8 . How to Be a Good Tourist

We travel not only for work but also for fun and learning. Restaurants, galleries, temples and architecture...These places are like homes for people who live and work there. How would you want visitors to behave in your own home?     1     There are many ways of doing this without sacrificing our own holiday.

Do your homework.     2     Guides will help you when you get to the site, but is that the best place to go? Is it popular only because the one-day tourist can see it easily or because it is really a worthwhile place to visit？You’d better check it out.

    3     Walk around, even if in the streets closest to your hotel. Eat in local restaurants. Talk to the locals. Learn a few in the local language and use them. You will surely get a smile from the hotel staff and street sellers.

Help preserve the sites. Most of the sites you visit may be visited by millions of people a year, so care needs to be taken to allow others to enjoy them as well. Some of these monuments are so old and fragile that they are sensitive to the touch of hands or bags and shows.     4     This way, you don’t encourage the use of those plastic bags that fly all over many sites.

And here’s the big one — good manners are nearly universal.     5     If that doesn’t sound like you, then give the world a break and stay home.

9 . Muzak

The next time you go into a bank, a store, or a supermarket, stop and listen. What do you hear?     1    . It's similar to the music you listen to, but it's not exactly the same. That's because this music was especially designed to relax you, or to give you extra energy. Sometimes you don't even realize the music is playing, but you react to the music anyway.

Quiet background music used to be called "elevator (电梯) music" because we often heard it in elevators. But lately we hear it in more and more places, and it has a new name "Muzak". About one-third of the people in America listen to "Muzak" every day. The music plays for 15 minutes at a time, with short pauses in between. It is always more lively between ten and eleven in the morning, and between three and four in the afternoon, when people are more tired.     2    .

If you listen to Muzak carefully, you will probably recognize the names of many of the songs. Some musicians or songwriters don't want their songs to be used as Muzak, but others are happy when their songs are chosen. Why?     3    .

Music is often played in public places because it is designed to make people feel less lonely when they are in an airport or a hotel. It has been proven that Muzak doeswhat it is designed to do. Tired office workers suddenly have more energy when they hear the pleasant sound of Muzak in the background.     4    . Supermarket shoppers buy 38 percent more groceries.

    5    . They say it's boring to hear the same songs all the time. But other people enjoy hearing Muzak in public places. They say it helps them relax and feel calm. One way or another, Muzak affects everyone. Some farmers even say their cows give more milk when they hear Muzak!