Television has turned 88 years old onSeptember 7, 2015, and it has never looked better. In its youth, television wasa piece of furniture with a tiny, round screen showing unclear pictures oflow-budget programs. In spite of its shortcomings, it became popular. Between1950 and 1963, the number of American families with a television jumped from 9%to 92% of the population.

    As the audience got larger, thetechnology got better. Television sets became more reliable through the 1960s.The reception (接收效果) improved. The picture improved. The major networks started broadcastingprograms in color.

    Even greater improvements were comingaccording to Sanford Brown, who wrote an article for the Post in 1967. Surprisingly, just about every prediction he made in the article became areality. For example: All sets in the not-distant future will be colorinstruments. He also predicted that TV sets would become smaller, simpler, morereliable and less expensive and may forever put the TV repairman out of work.Smaller sets do not, of course, mean smaller screens. TV engineers expectscreens to get much bigger. However, today's 3-D TV is even farther away, if it's coming at all. There is some doubt whether the public would be eager topay for it, in view of people's cold reception given to 3-D movies.

    But the technology with the greatestpotential, according to Brown, was cable television (有线电视), whichwas still in its early stages then. As he predicted, the future of cabletelevision was highly interactive (互动的). It wasn't cable television that gaveAmericans their electronic connection to the world, however. It was theInternet. He even foresaw the future office: using picture phones, big-screentelevisions for conferences, and computers providing information at the touchof a button.

    Brown ever said, “The future oftelevision is no longer a question of what we can invent. It's a question ofwhat we want.”

    If you want to become a fluent English speaker, you should take some advice: there are four skills in learning English. They are listening, speaking, reading and writing. The most important thing you must remember is that if you want to improve your speaking and writing skills you should first master the skills of reading and listening.

    Read as much as you can. But your reading must be active. It means that you must think about the meaning of the sentences, the meaning of the unfamiliar words, etc.

    There is no need for you to pay much attention to grammar—or try to understand all the unfamiliar words you come across, but the fact you see them for the first time and recognize them whenever you see them, for example in other passages or books, is enough. It would be better to prepare yourself a notebook so you can write down the important words or sentences in it.

    As for listening, there are two choices: besides reading, you can listen every day for about 30 minutes. You can only pay attention to your reading and become skillful at your reading, then you can catch up on your listening. Since you have lots of inputs(输入) in your mind, you can easily guess what the speaker is going to say. This never means that you should not practice listening.

    For listening you can listen to cartoons or some movies that are specially made for children. Their languages are easy. Or if you are good at listening, you can listen to VOA or BBC programs every day. Again the thing to remember is being active in listening and preferably(更好地) taking some notes.

    If you follow these pieces of advice, your speaking and writing will improve automatically(自动地)，and you can be sure that with a little effort they will become perfect.

    Stay-at-home kids are named “generation nini” in Spain. They are those adults who still live at home and are neither working nor studying. But the problem is not limited to Spain. It is a worldwide problem.

In Italy, they are known as “bamboccioni” or big babies. There nearly 60 percent of 18-34-year-old adults still live in their parents' home, up from almost 50 percent since 1983. Once kept there by the love for their mama's home-cooked food, the economic crisis（经济危机）has seen a rise in adults left unable to hold down a steady job or afford a home of their own. Last year, an Italian government minister admitted that his mother washed his clothes and made the bed for him until he was 30. He demanded a law forcing young Italians to leave their parents' home at 18 to stop them becoming hopelessly dependent on their parents.

In the UK, the government has made the term NEETS—not in employment, education or training for these children. In England alone the percent of NEETS aged 19-24 surged to 18.8 percent of the age group-in the last quarter of 2010, up 1.4 percent on the same period a year before. The number of British men in their 20s living with their parents has risen from 59 percent to 80 percent in the past 15 years, while the number of women has risen from 41percent to 50 percent. The average age of the first-time house buyers is now 38.

    In the US, the problem is known as the “full nest syndrome（综合症）”. Adults there are left struggling to support adult children who have stayed at home with student debts and facing few job opportunities in a weak economy. A recent study showed almost a third of American adults aged 34 and under are living with their parents

    Sharing E Umbrella, a new umbrella sharing company based in Shenzhen, China, recently announced that it had lost most of the 300, 000 umbrellas since it was set up.

