Considering that Sundarbans National Park is situated in thetropics, Septemberto March is the ideal time to come here. April, May and June are too hot while July andAugust often bring heavy season winds that limit travel and don't make for avery pleasant sightseeing experience. You can really enjoy doing lots ofcharming things in the Sundarbans during September to March.

    Take a river tour

    Most tourists who explore the Sundarbans arrive in KhulnaCity first. Fromthere, youcan join a boat tour that travels south along the Ganges River through miles ofpreserved forest all the way to Kotka, where there is a beautiful beach alongthe Bay of Bengal.

    Visit a bird habitat

    This bird habitat is a nesting place for dozens of tropicalbirds found in the Sundarbans. The best way to observe these birds isclimbing up the Sajnekhali Watchtower. If you're lucky, you'll also catch the famed BengalTiger making its rounds through the swampy jungle.

    Visit the Mangrove(红树林)Interpretation Centre

    If you wish to spend some time indoors out of the sweatyheat, goto the Mangrove Interpretation Centre. This place is very educational withmany posters, mapsand exhibits showing the wildlife and varieties of mangrove plants found withinthe park. You'llalso get to see crocodiles in a small pool.

    Take a tour of local villages

    Experience village life that has largely remained unchangedfor centuries. Inthis vast tropical region, there are villages made up of variousethnic groups who rely on fishing, farming and working in the localthrough growing tourist industry for their livelihoods. The Sundarbans is a UNESCO worldheritage site where you can visit villages and talk to locals,who will gladly sharetheir culture with you.

    Disease, poverty, hate, love — Charles Dickens' stories opened his readers' eyes to the most important themes of his age. Two hundred years later, his stories still speak volumes across the world, proving that Dickens' legacy (遗产) was far greater than just "great-literature".

    February 7 marks the 200th anniversary of the writer's birthday. To mark this date, BBC writer Alex Hudson listed six things Dickens gave the modern world. Let's take a look at two of them.

    A White Christmas

    Dickens is described as "the man who invented Christmas"— not the religious festival, but the cultural aspects that we associate with the festive season today.

    In the early 19th century, Christmas was barely worth mentioning, according to critic and writer Leigh Hunt. The committee which ran the Conservative Party even held ordinary business meetings on Christmas Day — unthinkable in the West nowadays, when everyone but the most necessary workers takes at least three days off.

    Many people believe that Dickens' popular descriptions of the festive period became a blueprint for generations to come. In his classic novel, A Christmas Carol, he not only put forward the idea of snow at Christmas, but also painted a picture of glowing warmth —“home enjoyments, affections and hopes".

    In his biography of Dickens, Peter Ackroyd wrote:" Dickens can be said to have almost single-handedly created the modern idea of Christmas."

    "Dickensian" poverty

    Dickens was one of the first to take an honest look at the underclass and the poor of Victorian London.

    He helped popularize the term "red tape" to describe situations where people in power use needless amounts of bureaucracy (官僚作风) in a way that particularly hurts the weaker and poorer members of society.

    "Dickensian" has now become a powerful word for describing an unacceptable level of poverty. In 2009, when the president of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in the UK wanted to talk about poverty in some areas of Britain, she did not use words like "terrible" or "horrific", but rather described it as "life mirroring the times of Dickens".

    I came to the United States ten years ago. I would always say that I was trying to study, but there were always things like work and my kids that would not allow me to start.

    Now I realized that those were only excuses. What stopped me was that I was afraid to start studying again. I always believed I would learn by myself.

    One day, however, my son told me that he was sad because his friends would come over and I didn't understand them because I didn't speak English. He was also sad because I could never help him with his homework. That same day, I told myself, "Rocio, you have to start believing in yourself and you will see you can make it."

    The next day, I went downtown to look for a big banner (横幅) in front of the school which said that they offered classes for adults. I came in to see if I could join, but the classes were closed already. That night I took the kids to the movies, and on the way back, I told them we would take a new route. I ended up getting lost. That's the way I found Chaffey College. The following Monday, I went to ask for information. They told me that summer school was starting that week.

    That's how I started studying English last summer. It is difficult, but I have had great rewards. My daughter had written a story for school. It was about the female they most admired and why. She wrote that I was the person she most admired because I had started going to college. I will never forget this.

My challenge for you is this: to read a book for 15 minutes every single day for a month.

