英语博客：Ten, ten, ten.

　　I realized today, that yesterday's date was special: 10/10/10. It was October 10th, 2010. I had been too busy over the weekend to stop and realize the curious and interesting date. While I was chatting to my sister-in-law today, she mentioned that she had measured the height of her three boys, as a way of commemorating¹ the day. It could be what we call an 'auspicious²' date, a day of significance and importance. My children told me that a popular kids' program called 'Ben 10' had been on the cartoon channel all day. Now that sort of thing is important to children. The date 10,10,10 however, is very important to some adults. Apparently³, many people who have been planning on getting married this year, decided⁴ to do it on that day. It will be impossible to forget an anniversary! Also, it seems that the number 10 gives us a sense of security, or familiarity. 'The top 10' is common in our world. We hear about 'the top 10 pieces of music', 'the top ten reasons for ....whatever', 'the top ten keys to success in business', and other top ten lists. As far as the date is concerned, though, it depends on which calendar you use. The Chinese calendar is based on astronomical⁵ observations of the sun and the phases of the moon. Numbers are considered lucky if they sound like words that are positive. The numbers 6, 8, and 9, are considered lucky because they sound like other words that are positive or fortunate. Some people will pay large sums of money to have these numbers as their home numbers.  The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. Because it is number based, rather than meaning or sound based, a date like 10,10,10 does draw attention to itself. Mathematicians⁶ might have something to say about it. One website that had various people send in their ideas, had this comment from a man who took the date very seriously: " I was explaining yesterday how 42 is the answer to the meaning of life, the universe, and everything to my girlfriend, when one of my employees brought up that it's going to be 10-10-10 this year. I realized that 10-10-10 in binary⁷ equals 42." Perhaps that man will be lucky enough to get all of his questions answered this year!
Grammar notes.
Related vocabulary: auspicious, anniversary, phase, observations:
1. The December 12th, 2012 might be a special day, an auspicious day.
2. It's my parents' anniversary tomorrow.
3. He's going through a shy phase. I'm sure he will grow out of it.
4. In science class today, we had to make observations about the growth of the plants.

1 commemorating   

v.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was presented with a scroll commemorating his achievements. 他被授予一幅卷轴，以表彰其所做出的成就。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The post office issued a series commemorating famous American entertainers. 邮局发行了一个纪念美国著名演艺人员的系列邮票。 来自互联网

2 auspicious   

adj.吉利的；幸运的，吉兆的

参考例句：

• The publication of my first book was an auspicious beginning of my career.我的第一本书的出版是我事业吉祥的开始。
• With favorable weather conditions it was an auspicious moment to set sail.风和日丽，正是扬帆出海的黄道吉日。

3 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 astronomical   

adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的

参考例句：

• He was an expert on ancient Chinese astronomical literature.他是研究中国古代天文学文献的专家。
• Houses in the village are selling for astronomical prices.乡村的房价正在飙升。

6 mathematicians   

数学家( mathematician的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Do you suppose our mathematicians are unequal to that? 你以为我们的数学家做不到这一点吗？ 来自英汉文学
• Mathematicians can solve problems with two variables. 数学家们可以用两个变数来解决问题。 来自哲学部分

7 binary   

adj.二，双；二进制的；n.双(体)；联星

参考例句：

• Computers operate using binary numbers.计算机运行运用二进位制。
• Let us try converting the number itself to binary.我们试一试，把这个数本身变成二进制数。