resolving Maven download error

"mvn archetype:create ..." is almost the first command for everybody to run when starting to use Maven. Sometimes the following problem will be shown in the console:

...
[INFO] Repository 'central' will be blacklisted
[INFO]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] BUILD ERROR
...

This problem is usually related to the network settings of the local machine.
By adding a settings.xml file in the repository directory, it can resolve the repository downloading issue, and you'll be able to use Maven properly.
The instructions for settings.xml (to setup the proxy) is available in http://maven.apache.org/guides/mini/guide-proxies.html .