What would life be like without commas (逗号)? It would be quite confusing. Take this simple sentence as an example: Let’s eat Dad! Without a comma, Dad becomes the food. Add comma, and Dad becomes a partner at dinner: Let’s eat, Dad! The comma enables people to have a better understanding of the sentence.

Here’s another example: Tom said Sarah stole the cake. Here, Sarah is the thief. But add a pair of commas, and Tom becomes the thief: Tom, said Sarah, stole the cake.

The examples above clearly show that people cannot do without commas in writing. Yet, the comma came from oral speeches. Long ago, most people could not read. They listened to the news or stories told by the people who gave speeches. The comma began as something to mark the resting place in a sentence. When reading, the speakers knew where to stop and take a breath.

In writing, commas are like shining red lights on the road. They require that you wait a moment before continuing. And don’t add a comma when you feel like it. There are rules that people shall not break. Learn them, and you won’t be eating anyone or making wrong changes.

In 2016, I suffered from Seasonal Affective Disorder(SAD) a form of depression(抑郁症) that is found to make people feel low in the UK between September and April. During that cold and wet period, I got comfort in books.

Books have been used by many to reduce depression. I lose myself into them as thirstily as usually get my morning coffee. Each Christmas, I have a habit of returning to the old favorite books that make up for my emptiness, such as Jane Eyre. Sometimes, to escape from the cold, I run back to the heat that I am used to, so I will read a lot of books set in Africa.

It became important for me to find a way to escape my sadness in the world of books. And isn’t that what art and literature is for? According to JJ Bola, the author of No Place to Call Home, “The world can get you so down that you think you’re the only person going through what you’re going through. But then you read and you realize that you are not alone that if someone else has gone through it and survived, then maybe you can, too.” It is this survival that the reader looks for, that is, the understanding that the winter is not so long after all.

Many students study by reading their notes and textbooks over and over again. But studies show there are more effective ways to help you study smarter.

    11     Many students know what they are expected to do. Yet many often fail to plan ahead. So they need first to set a reachable target. Break it into pieces and make them happen one by one. It may seem strange at first. But after two weeks or more, it becomes a normal thing.

Don’t just reread.     12     Rereading is like looking at the answer to a puzzle, rather than doing it yourself. It looks like it makes sense. But until you try it yourself, you don’t really know if you understand it.

Find examples. Abstract concepts can be hard to understand. It tends to be far easier to form a mental image if you have a concrete example of something.     13     On its own, that concept might be hard to remember. But if you think about a lemon or vinegar, it becomes easier!

Dig deeper. It’s hard to remember countless facts and figures if you don’t push further. Ask why things are a certain way. How did they come about? Why do they matter? Psychologists call this elaboration(深究). It’s taking class material and asking many how and why questions about it.     14    

Practice more. Musicians practice their instruments. Athletes practice sports skills.     15     In a study, students took practice tests over several weeks. On the final test, they scored more than a full letter grade better, on average, than did students who studied the way they normally had.

As a teen, Cynthia Nebel studied by reading her textbooks, worksheets and notebooks. “Over and over and over again,” recalls this psychologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. Now, she adds, “we know that’s one of the most common bad study skills that students have.”