Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now, the website BookCrossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.

    Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share. BookCrossing provides an identification number to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place, hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.

    Bruce Pederson, the managing director of BookCrossing, says, “The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. BookCrossing combines both.”

    Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they have found it.

    People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E-mails are then sent to the BookCrossing to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce Peterson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.

    BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back to the “real” and not the virtual(虚拟). The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty-five countries.

    Camberwell College Swimming Pools

    Camberwell College of Arts has one 50m (Olympic sized) pool with a depth of 2m throughout, and one 25m pool with a 1m shallow end and a 4m deep end. Both pools may be used by the general public at certain times.

    50m Pool

    The pool is often used for classes, but the general public may use two lanes（泳道）for lane swimming at the following times.

    Monday:        06:30-11:30 and 19:00-21:00

    Tuesday:        06:30-11:30 and 18:00-21:00

    Wednesday:    06:30-13:30 and 17:30-21:30

    Thursday:    06:30-13:30

    Friday:        06:30-13:30

    Weekends:    09:00-17:00

    Children under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult.

    Please note that during College holidays, these times will be different. Call 04837 393560 for up-to-date information.

    25m Pool

    The 25m pool is available for recreational (non-lane) swimming from 07:00-09:00 and 12:30-13:30 on weekdays, and 10:00-16:00 on Saturdays.

    Children aged 12 and under must be accompanied.

    We regret that the 25m pool will be closed for redecoration between 21st July and 18th August. The men's changing rooms will be closed for the week beginning 19th August, and the women's changing rooms will be closed the following week. Alternative（可选用的）changing rooms will be made available. We're sorry for this.

    On a cold morning in 2015, five-year-old Lucas stood on the bank of Blue Star River, hugging a dead salmon（鲑鱼）against his thick yellow coat. He looked up at his father, Steve, who nodded encouragingly. "Go ahead," he said. "Put it in." The young boy dragged his feet forward and held the fish as far as he could into the shallow water. "It's floating!" Lucas yelled, delighted. For a moment, it's almost as if the handsome salmon could come back to life.

    Lucas' salmon was just one of 100 or so dead bodies that will land in Blue Star River in a half-hour activity this morning, delivered by dozens of volunteers. None of the salmon will rise from the dead, but Andy, president of the Fish Rescue Society, who has promoted this gathering, is carrying out the resurrection （复活）project of salmon.

    Andy led the group's campaign to recover this urban waterway's salmon population. "The Fish Rescue Society started exploring the possibility of recovering the salmon in the river in the mid-1990s, and they also focused on river recovery in cities worldwide."

    Andy and his group are devoted to giving the river a full make-over. This monumental repair job, supported by approximately $95,000 of funding from the Pacific Salmon Foundation over the past 15 years, has involved recovering the river-habitat of salmon and preventing it from wearing away. Work on the river's final section was completed in October 2016.

    Teens don't understand the big fuss (小题大做). As the first generation to grow up in a wired world they hardly know a time when computers weren't around, and they eagerly catch the chance to spend hours online, chatting with friends, so what?

    But researchers nationwide are increasingly worried that teens are becoming isolated, less skillful at person-to-per son relationships, and perhaps numb to the cheatings that are so much a part of the e-mail world. "And a teen's sense of self and values may be changed in a world where personal connections can be limitless," said Shetty Turkle.

    Another researcher, Robert Kraut, said he's worried about the "opportunity costs" of so much online time for youths. He found that teens who used computers, even just a few hours a week, showed increased signs of loneliness and social isolation. "Chatting online may be better than watching television, but it's worse than hanging out with real friends," he said.

    Today's teens, however, don't see anything strange in the fact that the computer takes up a central place in their social lives. "School is busy and full of pressure. There's almost no time to just hang out," said Parker Rice, 17 "Talking online is just to catch time."

    Teens say they feel good about what they say online or taking the lime to think about a reply. Some teens admit that asking someone for a date, or breaking up, can be easier in message form, though they don't want to do so. But they insist there's no harm.

    Play time is in short supply for young children these days and the lifelong consequences for developing children can be more serious than many people realize.

    An article in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Play details not only how much children's play time has declined, but how this lack of play affects emotional development, leading to the rise of anxiety, depression, and problems of attention and self control. “Since about 1955, children's free play has been continually declining, at least partly because adults have applied ever-increasing control over children's activities.” says the author Peter Gray, Ph. D, Professor of Psychology at Boston College.

    We can describe the unstructured freely-chosen play as a testing ground for life. It provides critical life experiences without which young children cannot develop into confident and competent adults. So kids need more of it, not less. Because play is how young children learn important social and emotional skills such as sharing, cooperating, communicating, and empathizing. It helps them develop fit bodies, strong minds, and brave hearts, so they can take on new challenges and risky situations.

    Gray's article is meant to serve as a wake-up call regarding the effects of lost play. We must know that lack of childhood free play time is a huge loss that must be paid attention to for the sake of our children and society. But parents who keep a lookout over and disturb their children's play are a big part of the problem. It is hard to find groups of children outdoors at all, and, if you do find them, they are likely to be wearing school uniforms and following the directions of coaches while their parents dutifully watch and cheer.

    Actually, when children are in charge of their own play, it provides a foundation for their future mental health as older children and adults. Play gives children a chance to find and develop a connection to their own self-identified and self-guided interest. It is through play that children first learn to make decisions, solve problems, improve self-control, and follow rules. Play helps children make friends and learn to get along with each other as equals. Most importantly, play is a source of happiness.

When parents realize the major role that free play can take in the development of emotionally healthy children and adults, they may wish to reassess the priorities ruling their children's lives. The needs for childcare, academic and athletic success and children's safety is important. But perhaps parents can begin to identify small changes——such as openings in the schedule, backing off from quite so many supervised (有监督的) activities, and possibly slightly less keeping watch on the playground that would start the slow returning to the direction of free, imaginative-directed play.