Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now, the website BookCrossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.

    Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share. BookCrossing provides an identification number to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place, hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.

    Bruce Pederson, the managing director of BookCrossing, says, “The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. BookCrossing combines both.”

    Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.

    People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E-mails are then sent to the BookCrossing to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce Pederson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.

    BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back to the “real” and not the virtual（虚拟）. The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty-five countries.

    The world has lost one of its brightest stars. British physicist Stephen dies on March 14, at the age of 76.

    Hawking is probably the world's most famous scientists after Albert Einstein. He is an expert on black holes. He has devoted his whole life to digging into the beginning (and the end) of the universe. “My goal is simple,” Hawking once said. “It is to completely understand the universe, why it is as it is and why it is there at all.”

    Hawking's achievements are even greater if you think about his disability. When he was 21, Hawking caught a bad illness that slowly stopped him form moving or talking. For a period of time, he had no way to communicate except by blinking（眨眼）. Later he sat on a wheelchair with a computer by his side. To communicate, he moved two fingers to control the computer's mouse. He selected his words from the screen, which were then spoken by a voice synthesizer（音响合成器）.

    “I have had the disease for most of my life,” Hawking once said. “Yet it has not stopped me from being successful at my work.”

    Though Hawking was a disabled man, he made great achievements. He received many awards and prizes for his work during his lifetime. This included winning the Albert Einstein Award, which stands for the highest achievement in theoretical physics.

    Despite the fact that he's no longer with us, his legacy will surely live on. As Sajid Javid, a UK government minister, put it, “A brief history on Earth; an eternity in the stars.”

    Vincent Van Gogh was the son of a pastor (牧师) in Holland. Around his early twenties he decided to become an artist. He felt that color was his main influence and he used it to express himself. The way he painted was very unusual during the late 1800s because he paid much attention to colorful abstract art. Van Gogh had many paintings that have changed the way we look at art. His paintings weren't popular during his lifetime because of an illness that was possibly a mental disorder. However, they are now considered to be the most popular forms of art in the world today. In what ways can we appreciate his paintings?

    Learn about the artistic style of expressionism. In Van Gogh's artwork, the style that he used was expressionism, which was the only one of this kind compared to other paintings.

    Look for key symbols that would help you understand his artwork better such as the background of the objects.

    Try to understand the artist's aims. You can do this by watching the use of colors, perspectives, and the subject. Knowing the artist's aims, you will be able to understand why he created the work.

    Take what you have learned from the artwork and put it in your feelings to see how it affects you and is related to you. This will allow you to make a connection with the artist.

The best books of the year

    A study found wireless signals are able to pass through bags and suitcases to judge the sizes of dangerous metal objects and identify them." These items could include weapons, chemicals, laptops and batteries for bombs, "the research team said on Tuesday.

    Research suggested that Wi-Fi can now be used to estimate the volume of liquids such as water, acid, alcohol and other chemicals for explosive material. The study led by researchers at the Wireless Information Network Laboratory (WINLAB) in the School. of Engineering showed a wireless device with two to three antennas(天线)that could be fitted in existing Wi-Fi networks.

    The detection system analyzes what happens when wireless signals go through and bounce off objects or materials. The approach, which the paper states, works by separating the wireless interference(干扰)caused by two factors of objects-the material and shape." Most dangerous objects such as weapons are usually metal or liquid, which have significant interference," researchers said.

    When it was tested on a backpack, the accuracy rate topped 95 percent. "But the accuracy dropped to about 90 percent when objects inside bags are wrapped. And the tech could save lives if used in museums, stadiums, theme parks or schools," the team said, noting its design can inspect bags or luggage without being an exposure to privacy.

    It uses channel state information (CSI) that is readily available in low-cost Wi-Fi devices." This could have a great impact on protecting the public from dangerous objects," said Yingying Chen, a co-author of the study," There's a growing need for that now. In large public areas, it's hard to set up expensive screening equipment like what's in airports. Manpower is always needed to check bags and we want to develop a method to try to reduce manpower.”

    The peer-reviewed study, which recently won a best paper award at the 2018 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, is now published online." Future work will continue to focus on ameliorating the accuracy of identifying objects and imaging shapes and volumes," researchers said.

    People always think men are more skilled than women in driving. Nowadays women appear to have a positive image of themselves as safer drivers than men.

    In a survey done by insurer MetLife, 51% of women said they drive more safely. The evidence is on their side: Men are 3.4 times more likely than women to get a ticket for careless driving and 3.1 times as likely to be punished for drunk driving. "Women are on average less aggressive and more law abiding (手法的) drivers, which leads to fewer accidents," the report says. However, not all male drivers share the same opinion. Of the men surveyed by MetLife, 39% claimed male drivers were safer. The findings did back them up on one point: automotive knowledge. The report showed that more men are familiar with current safety equipment such as electronic stability control, which helps prevent rollover accidents.

    Auto safety unavoidably matters to money. Insurance companies focus on what classes of drivers have the lowest dollar amounts of claims, and for now, that mainly includes women. In general, women pay about 9% less for auto insurance than men. A study by the website Insweb also showed that auto insurance rates are lower for women in most states. Among individual states, women get the greatest advantage in Wyoming (where they pay 20% less), South Dakota and Washington, D.C., where their insurance costs are 16% lower.

    "More than 11, 9000 male drivers died in U.S. traffic accident in 2009, compared with just under 4,900 women drivers," according to the study. "Based on miles traveled, men died at a rate of 2.5 deaths per 100 million miles traveled, vs. 1.7 deaths for women."