2 . It’s never easy to say “no”, especially when we’re asked by someone close to us, Maybe a friend is asking you for a favor, or a co-worker is asking you to cover their shift for the afternoon     1    . Don’t worry, We’ve put together some tips to help you politely refuse a request without feeling guilty or hurting anyone’s feelings in the process.

Be kind but forthright. Though you can always just say “no” on your own terms, you might find more success by padding your refusal with positivity.     2    . There’s no need to hide the real reason why you’re saying “no”, as long as you can express it in a polite manner. People will appreciate it if you tell them kindly and quickly why you can’t accommodate them.

    3    . It’s important to set boundaries (界限) with co workers and close friends alike. People shouldn’t expect they can take advantage of you or you’ll drop everything for them at the last minute. Aim for relationships in which both of you feel glad to say “yes” when you can but are also understanding when one of you can’t.

Offer a brief explanation. Providing a concise explanation as to why you’re refusing a request is one polite way to say “no”. For instance, if you already have other work this week that would prevent you from hitting a pew deadline, let the person know that. You’d better avoid adding too much fluff (无价值的东西) to your explanation.     4     .

Know yourself. Knowing yourself and your needs will help you decide if you should say“no”. Have a brainstorming session about areas where you have too much on your plate.     5    . You need to be able to take care of yourself before you can show up for others.

This Is Life, a documentary film, is set to grace the nation’s big screens on Jan. 13. The film features more than 800 short videos     1     (shoot) by 509 ordinary people from all     2     (walk) of life, especially manual laborers and farmers. The videos     3     (select) by the production crew over the course of a year from     4     total of more than 50,000 video clips (片段).

By gathering the short video footage, the film engages ordinary people in its creation and presents their authentic life experience,     5     (allow) those who are often inadequately represented in mainstream cinemas to take center stage.

According to the film’s director Sun Hong, by gathering, selecting     6     compiling (编辑) video clips from a vast database, the film presents how people record their own lives, which possesses a power of authenticity even     7     (great) than traditional documentaries.

In the film, the audience will see construction workers working out on the construction site during their spare time, fishermen talking to their cormorants and teasing their greediness for fish, or boatmen celebrating a rare day     8     they could use tap water.

“It is our creative effort, as documentary filmmakers,     9     (present) an authentic facet of China, highlighting how each individual establishes themselves in a     10     (rapid) developing society,” says Sun.

5 . Take A Scenic Ride On The World’s Steepest Railway For Passengers—If You Dare!

Originally built for mining in 1878, the Scenic Railway is now a tourist ride that can take your breath away! In the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, the former mining railway became a tourist attraction in 1945. It currently holds the Guinness World Records as the steepest passenger train with the steepest railway gradient (坡度).

The gradient of 52 degrees is comfortably viewed from inside an 84-seat, glass-enclosed carriage car. The passenger car travels along on a cable-driven system of rails as it navigates the steep terrain. During the tour, passengers will see the train travel through sandstone cliffs and a rock tunnel next to Orphan Rock.

Orphan Rock was once available for trail climbing. Following rock slides in the 1950s, the trail was partially closed. The trail access was completely closed in 1974 and never reopened due to potential risks.

On the Scenic Railway, you will see stunning views from a slightly different angle than Orphan Rock. The railway is open every day of the year, making the trip along the rails every ten minutes.

Sight-seeing passengers can ride the steepest railway up from the Jamison Valley or travel on the cable car. Either option affords incredible scenic views of the Blue Mountains. The glass roof in the passenger cars allows for a fantastic view from every seat on the train.

Just take a look for yourself!

9 . “Please, no flash photography.”

Polite requests like this can be found in museums all over the world, but they generally fail to persuade people out of taking photos of whatever they feel like. The same goes for concerts, movie theaters and other places where people routinely ignore filming restrictions. A new patent from Apple may help discourage that rebellious behavior-on phones at least.

The patent, awarded to Apple today, outlines a system which would allow venues to use an infrared emitter (红外线发射器) to remotely disable the camera function on smartphones. According to the patent, infrared rays could be picked up by the camera, and interpreted by the smartphone as a command to block the user from taking any photos or videos of whatever they’re seeing.

Many musicians and performers have banned cellphones from their shows, either because they want their audiences to actually pay attention to them, or because they don’t want the free footage (片段镜头) going viral around the web. Despite this, unauthorized (未授权的) images still manage to make their way into the public eye. The last concert of American singer Prince before he passed away was supposed to be cellphone-free —it apparently wasn’t. If Apple’s patent is introduced into iPhone software, and venues put infrared emitters around their stage, leaks like this could potentially stop happening.

But the patent also raises questions about the sort of power that this technology would be handing over to people with more immoral intentions.

Right now, there’s no guarantee that Apple intends to put this technology into any of its software —Apple doesn’t act on many of the thousands of patents it files each year —and the company wasn’t immediately available to comment on its plans for the patent.

Given the company’s rigid support of personal privacy when it comes to police requests to break into users’ devices, it’s possible that Apple just patented the technology so that no one else will use it. But who knows, if it does intend to introduce this feature to future operating systems, sales of alternative shooting devices like camcorders, or even GoPros, could get a much-needed boost, as people try to avoid having to use the prohibitive software.