    China's sharing economy has been growing rapidly, with companies offering anything from bicycles and basketballs to phone batteries for people to rent. Customers make a small deposit（押金）and get to use the thing for a daily cost, with a fine put in place for every day if they fail to return the product in time. It's a simple business model, and market data shows that people see sharing as a cheap and convenient way to cut down waste.

    Zhao Shuping founded the Sharing E Umbrella, an umbrella sharing service, in April. By the end of June, he had already started in 11 major Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou. While picking up the umbrellas was relatively simple, as they were made available（可得到的）at bus and subway stations, the return system turned out to be a different matter. "Umbrellas are different from bicycles, "Mr. Zhao told Chinese news site ThePaper.cn. "Bikes can be parked anywhere, but with an umbrella you need something to hang it on. "

    So instead of bothering to return the umbrellas back to a station, a lot of people just took them home, and Sharing E Umbrella has reportedly lost track of most of the 300,000 umbrellas. Considering that borrowing umbrellas requires a 19 yuan deposit, with a fee of 0.50 yuan per half an hour usage, Zhao says that he suffers a loss of 60 yuan per lost umbrella, so the company is now in the red, but he is not ready to stop it just yet. Zhao announces that Sharing E Umbrella still plans to roll out（推出）30 million nationwide by the end of the year.

    The Mokoko tribe (部落) lived on the wrong side of the island of two faces. The two sides, separated by a great cliff (悬崖), were like night and day. The good side was watered by rivers and was filled with trees and abundant food, while on the wrong side there was hardly any water or plants, and wild beasts crowded together. The Mokoko had the misfortune of having always lived there, with no way to cross to the other side. Their life was hard and they lived in permanent terror of the beasts.

    Along the edge of the cliff separating the two sides, a skinny but strong tree grew, with which they could build two poles. There was no doubt that the tribe would choose the great chief and doctor to use the poles. But when the two of them were given their chance to make the jump, they didn't dare to. They thought that the pole could break or it would not be long enough. They put so much energy into these thoughts that they gave in.

    But into that tribe were born Nam and Ariki, a pair of young hearts. One day, they decided to take up the poles. Nobody stopped them, but everyone did try to discourage them, trying to present how dangerous the jumping was, using a thousand explanations.

    "And what if what they say is true?" wondered the young Naru.

    "Don't worry. I am a bit scared too, but it doesn't look so difficult," replied Ariki, ever determined.

    "But if it goes wrong, it will be a terrible end," continued Naru, undecided.

    "Perhaps the jump will go badly. But staying forever on this side of the island surely won't work out well either."

    "You're right. Let's do it tomorrow."

    And on the next day, Naru and Ariki jumped to the good side of the island. When taking up the poles, while feeling their desire, the fear hardly allowed them to breathe. And while flying through the air, helpless and without support, they felt that something must have gone wrong and death awaited them. But when they landed on the other side, they thought the jump really hadn't been so bad after all.

    The city of San Francisco is a wonderful tourist attraction that offers many different things to see and do. The best way for a traveler to get a good look at the city is to take one of the many different tours there.

    Tour the City on Foot

    When touring the city by walking, you aren't going to walk much. What's more, there are far more benefits. This kind of tour allows you to see as many buildings of the city as possible. A tour of the city on foot usually focuses on a more localized neighborhood level, which can be very interesting in a number of different ways.

    Hit the Waters of San Francisco Bay

    The waters of San Francisco Bay have played an important role in the city s development over the last century, Touring San Francisco from the water is a completely unique way for you to see this wonderful city.

    Take a Bus Tour

    If you want to see a wide variety of attractions from all over the city, one of the best things you could do is to book a tour through our company that offers services here. A bus tour of San Francisco is one of the most complete ways to experience the city

    Tour San Francisco from the Air

    While it is one of the most expensive ways to see San Francisco, touring the city from the air is one of the most unique and thrilling ways to see the city. Seeing the city from high above allows you to get a full view of the city as tour guides point out attractions from high above. If you do decide to tour San Francisco by air, you'll be creating memories that you won't forget forever.

    We are a travel agency providing high-quality services and discounts. For more information, please click here.