    Larger transparent animals have the biggest challenge, because they have to make all the different tissues in their bodies slow down light exactly as much as water does. They need to look uniform. But how they're doing it is still unknown. One thing is clear for these larger animals, staying transparent is an active process. When they die, they turn a non-transparent milky white.

    A nation's humor is linked to the historical development of the country. How funny somebody finds a certain thing depends on many things including ages, personal experiences, levels of education and locations. Therefore, humor is something that is not always transferable (可转移的) in another country.

    What about when both countries speak the same mother tongue? Does that mean they will then share the same sense of humor, or can differences still take place? Let's take the example of Britain and America. Time and time again, people say that Brits and Americans don't "get" each other's sense of humor. It is often argued that one of the most common differences between the British and American sense of humor is that Americans don't understand irony (反话). Simon Pegg explores this topic in depth in his article What Are You Laughing At? He concludes that this statement isn't true and I agree with him.

    In fact, Brits use irony on a daily basis while Americans don't. I think Americans understand British irony (most of the time anyway); what they don't understand is the need to use it so frequently. When Americans use irony, they tend to say that they are "only kidding". They feel the need to make a joke more obvious than Brits do. Maybe this comes from a fear of offending (冒犯) people.

    The American sense of humor is generally more slapstick (闹剧的) than that in Britain. I think this arises from a cultural difference between the two. Their jokes are more obvious and forward, a bit like Americans themselves. British jokes, on the other hand, tend to be more subtle. This may stem from the fact that British culture is more reserved (矜持的) than American culture.

    Researchers in Australia, who studied 1,500 people and their lifestyles, have found that having good friends can help you live longer. An American study of 10,000 students, over a period of 35 years, also found that if you make more friends than the average (普通的) person at school, you'll receive a higher salary (工资) in later life. People need good social skills at work to manage people and work in a team successfully. These are the same skills we use to make friends at school.

    On average, teenagers aged between 15 and 17 have 500 “friends” on their favourite social networking site. Adults (成年人) have 130. So if you believe this research, you might live for a long time and be very rich.

    However, according to Professor Robin Dunbar from the University of Oxford, it probably won't make any difference. Dunbar studied the number of messages between users of a popular social networking website, each of whom had between 200 and 2,000 friends. He found that they always communicate with a maximum (最大量) of 150 people.

Among these 150, Dunbar believes that around five people are close friends. You've most likely known them for a long time; they are probably old friends and you share all your good and bad experiences with them. Then there are ten more friends. Although they're close to you, you may not keep in touch with them every week. Next there are 35 people who you might spend time with because of a shared interest. You aren't close. And finally, there's a large group of 100. You see or speak to these people at least once a year, but you don't know them well. Beyond (超过) this number, Dunbar says, it's impossible to make any relationship meaningful.

    If you have a lot of online "friends", try this experiment: First take away anyone you haven't been in touch with for a year. Then remove people you can't remember and, finally, take away friends who you wouldn't mind losing touch with. How many do you have left? How many of these people are actually good friends? According to the research, these are the only people that really matter.

A Few Tips for Self- Acceptance

We all want it. .. to accept and love ourselves. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Where do you start? Here's a handful of ways that will set you in the right direction.

• Stop comparing yourself with others. Do not follow the people who make you feel not- good- enough. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Are you hoping that eventually you will feel empowered because your life is better than theirs? Know that your life is your own; you are the only you in this word.

·{#blank#}3{#/blank#} We are often ashamed of our shortcomings, our mistakes and our failures. Remember, you are only human. You will make mistakes, time and time again. Rather than getting caught up in how you could have done better, why not offer yourself a compassionate(有同情心) response?" That didn't go as planned. But, I tried my best."

●Recognize all of your strengths. Write them down in a journal. Begin to train your brain to look at strength before weakness. List all of your accomplishments and achievements. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Nothing is too small to celebrate.

●Now that you' ve listed your strengths list your imperfections. Turn the page in your journal. Put into words why you feel unworthy, and why you don't feel good enough. Now, read these words back to yourself. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Turn to a page in your journal to your list of strengths and achievements. See how awesome you are?

A. But at times it seems too difficult and too far out of reach.

B. Feeling upset again?

C. You have a job, earned your degree, and you got out of bed today.

D. Forgive yourself for mistakes that you have made.

E. Why do you follow them?

F. Set an intention for self- acceptance.

G. When does the comparison game start?