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.”

    Danielle Steel, America's sweetheart, is one of the hardest working women in the book business. Unlike other productive authors who write one book at a time, she can work on up to five. Her research before writing takes at least three years. Once she has fully studied her subjects, ready to dive into the book, she can spend twenty hours nonstop at her desk.

    Danielle Steel comes from New York and was sent to France for her education. After graduation, she worked in the public relations and advertising industries. Later she started a job as a writer which she was best fit for. Her achievements are unbelievable: 390 million copies of books in print, nearly fifty New York Times best-selling novels, and a series of “Max and Martha” picture books for children to help them deal with the real-life problems of death, new babies and new schools. Her 1998 book about the death of her work shot to the top of the New York Times best-selling list as soon as it came out. Twenty-eight of her books had been made into films. She is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for one of her books being the Times best-seller for 381 weeks straight.

    Not satisfied with a big house, a loving family, and a view of the Golden GateBridge, Danielle Steel considers her readers to be the most important resource and has kept in touch with them by e-mail. While she is often compared to the heroines of her own invention, her life is undoubtedly much quieter. But, if she does have anything in common with them, it is her strength of will and her inimitable (独特的) style. There is only one Danielle Steel.

    When I was a boy, I was always happy to see those little brown coins. After years I was still very happy to pick up pennies on the ground, I usually saved them up. I usually bought a pack of gum or a bag or chips when it was enough. After growing up, I hears a story about coins. It was said that our loved people sometimes would leave pennies on the ground in front of us. People wanted to show us that we were loved and watched over kindly. I never doubted that story even as an adult. It is difficult for me to find a lot of money on the ground, but pennies are there all the time. Maybe that is why I still enjoy seeing them and picking them up, no matter how dirty or old they are.

A few months ago, I was walking to the local post office to mail a letter. As I entered the room, I saw not one, not two, but four pennies shining in the sunlight. I smiled and picked them up. I kept them in my hands as I walked in the post office. "Four is Ok," an office said to a lady. The lady began searching her purse. Her face went red. I understood what had happened. I laughed to myself at this surprising moment. I placed my pennies on the desk before her. The smile I got in return was worth a thousand dollars.

    The coins weren't so valuable to me, but they did matter to her. I just performed a little kindness. I was happy.

    “Clothes Swapping”has become an increasingly popular activity for women in the United States. The women can give away unwanted clothing at a clothes swap event and get something different in return.

    Recently about 300 women went to a clothes swap at a high school in Springfield, Virginia. It was the largest crowd ever for the area's popular clothing-swapping group.

    Daphne Steinberg was having a good day.“For anyone who knows Ann Taylor LOFT, Ann Taylor is a really nice women's designer and I will totally wear this to work. So I love that, I love that I can equip myself for work, have a good time in doing it, not totally bankrupt myself.”

Sandy Van Dusen likes the idea that clothes are finding new homes instead of being thrown away. “Because it helps to keep the Earth green. There's no point in my opinion in continuing to buy new clothes when we can reuse what's already here. Give it a new home— let somebody else love what you used to love and no longer love.”

    Kim Pratt organized the clothing-swapping event in Springfield. She also organized a money-raising activity for the high school's debate team. It is one of several ways that her group gives to charitable causes. Another is by donating all of the“un-swapped” clothing to shelters for victims of domestic violence.

    “I started doing this four years ago, and we've been doing it for four years, getting bigger and bigger each time we have a swap.”

    She used the social media website meetup.com to help publicize the events. The website has helped her group grow from 30 members to 1,300. Mrs.Pratt says most of the members respect the clothing swap rules. But she say competition for desirable fashion can be strong.

    “We have to tell people sometimes not to hover over the new people coming in with their clothing. As they put it out, some people tend to grab the stuff right out of their hands and it becomes like a free-for-all. We try to avoid that as much as possible.”

    Brian Greene, a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, has created an online science education platform. He tries to "build a bridge" with things you know about, and then "bring you across that bridge to the strange place of modern physics."

    Recently I had a chance to ask Greene about wormholes (a hole which some scientists think might exist, connecting parts of space and time that are not usually connected), time travel and other mysteries of the universe. I asked him a million-dollar question: What if I went through a wormhole and prevented my parents from meeting? "Most of us believe that the universe makes sense," Greene said. Although there are several interesting theories about time travel, he added, the laws of physics would probably prevent something so illogical from taking place. The good news is that the time paradox（悖论） is open for future physicists to solve.

    When asked how physics could become more exciting for kids, Greene said that books by Stephen Weinberg, Leonard Susskind, and other physicists, "make it a great time for people who want to learn about big ideas but aren't yet ready, perhaps, to learn math."

    When I pointed out that some students still might find physics boring, Greene said that the key is to teach them about things that are strange. "The basic stuff is important," Greene said. "But I think it's really important to also describe the more modern ideas, things like black holes and the Big Bang. If kids have those ideas in mind, then at least some of them will be excited to learn all the details．"

    Greene has followed Albert Einstein's lead in trying to solve the mysteries of the universe. Now he wants kids to do the same. As Greene said, physics is "not just a matter of solving problems in an exam." It's about experimenting, showing an interest in strange phenomena（现象）-- and having fun!

    Every time a new year is coming, people set out to better themselves. They promise they will lose weight, find a new job, or maybe even take that vacation they've always talked about. But why do we make these promises to ourselves, and where did this tradition come from? Why does this tradition live on when so many people fail to keep the resolutions(决定) they made? Well, we can start by blaming the ancient Babylonians.

    Around 4, 000 years ago in Babylon, the earliest recorded celebration honoring the coming of a new year was held. Calendars weren't as they are today, so the Babylonians did it in late March during the first new moon after the Spring Equinox(春分). The festivities were meant for the rebirth of the sun god, but the Babylonians made promises in order to please their gods. They felt this would help them start the new year off well.

    Resolutions continued on with the Romans. When the early Roman calendar no longer synced(同步) up with the sun, Julius Caesar decided to make a change. He consulted with the best astronomers and mathematicians of the time and introduced the Julian calendar, which more closely represents the modern calendar we use today. Caesar declared January 1 the first day of the year to honor the god of new beginnings, Janus. The Romans celebrated the New Year by offering sacrifices to Janus.

To this day, the traditions of the ancient Babylonians and Romans continue around the world. So much that Google launched a Resolution Map in 2013 where people could add resolutions and see others adding theirs in real time. However, no matter how many people participated in Google's project, the numbers are bleak when it comes to the number of people who maintain their resolutions—-only eight percent of people are successful in sticking them out.