Like most people, I was brought up to look upon life as a process of getting. It was not until in my late thirties that I made this important discovery: giving away makes life much more exciting. You need not worry if you lack money.

    This is how I experimented with giving away. If an idea for improving the window display of a neighborhood store flashes to me, I step in and make the suggestion to the storekeeper. One discovery I made about giving away is that it is almost impossible to give away anything in this world without getting something back, though the return often comes in an unexpected form.

    One Sunday morning, the local post office delivered an important special delivery letter to my home, though it was addressed to me at my office. I wrote the postmaster a note of appreciation. More than a year later I needed a post office box for a new business I was starting. I was told at the window that there were no boxes left, and that my name would have to go on a long waiting list. As I was about to leave, the postmaster appeared in the doorway. He had overheard(无意中听到) our conversation. “Wasn't it you that wrote us that letter a year ago about delivering a special delivery to your home？” I said yes. “Well, you certainly are going to have a box in this post office if we have to make one for you. You don't know what a letter like that means to us. We usually get nothing but complaints.”

    Today is National Bike-to-Work Day. And on New York City's jammed streets, people are cycling on hundreds of miles of new bike lanes. But New York's widespread efforts to make streets safer for bikes have also left some locals complaining about the loss of parking spots and lanes for cars.

    When the weather is good, Aaron Naparstek likes to pedal（用踏板踩） his two young kids to school on a special Dutch-made bicycle. Naparstek supports the new lane.

    Aaron: The bike lane on Prospect Park West is really introducing a lot of new people to the idea that it's possible to use a bike in New York City for transportation or to travel around. This is what 21^st century New York City looks like.

    Prospect Park West is still a one-way road, but where it used to have three lanes of car traffic, now it has two, plus a protected bike lane. Supporters say that makes the road safer for everyone, including pedestrians, by slowing down cars and taking bikes off the sidewalk. But some longtime residents disagree. Lois Carswell is president of a group called Seniors for Safety. She says the two-way bike lane is dangerous to older residents who are used to one-way traffic.

    Lois: We wanted a lane — the right kind of lane that would keep everybody safe, that would keep the bikers safe. But we want it to be done the right way. And it has not been done the right way.

    Craig Palmer builds bars and restaurants in Manhattan. I was interviewing him for a different story when he brought up the bike lanes all on his own.

    Craig: I think the biggest problem is that Bloomberg put all these bike lanes in. You took what used to be a full street and you're shrinking it.

    Then there are the Hasidic Jews in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who forced the city to remove a bike lane through their neighborhood. But polls show that the majority of New Yorkers support bike lanes by a margin of 56% to 39%. Bicycle advocate Caroline Samponaro of Transportation Alternatives calls that a mandate.

    Caroline: If this was an election, we would have already had our victory. The public has spoken and they keep speaking. And I think, more importantly, the public is starting to vote with their pedals.

    Emily and Zach are confused! Their parents told them they could choose between Massachusetts and Arizona for their vacation this summer.

    Emily has always wanted to visit Boston, the capital of Massachusetts. Zach and she both agree that walking along the Freedom Trail would enable them to see Boston's most famous places of historic interest, like the site of the school Ben Franklin attended and the Old State House. If Emily and Zach went to Massachusetts, they could spend a few days at the beaches on Cape Cod. Emily loves body boarding, and Zach is great at body surfing. They both enjoy building sandcastles .

    Zach finds learning about Native Americans wonderful and has always wanted to travel along the Apache Trail in Arizona. This mountain highway passes Native American ruins in Tonto National Forest. Emily is not as interested in traveling along this trail as Zach, but they both would like to visit Phoenix, the capital, and then travel to Grand Canyon National Park and Meteor Crater (陨石坑). Zach learned in science class that Meteor Crater is a hole over 4,000 feet wide and 520 feet deep that was created when a huge object from space fell to Earth. The object went so deep that it has never been found. Zach would really like to try to discover it. But Emily thinks if experienced scientists and researchers cannot find it, Zach might as well not even bother (费工夫) to try.

    The only drawback for Zach and Emily if they choose Arizona would be the heat. It is very hot and dry in this southwestern state. Massachusetts, on the other hand, is in the northeastern United States. Here Zach and Emily and their parents could enjoy mild (温和的) temperatures. Their parents love hot weather, but Zach and Emily do not really like to sweat.

    How will they ever decide to which state they should travel? If only they could take two trips!

    The ocean is filled with eight million tons of rubbish—enough to fill five carrier bags for every foot of coastline on the planet. But a new invention could deal with this problem, one port at a time.

