When I walk down the street in Beijing during the summer, I often find it quite d{#blank#}1{#/blank#} to get where I'm going because there are all umbrellas in my way.

    Before I come to China, I'd never seen people carrying umbrellas on s{#blank#}2{#/blank#} days. But in China, women carry umbrellas when it's not raining.

    I found that there are many r{#blank#}3{#/blank#} for this. Firstly, it protects people a{#blank#}4{#/blank#} the sun's rays (光线). In summer, many Chinese cities get hot. People sometimes carry umbrellas to stay cool.

    But wait a second. If umbrellas can help us stay cool, why haven't I ever seen men carrying t{#blank#}5{#/blank#}?

    That brings us to the s{#blank#}6{#/blank#} reason – blocking the sun helps women's skin (皮肤) stay pale. In China, pale white skin is t{#blank#}7{#/blank#}  to be more beautiful than tanned (晒成棕褐色的) skin. Cosmetics (化妆品) companies even sell special creams to make the skin l{#blank#}8{#/blank#} whiter.

    However, in the US, women p{#blank#}9{#/blank#} to be tan. It's considered more beautiful there. Some people even lie outdoors in the sun for hours to get a tan. But doing this too much can be d{#blank#}10{#/blank#}, as the sun's rays are bad for the skin.