At the end of every year, Time picks the best 25 inventions that are “making the world better and smarter”. Here we have picked three of this year's inventions that could be a part of your life in the near future.

The levitating(悬浮的) lightbulb

    This special lightbulb was invented by US artist and scientist Simon Morris. He got the idea of making a lightbulb float from hoverboards(悬浮滑板)，which he used to dream of having as a kid.

    But the floating is not the most amazing part. The rejection force between the opposite ends of the magnets(磁铁)，which were put in the bottom of the bulb and in the wooden base, does the job. What's new here is a technology called induction (电磁感应). It allows the lightbulb to get power from the base even they are not in contact.

Shoes that tie themselves

    They're not what you think-shoelaces that tie themselves in the way we tie them. Instead, the new shoes have small motors that control their laces. When you step in them, your feet will hit a sensor（传感器）in the shoes and the motor will automatically tighten the laces.

    But the shoes weren't just designed for lazy people's needs. They could actually give athletes an advantage during competition. They are also useful for people who cannot move their arms or fingers easily.

The no-touch thermometer

    Taking your body temperature usually means putting a thermometer (体温计) in your armpits (腋窝) and staying still for minutes. It may be easy for you, but it's an impossible task for little kids.

    Now, with the new thermometer, users can simply put it 2.5 centimeters from a patient's forechead and press the button, and it can get the reading in two seconds.

    There are many weight loss products，plans and programs in the market.However,if most of these programs were effective，we would see obesity trends reversing,yet we are witnessing more and more people struggling with weight.

    Experiences of dieters regaining pre-dieting weight within 5 years are common.Therefore,a fitness program that works over a long period of time is something you should be looking for.Before reaching for your wallet or purse,make sure the program is exactly what it claims to be.

Professional endorsement(认可)

    A good program should not insist on offering pills, injections, powders or similar products that are not endorsed by a medically trained professional.You choice of programs should have been designed by a medically trained professional.

Unreallstic promises

    A good program should not make unrealistic promises，such as“To lose 5 pounds in a week,with no exercise!” Therefore,it is advisable to judge whether the promises being made are realistic.The plan should also have a high success rate of weight loss.

Qualification

    A weight loss program should consider the health of the applicants.It should consider their age,medical condition,gender,health background，medication and more,in order to make a plan that meets the needs of every applicant.A good program should include diet and exercise in order to promote permanent and good health.

Restriction

    A good program should not overly restrictive(限制的)on food allowances.Some programs ask you not to eat foods from the main nutrient food groups like fruit and vegetables.A successful weight loss plan,for most people,should not involve less than 1,200 calories per day.

Cost effective

    A long-term program does not have to cost you lots of money.An effective plan that is reasonably priced can save you a large sum of money that can be spent on other healthy habits.This car in turn improve your lifespan.

    We provide the best information about weight loss program.For further details please visit the provided links.

    Next time you're planning to go out for a relaxing walk with your MP3 player, be sure to check the weather forecast first. Summer is the prime time for lightning strikes, a fact that Jason Bunch, a teen from Castle Rock, Colo, learned in a hard way. A couple of summers ago, he was mowing (割草) grass while listening to some Metallica on his iPod. Although there wasn't any rain falling on Bunch, he did hear distant thunder. Bunch was then struck by lightning, which seemed to travel through his music player, blowing out his eardrums and leaving him with burns where the device and its power lines were close to his body.

    Devices such as MP3 players don't attract lightning, says Dr. Mary Ann Cooper, an emergency room physician at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago. However, they may change the pathway that lightning's energy follows in the human body. Lightning that might have passed rather harmlessly over the skin may react differently to the metal of these devices and cause damage.

    Rather than leaving your tunes at home, your best bet is watching out for lightning before it hits. Though people have been injured while using MP3 players in storms, Cooper says, “The devices' main task is keeping you from paying attention to thunder and the sky.” If you're caught in a storm, seek shelter.

