For the first time in the history of the Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou marathons, fourteen blind runners competed in the Nov 6 Hangzhou Marathon this year with the assistance of personal guides. Each runner was supported by 4 or 5 volunteers. Among them was Yan Wei, from a running group called “Running in the Dark”, which specially provides training for blind runners.

    During trainings, blind runners are each accompanied by three volunteers. One volunteer is responsible for removing any obstacles（障碍物）on the road and controlling the pace. The second volunteer acts as a lookout for other runners or vehicles on the path while the third, who is attached to the blind runner by a safety rope, takes note of the trainee's running gait and pace.

    Zhu Peihua, the leader of the group's Shanghai branch, first developed a passion for running last year when he took part in a guided running activity. Zhu said that he was so fascinated with the sport that he even bought a treadmill（跑步机）so that he could train at home. “Running gives me the chance to be outside and take in the fresh air. The activity has also made me more willing to talk to people. It's simply good for health, ” said Zhu.

    The popularity of guided running activities for blind people has been growing since last year. Cheng Yi, a volunteer at Running in the Dark's Hangzhou branch, said that both the numbers of blind runners and volunteers to become assistants to them are rising continually. However, he added that volunteers face a more physically demanding task compared to a regular runner. Some of the other challenges involve being aware of the verbal(口头的) instructions one gives.

     “At the beginning, I kept saying ‘here' and ‘there' instead of ‘left' or 'right' which is much more specific and relevant to the runner. A blind runner once collided with another runner because of my mistake. Luckily, no one was hurt,” said Cheng. Through everything, according to Cheng, he and many of the blind runners he has guided become close friends with shared topics and increased understandings.

    Have you ever heard of the Coral Sea? It is home to an amazing variety of turtles, sharks, whales, dolphins, large fish, birds, corals, plants, and many other species. Many of these species are endangered elsewhere in the world, but still survive in the healthy environment of the Coral Sea.

    The Coral Sea is a large series of coral reefs located off the northeast coast of Australia. This area is three times larger than Australia's famous Great Barrier Reef, which the Coral Sea borders.

    The Coral Sea is one of the few coral reef environments that have remained largely undamaged by over-fishing, oil and gas exploration and pollution. However, statistics show that coral reefs around the world are disappearing five times faster than rainforests. It is very likely that in the near future the Coral Sea will face the same threats to its existence.

    The Australian government is currently looking at options for protecting the Coral Sea but has made no decisions. Environmentalists are pushing for laws to declare the Coral Sea area a marine protected area, which will mean a large “no-take zone” for fishermen, a no-exploration zone for gas and oil companies and a no-dump zone for pollution, possibly making the Coral Sea a marine park larger than any other in the world.

    We can write letters to Australian leaders, Australian environmental protection agencies, and Australian friends, to let them know that people worldwide support this protection of the Coral Sea. To lose this last great marine wilderness world would be a loss for the whole world.

    You may know about “junk food” like French fries. But do you know about “junk sleep”?

    Recently, a British survey found that electronic(电子的) products in teenagers bedrooms are affecting(影响)their sleep.

    The survey was done among 1,000 British kids from 12 to 16. It found that 30 percent of them got just 4 to 7 hours sleep every day. But doctors say they need 8 to 9 hours.

    Almost a quarter of the kids said they fell asleep more than once a week while watching TV, listening to music or using other electronic products.

    “This is very worrying.” said Dr Chris Idzikowski, a British expert, “We call it 'junk sleep', it means you don't get enough sleep and the quality of the sleep is bad, too. If you don't get good rest, you don't perform well in school the next day.”

    The survey found that 40 percent of the kids felt tired each day, with girls between 13 and 16 feeling the worst. Nearly all the teenagers have a phone, Mp4 or TV in their bedroom. And many of them have all three.

    The World Health Organization, the WHO, says the disease Ebola is spreading in West Africa. The situation frightens both local citizens and travelers.

    There is no vaccine(疫苗) or special treatment. And the fatality(致命) rate is very high. That rate represents the number of people who get sick from Ebola and then die. Ebola can kill up to 90 percent of those infected.

