In addition to the official basketball world, various other types of basketball are practiced around the world.

    Wheelchair Basketball

    Wheelchair basketball was invented in 1946 by former American basketball players, who, after wartime injury, wanted once again to experience the excitement of a highly athletic sport within a team environment. It is now played in more than 80 countries by over 25,000 men, women and children with a physical disability which prevents them from playing competitive basketball on their feet.

    http://www.iwbf.org

    Beach Basketball

    Beach basketball is an exciting, non-stop action game played in the sand. The game was born more than forty years ago on the physical education fields of Gulf Shores School. This kind of basketball, invented by Philip Bryant, has grown from an extremely effective skill improvement game to a very popular, widespread competitive sport.

    http://www.beachbasketball.com

    Street Basketball

    Street Basketball or streetball is mainly played as a leisure game, but streetball players can also compete against each other. There are no specific streetball rules and the game is played outdoors; the players make up their own rules to play. Streetball is very popular among younger players and allows players to publicly show their own individual skills.

    http://www.streetball.com

    Deaf Basketball

    Basketball for the deaf (unable to hear in one or both ears) men and women has been played since the early 1920s. The game today has exactly the same rules as FIBA (International Basketball Federation).

    http://www.dibf.org

    Bankshot Basketball

    Bankshot is a new game of skill and challenge that is often described as “mini golf, but with a basketball.” Bankshot is the only sports system that allows the able-bodied and athletes with a disability to play together at the same time. This game is about no running, jumping, or body contact(接触)and relies on the shooting skill.

    http://www.bankshot.com

The CLF Art Cafe, Peckham

    Playing different kinds of music, it has a night to serve most tastes. As one of the leading places for the creative arts, the building is full of friendly but crazy students and young people devoted to having a good time. But for those who aren't interested in making the ceiling sweat, there is an open-air rooftop, monthly plays and regular showings of films.

    Roxy, Fitzrovia

    In the heart of London's shopping center lies one of the flagships for a student night out in London. After showing their Student IDs, students head down into the basement (地下室) of the Roxy where they are thrown into a group of young people from all backgrounds and countries. Whether for a few drinks and a chat or a dance along to the sound of the latest hits, the Roxy's half-priced cocktail (鸡尾酒) will make sure you are satisfied.

    Bar Kick, Shoreditch

    For students who are very busy and have forgotten how to relax, keep yourself focused while you play a game of table football. Put yourself into the crowd of bars and clubs Shoreditch has to offer, Bar Kick presents students with a quiet evening. At street level, it seems like any other bar. Heading downstairs you'll find almost a dozen football tables replacing the dance floor, giving it a competitive edge to an evening away from school work.

    The Court, Tottenham Court Road

    For an affordable meal and drinks on a Sunday before a week of stress, head over to The Court. Combining the perfect combination of traditional pub comforts with student prices, the central London pub offers a quiet place as you catch up with classmates and forget about the stresses of being a student,

    If you are travelling in Britain, besides so many world-class things to see and do in London, planning a day trip away from it can also be worthwhile.

    Stonehenge

    Stonehenge consists of a group of huge standing stones. The 5,000-year-old stones are one of the world's biggest mysteries that no one has figured out yet. While exploring Stonehenge, you can imagine wildly and decide for yourself how the stones came to be there and why. Although you can't touch the stones, you can walk among them and feel the changes of seasons.

    Windsor

    Most people visit Windsor to see Windsor Castle, where the Queen spends most of her time. The castle itself could keep you busy for days. The best way to appreciate Windsor Castle is to approach via the Long Walk, a straight road where there are no cars, but you might see some deer.

    Oxford

    Oxford is best known for its world-famous university. The large student population keeps the atmosphere young and fresh, though there's no shortage of history if you want it. 30 colleges make up the university itself. A tour of the colleges is a must—Harry Potter fans will recognize various locations used in the movies.

    Bath

    Founded by the Romans, who used the area's springs to create a spa retreat（水疗中心）, Bath's now the best tourist attraction of Southwest England. Visitors never miss the Roman Bath Complex, which is divided into four main parts—the Bath House, the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple and the museum, which displays fascinating finds from the historical ruins of the city.