    One night about nine o'clock, Dr. Eyck, a surgeon, had a phone call from Dr. Haydon at the hospital in Clens Falls. The surgeon was asked to go there at once to operate on a very sick boy who shot himself while playing with a gun.

    The doctor was soon on his way to Clens Falls. It was 60 miles away. And it was snowing heavily in the city. The surgeon thought he could get there before 12 o'clock.

    A few minutes later, the doctor was stopped by a man in an old black coat. Gun in hand, the man ordered the doctor to get out. Then the man drove the car down the road, leaving the doctor in the falling snow.

    It was after 2 o'clock in the morning when the doctor arrived at the hospital in Clens Falls. Dr. Haydon told him that the boy had died an hour before. The two doctors walked by the door of the hospital waiting room. There sat the man in the old black coat with his head in his hands“Mr. Cuninghan,”said Dr. Haydon to the man, “This is Dr. Eyck. He is the surgeon who walked all the way from Albany to save your boy.”

    Here are four tourist attractions in Havana in Cuba.

    Museum of the City

    The Museum of the City was built in 179L The building once served as the Presidential Palace and home to colonial governors. The museum's exhibits include collections of weapons, history and art as well as rooms documenting wars for Cuban independence.

    +53-7-861-6130 .

    Open: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

    Admission: $ 3

    Revolution Square

    Revolution Square is one of the largest open public spaces in Cuba and one of the largest public squares in the world. The site is home to the 138-foot Jose Mart Memorial, the tallest structure in Havana, which celebrates the national hero. Cuba's important leaders, including Fidel Castro, usually use the platform in front of the memorial to address the large crowds that gather on the square. The Jose Marti Memorial also includes a museum and an elevator that takes tourists to the top of the monument.

    +53-7-338-6363

    Open: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

    Admission: $ 5

    Cigar Factories

    Cubans famous cigar-making factories are open to the public. Three cigar factories in Havana offer public tours that show how Cuba's cigars are hand-rolled in the traditional way. The Partagas Cigar Factory, founded in 1827, is the oldest in Havana. The other two factories open for tours are La Corona and Romeo Julieta, and they include gift shops.

    +53-7-338-060

    Open: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday.

    Admission: $ 10

    Old Havana

    Old Havana is the capital's historic district, which dates back to 1519 when Spain used the city as a colonial port. Old Havana was important Spanish naval (海军的）base. Presently, Old Havana's stone streets are home to museums, hotels and restaurants among the grand colonial buildings that once housed Spanish power.

    +53-7-885-752

    Open: daily.

    Admission: free

    I left university with a good degree in English Literature, but no sense of what I wanted to do. Over the next six years, __________ just trying to earn an income. I tried journalism, but I didn't think I was any good, then finance, which I hated. Finally, I got a job as a rights assistant at a famous publisher. I loved working with books, although the job that I did was dull.

    I had enough savings to take a year off work, and I decided to try to satisfy a deep-down wish to write a novel. Attending a Novel Writing MA course gave me the structure I needed to write my first 55,000 words.

    It takes confidence to make a new start — there's a dark period in-between where you're neither one thing nor the other. You're out for dinner and people ask what you do, and you're too ashamed to say, "Well, I'm writing a novel, but I'm not quite sure if I'm going to get there." My confidence dived. Believing my novel could not be published.

    I put it aside.

    Then I met an agent(代理商)who said I should send my novel out to agents. So, I did and, to my surprise, got some wonderful feedback. I felt a little hope that I might actually become a published writer and, after signing with an agent, I finished the second half of the novel.

The next problem was finding a publisher. After two-and-a-half years of no income, just waiting and wondering, a publisher offered me a book deal — that publisher turned out to be the one I once worked for.

    It feels like an unbelievable stroke of luck — of fate, really. When you set out to do something different, there's no end in sight, so to find myself in a position where I now have my own name on a contract of the publisher — to be a published writer — is unbelievably rewarding.