Let me explain a bit, by telling you where the challenge came from. I have many things in common with my dad, like music taste and sense of humor, but sadly reading isn't one of them. I can happily spend a whole day with a book, but my dad can't read a book for longer than about 5 minutes. He reads emails, websites and papers for work, but not books. He's busy, so I think sitting down to read for just 15 minutes a day is a good way to relax and to introduce him to reading.

My dad is not the only person who avoids books. I know lots of people would rather relax on their computers or in front of the TV. Everyone is different and has their own interests, but I think there are lots of benefits to reading, which screen-based activities don't have.

Firstly, it's better for your eyes. Looking at screens can be very stressful for your eye muscles, and clearly you should avoid looking at screens for an hour before bed, to get a good night's sleep.

One thing I personally love reading, is being transported to another world—I would often forget the time or things around me! Reading is a great way to switch off before you go to bed, because you think more about the world of the book, rather than the real world, so you can truly relax. I know you can be transported to a different world in a film or a TV show, but I think books do it better.

I also enjoy hearing what people are doing and finding out what they think. Reading gives me the chance to get to know hundreds of new people! It also teaches you to see things from other people's point of view, and understand other people's decisions or opinions. With a book, you can hear everything a character is thinking or feeling—you really can be inside someone else's head!

So give it a go! Take 15 minutes when you are waking up, going to bed, eating lunch, or having a coffee. If you read a lot, why not try 15 minutes of an English book, or pass the challenge on to someone else? Good luck, and happy reading!

New research from the University of Portsmouth has shown a marked increase in shipping in the North East Atlantic. Scientists now warn that more monitoring is required to help protect sea life. 

Researchers at the University of Ponsmouth have discovered that rates (率)of shipping in the North East Atlantic area rose by 34 per cent in a five-year period. The research is the first detailed survey of shipping activity in the North East Atlantic. Researchers used data from over 530 million vessel(船)positions recorded by Automatic Identification System(AIS). They looked at the change in shipping between 2013 and 2017 across ten different vessel types. In total the study area covered 1.1 million km², including waters off Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany,Iceland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal. Spain, and the UK. 

Lead author, James Robbins said:"This change is likely to put more pressure on the marine(海 洋的)environment, and may influence the protection of at-risk species. Renewed monitoring effort is needed to make sure that protective measures are enough to save species under threat in a changing environment. "

Some of the greatest shipping increases were found in areas close to the Spanish coast. The Espacio Marino de la Costa da Morte saw a rise of 413 percent in vessel activity. It is an area used to protect seabirds. 

Dr. Sarah Marley, Visiting Researcher at the University of Portsmouth, said:"Shipping is the most widespread human activity in our oceans, carrying a set of threats-from unnoticeable effects like underwater noise pollution to serious results when ships hit whales. "

Professor Alex Ford. from the University's Institute of Marine Sciences, said:"Given the well- documented effects that shipping can have on the marine environment, it is necessary that this situation continues to be monitored-particularly in areas used to protect vulnerable(脆弱的)species which may already be under pressure. "

More and more teenagers are becoming unwilling to exercise worldwide. Australia, a nation that prides itself on its outdoor culture, is doing particularly poorly. It is currently ranked (排名) 140th out of 146 countries for teenage exercise levels. The data shows that 85%of girls are physically inactive compared to 78% of boys. In Australia, less than 1 in 10 teenagers aged 12 to 18 are meeting the recommended levels of physical activity. 

The current guidelines and evidence show that teenagers should be doing at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day. This should include muscle and bone strengthening activities on at least three days per week, meanwhile limiting recreational screen time to a maximum of 2 hours per day. 

Not being active can cause a range of health conditions leading to early adulthood and beyond. Adolescents may have decreased bone and cardio-metabolic (心脏代谢的) health which leaves them facing an increased risk of chronic disease (慢性病) in later life, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, and decreased fitness. If you're not moving enough you're also at an increased risk of being overweight or obese, with data already showing that 29.8% of teenagers (14-17) are classified as overweight or obese. 

So how can we get teenagers to exercise more? Firstly, high schools should place more importance on lunchtime and allow 1-hour breaks that increase physical activity. We should also encourage teenagers to be active on their lunch break. Parents and guardians also have an important role to play and should aim to devote 1 hour a day to moving more. This does not need to be 1 full hour and can be broken down into two 30-minute parts. The most important factor is to identify your teenager's interests and needs surrounding their physical activity.

Don't be afraid to ask for help in finding a safe and fun exercise program. A qualified exercise physiologist or exercise scientist can help your child find a way to be more active that is suited to their needs, age of development, and interests.