    The loud continuous noise of the cars or the sound of a plane can force its way into the deepest forest, yet it's not only humans that ere bothered by the noise.

    Bioacoustician Bernie Krause has been studying the effect of noise pollution on wildlife, and has come across some interesting behaviors, especially among animals that communicate by vocalization（发声）, like humans. Birds use sound to communicate, but in noisy places, these animals have to shout over the natural noise to be heard.

    Krause mentions a study of nightingales to clarify what he means. The birds responded to traffic noise by singing louder and louder until they actually went beyond noise pollution standards in the city. To belt out (sing loudly) their songs, they increased their lung pressure fivefold, but scientists state that this is not dangerous for the birds themselves.

    Studies show that sudden noise can cause certain birds to leave their nests, exposing the young to their enemies. One study also showed that songbirds that nested close to busy motorways were much less productive than those that nested farther away. Mammals（哺乳动物）too are affected. A recent study showed that nursing caribou responded to plane noise by not producing enough milk to feed their young.

    In some cases noise pollution can actually help some animals while harming others. Toads（蟾蜍）and frogs are known to vocalize in synchrony（同步；同步方式）so that no predator (their enemies) can zero in on them. Krause found that when planes flew overhead and disturbed the toad's song, they lost their synchronicity, and it took them 45 minutes to get it back again. That gave their natural enemies plenty of time to find and catch individual toads by sound.

    According to Kruse, “Not only will noise pollution bother wildlife, but it won't help our lives either.”

    Art museums are places where people can learn about various cultures. The increasingly popular “design museums” that are opening today, however, perform quite a different role. Unlike most art museums, the design museums show objects that are easily found by the general public. These museums sometimes even place things like fridges and washing machines in the centre of the hall.

    People have argued that design museums are often made use of as advertisements for new industrial technology. But their role is not simply a matter of sales—it's the honouring of excellently invented products. The difference between the window of a department store and the showcase in a design museum is that the first tries to sell you something, while the second tells you the success of a sale.

    One advantage of design museums is that they are places where people feel familiar with the exhibits. Unlike the average art museum visitors, design museum visitors seldom feel frightened or puzzled. This is partly because design museums clearly show how and why mass－produced products work and look as they do, and how design has improved the quality of our lives. Art museum exhibits, on the other hand, would most probably fill visitors with a feeling that there is something beyond their understanding.

    In recent years, several new design museums have opened their doors. Each of these museums has tried to satisfy the public's growing interest in the field with new ideas. London's Design Museum, for example, shows a collection of mass－produced objects from Zippo lighters to electric typewriters to a group of Italian fish－tins. The choices open to design museums seem far less strict than those to art museums, and visitors may also sense the humorous part of our society while walking around the exhibits.

    Charlie is a teacher and his wife, Maria is an artist. The night before last, just before the longest day of the year, Charlie was sitting in a deckchair enjoying the warm summer air when Maria touched his shoulder and he could tell immediately she was a little worried about something. He asked her what the matter was and she replied that there was a strange thing on the jacket that was hanging in the bedroom. They had both lived in the West Indies (西印度群岛) and had seen a lot of strange creatures in their house before. But now they were living in England and so Charlie just laughed and said he would have a look at the "thing".

    He walked to the bedroom. He saw a jacket hanging in the bedroom and went up to it to have a closer look at the "thing". The moment he touched it, the thing sprang into life. Now Charlie experiences fear like the rest of us but when this creature opened its wings, he jumped out of his skin and ran screaming from the room like a small child doing about 100 miles an hour.

    For a moment the next-door neighbours thought that Charlie was murdering his wife because of the noise they could hear. In fact, it was a bat that frightened Charlie.

    Eventually Charlie managed to trap the bat in a box and took it to the garden to let the bat fly. Maria, who had been playing the guitar while Charlie was upstairs, asked Charlie if he had found out what the thing was. "Oh, nothing to worry about", he said casually hoping that the terror could not be seen in his eyes, "it was just a bat."