There are thousands of products of all colors and shapes in a supermarket, making you believe that they are worth a try. How? Packaging is the silent but persuading salesman.

There on the shelves, each bottle, can, box, and jar has been carefully designed and measured to speak to the inner self of the consumer, because he/she is buying not only a product but also his/her belief in life. Scientists have studied consumer behavior recently and found that the look of the package has a great effect on the “quality” of the product and on how well it sells, because “consumers generally cannot tell between a product and its package. Many products are packages and many packages are products,” as Louis Cheskin, the first social scientist studying consumers’ feelings for packaging, noticed.

Colors are one of the best tools in packaging. Studies of eye movement have shown that colours draw human attention quickly. Take V8 for example. For many years, the bright red color of tomatoes and carrots on the thin bottle makes you feel that it is very good for your body. And the word “green” today can keep food prices going up.

Shapes are another attraction. Circles often suggest happiness and peacefulness, because these shapes are pleasing to both the eye and the heart. That’s why the round yellow M signs of McDonald’s are inviting to both young and old.

This new consumer response(反应) to the colors and shapes of packages reminds producers and sellers that people buy to satisfy both body and soul.

【推荐3】With fashion magazines, advertisements and teenage idols sporting the “latest and greatest” trends, there’s a lot of pressure on teenagers to fit the mold...no matter how expensive it might be. For decades, teenagers have used fashion as a social weapon. Bullies (霸凌者) will pick out peers that aren’t wearing the best brands of clothing and criticize them.

Dr. Jensen, a professor at Western Illinois University, says there are some signs your child might be a victim of fashion bullying. They’ll become picky about what clothes they wear and will be very demanding when you take them shopping. He continues: “Bullying of this kind can be quite insidious (阴险), it can just be a look that a child is given. Advertising and marketing have made our society increasingly image-conscious and our children are suffering the consequences. Schools and colleges should be places where all children feel equal, but it is actually impossible for schools to protect their pupils from the harsher aspects of these commercial influences.”

Andy Cranham, a teacher at City of Bristol College said: “The need to belong in groups is crucial to young learners and exclusion (排挤) is something they see as the end of the world.”

What Not to Wear, a popular television show, features fashion bullying as entertainment. Each week Stacy and Clinton pick out a fashion victim, thinking little of her appearance, and verbally trashing her wardrobe. They bully the victim while she shops according to their “fashion rules”. After she receives a total fashion renovation, Stacy and Clinton offer her acceptance and approval. Each show ends with a homecoming celebration where the former fashion disaster returns to friends and family who praise her with admiration as a “new woman”.

I think beauty is probably at the base of fashion, but the problem comes when so called “stylish” people start defining beauty in a way that excludes other people. Why wait for a trend in order to follow it? If you’re able to wear something with confidence, you will be the one starting a trend.

【推荐1】When Joanne Morton and Lydia Shaw came across the Boston Public Market, which features only New England businesspersons, they knew they had to stop in. The women, visiting from southeastern Connecticut, always try to buy local. “We always try to support our local farmers and businessmen,” says Ms. Shaw. “We’re not into big companies,” adds Ms. Morton.

They aren’t alone. A great number of Americans continue to be attracted by “local” food and to buy it, according to recent surveys from the International Food Information Council Foundation, the Pew Research Center, and British polling firm Ipsos. But what does it mean to shop local? For some, local is still a matter of geography. For others, it is about supporting their local economy (经济). And for still others, it is about knowing where their food comes from and how it is made, even if it is coffee shipped from a Costa Rican company. In 2008, Congress passed a bill that gave money to support local food. According to the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act, a product that can be considered local has to travel less than 400 miles.

But Lydia Zepeda, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has found the largest agreement about what is local is any product that comes from within an hour’s drive. “But is that with or without traffic?” She asks. “What if it crosses state lines?” adds John Hayes, a food science professor at Pennsylvania State University. “A customer might like to buy local to help an old town,” he says. “Or maybe it’s just because local food tastes better.” It is for Kaitlin Bohon. “I taste a difference,” she says at the Boston Public Market. For Ms. Bohon, buying local is both about supporting New England business and knowing who grew and handled her food.

Students of all ages need to have a reliable backpack and which is your favourite one?

【推荐1】Did you know that badminton is also a fast-paced competitive sport? Badminton has been a Summer Olympic sport since 1992. Para-badminton will be included in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. Here’s what you need to know if your child is interested in badminton.

Badminton is played on a 44-foot-long rectangular (矩形的) court that is 17 feet wide for singles and 20 feet wide for doubles. It is divided in the middle by a net placed 5 feet off the ground, like volleyball, not at ground level like tennis.

In competition, each match is a set of three games played to 21 points. There is a one-minute break when a player or team reaches 11 points, and a two-minute break in between the first and second games and the second and third games.

Age kids can start: About 6 years old.

Best for kids who: Have good skills, are patient and hardworking, and can handle the pressure of one-on-one or two-on-two competition.

Team or individual: Matches can be singles (one-on-one) or doubles (two-on-two).

Fun fact: Badminton is the only sport that has mixed doubles event in the Olympic Games.

Costs: Beginners are expected to pay $30 to $40 for an entry-level racquet (球拍). Badminton shoes are similar in price to other athletic shoes. Join a club or team for lessons. A one-hour group lesson for beginners should cost $20 to $25, with costs increasing as your child moves up the ranks. You will also pay entry fees for competitions.

Time commitment required: Beginners will play for just an hour or two per week.

Potential for injury: Players have a very low risk of injury. Players who wear glasses should use eye protection.

【推荐3】Research shows that in the United States a great number of teenagers who once enjoyed sports no longer participate in middle or high school sports team. These teenagers say it’s just not worth it. Why do promising athletes walk away from middle school or high school sports, and what should you do if your athlete decides not to play team sports?

Take Madeline for example. When she was living with her family in Texas a couple of years ago, Madeline joined her middle school’s track team. She was new to the sport, but she was fast. She worked hard, and she won medals. Then one day, Madeline fell and cracked a bone in her wrist. Her track season was over.

Her coaches were upset, but probably not in the way you’d expect. Rather than comforting their promising athlete suffering from a disappointing sports injury or encouraging her to return next season, they turned their back on her. “They shunned me for the rest of the year,” recalls Madeline, who has since moved to the East Coast. “I guess because I would no longer be winning them any medals.”

“Sports lost their appeal for me,” says Madeline. “I did end up trying out for the track team last year, but I actually found myself overwhelmed with memories and emotions from my experience the previous year and ended up dropping out.”

Talk to coaches, parents and teenagers about the downside of sports, and you’ll hear the same answer: by middle school and certainly by high school, it has more often than not become a game of medals. Not the plain old fun of playing. Not the extra benefits that sports offer. But winning.