ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

So far, we've covered playing with sand and playing in the water as things to do at the beach. This next topic may come as a bit of a surprise. Did you know that some people go to the beach just to get a tan? That is, to make their skin darker? I know many people in Japan (particularly the ladies) prefer to be as pale as possible, going so far as to carry around umbrellas to keep out of the sun. Not so in other places in the world! Heck, some people go to tanning salons just to get a tan.

In tanning salons, they put you in this little tube with special lights that imitate the effects of the sun, which will cause you to get a tan. But...please don't tan at a salon. Or spend too much time tanning in the sun. It can have very negative effects. One example would be that you would look like a human carrot - many people who tan, especially at salons, tend to get orange skin, kind of like this:



The person on the left is an Oompa Loompa, who is wearing orange makeup. The person on the right does not have orange makeup. Looks very close in color, right?
Another bad side effect of tanning too much is getting rough, leathery skin. I don't have an image for that, but if you own a brown leather couch, you will look pretty much like that.

I'm not saying tanning is bad, just that if you over do it, it can be bad for you. I personally enjoy being under the sun for a few hours. I like it when my skin darkens a little. But no way would I want to be cooking in the sun for a whole day. Just 2-3 hours while enjoying the view at the beach is good enough for me!