CHICAGO- Have you ever worked on your laptop computer with it sitting on your lap, heating up your legs? If so, you might want to rethink that habit from now on. Doing it a lot can lead to “toasted skin syndrome (症状)”, an unusual-looking spotted skin condition caused by long-term heat exposure (暴露), according to medical reports.

       In one recent case, a 12-year-old boy from California developed a skin discoloration on his left lap after playing computer games a few hours every day for several months. “He recognized that the laptop got hot on the left side; however, he did not change its position,” Swiss researches reported in an article published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

      Another similar case is a Virginia law student who needed treatment for the spotted darkening on her leg. Dr. Kimberley Salkey, who treated the young woman, learned the student spent about six hours a day working with her computer placed on her lap. As Dr. Salkey later learnt, the temperature under the laptop could reach 51 degrees. That case, from 2007, is one of 10 laptop-related cases reported in medical journals in the past six years.

The condition can also be caused by overuse of heating pads (垫子) and other heat sources that usually aren't hot enough to cause burns. It's generally harmless but can also cause such permanent (永久的) skin darkening. In very rare cases, it can cause damage leading to skin cancers, said the Swiss researchers, Drs. Andreas Arnold and Peter Itin from University Hospital Basel. They do not mention any skin cancer cases linked to laptop use, but suggest, to be safe, placing a carrying case under the laptop if you have to hold it on your lap.

      Dr. Kimberley Salkey said that under the microscope, the affected skin is similar to skin damaged by long-term sun exposure.

      Major producers including Apple and Dell warn against placing laptops on laps or exposed skin for long periods of time because of the risks for burns. In the past, “toasted skin syndrome” has happened to workers whose jobs require being close to a heat source, including bakers and glass blowers, and in people who gathered near hot stoves to stay warm.

Dr. Anthony J. Mancini, chief at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said that it's unlikely that computer use would lead to cancer since it's so easy to avoid close skin contact (接触) with laptops.

    All living things on the earth need other living things to live. Nothing lives alone. Most animals must live in a group, and even a plant grows close together with others of the same kind. Sometimes one living thing kills another, one eats and the other is eaten. Each kind of life eats another kind of life in order to live, and together they form a food chain (食物链). Some food chains are simple, while others are not. But all food chains begin with the sun, and all food chains become broken up if one of the links (联系) disappears.

    All life needs sunlight to live on. But only plants can use sunlight directly (直接). Plants are “factories”. They make food from sunlight, water and things in the soil (土壤) and air.

    Plants feed all other living things. Animals can only use the sun's energy (能量) after it has been changed into food by plants. Some animals feed directly on plants, others eat smaller animals. Meat-eating animals are only eating plants indirectly.

    What about human beings? We are members of many food chains. We eat wheat (小麦), rice, vegetables, fruits and so on. We also eat meat and drink milk. But humans often break up the food chains. They kill wild animals. They also make rivers, lakes and seas dirty. When these rivers, lakes and seas are polluted, the fish in them cannot be eaten. If men eat the fish, they will get strange diseases (疾病).

    Each form of life is linked to all others. Breaking the links puts all life in danger.

    If your pen broke at school today, what would you do? You would go to a shop and buy a new one. What if you could simply print out a real, working pen with your 3-D printer without leaving your room?

    Ten years ago people could only see 3-D printing in science fiction movies. But now 3-D printing is here and it's bringing big changes.

    Unlike normal printing that can only copy a 2-D picture with ink. 3-D printing can build almost anything made from material. The printer layers(分层) the material in different shapes to create the object you want to be copied.

    The 3-D printer has been used to make many different things. People have made cups, cars and even an airplane with it. Doctors have been using 3-D printers for several years. People's nervous systems(系统) have been printed out in 3-D form in medical research. Some body parts have been printed and used in hospital. Several months ago, doctors used a 3-D printer to rebuild the face of a person who had a bad accident. In the future, it is expected that the printer will make human organs(器官)to save more lives.

    However there are drawbacks to the printer. At the moment, printing can be quite slow and it's still rather expensive. The average(平均的) price of a household printer is around $1,700, not including the cost of the materials.

    But as the technology develops, it shouldn't be long before disadvantages are improved. Only time will tell where this new technology will take us.

    Have you ever wished that your life was like a reality TV show(真人秀节目)? Well, like it or not, things might be this way in the future.

    This is because of Google glasses. Glasses are the latest technology from Google. They have more exciting features(特征)than you could possibly imagine.

    For one thing, people who wear the glasses can shoot videos and record the sounds around them. So if your friend is wearing Google glasses, he or she can record your every move and broadcast live on the Internet for the world to see.

    There is a GPS system in the glasses. So if you get lost you can say" OK, Glass, where am I?", and it will find where you are and tell you where you need to 90.

    Google glasses are a bit like a helpful secretary. You can tell them what you want to write in an e—mail and they will type it for you.

    Since April 16, Google glasses have been on the market in small numbers. But by the end of the year anyone will be able to buy a pair for about 2, 500 yuan.

    Some people are not sure whether they find Google glasses cool or not. When someone is wearing Google glasses, it is not easy to see whether or not they are using them.

    Bruce collected the papers Clive collected the cans

    And Mort tied them with string And Dean washed them all clean

    Jason helped Bruce carry the papers Ruby helped Clive carry the cans

    All the way to the recycling(回收) bins All the way to the recycling bins

    When we recycle, we help the plants

    We help the creatures, from eagles to ants

    We help make the world a healthier place

    For one and for all in the human(人类) race