Dexway English Magazine: C1 – Edition 6
Bad Habits
A habit is an acquired behavior or thought pattern that we have repeated so many times that we start to do this without thinking. Even though many of us are faced with dilemmas such as our doctor telling us to quit smoking because it is one of the leading causes of death, or that we need to lose a bit of weight to have a healthier heart, for some, making a change can seem impossible!
Scientists have constantly studied the bad habits of humans and tried to determine why we do what we do. Some of the reasons have been genetic predispositions to addiction (smoking or alcohol abuse), someone not being able to truly identify the risk of the habit, the pressure to be socially accepted (teens smoking to look “cool”) or even just our innate human defiance when told shouldn’t do something (for example too much sun tanning and the risks of skin cancer or biting our nails when we are nervous).
What can we do to break bad habits? Research is showing that it takes on average 66 days (even up to 184 days depending on the person or habit) to stop the bad habit by concentrating on a more positive or productive one. This is no easy task and can be very overwhelming. Make a commitment to yourself, make a plan of how you will quit. American Psychologist Shawn Achor says that putting obstacles in place will stop you from the bad behavior. Make it harder to do the bad habit. A great way as well is to reward yourself when you finally kick a bad habit and involve your friends or family. They will make you accountable for your actions and help boost your motivation.
Superstitious minds
BLACK CATS, FOUR LEAF CLOVER AND LUCK
Do you avoid walking under ladders? Do black cats make you stop in your tracks? Do you rub a rabbit´s foot, cross your fingers or knock on wood for luck? Do believe you will have seven years bad luck for breaking a mirror or bring bad luck by opening an umbrella inside? Throw salt over your shoulder? Hang a horseshoe to “catch” good luck? Many superstitions and myths come from the same human trait as what makes us believe in ghosts or vampires… when our brains can´t understand or when something that contradicts natural science, we make things up. The dictionary defines superstitions as an irrational belief arising from ignorance or fear. Every culture has their own set of superstitions and beliefs and most have unknown origins. Most superstitions try to prevent us from being unmarried, childless, friendless, poor or even worse.
Many superstitions have formed from very old beliefs. The word superstition is used primarily pejoratively (negatively) to refer to religious practices like voodoo. The superstition of not walking under a ladder comes from a Christian belief in the Holy trinity. A ladder when opened makes a triangle so walking under this “breaks” the trinity which was blasphemous.
Eye Contact
Making eye contact is a very important part of making a good impression when you are meeting new people. This is probably most important when you are in a job interview situation or if you have an important sale or idea to pitch. Apparently most people tend to make eye contact with people for an average of four seconds at a time, any longer than that and the feeling goes a little bit weird, unless you’re looking into the eyes of a loved one, or you’re a professional boxer trying to stare down your opponent before a big fight!
Psychologists say that when you make eye contact you feel more dominant and powerful. You appear more warm and personable as well as more attractive and likeable.
Other people see you as more qualified, skilled, competent, and valuable and more trustworthy, honest, and sincere. The psychologists also agree that people who regularly make eye contact are general more confident and emotionally stable.
Here then are a number of good reasons to start making eye contact.
OUTERNETS
OMETHING IS OUT THERE
The idea behind projects such as Project Loon or internet.org is to bring the internet to everybody. There is no doubt that the internet is a global resource that everybody should be able to access for personal or professional development and entertainment but a recent survey of internet coverage suggests a very different story.
The survey suggests that both the African and Asian continents are following behind when it comes to internet access. This isn´t good enough for Google or Facebook who, either due to an ulterior motive or because they actually care, are investing large sums of money on what to us might seem as a farfetched futuristic projects such as Project Loon< which aims to use high altitude balloons to bounce the internet signals around the world or Facebook´s internet.org which aims to use drones to create Wi-Fi hotspots which we can connect to, thus allowing internet coverage in any part of the world.
So far the market leader and the only company to successful send an internet signal from one location to space and then to a Wi-Fi device is a tech start up called Outernet.
Outernet uses current communication satellites to project an internet signal from one location to another.
THE TOWER OF LONDON
TOWER
It is an old castle on the Thames River in London.
The official name is Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress The Tower of Londonn, but everyone calls it the Tower of London. In the middle is the most famous part, The White Tower.
It was built in 1078 (ten seventy eight) by King William the Conqueror.
Other kings have added more towers over history. It has been used as a prison, home for monarchy, a records office, a zoo, the Royal Mint (to make coins), and an armoury. In the 1300s (thirteen hundreds) it became home to the Crown Jewels, money and gold bars were kept here because it was the safest place in the city.
Two main attractions for tourists at the Tower are the Beefeaters who are ex-military personnel recruited as guides and Tower security and the Raverns (a type of black bird) which are a symbol of the British Monarchy. The Raverns are cared for my a Beefeater and have their wings trimmed to prevent them from flying away.
Winning Personality
WINNINGS
ome people agree that all one needs to succeed in life is have a great personality. A confident and charismatic person will usually always give people a wonderful “first impression” of their attitudes. It is important to remember, however, that a personality consists of ALL the physical, mental, emotional, and social characteristics of an individual.
Other people can give off a bad first impression because they feel nervous or shy in a new group of people. Their interaction may be minimal and their answers will be short, but this does not mean they always interact this way.
Sometimes a quiet and shy person like this will lead a very rich and interesting life, full of conversation – but it takes a relaxed atmosphere to get to know them. Another way to refer to this personality is called “introvert.” An introverted person keeps all or most of their emotions inside and rarely displays public feelings of joy, anger, sadness, etc .
The opposite is called an “extrovert” and they have no shy feelings or nervous habits when meeting new people. They often make their opinions and emotions very clear to anyone around them. This does not mean that extroverts have no “inner layer” like an introvert: everyone can have a limit for which actions and emotions to display in public. Also, personality is not limited to what a person gives (or does not give) to others – it can also be related to how that person absorbs the information given to them. There are some who can assess a lot of information without difficulty, while others need more time to process.
Also some people are very curious and will inquire further into people’s stories, lives, and attitudes. People can perceive this as being nosey, but it is just some people’s personality, they are very interested in the lives of others
