Counting the number of miles traveled done by a product is a strange way of trying to tell the true situation of the environmental damage due to industry. Most food is transported around the world on container ships that are extremely energy efficient. It should be noticed that a ton of butter transported 25 miles in a truck to a farmers' market doesn't necessarily use less fuel on its journey than a similar product transported hundreds of miles by sea. Besides, the idea of “food miles” ignores the amount of fuel used in the production. It is possible to cut down your food miles by buying tomatoes grown in Britain rather than those grown in Ghana. The difference is that the British ones will have been raised in heated greenhouse and the Ghanaian ones in the open sun.

    What is the idea of “food miles” doesprovide, however, is the chance to cut out Third World countries from First World food markets. The number of miles traveled by our food should, as I see it, be regarded as a sign of the success of the global trade system, not a sign of damage to the environment.

    Teachers say the digital age has had a good influence and a not-so-good influence on this generation of American teenagers. More than 2,000 high school teachers took an online survey.

    75 percent of the teachers said the Internet and digital search tools have had a “mostly positive” effect on  their students' research habits and skills. But 87 percent agreed that these technologies "make the students not have enough attention.” And 64 percent said the technologies “do more to distract students than to help them academically.”Many students think “doing research” now means just doing a quick search on Google.

    Judy Buchanan is a director of the National Writing Project. Ms. Buchanan says digital research tools are helping students learn more, and learn faster. Teachers really like these tools, because they are ways to make some of learning exciting. Young people enjoy using these tools. And the goal is to help them become creative students of meaningful work, and not just that kind of copyist.

    But one problem the survey found is that many students don't have a good understanding of how to use the digital knowledge well. In other words, they trust(信任) too much of the information. Judy Buchanan says these students have not developed the skills they need to tell whether the online information is good or bad.

    Another problem the survey found is something that might not seem like a problem, at all, being able to quickly find information online. Teachers say the ability of their students to work hard to find answers is becoming weaker. They say students depend too much on search engines (引擎) and do not make enough use of printed books or research, librarians.

    Besides, many teachers are also worried about the problem that the Internet makes it easy for students to copy work done by others, instead of using their own abilities.

    Started by the British Council, the UK's international organization for cultural relations and educational opportunities, this year-long activity sets out to improve fluency in spoken English in particular.

    Prize-winning online competition

    The activity also marked the start of an online competition, “My Favorite English Word”. You can join by simply posting your word of choice on China Daily.com. The most popular words will be included in a draw to win a variety of prizes, including Kindle, Polaroid camera and Bluetooth speaker. To participate, click here.

    English Teacher Award.

    The activity establishes an English Teacher Award to recognize excellence in teaching among Chinese non-native teachers of English. Nominations(提名) will be made by students and English teachers.

    In order to recognize more inspiring teachers, monthly prizes will be presented and the winner of the grand final award will be announced later in the year. The winner will have the opportunity to study in the UK for 4 weeks—supported by the International House London.

    Throughout the activity, the “English is GREAT” website will provide access to free online resources and all kinds of materials for English learners of all levels.

UK-Mandarin (Standard Chinese) Excellence Program

    The “English is GREAT” activity will reply to the UK-Mandarin Excellence Program, started in 2016, which aims to have 5,000 secondary school pupils in the UK fluent in Mandarin by 2020.

    Last Saturday on the way to the mall, two children, a boy and a girl, came running towards me with bottles in their hands, asking if I wanted bottled water. It was a surprising gesture. I was wondering if they were doing fund-raising. I knelt and asked them where their parents were and how much a bottle of water cost. Then two adult women came up to me explaining what the children were doing. “We are teaching the children to give without anything in return. We are teaching people to accept without giving in return.”

    Two mothers had bought bottled water and placed a sticker on all bottles with five different quotes (引述):

    ⒈Smile at everyone. You'll never know when someone may need it.

    ⒉If Plan A does not work, there are 25 more letters in the alphabet.

