French tourists en as world's worst: survey
French tourists are the worst in the world, coming across as bad at foreign languages, tight-fisted and arrogant, according to a survey of 4,500 hotel owners across the world.They finish in last place in the survey carried out for internet travel agency Expedia by polling company TNS Infratest, which said French holidaymakers don't speak local languages and are en as impolite.
"It's mainly the fact that they speak little or no English when they're abroad, and they don't speak much of the local language," Expedia Marketing Director Timothee de Roux told radio station France Info.
"The French don't go abroad very much. We're lucky enough to have a country which is magnificent in terms of its landscape and culture," he said, adding that 90 per cent of French people did their traveling at home. "
So when they're on holiday they can be a bit stresd, they're not ud to things, and this can lead them to be demanding in a way which could be en as a certain arrogance."
French tourists are also accud of generally spending less than other nationalities when abroad.
De Roux said the French, not accustomed to leaving large tips at home where a rvice charge is automatically levied（征收，征稅） on restaurant bills, can em "tight-fisted" compared with other nationalities.
The Japane ranked top of the Best Tourist survey, with the British and the Germans judged the best of the Europeans.
But French tourists received some consolation for their poor performance, finishing third after the Italians and British for dress n while on holiday.
And the best tourists in the The best tourists in the world are the Japane, followed by Americans and the Swiss, a survey bad on views from hoteliers（酒店經營者；酒店老板） across Europe said Wednesday.
Japane tourists stood out for being polite and tidy, curing 35 percent more votes than the Americans who came cond.
Swiss tourists were commended for being quiet and considerate, unlike the Britons who were judged to be the fifth worst tourists becau of rude behavior, noi and a mirly attitude to tipping.
But despite their faults, hoteliers do look favorably upon British spending habits voting them the third biggest holiday spenders after Americans and Russians.
Bad on respons from 15,000 European hoteliers, the survey carried out on behalf of travel Web site Expedia showed that the worst tourist nation was France, followed by India, China and Russia.
Britain was cond in the worst-dresd tourist table which was headed by the Americans, and fifth in the least-generous table which was headed by the Germans.
London's Big Ben clocks up 150 years
London's Big Ben celebrates the 150th anniversary of its first chiming on Saturday.The Great Bell, houd in Saint Stephen's Tower which adjoins the Hou of Commons, first struck the hour on July 11, 1859, and has been interrupted only occasionally for maintenance and bad weather ever since.
To mark the anniversary, the message "Happy Birthday Big Ben, 150 years, 1859 - 2009" will be projected （投影） on the tower.
The days, the name Big Ben is frequently ud to describe the tower, one of the capital's most photographed sites, but the nickname was first given to the bell alone.
The origin of the name is thought to come from Sir Benjamin Hall, the First Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings, who name is inscribed （雕刻，銘記） on the bell.
Mike McCann, Keeper of the Great Clock, said: "After 150 years, Big Ben still holds a special place in the hearts of Londoners and the world as a magnificent example of engineering and building genius."
The 96-metre (315-foot) high tower which hous the clock was built as part of the rebuild
ing of the Hous of Parliament by architects Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin following a major fire in 1843.
MP3成青少年聽覺殺手
EU warns youth: turn your MP3 players down!
Millions of youngsters across Europe could suffer permanent hearing loss after five years if they listen to MP3 players at too high a volume for more than five hours a week, EU scientists warned Monday.The scientists' study, requested by the European Commission, attacked the concept of "leisure noi," saying children and teenagers should be protected from increasingly high sound levels -- with loud mobile phones also coming in for criticism.
