Before she leaves home in San Francisco, California, Jennifer Schaefer, puts on long sleeves and a big hat she calls her “personal umbrella.” With her fair skin, red hair, memories of bad childhood sunburn, and a family history of skin cancer, Schaefer is painfully aware of the danger of exposure to ultraviolet (紫外线) radiation, which accounts for the vast majority of skin cancers.
So she finds it unbelievable how few people bother with sun safety, with most preferring sun worship to sun protection. “In our culture, it's almost funny to be too protected,” she says, highlighting the way her friends tease her when she puts on her bathing suit—a protective “rash guard top” and knee-length board shorts. “We're slowly starting to become aware of the long-term effects of the sun, but it's like global warming—people are not going to make serious changes until they feel a direct impact.”
That impact has helped push Australians, who are famous for sun loving, into changing their behavior. With its high solar ultraviolet levels and mostly fair-skinned population, Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world. But after decades of increase, the melanoma(黑色瘤) rate began to stay at a steady level in the mid 1990s. The incidence of melanoma among young people is now falling, as national surveys show that most Australians-more than 70% of adults and 55% of adolescents—no longer prefer a tan (棕褐色).
A 2013 study shows that, in addition to Australia, a handful of countries—notably New Zealand, Canada, Israel, Norway, the Czech Republic(or women) and the United States (for white men) —have melanoma rates that are decreasing or stabilizing among young people.
Back in San Francisco, Jennifer Schaefer is doing her best to educate the next generation. Her eldest daughter automatically puts on a hat to go outside. “Habits really start in children—it is like brushing your teeth,” she says.
【小题1】By describing Schacfer's bathing suit, the author suggests that Schaefer ________.| A．does not mind the teasing by her friend |
| B．attaches great importance to sun protection |
| C．goes to extreme measures to avoid the sun |
| D．is more interested in surfing than sunbathing |
| A．Sun protection programs are developing quickly. |
| B．Their citizens prefer to be pale rather than get tanned. |
| C．Skin cancer rates are not increasing among the young. |
| D．Women and white men have the lowest rates of melanoma. |
| A．To help individuals know how to make medical decisions. |
| B．To call for more research into ultraviolet radiation effect. |
| C．To draw the public's attention to ultraviolet radiation effect. |
| D．To honor a mother for her research into ultraviolet radiation |