    ⒊Have a thirst for life. Every day is filled with possibilities.

    ⒋In your thirst for knowledge, be sure you don't drown in all the information.

    ⒌Dig your well before you're thirsty.

    The bottle I have has quoted No.5. A sudden change of attitude opened up between me, the mothers and the children. We are no longer strangers to each other. We were having such a great time chatting and I ended up helping them give away the rest of the bottled water.

    One young lady was so thankful that she happily accepted the water and said it was the best thing that happened to her all day since she had a bad day at work. A man refused and walked away saying “No, thanks”. A couple kept on bowing to us in gratitude. When it was all done, the children and I were giving each other high-five. It was so remuch fun. I think I had more fun doing this than the mothers and the children.

    As the weather gets colder, we start wearing jackets, and most of us stop thinking about the sun. But the sun's rays can be just as harmful when it's cold and cloudy outside. "Any exposed area of your body can still get sunburned," Dr. Apple Bodemer, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Live Science.

    Whether you spend a day on the slopes, skating on a pond or clearing snow out of your driveway, your face is still getting exposed to the sun's radiation in the form of ultraviolet (紫外线) (UV) light, which can go deep into your skin cells causing DNA damage, according to Bodemer.

    The sun's long ultraviolet A (UVA) waves can cause earlier aging, sunspots and wrinkles, while its short ultraviolet B (UVB) rays are known for causing skin reddening and burns.

    Skin damage caused by UV exposure increases over time. More exposure to radiation contributes to more severe damage, even skin cancer. In addition, snow and ice can also make sun damage worse. They reflect up to 80 percent of UV rays reaching the ground. That means you get hit from both the sky and the ground. And skiers and snowboarders increase their risk of getting sunburned even more because UV exposure increases at higher altitudes.

    "Generally, the biggest factor for sun-sensitivity is how pale your skin is," he said. "But, the reality is that even the darkest individual can get sun damage."

    Luckily, the solution for protecting your skin is simple: Wear sunscreen every day. Rigel recommended using sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30, and going higher at high altitudes. As a rule of thumb, SPF 30 will block 97 percent of UVB rays, SPF 50 blocking 98 percent, and SPF 100 blocking 99 percent. Whatever kind of sunscreen you use, it's important to apply SPF about once every 2 hours.

    Rigel also suggested sunscreens with "broad spectrum (光谱)"—to protect against both UVB and UVA rays—as well as sunscreens that are water resistant for up to 80 minutes. That way, you can go about your day without it wearing off too quickly.

    When you are sitting in the car, do you ever notice the drivers looking over their shoulders or side to side in the car? Well, they are doing this to check their blind spots! Blind spots make driving extremely difficult and increase the potential for car accidents.

    Fourteen-year-old Alaina Gassier from Pennsylvania noticed her mother struggling with blind spots while driving their family car. So she came up with an ingenious solution that won the first place and $ 25,000 in the Broadcom Masters Competition.

    Blind spots are the areas around the car that cannot be directly observed by the driver. There are two kinds of blind spots-on the back of the car that cannot be seen with mirrors, and blind spots at the front of the car as well.

    When a driver is changing lanes, he has to look over his shoulder through the side windows to make sure that there is no vehicle in the blind spot. This invisible area is big enough to hide a car!

    The other blind spot is created in the front by the A-pillar(柱子)-the material on either side on the windshield(挡风玻璃)that holds the glass and forms the frame of the car. In some cars, this pillar can be quite thick. Usually, people or cyclists can be hidden by this pillar.

    Alaina's design was to get rid of the blind spot created by the front A-pillar of the car, the one that helps hold up the windshield.

    She put a camera on the outside passenger side of the car which then sent the photos to a projector above the driver's head. Then, she covered the inside of the pillar in a reflective fabric onto which the image was projected. Basically, her device made the pillar "see through" and removed the blind spot on that side of the car.

    Alaina's solution is very creative and could be improved by using LCD displays that will make it easier to see during day time as well.