You may think that light pollution isn't something extraordinarily important. You may believe that every other type of pollution has a larger impact on the environment that light pollution does. But light pollution is serious.

    Light pollution, or “sky glow”, is the glow you can see at night above cities and towns. Light pollution is a problem that has been accompanying man ever since he started his first fire some 15,000 years ago. Light pollution is the light that comes from streetlights, buildings, parking lots and any other source of light that is reflected or directed into the atmosphere.

    Urban light pollution means that one-fifth of the world's population can no longer see the Milky Way(银河) with the naked eye(肉眼). Many city kids, even if they did look through the orange smog above their heads, would probably see only a handful of stars. We have lost our view of the stars, and we have mucked up our  night-time environment as well. Astronomers are calling for the dark places on Earth to be preserved as national parks.

    Lots of people find the ever-brightening night annoying, and animals that are programmed to prefer the dark may avoid a brightened habitat. Sea turtles can get lost searching for a beach to lay eggs, and their hatchlings(孵化的幼仔)may confuse over-lit beachfront resorts(度假胜地) for the ocean horizon, wasting precious energy needed to find the sea and escape predators(食肉动物). Because their necks aren't yet long enough to see things far away, baby turtles rely on the mirror image of the moon to guide them to the sea, to begin their new life. A car may even hit a particular turtle, which was thinking the light from a nearby city was moonlight reflecting off the ocean waves. Birds that live in and around cities can die because of sky glow, too. The bright lights can blind them, leading to countless collisions with buildings and other tall structures.

    On an individual level, people can help reduce much sky glow by using lighting only when necessary. The stars above us are priceless heritage— for not only for astronomers but for all humans. More of our children should be able to look up at night and see the Milk Way.

    "I didn't hear them call my name," explained Shelley Hennig to Active Teens (AT) as she talked about that exciting moment on national television when she won the honor of Miss Teen USA 2004. "Are you ready?" is what she heard. Then she said, "I shook my head no, and then they said 'yes' and it was announced again."

    It was four days after that life changing moment for the seventeen-year-old high school student from Destrehan, Louisiana — she was still on cloud nine.

    "I was so shocked! I never believed that it could actually really happen." Present in the audience that day were: her mother and father, older brother, her friends, and her dance teacher.

    Understanding why members of her family and her friends would be there, AT asked why her dance teacher had traveled so far to see her compete. "She's always been my role model. I've danced with her since I was six. She's been through so many difficulties and came through them all. I've learned to get over bad life's experiences and learned how to move on because of her."

    One of those bad life's experiences for Shelley happened three years ago when her brother Brad was killed in a drunk driving accident. He was 18. She found writing helped her get through the rough days. She said, "I write a lot about my brother. I write a lot, a lot, a lot..."

    As Miss Louisiana Teen, she traveled around the state speaking to teens about the dangers of drinking and driving. In her role as Miss Teen USA, Shelley will continue to speak to youth about safe driving, in addition to many other things to help the youth.

    When AT asked Miss Teen USA if she had any advice for our readers, she said, "Don't let anyone change you. Hang out with people that make you feel good about yourself. That way, it is easy to be yourself."

    London's transport services offer you a special experience of the city. Here's a round-up of the transport choices available to you.

    London Underground

    There are 11 colour-coded Underground lines. Services run regularly from around 05:00 to 00:30 (Sunday 07:30 to 23:30) on most routes.

Visit tfl.gov.uk/tube for more information.

    Tip:

    Always stand on the right when using the escalators (电动扶梯) at Tube stations. It can get hot and busy on the Tube during peak (高峰) travel times, so you may prefer to travel outside these hours.

    Buses

    A cheap and easy way to travel around London. They generally run from 05:00 to 00:30. Night buses operate on many major routes from around midnight to 05:00, and some operate a 24-hour service.

    It is not possible to pay for your London bus fare in cash. Instead you can pay with a Visitor Oyster card, Oyster card, Travelcard or UK-issued contactless payment card. A single bus journey is £1.50 with an Oyster card or UK-issued contactless payment card.

    To help you get home, if you don't have enough credit on your Oyster card, you will be able to make one more bus journey.

    After this you will need to top up the credit on your card before you use it again. If your contactless payment card has been issued outside the UK, please check tfl.gov.uk/contactless before you use your card to travel on our bus services. For any international transaction fees (手续费) that may apply, please check with your card issuer.

    For more information visit tfl.gov.uk/buses.

    Tip:

    Some bus routes are especially good for sightseeing — try routes 9, 14, 15 and 22. The New Routemaster bus featured in the James Bond film Skyfall and runs on routes 9, 11, 24, 38 and 390.

    If you run out of credit on your Visitor Oyster card, it's easy to add more at:

    Touchscreen ticket machines in Tube, DLR, London Overground and some National Rail stations.