    It is difficult to stop Ebola from spreading. It moves easily from person to person. The disease strikes its victims through direct contact with the blood or other liquid from the body of an infected person. For that reason Ebola patients must be kept away from other people. The bodies of victims still contain the virus days after they die. Local traditions and burial customs also make the sickness hard to control. Doctors say it is important to identify an Ebola case early to prevent others from becoming infected. Patients suffer from high body temperature, bleeding and so on.

    Only a few prevention measures exist. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US, the CDC, and the WHO suggest staying away from countries with confirmed(被证实的) Ebola cases. People at increased threat include those working in animal research, health care workers and others caring for patients in the community.

    As of July 15, 2014, the WHO says Ebola killed 68 people in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, the three countries where the disease has been confirmed. A patient in Ghana was suspected of having Ebola, but tests did not show the sickness. Ghanaian observers say the man has since died from unknown causes. The victim was an American citizen.

    In the past, cases of Ebola have been confirmed in the Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Sudan, and Uganda.

    Doctors advise careful protective measures if you must go to an area where Ebola exists.

    Wash your hands often. If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitizer（消毒杀菌剂）—or cleaner —containing at least 60 percent alcohol. Avoid eating monkeys or other wild meat. Stay away from mines and places where bats and other rodents may live.

    If Ebola has been identified directly around you, the CDC and WHO strongly suggest wearing protective clothing. Cover your face and hands. Goggles(护目镜) can help protect the eyes. Try to remove Ebola germs (细菌) with cleaners that fight infection.

    For high school leavers starting out in the working world, it is very important to learn particular skills and practice how to behave in an interview or how to find an internship (实习). In some countries, schools have programs to help students onto the path to work. In the United States, however, such programs are still few and far between.

    Research shows that if high schools provide career-relat­ed courses, students are likely to get higher earnings in later years. The students are more likely to stay in school, graduate and go on to higher education.

    In Germany, students as young as 13 and 14 are expected to do internships. German companies work with schools to make sure that young people get the education they need for future employment.

    But in America, education reform programs focus on how well students do in exams instead of bringing them into contact with the working world. Harvard Education school professor Robert Schwartz has criticized education reformers for trying to place all graduates directly on the four-year college track. Schwartz argued that this approach leaves the country's most vulnerable (易受影响的)kids with no jobs and no skills.

    Schwartz believed that the best career programs encour­age kids to go for higher education while also teaching them valuable practical skills at high school. James Madison High School in New York, for example, encourages students to choose classes on career-based courses. The school then helps them gain on-the-job experience in those fields while they're still at high school.

    However, even for teens whose schools encourage them to connect with work, the job market is daunting. In the US，unemployment rates for 16-to 19-year-olds are above 20 percent for the third summer in a row.

"The risk is that if teenagers miss out on the summer job experience, they become part of this generation of teens who had trouble in landing a job," said Michael, a researcher in the US.

    I've come back to check on a baby. Just after dusk I'm in a car down a muddy road in the rain, past rows of shackled(戴镣的) elephants, their trunks swinging. I was here five hours before， when the sun was high and hot and tourists were on elephants' backs.

    Walking now, I can barely see the path in the glow of my phone's flashlight. When the wooden fence post stops me short, I point my light down and follow a current of rainwater across the concrete floor until it washes up against three large, gray feet. A fourth foot twisted above the surface, tied tightly by a short chain and choked by ring of metal spikes(尖刺) When the elephant tires and puts her foot down， the spikes press deeper into her ankle.

    Meena is four years and two months old, still a child as elephants go. Khammon Kongkhaw, her caretaker, told me earlier that Meena wears the spiked chain because she tends to kick. Kongkhaw has been responsible for Meena here at Maetaman Elephant Adventure, near Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, since she was 11 months old. He said he keeps her on the spiked chain only during the day and takes it off at night. But it's night now.

    I ask Jin Laoshen, the Maetaman worker accompany in me on this nighttime visit, why her chain is still on. He says he doesn't know.

    Mactaman is one of many animal attractions in and around tourist-crowded Chiang Mai. Meena's life is set to follow the same track as many of the roughly 3, 800 captive(被捕获的) elephants in Thailand. When Meena is too old or sick to give rides-maybe at 55, maybe at 75she'll die. If she's lucky, she'll get a few years of retirement. She'll spend most of her life on a chain.