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.

    Did you know that badminton is also a fast-paced competitive sport? Badminton has been a Summer Olympic sport since 1992. Para-badminton will be included in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. Here's what you need to know if your child is interested in badminton.

    Badminton is played on a 44-foot-long rectangular (矩形的) court that is 17 feet wide for singles and 20 feet wide for doubles. It is divided in the middle by a net placed 5 feet off the ground, like volleyball, not at ground level like tennis.

In competition, each match is a set of three games played to 21 points. There is a one-minute break when a player or team reaches 11 points, and a two-minute break in between the first and second games and the second and third games.

Age kids can start: About 6 years old.

    Best for kids who: Have good skills, are patient and hardworking, and can handle the pressure of one-on-one or two-on-two competition.

Team or individual: Matches can be singles (one-on-one) or doubles (two-on-two).

    Fun fact: Badminton is the only sport that has mixed doubles event in the Olympic Games.

    Costs: Beginners are expected to pay $30 to $40 for an entry-level racquet (球拍). Badminton shoes are similar in price to other athletic shoes. Join a club or team for lessons. A one-hour group lesson for beginners should cost $20 to $25, with costs increasing as your child moves up the ranks. You will also pay entry fees for competitions.

    Time commitment required: Beginners will play for just an hour or two per week.

    Potential for injury: Players have a very low risk of injury. Players who wear glasses should use eye protection.

    A new library in Tianjin—Tianjin Binhai Public Library—recently became an online hit. The Daily Mail described it as “breathtaking”. One look at the library and you'll see why. With its very futuristic design and walls loaded with books, it's the dream library of every book lover.

    But there's a burning question lying in the back of our minds: with physical bookstores closing down one by one, what makes libraries survive the wave of digitalization? Do we really still need libraries as we've got the internet in our hands?

    Reporter Ian Clark has the answer. “Libraries are not declining in importance. People are simply changing the way they use them,” he wrote on the Guardian website. Since not everyone can afford a smartphone, a tablet or an internet connection, and not everyone knows how to search the Internet correctly and efficiently, it's public libraries that make sure that these resources are available to a larger group of people.

    And one of the pitfalls that come with online materials is that they're not always reliable. “Google doesn't tell you what you're not getting, so people need to evaluate (评估) the quality of what they see on their screens,” Sarah Pritchard, dean of libraries at Northwestern University, told Northwestern Research Magazine. And libraries are usually where that “evaluation” happens.

    But we still need the physical space that a library provides. It's something that's called a “third place”, according to the Seattle Times. This is a place in which we can fully concentrate on our study and work without easily getting distracted. Compared to other “third places” like coffee shops, libraries have a “non-commercial nature” that allows you to relax completely.

    “Nobody is trying to sell you anything in the library. There is no pressure to buy and there is no judgment of your choices,” Anne Goulding, a professor at Victoria University in New Zealand, wrote on the Newsroom website.

Are Happy Meals Really Happy?

    Don't we all know a “Happy Meal” when we see one--the famous boxed meal that includes a hamburger, kid-sized French fries, fruits and milk, served with a toy that's extremely popular with children who love to collect them?

    A Happy Meal is a form of kids' meal sold at a certain fast-food chain since 1979. A toy is included in the meal, both of which are usually contained in a box or paper bag. However, collectors of these little toys will not get them any longer, since the company will replace toys with books and each of these books will mainly pass on nutritional messages.

    Happy Meals are extremely popular with kids, especially for their collectable toys, when you consider that over 1.3 billion of these packages are sold each year. These packages have been very controversial. Health supporters believe that drawing kids to these meals with toys is a clever way of promoting unhealthy food choices. They see it as an advertising a strategy of “catching its customers young”--a move that has paid off very well for the fast-food company.

    Child development experts say that food habits get formed in children by age six and continue through to their adult life. Fatty and sugary foods such as those served in Happy Meals are believed to play a big role in growing health problems such as obesity and diabetes. Public health care costs have gone up and untold amounts of money have been spent on coping with these health problems. On November 2, 2010, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a law requiring that children's meals sold in restaurants must meet certain nutritional standards before they could be sold with toys, to overcome the problem of childhood obesity--in other words, the State of California tried to ban the toys in Happy Meals. However, it was strongly opposed by some as being heavy-handed, and the ban was thrown out by the government.

    While some people believe that the fast-food company, with its large following of children, can create a powerful message through the books, others believe its actions are contradictory. Anyway, the company is trying to spread the message of nutrition while it is serving food that is anything but healthy.

    JERUSALEM—Israel's Environmental Protection Ministry asked citizens Wednesday to avoid unnecessary physical activity and stay indoors, as a serious sandstorm struck the Middle East in a thick yellow haze (霾) for a second day with no hope to see things clearly.

    The ministry said heavy levels of dust and sand in the air were a threat to cities throughout the country. The ministry's website advised pregnant women, the elderly and those with heart and respiratory (呼吸的) conditions to stay indoors, and asked schools to keep children indoors.

    The emergency service Magen David Adom reported that it has treated more than 300 Israelis suffering from breathing problems, and that hospitals have more respiratory-related patients, including a large number of the elderly and those with asthma and related conditions.

    The domestic Israeli airlines Arkia and Israir continued to ground their flights to Eilat because of reduced visibility.

    The sandstorm has affected Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, where at least five deaths have been reported.

    "There has been nothing that came close to the magnitude of this sandstorm," said Daniel Rosenfeld, a professor with the Institute of Earth Sciences at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

    "While Israel has experienced a number of sandstorms in the past, they started from the Sinai Desert and the Sahara Desert to the south and were joined by winter windstorms that cleared the air," he said. In this case, the storm comes from Syria and Iraq to the north and east.

    Because the storm is hitting during the summer, at a time of both little wind and severe heat and humidity, forecasters expect the particles to remain in the air throughout the weekend and possibly into next week.

    "This is really puzzling," said Rosenfeld, adding that he and his colleague will conduct research into the origins of the unprecedented (前所未有的) storm. (326 words)

    Every morning, Ben Mumford starts his school day with math. At the age of ten, he is already working at GCSE level, but he does not always bother to get out of his pajamas (睡衣裤) in time for the class. He reads more books than most of his friends, studies science on the beach, and recently built a go-kart (卡丁车) in a technology lesson. Ben is happy and fulfilled, all, his mother believes, thanks to homeschooling.

    Homeschooling is not what it used to be. What emerged in the 1970s as a way for Catholic (信天主教的) parents to infuse (灌输) religion into their kids' education is now probably the fastest-growing form of education in the U.K. The number of homeschooled children has risen by about 40 percent over three years. Here are a handful of reasons why homeschooling makes sense in the 21^st century.

    Contrary to the name, homeschooling takes place in an actual home only a small part of time. A great deal of instruction happens in libraries, museums and community colleges. These experiences have the effect of helping kids mature much more quickly and developing a trait of open-mindedness.

    The key idea of homeschooling is that kids need to learn at the speed, and in the style, most appropriate for them. Without formal curriculum to guide their education, homeschoolers get the chance to explore a range of topics that might not be normally offered until high school or college. They can study psychology in the fourth grade, or finance in the eighth grade.

    The most common misunderstanding about homeschoolers is that they lack social skills. However, social media makes it convenient for homeschoolers of today to have just as much opportunity to make friends as kids studying in traditional schools. Meanwhile, they do not need to deal with the potential problems of being around kids in a school environment, including bullying, which might result in anxiety and depression.

    For most people, school is really good, and it works for them because they learn in the way that school teaches. However, there are so many different ways of learning and processing (处理) information and knowledge. It does not necessarily work for everyone.