The summer holidays are upon us again. Here is our guide to summer holiday fun in Peterborough!

Peterborough Museum

    The Age of the Dinosaurs' is the museum' s main attraction this summer. Get up close to prehistoric creatures via some great hands-on exhibits! Watch out for monsters lurking (潜伏）around every ember! The museum is open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday to Saturday, and from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm on Sundays in August.

Call 01733 864663 for details.

Saxon Youth Club

    School holiday fun: Young people aged 13-19 will be able to produce their own music, compete in spots activities, or try their hand at cooking at Saxon Youth Club, Saxon Community Center, Norman Road, Peterborough every Monday and Wednesday from 3:00 pm. PLUS an aero ball tournament will take place on Thursday, 12^th August between 3:30 pm and 6:30 pm.

Houghton Mill

    Alice through the Looking Class－a new production of the family favorite on Monday, 30^th August. Bring rugs or chairs to sit on and a picnic if you wish to eat during the play. Gates open 5:30 performance 6:30 pm-8:30 pm. Tea room will be open until end of the interval. Adult £10. Child £7. Family £20.

Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey

    Farmland Games: From Wellie Wanging to Pretend Ploughing matches, come and join the Farmland Team. Collect your sporting stickers and create a colorful rosette （玫瑰形饰物）that is fit for a winner! No need to book, just turn up between 12:00 pm and 4:00 pm on Thursday, 19^th August. Suitable for children aged four and above, each child should be accompanied by an adult and all activities are included in the normal admission price. Tickets Cost £7 per child.

For further information, call 01223 810080.

    Snowblind—it's a frightening word. Thankfully, it's a condition that is totally preventable.

    Snow blindness is a painful, temporary loss of vision due to overexposure to the sun's UV rays. Essentially, snow blindness is caused by a sunburned eye.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Though it is commonly called snow blindness, the condition can (and often does) occur in the absence of snow.

    The terms “snowblind” and “snow blindness” have become popular because snow is highly reflective of ultraviolet radiation.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Also, skiing, mountain climbing and snowboarding usually take place at relatively high altitudes, where the sun's UV rays are stronger. Combined, these factors can double your risk of getting sunburned eyes, compared with being outdoors at lower altitudes in the summertime.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Television journalist Anderson Cooper experienced snow-free snow blindness first-hand a few years ago when he spent a couple hours on a boat in Portugal without sunglasses and ended up “blind for 36 hours,” according to his report of the incident.

    Not only can you become snowblind without snow—it can happen without sunlight, too!{#blank#}4{#/blank#} For example, sun lamps can cause temporary “snow” blindness if proper eye protection is not used.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} To relieve pain or discomfort from snow blindness, stay indoors and wear sunglasses. Keep your eyes well-moistened with artificial tears. For additional relief, use over-the-counter pain relievers. Be sure to use only pain relievers you know you can take without worry of an allergic reaction. You also may find that placing a cool, dampened washcloth over your closed eyelids is comforting.

A. You don't need snow to become snowblind.

B. It will likely affect those traveling in snowy conditions.

C. To prevent snow blindness on the slopes, wear sunglasses.

D. Sometimes it occurs from mail-made sources of ultraviolet radiation

E. In fact, snow can reflect over 80 percent of the UV rays that fall upon it.

F. Snow blindness is scary, but usually it's temporary, and there are ways to relieve the discomfort.

G. But water and white sand also are highly reflective of the sun's UV rays, thus increasing the risk.

    It's common knowledge that sleep problems can be caused by things such as stress, anxiety, or even using a smartphone before bedtime. But recently, a team of researchers discovered that genes could also be a cause of sleepless nights.

    The scientists, from Rockefeller University in New York, US, found that delayed sleep phase disorder（DSPD，睡眠相位后移综合症）, a condition that affects one's sleeping patterns, is passed down via a mutated（突变的）gene. DSPD sufferers wake up later and go to bed later than the average person. To come to their conclusion, the team studied a 46-year-old woman who is only usually able to fall asleep at 2 or 3 in the morning. It was discovered that the woman's body produces the hormone that helps her sleep at night up to 7 hours later than regular sleepers. The scientists found this was caused by a mutation in one of the woman's genes, one that helps regulate the “body clock”.

    Some of the woman's family members were also found to share the same mutation—and the same sleeping problems –leading the scientists to believe that sleep troubles are passed down through the generations.

    However, having this mutation doesn't mean you automatically have sleep problems. The team also found two people who had the mutation but reported no problems with their sleep.

    But while this is an interesting discovery, it offers no help to those who can't fall asleep at night—although there are a few things you could try to help you sleep earlier.

    BBC journalist Michael Mosley produced a TV documentary in May in which he talked about his battle with insomnia（失眠）and the techniques he used. “I avoid social media for at least an hour before bed, I do mindfulness exercises, and if I wake up in the middle of the night, I read a book for an hour or so,” he wrote in an article for the Radio Times.

