For days, Hunter Mollett had little to eat but he insisted on heading to Enterprise High School in Mississippi. He never complained; he’d simply do his work, hang about with friends and attend band practice. Finally, after four days, Hunter’s mom found some peas and cornmeal and made a meal for them.

In high school, Mollett experienced various degrees of homelessness. However, as one of the smartest students in his grade, when struggling to find stable housing, he also wanted to attend Harvard University.

Jackie Lewis first learned of his dream when she met him in her ninth-grade algebra class. “He told me he was going to Harvard,” she said, “but I was unsure if he was going to make it.” However, after having Mollett in class, Lewis changed her views on his chances in the Ivy League.

Mollett first decided on Harvard when he was in Grade One when he was watching Boston Legal with his mother. He asked her how the characters became lawyers. She said they went to Harvard. Though he didn’t know if she was just joking, Mollett decided that was where he wanted to go.

When Mollett’s teachers learned of his unstable housing, they started helping when they could. If Mollett needed some books, a teacher would buy them for him. If he needed a ride, someone would take him. Meanwhile, Mollett worked hard toward his goal of becoming a lawyer. He took his tests and started applying to colleges, including Mississippi State University and Harvard.

Soon he learned Mississippi State University accepted him and offered him a full scholarship. Then he got an e-mail about financial aid at Harvard even before his university acceptance letter. He felt bewildered.

“I sat there for 16 minutes just staring at my phone. I couldn’t believe I got in.” Mollett said.

There is a chill wind blowing through the campus of Keele University these days and it’s nothing to do with the weather.

Students fear the recession(经济衰退) and the downturn in graduate recruitment may mean their studies lead them nowhere. Students’ Union president Talah Omran AI Rubaie already has her degree, and will give up her union post this summer, but she’s not looking forward to launching herself onto the job market.She said, “For most of us, the fact that you are graduating today or tomorrow but might not be able to get a job is a very scary prospect.I think it also has an impact on the students that have just graduated from high school, who’re thinking ‘Is it worth coming to university, is it worth getting a degree?’”

In the Union café, students’ life goes on as it always has.But these undergraduates know the bubble of academia will not protect them from the recession for long.Particularly over Christmas and Easter when you’re only home for months, no one’s got any jobs to give out for a few weeks.

As the recession deepens, some students find themselves in a dilemma: to stay at university, continue their studies, and hope the graduate job market improves by the time they leave, or to start right now and take a job, any job, so they don’t get left on the employment shelf.

Keele’s performance in the graduate jobs market has been good so far.The latest figures available show 95% of students leaving do get a job, but that was before the economy fell off a cliff, and the university is working hard to equip its students with the skills to compete in an ever gloomier employment field.

Every time we get on a plane, we’re asked to either turn off our phones or change them to flight mode—it’s for “security reasons”.But according to The Conversation website, having to turn our phones off on a plane is “a service issue, not a safety one”.When we speak on our phones in the air, they can cause interference to the aircraft’s radios and pilots can hear this interference in their headphones.“It’s the same noise you’ll be familiar with, if you put your mobile too close to a speaker,” the Mirror noted.“It is not safety-critical, but is annoying for sure.” Though speaking on a phone during a flight isn’t dangerous, from the viewpoint of service, it isn’t still a good idea.

When we make or receive a call on the ground, we connect to a cell tower that deals with all calls within an 80-kilometer radius (半径).As we move from place to place we are “handed on” to different cell towers.As US scientist Sven Bilen explains, for this system to work, there are “built-in” expectations:There shouldn’t be too many “handoffs” and people shouldn’t be traveling faster than car speeds.“Of course, phone users should be close to the ground.” he added.If we were to make phone calls while we flew, however, none of these expectations would be met.And even worse, our cellphones would stop working.

But now things are beginning to change.If we still can’t speak during a flight, we can use other phone functions.For example, Airbus A330 of Emirates Airlines has inflight WiFi to make passengers send and receive short messages in the air.In the future, as Bilen points out, it may be possible for air travelers to make and receive calls freely.The breakthrough could be “pico cells”, which are small cell towers on the plane itself.There would no longer be connections made between phones and the ground and therefore there would be no danger of disruption to phone service.

One day, perhaps, we will be chatting in the air as much as we chat on the ground.

Memorizing grammar tables may not sound like the most exciting way to improve your English, but it’s highly effective.    11    

It’s easy!

You can communicate effectively in English with very few basic structures. Simply get hold of the verb tables of the most common structures (the present simple, the past simple, the future forms, the present perfect, etc.) and learn them by heart.

It’s effective!

By memorizing the basic structures, you’ll be able to generate thousands of other sentences.     12    For example, if you learn the sentence, “I’ve never seen it”, just change the verb “seen” for “heard”. It’s that simple!  

It’s helpful!

    13    You won’t have to think or translate—the structures will just come out automatically. This will leave you valuable time to dedicate to other really useful things such as learning lots of new vocabulary or improving your listening skills. 

It’s efficient!

If you learn the grammar tables, you won’t have to spend so much time studying grammar. Once you’ve got the basic structure in your head, you can focus on learning lots of new words, building up your listening skills and doing lots of reading.     14    

It’s impressive!

Even advanced students make mistakes when it comes to the basic structures.     15     So, if you can confidently use the Present Simple, Past Simple, Present Perfect, etc., creating negatives or asking questions quickly and accurately, you’ll really impress the people you’re talking to. Go for it!