Five Ways to Make Studying More Fun

Pick an area of the house you haven't used before. Use a stand-up desk instead of the kitchen table. Set up a space in your bedroom or home office that is just for studying. Put some time into making it a place you want it to be. 【小题1】

Getting together with a friend or a group of classmates can help you learn new study skills while you are still getting a few laughs in. 【小题2】 Pick one person and each of you choose a side to argue. If you have a group, they can join and vote the winner.

Plan scheduled study breaks every hour and take part in an activity you enjoy. Go for a quick walk, watch a short video, or eat a snack. 【小题3】 Before you take a break, write down what you have learned during your study time and add to this list each time you take a break.

By activating the left and right sides of the brain at the same time, music maximizes（使最大化）learning and improves memory. It's no secret that music helps with concentration and creativity.

【小题5】 If the weather is nice, head to a park or the beach. Study at your favorite coffee shop or bookstore. If you're active, you might want to try exercising to improve memory and thinking skills. Some of your best thoughts and moments of clarity（清晰）come when you're moving your body.

   Cowboys, policemen, princesses and superheroes are all characters kids choose to be on any given day. Putting on a play can be a fun activity that lets them act out their favorite characters as well as use their artistic ability to create the stage.

Best of all, they will be able to use their favorite line “ look at me” as the audience sits down to enjoy the production.

Help your kids decide on a play they would like to act out. Use the Internet or the library to find scripts (剧本) for older reading kids. For younger kids, they can act out a favorite story or a fairy tale. Of course, you could always help them write their own scripts.

Decide how many characters are needed. Invite neighbors and friends to be in your play or let your kids play more than one character. Make sure you teach them to change the way they look, move and speak so the audience can tell the difference.

Search for costumes and props (道具) supplies. Find clothes from your closet or attic (阁楼) , or go to a garage sale. Help everyone make a mask or put on makeup to represent their characters.

Get creative. Make tickets, invitations, movie posters and props for your kids’ play. You can even decorate a curtain and hang it in front of the stage. Set up chairs for the audience.

Choose your music. Pick something that goes with the theme of the play. Ask someone to play the piano or have the kids make up songs and help them make homemade instruments.

Rehearse the play. The more the play is practiced, the better it will be. Try starting early in the summer and practicing once a week. Set out a snack after rehearsal and make it light-hearted and fun. Then perform the play at the end of the summer vacation.

Invite the audience to sit down and enjoy the play.

   So let’s say that you’re sitting at a restaurant and when your food arrives, you take one bite and decide that something is preventing you from taking a second bite. No matter what the reason is, this dish is going back to the kitchen, and now it’s up to you to find a way to send it back politely.

First of all, the single most important thing to do when you’re sending something back is to do it immediately. If you eat half the dish before sending it back, the server and kitchen will believe that you really don’t need to send it back.

If a dish is too salty that it cannot be eaten, you should first let the server know what the situation is, and they’ll take it back to the kitchen and bring you a new one. Remember that it is not the server’s fault, so don’t take it out on them. Also, don’t be afraid that they’ll get angry at you, or someone will spit (吐) in your food. It’s their job to make sure that you’re satisfied, and if the kitchen clearly makes a mistake the server will be frustrated with the kitchen, not with the diner who has been served an inedible meal. A new dish will be cooked, and nobody’s going to spit in it.

There is, however, one example when you are sending back a dish which will really annoy both the server and the kitchen. If you order a pasta dish that contains pancetta but then send it back to the kitchen because you’re a vegetarian (素食者) and don’t know what pancetta is, and then congratulations because you’re one of the most unbearable types of customers a restaurant can have. A perfectly good plate of food is just thrown out because you don’t ask what pancetta is before ordering.

So the bottom line: Use common sense if you think that you need to send your dish back. If the kitchen do something wrong, then they’re on the hook for a new plate of food. If you do something wrong, then hopefully you’ve learned a lesson.

   After the age of 25， the number of friendships we maintain begins to fall. 【小题1】

Learn to identify opportunities.

“We let chances to make friends pass us by every day，” says Kate Leaver in her book The Friendship Cure.  【小题2】“Instead of forcing a little small talk with your kind neighbours，” she says， “ask them in for a cuppa and get to know them. ” 

 【小题3】

Joining a group， club or class is an effective way to meet people. “Teaming up for a shared activity，project or goal is an experience that can promote bonding and closer connections，” says therapist Miriam Kirmayer. Pursue a challenge or skill you are interested in， because then you will have a good time and feel more at ease in starting a conversation.

Allow yourself to be vulnerable（脆弱的）.

 【小题4】 What if your offers are rejected? Leaver and Kirmayer say that a degree of vulnerability is needed in trying to start friendships. Keeping to yourself isn’t going to help you. Sharing recommendations or letting others in on plans， says Kirmayer， is a simple way to share， which will help build closeness and trust.

Don't put too much pressure on it.

As we age， our friendships change. According to a 2016 study， we hit our peak number of friendships at the age of 25. 【小题5】 clinical psychologist Linda Blair advises not putting too much pressure on any new connections and not expecting too much from one person.