Daylight-powered germ-killing equipment（杀菌设备）may someday help protect health workers from deadly virus like Ebola virus. That is a finding from a study published in the journal Science Advances.

    Study organizers say they've developed membranes（薄膜）that produce very small amounts of hydrogen peroxide（过氧化氢）when left in daylight. Membranes are thin plastic, structures that can serve as barriers. They let some things pass through, but other things art blocked. Hydrogen peroxide, a liquid sold in drug stores, works as a disinfectant（杀菌剂）.

    Nearly 500 health workers were infected and died in 2014 when Ebola spread through parts of West Africa. Caregivers wear full-body protective suits when they come into contact with patients with infectious diseases. But the process of removing the suits is a time when infection can spread if the surface is covered with virus. “If there's any live bacteria or virus on the surface, it's still transmissible and could cause infection,” said Gang Sun of the University of California. He is one of the researchers that worked to develop membranes that could cover the outside of protective equipment.

    When the chemical molecules（分子）on the surface of these membranes are put in sunlight, they react with oxygen in the air to produce small amounts of hydrogen peroxide. Gang Sun explains that the process creates less hydrogen peroxide than what you would use to remove dirt on clothing, for example. But it is still enough to kill organisms.

    Rohan Tikekar is a food scientist with the University of Maryland. He described the development as “quite novel,” or new and different, Tikekar was not involved with the recent study. He said others have developed materials that produce disinfecting chemicals. But most only work under high-energy ultraviolet（U V）light, and not usual daylight. The new membrane also works in the dark for at least an hour or two because of chemical properties that can recharge its germ-killing powers. Tikekar called that an important improvement.

    Gang Sun said the new membranes, though still Far from perfect could be used for things other than protective equipment for health workers. They could also be added to packaging for fruits and vegetables to keep foods fresher and reduce the risk of being polluted. Some versions of the material use natural chemicals' Sun says that one of the next steps is to make it safe to sat

    It was the men's skating finals of the Winter Olympics when I was 16. Someday I'd be in the Olympics. In fact, it was my dream.

    That night I lay on our living room floor excitedly watching the battle between the Brians: American Brian Boitano facing Brian Orser in Canada. Both of them had been world champions. Both of them deserved to win. Naturally I was for Brian Boitano, a northern Californian like me. We had skated on the same ice. I held my breath in amazement. Boitano performed successfully. The gold medal! I jumped in the air when his score went up.

    But what happened next is what I'll never forget. Brian Boitano sat in front of the camera with his coach, surrounded by a group of journalist. He was talking about his career and his medal, talking to the whole world. A terrible sinking feeling went through me. I could never be in the Olympics, I thought…I could not talk in public like that. Just the idea of a press conference terrified me.

    I loved skating partly because I didn't have to talk. I could express myself with my jump sand dances better. I didn't have to stand up and give a speech like some teachers expected. I could feel the blood rush to my face if I thought a teacher was going to call me. I stared at my shoes. I was sure I'd make a fool of myself.

    The next day I was at the rink (溜冰场) as usual. I was practising a combination of jumps that had once seemed impossible. I worked very hard the next few years—on the ice and especially off. After journalists talked to me and although my heart pounded every time I spoke to them, I got to know them. They became familiar faces. And they got to know me. So when my big moment came four years after Brian's, I was ready.

    Sometimes I think my biggest accomplishment was not winning the gold but talking to the press afterwards. When you do the thing you fear most, you put an end to fear.

    Fear can stop you dead in your tracks. Fear can kill a dream. What are you afraid of? What scares you more than anything else? This year, walk right up to it and conquer it, step by step.

    Larry Bird was born in 1965 in a small town in the Middle Western State of Indiana. He was tall, and good at playing basketball. He attended Indiana State University. Bird led the team into the College Basketball Championship Game.

    After completing his college studies, Larry Bird began playing professional basketball for the Boston Celtics. He remained with the Celtics for all his professional career. During those 13 years, Larry Bird was named the Most Valuable Player of the Year three times. He scored more than 21, 000 points, and he played in 13 of the highest scoring games in his team's history. Once he scored 60 points in just one game.

    During his very successful basketball career, Larry Bird suffered a number of injuries. In 1989, he stopped playing because of pain in his feet. He returned in 1990, but the pain in his feet returned too. In the next two years he experienced more medical problems, and he missed many games.

    Larry Bird did play on the Dream Team－the first Olympic Team with professional players. However, after winning the gold medal in Barcelona, he announced that he would retire from professional basketball. Larry Bird said he would have liked to play a little longer, but he could not because of his health problems. He also said it was a good time to leave the game. He wanted to be remembered as a winner.

    Summer vacation is coming. Most of students want to have a good trip this summer. Here is some information about trips for you

    The associates I hired in my bicycle and lawn mower shop like myself were never perfect; however, they were excellent. Working with them as they improved taught me new ways to show forgiveness, understanding, and patience.

    One day the placement officer asked me to interview a young man who was having trouble finding a job. He told me that David was a little shy, did not talk much and was afraid to go on with interviews. He requested that I give David an interview just for practice. He plainly told David that I had no positions open at the time and the interview was just for practice.

    When David came in for the interview, he hardly said a word. I told him what we did at the bicycle shop and showed him around. I told David to keep showing up because the number one thing an employer wanted in an associate was dependability. David was very quiet (he was evaluated as a slow learner in school).Every ten days or so, for weeks after the interview, David walked into the bicycle shop and stood by the front door. He never said a word, just stood by the door.

    One day, shortly before Christmas, a large truck came to the shop, packed with 250 new bicycles. It had to be unloaded right away or the driver would leave. It was raining. Some of my workers (without physical limitations) chose not to brave the weather to get into work, so I was short-handed. It seemed everything was going wrong and on top of it, David came in the front door and just stood there. I looked at him and shouted,“Well, all right! Fill out a time card and help me unload this truck!”

    David worked for my bicycle shop for eighteen years. He came to work every day thirty minutes early. He could talk; however, he rarely chose to. He drove my truck and made deliveries. The customers would praise David, saying,“He doesn't talk, but he really shows you how to operate a lawn mower!”

    I was in the Sants Cruz Mountains not long ago, speaking and singing at a women's conference. We were focusing on the theme of loving others in practical ways through our gifts, and something in particular happened during one of the sessions（会议）will remain imprinted in memory.

    A young Syrian woman (Lilith) was invited to the conference at the last minute, and everyone seemed surprised and delighted that she'd actually come. Just a few days earlier, Lilith had fled her country and found refuge with one of the women attending the conference. As an Orthodox Christian in Syria, she and her loved ones had become attacked targets of violent terrorist groups in the country's ongoing civil war.

Lilith had witnessed horrors no one of her young age should ever see. Despite the further danger it presented, she'd decided to leave her home and her family to find safety here in America. Knowing some of her story, and seeing her sitting through the sessions at the retreat（畏缩不前）—head, covered in a scarf, bowed toward the floor—broke my heart.

    Lilith's story touched all of us, including Pam, who was quilt maker. Pam had just finished a beautiful quilt, and had brought it with her. She, along with a few of the leaders, decided to give it to Lilith as a symbol of their comfort and love.

During our last session, Lilith was called forward and prayed over, hugged, and wrapped up in that beautiful quilt. I thought of the many hours Pam undoubtedly spent working on it, and the terrible events that led Lilith to this moment—surrounded by the beauty and love quilt embodied. I wept. When they told her it was for her, she wept.