    It's interesting when you think about how Japan is a nation that appreciates the virtues of silence and good manners, and yet when it comes to eating noodles, Japanese people can be the loudest in the world.

    According to lifestyle website grapee.jp, slurping when eating noodles is encouraged in Japanese culture. It's believed that taking air into your mouth can enhance the flavor of the noodles, and that it helps cool down the noodles. It's also considered to be a way to show appreciation for the dish. Sometimes, just making the noise alone seems to make the noodles more enjoyable.

    It wasn't until a new expression - “noodle harassment”,or “hu-hara” in Japanese - came out last year on social media that Japanese people started to realize that the slurping noise is making some foreign visitors uncomfortable.

    As a response, Japanese instant noodle maker Nissin introduced a so-called noise-canceling fork earlier this year. The fork, which looks like an electric toothbrush, is connected wirelessly to a smartphone. When the person using the fork starts to slurp, the fork sends a signal to the person's phone, making it play a sound to mask the slurping noise.

    “The fork is a solution to the 'noodle harassment' issue, particularly as the number of tourists visiting Japan increases,” said the company, according to Euro News.

    But is it really necessary?

    Dining traditions do vary. What's considered to be proper table manners in one country is likely to be seen as rude in another. In India, for example, people eat with their hands because they think in this way they build a connection with the food. However, people who are used to eating with utensils（餐具）might find it uncomfortable to get their hands covered with oil and bits of food. But this eating method is part of India's culture, just like Japan's slurping is part of its own.

    “So, if you are eating noodles, whether that's ramen（拉面）, udon（乌冬面）, or soba（荞麦面）, please slurp,” wrote the reporter Brian Ashcraft on blog Kotaku. “If anyone gets annoyed while you are doing that, pay them no mind because they're missing the point entirely.”

    Finding motivation (动机), especially study motivation, is not always easy. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Here are some ways of doing it.

    Offer yourself encouragement.

    Yes, you should give yourself a prize or some kind of reward when you've done a task. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Remember, you have to know the exact conditions that you need to meet in order to receive the wonderful cake.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    You need to feel confident about your studies. I am sure all of us have succeeded on several occasions. Remember these past successes and you will feel more motivated to continue!

    Write down your goals.

    Don't just think about them, don't just say them, write them down! {#blank#}4{#/blank#} And that's why you find salesmen always want you to write something down before you actually buy something. By writing your name down, you are in a sense giving your support for their cause. If then you are asked to buy what they are selling, you are more likely to do that than if you hadn't signed the paper!

    See your goals.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Put them up on the wall and paste (粘贴) small post-it notes all over the place. You have to keep on reminding yourself of the purpose behind your studies and what type of results you're expecting to achieve.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that statues of public figures are hated by everyone, except perhaps their creators and, hopefully, their subjects, if they're still alive to see them. Jane Austen—the author of Pride and Prejudice—will of course not be around when, or if, the statue in memory of her 250th birthday is built at Winchester Cathedral next year, but according to Jane Austen Society vice president Elizabeth Proudman, the author would not have approved of the proposal anyway. "She is known to have been a modest woman who avoided publicity."

Similar views were aired at a public meeting last week, in which local residents raised concerns that an Austen statue would lead to the "Disneyfication" of the sacred Cathedral. It is no disrespect to the statue's creator — Martin Jennings to say that it's difficult to imagine crowds of parents being woken up on the first day of the summer holidays by their screaming six-year-olds begging to be driven down the Cathedral to catch a glimpse of Austen in the bronze.

Winchester's is not the first wrangling over a celebrity sculpture in recent years: when the sculpture of Mary Wollstonecraft, the greatest feminist thinker of the 18th century, was on show, it was laughed at as a tiny misshapen woman. The bust (半身像) of footballing Cristiano Ronaldo was revealed at Madeira airport in 2017, which some commentators observed looked more like the former F1 star David Coulthard. To his credit, the bust's creator, Emanuel Santos, defended himself admirably, saying "Even Jesus did not please everyone."

When Auguste Rodin's ogreish (妖魔似的) Monument to Balzac went on display in Paris in 1898, it caused such dislike that it was rejected by the very group that had approved it in the first place. Yet by 1969 Kenneth Clark had declared it "the greatest piece of sculpture of the 19th century". And you can still see it standing in the most visible place in the Musée Rodin's gardens today. Perhaps there's a lesson in that for all the maligned (诽谤) sculptors around the world: just wait 70 odd years and things will blow over. Perhaps by the year 2095, Austen, Wollstonecraft and Ronaldo will be standing toe to toe, bringing glory to some greatly-admired galleries. Or, as someone wisely remarks, "time will explain."