    A pair of surfers from Perth, Australia, has invented a "floating bin" that automatically draws rubbish floating on the water into it like a vacuum (真空) cleaner. While the invention may do little to battle against five giant "garbage islands" that flow around the world's  major ocean gyres (环流), it could stop waste from leaving harbours and marinas, for example. Peter Ceglinski and Andrew Turton said their device could spell the end of polluted seas.

    The concept is simple: A bucket connects to a water pump, drawing in any floating trash inside a removable net bag. There is also an optional oil-water separator system inside the pump. It can remove oil from the seawater before spitting it back into the ocean — pollution-free — through the other side of the pump.

    The water filtration (过滤) system is much like what you'd find in a fish tank, but it has the potential to clean up an entire ocean. The seabin can run 24/7, according to its website. And, amazingly, Peter and Andrew say they have never caught a fish or sea animal in their pumps in four years of testing.

    The Seabin Project aims to improve on the traditional and sometimes expensive — harbor cleaning methods of having a person physically remove trash from the water or sending boats equipped with nets to collect it. While it's not as extensive as 21-year-old Boyan Slat's plan to clean the entire Pacific Ocean in 10 years, starting in 2020, the seabin's creators said their device is something that harbors can start using to clean our oceans now.

    They're starting "close to the source of the problem in a controlled environment," Seabin's website states. "It's a big mission, but it can be done. In fact, we're doing it right now."

    Let's look at the movies we can't wait to watch in 2019:

    Dumbo (March 29)

    Dumbo is a 1941 American film produced by Walt Disney Productions. The main character is an elephant who is nicknamed "Dumbo". Dumbo is always laughed at for his big ears, and he is rejected by the other elephants. With no parent to care for him, he is alone. But in fact, he is capable of flying by using his ears as wings. A live-action adaptation of the film directed by Tim Burton is scheduled to be released on March 29, 2019.

    Shazam! (April 5)

    Shazam! is an upcoming American superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name. Directed by David F. Sandberg, the film is set to star Asher Angel as Billy Batson, a teenage boy who can transform via the magic word "Shazam" into an adult superhero, played by Zachary Levi. It will be the first film version of the character since the 1941 series Adventures of Captain Marvel (the character's original name).

    Aladdin (May 24)

    Aladdin is a fictional character and the role of the film Aladdin (1992) based on Aladdin, a folk tale of Middle Eastern origin. He is voiced by Scott Weinger, while his singing voice is provided by Brad Kane. Aladdin never received a formal education, and has only learned by living on the streets of Agrabah. He has to steal food in the local market in order to survive. Mena Massoud is set to play a live-action version of the character in a live action adaptation of the 1992 film.

    Godzilla, King of the Monsters (May 31)

    Godzilla, King of the Monsters is a 1956 Japanese-American science fiction film, co-directed by Terry O. Morse and Ishiro Honda. It is a heavily re-edited American adaptation. For this new version of Godzilla, some of the original Japanese dialogue was translated into English, and some of the political, social and anti-nuclear themes were removed completely.

    My kids lifted the Christmas ornaments (饰品) out of a wooden box in Gee's living room. They were so happy and excited to see tiny stuffed cats and cartoon characters. Gee stood beside them, quietly explaining each treasure. She told me that she and Tom built their Christmas ornament collection piece by piece each year. She smiled as we left with the box, because her precious heirlooms, gathered over a life time, had found a new home.

    We first met Tom and Gee in the early days of our marriage. Someone had been returning our garbage cans to the garage, and Jim and I had wondered who One day we spotted him: a man who lived across the street. I baked cookies and left them on a bench outside the garage with a thank-you note. We then found a typed letter from Tom, explaining that he had begun returning cans for people he hardly knew, because neighbors had done this for Gee when he was in hospital. Now he paid it forward by doing the same for all of us.

    A few years after we'd moved in, Tom died, much to our sorrow. Gee told us she still talked to Tom every day. When we left her house with the precious box, I realized how hard it must be for Gee to part with that box, a piece of Tom.

    These days, we're planning a move. The house that seemed so huge six years ago is filled with furniture, books, toys and, of course, people. We know it's time to go, but soon realize gaining a third bedroom seems like a bad trade for all we stand to lose.

    This Christmas, we'll decorate our tree with Gee and Tom's ornaments. Maybe I'll talk to Tom just as Gee still does. Thank you, I'll say For teaching us what it means to be a neighbor.