4 . Food waste is one of the greatest challenges of our time, and fruits and vegetables are particularly problematic, as an estimated 52% of harvests go bad before reaching consumers. But one Malaysian company claims to have come up with a simple and effective solution to this problem—a tiny sticker (粘贴标签) that stops fruits spoiling for two weeks.

You’ve probably seen stickers on fruits before, but not like the ones created by Stixfresh. Those common stickers are used only to provide consumers with information about the grower and how the fruit was grown, but Stixfresh has a different purpose. It contains a special, all- natural way that slows down the ripening process, keeping the fruit fresh and juicy for much longer.

Stixfresh are made with 100% organic materials and contain a mixture of ionized (电离) Sodium Chloride and beeswax, which helps slow down the bacterial activity in the fruit, thus delaying the ripening process. The company insists that the stickers are so safe that you can actually eat them.

Stixfresh founder Zhafri Zainudin says that he came up with the idea for the stickers four years ago, after visiting a friend who sold fruit. The man complained about losing money every day due to spoiled fruits, but seemed resigned (顺从的), as he knew there was no way to stop nature taking its course. However, the Malaysian entrepreneur had another idea.

“It got me to thinking. Maybe I couldn’t stop nature, but could I slow it down?” Zainudin writes on his company’s website.

The Malaysian businessman partnered with Selangor University to develop and test his stickers. It took him three years to perfect the manufacturing process and effect of his innovative product.

Originally, Stixfresh stickers were only used to prolong the shelf-life of mangos, but the company later realized that they also worked on other fruits of the same size and with similar texture, like dragon fruit and pears.

Leafcutter ants     1     (consider) an advanced species of ant. While most ant species are made up     2     three types of ants —the queen, workers and males. Leafcutter ants have     3     many as five, since worker ants are     4     (far) divided into different groups according to their sizes. There     5     (be)medium-sized leaf-collecting and leaf-cutting ants, tiny gardening ants and massive soldier ants. Different ants show different features that make     6     (they) do specific jobs. Soldier ants, for example,     7     role is to protect the nest(蚁穴), are about 300 times the size of their gardening sisters. Their jaws are strong enough     8     (cut) leather. A single nest may be home to millions of ants and contain a thousand     9    (room). Not all ants are environmentally     10    (friend) farmers like leafcutter ants.

8 . Whether you’re trying to persuade your kid to turn off the TV or your boss to give you a raise, how do we win the bargaining game? By being persuasive!    1     How can you be more persuasive — at home, at work, in your relationships? By using the 4 Ps.

Purpose

For example, do you want a 20 percent salary increase? Do you want your kid to limit video games to 45 minutes a day? Having a clear purpose in mind makes you confident because being clear does not allow for confusion or mixed messages.    2    

Preparation

This step is commonly overlooked (忽略) as we make request What’s the why behind your purpose? For example, if you want a raise, how much money are people in your role being paid at different companies? How have you gone above and beyond in your position over the past twelve months?    3     Preparation puts you in the strongest situation possible.

Presenting benefits

When we want someone to do something, we want to present the decision in their best interest. Once I was bargaining a conference room in a nice hotel and wanted to pay less. I didn’t mention my limited budget. I didn’t talk about my needs. What I did was to tell the manager that my guests would come to her hotel, see its amazing facilities, and even consider hosting their own conferences there.    4     My aim was to get a 20 percent discount. I got 30 percent. Win-win for all!

Patience

We are too likely to quit and leave dissatisfied from any bargaining. After more than ten years in sales, I can tell you that the best salesmen are patient enough. It’s true that success is a patience game.    5    

10 . “You’re not listening!” “Let me finish!” “That’s not what I said!” After “I love you,” these are among the most common words in close relationships. During my two years researching a book on listening, I learned something unbelievable about interpersonal communication: The closer we feel toward someone, the less likely we are to listen carefully to them. It’s called the closeness-communication bias (偏见) and, over time, it can hurt, and even end relationships.

The more you know someone, the more likely you are to ignore him or her because you think you already know what he or she is going to say. It’s kind of like when you’ve traveled a certain route several times and no longer notice signposts and scenery.

Social science researchers have repeatedly proved the closeness-communication bias in the experiments where they paired subjects first with friends or spouses (配偶) and then with strangers. The researchers asked subjects to interpret what their partners were saying. While the subjects predicted they would more exactly understand those who they had close relationships with, they often understood them no better than strangers, and often worse.

The closeness-communication bias not only keeps us from listening to those we love, it can also keep us from allowing our loved ones to listen to us. It may explain why people in close relationships sometimes keep secrets from one another.

Another study shows that people often share their concerns with strangers rather than their spouses, family members or dear friends because they fear judgment.

So what can we do to avoid the closeness-communication bias? The British psychologist Robin Dunbar says the key is to talk with those closest to us every day. That means asking, “How are you?” and actually listening to the answer.