Now a new study has showed a key trick in getting the best deal - asking for a range of pay, rather than a single figure.

The research contradicts（与……抵触）traditional wisdom that argues giving a range will automatically cause employers to focus on the lower end of the offer. For instance, if you want  $90,000 and you suggest a range between $90,000 and $110,000, the study finds employers are more likely to make a higher offer.

But simply asking for $110,000 in the first place increases the chances of the deal falling apart, as it is a sign that the employee is not open to negotiation（协商）.

The team made the discovery after running a series of experiments involving Amazon Mechanical Turk workers and business school students.

Respondents were asked not only what they thought their negotiation partner's lowest acceptable offer could be, but also questions designed to show how they viewed their partner.

One type of offer, called a “bracketing” range,places the figures on either side of the desired salary. For instance, if you want $90,000, you'd ask for a range of between  $80,000 and $100,000. This causes employers to offer the lower end of the scale,but, unlike single figure offers, the deals rarely fall apart as the negotiator is often viewed favourably. “If your goal is to get along with someone without losing money, the‘bracketing' range offers may be a good move,”Dr Ames told the Wall Street Journal.

The“backdown”range offer, meanwhile, uses the target salary as the high figure in the range. For $90 ,000, an employer would ask for a range between $70,000 to $90,000. These range offers , predicta-bly, give the worst results in terms of pay.

However, Dr Ames warns against setting the range too high and says the most successful range is usually within 20 per cent of the target offer.

I’m glad to have received your letter，but feel worried about the problems describing in it. Now I’d like to give you some tip.

As the freshman，it’s normal(正常的) for you to feel homesick at first. Don’t be worried. As time went by，you will get used to your college life soon. Of course，you can chat with your parents and friends at online. You say you feel alone. You can change that by making new friends. Don’t shy and believe in yourself. Smile but say “hello” to everyone. I believe that we will get along well on your classmates.

I hope you will have a good time.

Yours,

Mark

   Friends should always be honest with you, right? So when they lie, it can  be really hard to take. You want to trust your friends and that means knowing that they'll tell it to you straight no matter what it is. But a friend who lies isn't always trying to hurt you. Why does this happen?

Protect your feelings

One of the biggest reasons friends lie is simply to avoid hurting your feelings.

Some people don't understand the difference between being gently honest with a friend and being so straightforward（直接了当的）that they leave a verbal wound. They choose to avoid these two extremes in the form of a lie.

What you can do: Encourage your friends to be straight with you. No matter what their answer is, let them know you are grateful for it.

They feel embarrassed

Sometimes friends will lie about things in their life because they are too embarrassed to admit the truth. Maybe they are going through a rough time and they just don't want you to know about it.

What you can do: Avoid trying to badger（纠缠）your friend into telling you what's wrong. Instead, make it clear that you are there for them when and if they are ready to talk.

Avoid an argument with you

Perhaps your friend knows that if they tell you the truth, you'll get angry with them. Avoiding conflict is not always healthy for a friendship because it allows problems to grow over time. If you have a bad temper（脾气）, your friend might try and avoid getting into an argument with you and instead just tell you what you want to hear.

What you can do: Make sure that if a friend tells you something unpleasant, you don't overreact. Consider what's being said and why your friend is telling you this. If you do end up arguing, do it in a respectable way.

Exclude you

Lying isn't always a sign that friends are trying to protect you, however. Sometimes they lie because they want to exclude you from their plans.

What you can do：When you find out with certainty that your friend is lying to you, try and face it. Be forewarned, however, that if a friend lies to begin with, he or she may lie when asked a direct question about his or her dishonesty. Go with your guts on this. If you feel your friend is lying because he or she doesn't want to be around you, that's your wake-up call to move on.

   While some high school seniors begin to enjoy writing their college essay, others fail to see the importance of it. In some cases, these 600 words determine acceptance or a rejection. 【小题1】 It is also a process of self-discovery. Here are some helpful tips.

1. Have fun! When you get upset, it is reflected in your work. Relax, breathe and realize that this is the time to expose a side of you that the grades cannot.

2. Don’t settle for basics — be creative! 【小题2】 Stay away from volunteer work, your dead dog and vacations. Admission counselors (入学辅导员) see thousands of essays a month; make sure your essay is distinct from your experience and personality. Do not focus on what you think they want you to write, but what is actually significant to you.

3. 【小题3】 Although it is effective to appeal to the emotions of an admission counselor, I do not recommend writing an essay about sad stories. Self-pity can be annoying, and most admission counselors do not want that to be their first impression of you. 【小题4】 Make sure that the story is focused on your growth, not on the struggle.

4. Your essay is not a longer version of your resume (简历). If you send in a resume, there is absolutely no need to restate what is on it. Many students like bragging (吹嘘) about how much they do. It is amazing that you are involved, but admission counselors do not only want to hear about how much you do, especially if they already see this on your resume. 【小题5】

Good luck on your college essay!