    Around 4,000 Oyster Ticket Stops cross London (Find your nearest one at ticketstoplocator.tfl.gov.uk).

    Travel & Visitor Information Centres.

    London Overground station ticket offices.

My First Day of School

    Fear started taking over, I was walking into my first school in America. I had traveled a long distance from India in order to join my parents, who had been for three years, hoping America would help my future. My father decided that I would be better off going to school here, so I enrolled(登记)in the local high school in my new town.

    I was afraid how I would do. On the first day, I went to my second period class after I had missed my first. With anxiety, I reached for the door, opening it slowly. Without paying attention to my classmates, I went straight to the teacher and asked if this was the right class. With a soft voice he answered. "Yes." His voice comforted me a little. He gave me a sheet called Course Requirements, which I would never get in India because we didn't have anything like that. Then he asked me to choose where I would sit. I didn't actually want to pick a seat. In India we had fixed seats, so I never needed to worry about that. I spent the rest of the class taking notes from the image produced by the overhead projector. In Indian schools, we didn't use the technology we had. We had to take notes as the teacher spoke.

    It was noon. I was very confused about when I would have lunch. I went to my next class and the bell rang as I entered. I went through the regular process of asking the teacher if I was in the right class. She said, "It's still fourth period."

    "But the bell just rang," I said.

    Changing from a gentle tone to a harsher(刺耳的)one, she said, "That is the lunch bell, young man."

    I apologized. Without another word I headed for the cafeteria. I felt lucky because we didn't have this in India. Every confusion seemed like a barrier I had to get through to reach my goal. At the end of the day, I was on my way to the bus which we didn't have in India either. I spotted my bus and sat down inside happily. I was thinking, today wasn't so bad.

    One day, on a small farm in Maine, a man sat in a barn watching a large grey spider spin a web. The man was E.B. White — or Andy, as he was called — who thought spiders were wonderful creatures. He thought that one day he might like to write a children's book about a spider.

    But writing was hard work for Andy. He had written many articles and essays and poems. He had also written one children's book, Stuart Little. But Andy could never just rush to turn an idea into an article or a book. He told his editor (编辑) that he needed to let his ideas ripen.

    So for years, Andy continued to think about writing a children's book about a spider. He did some of his best thinking while he wandered around his farm.

    Once while he was cleaning his barn, he found a spider's egg sac (卵囊). Andy wanted to see the eggs hatch. But he was scheduled to leave for a trip to New York City. So he found a small box and carefully placed the egg sacinside. When he got to his hotel, he put the box on the dresser. One morning he woke up, and there were hundreds of baby spiders rushing across the dresser!

    Years later, Andy finally began writing Charlotte's Web, the story of a spider named Charlotte and a pig named Wilbur. Andy created most of the book sitting by himself in the tiny boathouse of his farm.

    Sometimes he stopped writing and aimlessly drew pictures of spiders. Andy always said Charlotte's Web was more than just a children's story about animals. It was a timeless story about true friendship.

Pleasanton Partnerships in Education Foundation (PPIE) was started in 1987 to raise money by organizing running events for local schools. Based in Pleasanton, California, a suburb of San Francisco, the non-profit organization recently hosted a family-focused fitness event for the community. "Our event helps to bring the community together," said Mindy Louie, events and outreach manager for PPIE. "We have more than 3,000 participants, hard-working volunteers and viewers."

This year's fitness event took place on April 30 at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. It featured races of two miles, five kilometers and ten kilometers. A new Kids Challenge consisted of a quarter-mile run to encourage younger children to participate. When asked to describe the run, 11-year-old Jeremy Louie said, "Fun, exciting and enjoyable." Jeremy added that he was happy to help support his school.

PPIE supports all 15 schools in the Pleasanton Unified School District, which include more than 14, 500 students and 800 teachers and staff. The nonprofit organization tries to fund programs affected by budget cuts, while encouraging fitness and athleticism. To date, the PPIE has raised over $1 million for the school district.

A local runners' group called the BURN Youth Development (B. Y. D.) participated in the fundraising. The B.Y.D. has since grown to more than 100 youth members, 30 of whom ran in April's PPIE event. Jerry Wu, the group's founder and lead coach, explained that the B.Y.D. was born to keep kids running. "Watching them running strongly and happily makes me smile every time," Jerry said.

Jerry encourages teamwork and teaches the students valuable running techniques. As a B.Y.D. member, Ollie Gu, an eighth grader, was one of the top finishers in the ten-kilometer run. He completed the race in 40 minutes and 46 seconds and won first place in the 12-to-15 year-old age group. "The race was extremely rewarding," Ollie said. "I'm looking forward to it next year."