My husband hasn't stopped laughing about a funny thing that happened to me. It's funny now but it wasn't at the time.

    Last Friday, after doing all the family shopping in town, I wanted a rest before catching the train, so I bought a newspaper and some chocolate and went into the station coffee shop — that was a cheap self-service place with long tables to sit at. I put my heavy bag down on the floor, put the newspaper and chocolate on the table to keep a place, and went to get a cup of coffee.

    When I went back with the coffee, there was someone in the next seat. It was one of those wild-looking youngsters, with dark glasses and worn clothes, and hair colored bright red at the front. Not so unusual these days. What did surprise me was that he'd started to eat my chocolate!

    Naturally, I was annoyed. However, to avoid trouble — and really I was rather uneasy about him — I just looked down at the front page of the newspaper, tasted my coffee and took a bit of chocolate. The boy looked at me closely. Then he took a second piece of my chocolate. I could hardly believe it. Still I didn't dare to start an argument. When he took a third piece, I felt more angry than uneasy. I thought, "Well, I shall have the last piece." And I got it.

    The boy gave me a strange look, and then stood up. As he left he shouted out. "This woman's crazy!" Everyone stared. That was embarrassing enough, but it was worse when I finished my coffee and got ready to leave. My face went red — as red as his hair — when I realized I'd made a mistake. It wasn't my chocolate that he'd been taking. There was mine, unopened, just under my newspaper.

    Scientists have found that human eyes are more likely to be damaged by UV rays (紫外线) while skiing in the snow-covered areas than sitting on the beach, according to a report by the UK newspaper The Telegraph.

    The researchers at Kanazawa Medical University, Japan and American company Johnson conducted the study together. They looked at the effects of light reflection on newly fallen snow on a ski trail (a rough path) in Ishikawa District, northern Japan. They compared the results with the levels of UV rays on a sand beach in southern Japan's Okinawa District They found that on the beach, eyes are exposed to a daily 260 kilojoules (千焦耳) of UV a square meter compared to 658 kilojoules in snow-covered areas. The findings are supported by the Japan Meteorological Agency. According to the agency, the reflection rate of UV light on beaches is often between 10 and 25 percent, compared to 80 percent in lie new snow areas. The amount of light increased 4 percent with a 300-meter rise in height.

    Most of us know that UV rays can harm the skin. That's why we wear sunscreen on our skin before we get out in the suit. But many of us may not realize that UV rays are also harmful to the eyes.

    If your eyes are exposed to large amounts of UV radiation over a short period of time. You may experience a kind of sunburn of the eye, which is harmful. Your eyes will become red and feel a strange feeling. They may be sensitive to light. Fortunately, this is usually temporary and seldom causes permanent damage to the eyes.

    Long-term exposure to UV radiation, however, can be more serious. Scientific studies and researches have shown that exposure to small amounts of UV radiation over a period of many years increases chance of eye damage, which could lead to total blindness.

    The Humane Society of Utah,a non-profit organization,is the largest shelter in the state because it takes every animal that can be lawfully accepted.The shelter employed photographer Guinevere Shuster,from New York,who came up with a creative way to find new homes for the dogs.She took lively photos for them.

The 31-year-old created sets of four pictures showing the playful and serious sides of each animal.Guinevere Shuster tried her best to show these dogs the way they'd really look if you allowed them into your life.She said,"I'm always trying to imagine better ways to make the poor animals attractive to the public.The photos show their great personalities and are a much better way than presenting them as the sad dogs waiting to be taken home.I'm lucky because I get to connect the two things I love most,animals and photography."

Guinevere says she finds it easy to work with dogs.She said,"It's just me and the dog in the office so they can pay their attention to the photo-taking.I use a lot of treats and some funny noises I've learned to get the dogs' attention. A fun method is to throw treats at the dogs-it's useful for getting unusual looks from them."

    Since starting the project,a number of dogs have been taken home by dog lovers after they saw Guinevere's pictures on the Humane Society of Utah's Facebook page.In the last three years,she has photographed more than 4,000 animals.This year,the shelter has placed nearly 9,000 homeless pets into their permanent homes.

  Dubai Aquarium & underwater Zoo

    Experience
    You will be surprised at the amazing collection consisting of over 140 species including 300 sharks, rays and the largest collection of sand tiger sharks in the world. Walk along the Rainforest, Rocky Shore and Living Ocean environments at the Underwater Zoo and you will find yourself face to face with dangerous piranha, giant catfish, playful otters, a Humboldt penguin colony and more.
    Options
    Basic Pass: With this basic pass, you'll get access to the Dubai Aquarium and underwater Zoo.
    Explorer Pas: If you're looking to get a little closer to the sea creatures, then this pass is for you. Along with the explorer pass you can also get access to the submersible simulator(潜水模拟器)  & big screen theater and a free ride on the glass-bottom boat.
    VIP Line Buster: This pass includes all the benefits of an explorer pass and a tour guide. And you can get to try your hand at fish feeding!
    Timings
    Sunday--Wednesday: 10:00 am--11:00 pm
    Thursday--Saturday: 10:00 am--12:00 am
    Pro Tip
    You can save a lot by buying a combo ticket(套票). This ticket gives you access to Undersea Zoo and Aquarium Tunnel alongside tickets to the observation deck on the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa. Your government ID card has to be presented at the entrance.

    If you have a chance to take a walk in a park, look carefully at the people walking their dogs. You'll probably find friendly-looking people with friendly dogs; quiet people with quiet dogs; large men with oversized dogs and long-haired women with long-eared dogs. As you've probably noticed, dogs and their owners look alike. Have you ever wondered why?

    These similarities are so common that researchers have tried to explain them. There are two theories (理论): the convergence (趋同) theory and the selection theory. The convergence theory says that as the owner and the dog spend more time together, they influence each other to the point where they grow similar. In other words, they “converge.” The selection theory, on the other hand, says that owners are interested in dogs that look like them, so they choose those dogs as pets.

    Recently, researchers at the University of California decided to test the two theories by taking pictures of 45 dogs separately from their owners. Then they asked some students to match the dogs' photos with their owners. The students were quite successful with purebred (纯种的) dogs: they correctly matched 16 out of 25 with their owners. However, they had almost no success connecting mixed-breed (杂交的) dogs with their owners. When owners select a purebred dog, they can easily predict (预测) what it will look like later. But that is not true with mixed-breed dogs because it's hard to predict what a mixed-breed dog will look like when it grows up. And since it was the purebreds not the mixed-breeds that looked like their owners, the research seems to prove the “selection theory”.

    But one bit of warning. Although many people look like their dogs, not all dog owners enjoy having the similarity pointed out to them. So, even if the similarity is amazing, don't go up to a stranger and say, “Wow, you look just like your dog!”

    Diet pills, diet Coke, diet Pepsi, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word "diet" everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically.

    Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing  our brains to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale (秤) instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word "diet" in food labels.

    On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don't have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.

    The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients. Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemicals that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.

    Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological and physical harm that comes from using them.