One of the biggest complaints I hear from people is that their friends just aren't there for them. More than that, sometimes friends are downright rude or even mean. You can't change people, but you can surround yourself with more positive people. Here are some benefits that spending time with positive friends can provide.

With positive friends, you don't need to beg for help when you need it, because chances are that they will be there for you without your begging. Positive individuals want others to be happy, and will go out of their way to help you when you're feeling down. As About, com states, "Ideal friendships provide support when you're down, fun when you're up, wisdom when you're lost."

Compare that to toxic friends, who might snipe at you or even laugh at you behind your back. Those people celebrate the downfall of others, and as a result you'll   end up feeling worse about yourself or the situation you're dealing with. Friends of this kind will add to whatever amount of stress you are feeling'

Your positive friends will not only help you recover from negative hits you take in life, but they will also inspire you to be the best you can be. For example, perhaps you always want to be a writer. The negative people in your life will probably tell you all the reasons why you won't succeed. Maybe you have already gone over the reasons why you might fail and this is what has prevented you from trying. But with positive people in your life, you'll feel more comfortable sharing these types of goals because your friends will give you the emotional push you need to go after what you want in life.

You naturally attract the kinds of friends who are most like you. So if you're a downer, you'll probably find that negative people come to you. The same is true for being positive. The more you are able to maintain a positive attitude, the more like-minded people you'll attract in return.

It’s really true what people say about English politeness: it’s everywhere. When squeezing(挤) past someone or passing through a crowd in a narrow place, people say “sorry”. When getting off a bus, English passengers say “thank you” rather than the driver. In Germany, people would never dream of doing these things. After all, squeezing past others is sometimes unavoidable(不可避免的), and the bus driver is only doing his job. I used to think the same way, without questioning it, until I started traveling to the British Isles and came to appreciate(欣赏) some more polite ways of communicating with people, and here are some more polite ways of interacting with people in UK.

People thank each other everywhere in England, all the time. When people buy something in a shop, customer and shop assistant in most cases thank each other twice or more. In Germany, it would be surprising to hear more than one thank you in such a conversation. British students thank their lecturers when leaving the room. English employers thank their employees for doing their jobs, which is different from Germans, who would normally think that paying their workers money is already enough.

Another thing I observed during my stay was that English people rarely criticize(批评) others. Even when I was working and mistakes were pointed out to me, my employers repeated several times but none of their explanations were intended as scolding me. It has been my impression that by avoiding scolding, English people are making an effort to make others feel comfortable. This also is showed in other ways. British men still open doors for women, and British men are more likely to treat(请客) women to a meal than German men. However, I do need to point out here that this applies(适用于) to English men a bit more than it would to Scottish men! Yes, the latter are a bit mean(吝啬的).

It has been around for centuries, but up until very recently, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) wasn’t fully accepted abroad. Proof of this can be found in The Treatment (《刮痧》), a 2001 film that tells the story of a Chinese man in the US who’s accused of abuse after he uses guasha, a form of TCM treatment, to cure his grandson’s disease.

During the last 10 years or so, however, TCM has been getting increasingly popular all over the world. A report released by the State Council Information Office on Dec. 6 says this style of health care, which includes different forms like herbal medicine and exercise, has spread to 183 countries and regions.

“We have set up 10 TCM centers outside China, and all of them are popular among locals,” Wang Guoqiang, head of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said at a news conference on Dec 6. “Governments of 86 countries and regions have signed agreements with the Chinese government on TCM corporation.”

One of the reasons behind the growing popularity of TCM is the increase of scientific research into it. And after Tu Youyou, the Chinese scientist who discovered the anti-malaria (抗疟疾) drug qinghaosu (青蒿素), won the Nobel Prize in 2015, TCM became even more famous internationally.

However, all these achievements in TCM don’t mean that it’s problem-free. Over the years, TCM has faced challenges in being able to prove that it has certain effects.

Some researchers have suggested TCM should be more exact and work together with Western medicine.

“Bringing together with Western medicine and TCM, rather than being in competition, is where the potential for great effects is,” said Bernhard Schwartlander, the China representative of the World Health Organization.

London (CNN) There is no God -- that's the conclusion of the well-known physicist Stephen Hawking, whose final book is published on Tuesday. The book Brief Answers to the Big Questions, which was completed by his family after his death, presents answers to the questions that Hawking said he received most during his time on Earth.

Other bombshells(爆炸性事件)the British scientist left his readers with include the belief that alien life is out there, artificial intelligence could outsmart humans and time travel can't be impossible.

"There is no God. No one directs the universe," he writes in the book." For centuries, it was believed that disabled people like me were living under a curse by God," he adds. "I prefer to think that everything can be explained another way, by the laws of nature."

While Hawking spoke of his lack of belief in God during his life, several of his other answers are more surprising. "There are forms of intelligent life out there," he writes. "We need to be cautious about answering back until we have developed a bit further."

"Travel back in time can't be ruled out according to our present understanding," he says. He also predicts that "within the next hundred years we will be able to travel to anywhere in the Solar System."

In remarks prepared by Hawking and played at the launch of the book in London on Monday, the scientist also turned his attention to the world he was leaving behind. His greatest concern, his daughter said, "is how divided we've become," adding ,"He makes this comment about how we seem to have lost the ability to look outward, and we are increasingly looking inward to ourselves."

Hawking's final message to readers, though, is a hopeful one. Attempting to answer the question "How do we shape the future?", the scientist writes, "Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet."