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.

    Have you heard about "Face Recognition (刷脸)" technology? It begins to become a popular and exciting development in China. In September 2017, a Kentucky Fried Chicken KPRO restaurant in Hangzhou utilized (利用) this new technology.

    Customers will go through the buffet (自助餐) line and then check out with their food using this "Just look with your face" payment method. When they get to the payment machine, they simply choose the Payment of facial recognition and then stand in front of the screen for 1-2 seconds. They then confirm their account and phone number and finish the payment process—all of it takes no more than 10 seconds!

    Nowadays, the words "Face Recognition" have become popular around China with the development of the ability to pay with facial recognition. Here are several examples of how you might hear the words in daily life in China. In Hangzhou, a high school provides a service where students can pay for meals by facial recognition. However, this isn't the only way we use the words in China! When you combine these characters together you also get another meaning: Jackie Chan got a dinner for free by "brushing his face".

    Do you know more about other meanings of "Face Recognition"? Please tell me more about it by sending an email to Susan2018@126.com or call me at 8524689. We'll talk about the topic next time.

    Heritage (遗产) is traditional customs, history and beliefs. We use the word "heritage" in many different ways. People talk about their family heritage, city heritage and national heritage.

    Today, heritage is changing. The Internet connects people around the world. In many ways this is a good thing, because we can learn about the heritage of other countries, and we can show our own heritage to the world. However, some people worry that traditional heritage is disappearing. In many ways, countries are becoming more and more alike(相似的). In most countries around the world, you can find KFC. Nike shoes, Starbucks coffee. American movies and so on. Some people think this is a good change, and others don't like it. You can decide whether or not it's a good thing.

    However, everyone wants to protect traditional heritage, and sometimes this is hard. For example, when a new KFC opens in your city, a traditional restaurant might have to close.

    That is why heritage protection is so important. Heritage protection is a simple thought. It means keeping your country's or your city's heritage alive. People do this in many ways. The biggest part of heritage protection is probably preserving (保护) old buildings. Some suggestions of heritage protection are making sure your kids speak your traditional language, and teaching knowledge about heritage to them.

    The world is changing. No matter how it changes, never forget the heritage of our parents and grandparents.

    Scientists in Britain and the United States have made a new kind of enzyme(酵素) that eats plastics(塑料). With its help, plastics can be turned into smaller parts and go away quickly.

    Scientists believe that, in the future, it could solve the problem of plastic pollution.

    The enzyme is able to break down PET, a form of plastic. PET was first made in the 1940s and is now widely used to make plastic bottles. It can remain in the environment for many years and pollute large areas of land and water. So it has always been a headache to deal with the waste from PET and other plastics.

    The researchers made the discovery(发 现) while examining the structure of a natural enzyme in Japan. They found that the natural enzyme was helping to break down PET plastics. So, they

decided to make small changes to the enzyme by adding some amino acids(氨基酸). It made the natural enzyme's plastic-eating abilities work faster and better.

    John McGeehan, one of the lead researchers, said, "We've made an improved enzyme. It's better than the naturl one. And we are trying to make more improvements to it." He went on."

    The enzyme is not harmful to humans or animals, and it is friendly to the environment. So we are considering putting it into wider use."

    The team is now trying to make the enzyme break down PET in large quantities(大量的). "We'll see that the plastic pollution may be stopped with this technology. However, there is still a long way to go," John McGeehan added.