When something goes wrong, it can be very satisfying to say, "Well, it's so-and-so's fault. "or "I know I'm late, but it's not my fault; the car broke down. " It is probably not your fault, but once you form the habit of blaming somebody or something else for a bad situation, you are a loser. You have no power and could do nothing that helps change the situation. However, you can have great power over what happens to you if you stop focusing on whom to blame and start focusing on how to remedy the situation. This is the winner's key to success.

    Winners are great at overcoming problems. For example, if you were late because your car broke down, maybe you need to have your car examined more regularly. Or, you might start to carry along with you the useful phone numbers, so you could call for help when in need. For another example, if your colleague causes you problems on the job for lack of responsibility or ability, find ways of dealing with his irresponsibility or inability rather than simply blame the person. Ask to work with a different person, or don't rely on this person. You should accept that the person is not reliable and find creative ways to work successfully regardless of how your colleague fails to do his job well.

    This is what being a winner is all about - creatively using your skills and talents so that you are successful no matter what happens. Winners don't have fewer problems in their lives; they have just as many difficult situation to face as anybody else. They are just better at seeing those problems as challenges and opportunities to develop their own talents. So, stop focusing on "whose fault it is. " Once you are confident about your power over bad situations, problems are just stepping stones for success.

    I just returned to my hometown of Wilson Creek. I was away for 10 years. So many things have changed around here. When I left Wilson Creek, there was a small lake in the south-east of the town.

    They have filled in the lake and built a large shopping center and a swimming pool there. They have also built a new post office just across from my old school.

    The baseball stadium(体育场)in the north-east of Wilson Creek has also changed a lot. They have now added a new stand(看台). Now the stadium can seat a few thousand people. It looks really great.

    The biggest changes have taken place in the town center. It has become a pedestrianised area(步行区) and you can't drive there anymore. They have built a large square and a cinema. There is also a new street cafe and a grassy area.

My street looks just the same as it always has been, but a public library has appeared on the next street. There used to be a park there but they have cut down all the trees. What a pity! The library now has a large green area in front of it but it's not the same as when the park was there.

    Another change is the new restaurants that have opened in Wilson Creek. A Chinese restaurant and an Italian restaurant have opened in the town center, and a Mexican restaurant has opened near my home. I'm going to the Mexican one tomorrow!

    It's common knowledge that the woman in Leonardo da Vinci's most famous painting seems to look back at observers (观察者), following them with her eyes no matter where they stand in the room. But this common knowledge turns out wrong.

    A new study finds that the woman in the painting is actually looking out at an angle (角度) that's 15.4 degrees off to the observer's right—well outside of the range that people normally believe when they think someone is looking right at them. In other words, said the study author, Horstmann, "She's not looking at you." This is somewhat ironic, because the entire phenomenon of a person's gaze (凝视) in a photograph or painting seeming to follow the viewer is called the "Mona Lisa effect (效应)". That effect is absolutely real, Horstmann said. If a person is illustrated or photographed looking straight ahead, even people viewing the portrait from an angle will feel they are being looked at. As long as the angle of the person's gaze is no more than about 5 degrees off to either side, the Mona Lisa effect occurs.

    This is important for human interaction with on screen characters. If you want someone off to the right side of a room to feel that a person on—screen is looking at him or her, you don't cut the gaze of the character to that side—surprisingly, doing so would make an observer feel like the character isn't looking at anyone in the room at all. Instead, you keep the gaze straight ahead.

    Horstmann and his co—author were studying this effect for its application in the creation of artificial—intelligence avatars (虚拟头像) when Horstmann took a long look at the "Mona Lisa" and realized she wasn't looking at him.

    To make sure it wasn't just him, the researchers asked 24 people to view images of the "Mona Lisa" on a computer screen. They set a ruler between the viewer and the screen and asked the participants to note which number on the ruler intersected (横切) Mona Lisa's gaze. To calculate (估测) the angle of Mona Lisa's gaze as she looked at the viewer, they moved the ruler farther from or closer to the screen during the study. Consistently, the researchers found, participants judged that the woman in the "Mona Lisa" portrait was not looking straight at them, but slightly off to their right.

    So why do people repeat the belief that her eyes seem to follow the viewer? Horstmann isn't sure. It's possible, he said, that people have the desire to be looked at, so they think the woman is looking straight at them. Or maybe the people who first created the term "Mona Lisa effect" just thought it was a cool name.