【推荐2】Do you ever find yourself studying really hard for a test but finally not doing so well? You spent hours reviewing your notes, only to find your hard work doesn’t make you receive a grade you want. It’s not that you’re not smart.     1    . If you want to study in an effective way, below are studying methods that may be suitable for you.

Try explaining the concepts(概念) that you’re studying to family members or friends.     2    

Study with friends. If you’re able to stay focused, studying with a group might be more fun than studying alone.     3    . It is possible that there’s something you miss or misunderstand, so hearing others’ opinions is very important. Pick possible test topics and hold discussions to gain understanding of these topics in different ways.

Use flashcards. Flashcards are a great way to memorize important information! To make it more fun, write your flashcards using colorful pens and mark important parts.

    4    . I personally use learning apps(应用软件), where I can find very useful resources(资料) for foreign language studies. I’ve also used websites in the past. A lot of sites offer expensive versions, so be aware of which features are free.

Try using some of these methods when you study for your next test, and see whether you’ve improved. Studying can be boring.     5    . Don’t lose motivation(积极性), and you’ll succeed!

【推荐3】It’s January and time to go back to school. For some, that might be a gloomy prospect after the joys of the post Christmas festive period. For me, though, it’s as exciting as a trip to Antarctica, also as scary as starting a job for which I’m not sure whether I’m qualified.

To be embarking on a master’s degree in Psychotherapy and Counselling at Regent’s University at 71 is perhaps an unlikely route for someone who dropped out of school at 17. But now I’ve come full circle to the conclusion that nothing, for me, feels more stimulating at this point in my life than learning new things. That studying, far from being the bore and the chore it used to be, is a treat.

Turning 70 came as something of a shock. I started to feel I was drifting (飘). Without a big project, and without any major family responsibilities, I was starting to feel I was lying on a bed of thorns. Friends of similar age were lapping up their lives, socializing and travelling. However, I longed for something more. Or perhaps not more, but different.

As the gloom grew, I thought perhaps I needed to see a therapist. A friend, a psychotherapist, suggested that while therapy might be useful, doing a course on the basics of psychotherapy and counselling might be more up my street. Without too much thinking, I decided to give it a shot.

So that’s how every weekday I beep (发出哔哔声) myself through the gate with my student pass, which makes me smile every time. I felt privileged to be exposed to a group of my fellow students who were willing to be open to me.

While ageing is an inevitable process, we can get rid of a lot of the rules about what’s age-appropriate. Studying for a master’s degree in old age is a challenge, but it has provided me with a new perspective on life. Hence, ageing should never limit your ambitions.

【推荐1】Staying healthy is important, but many people neglect (忽视) their health because they don’t think they have the time to look after it. It’s not just a time matter; people think it’s boring to spend time on their health. In fact, you can do some simple things to get healthier and have fun.

There’re some fun things that hardly seem like they are for keeping you healthy at all, but they do help. The first thing you can do is singing. Singing improves your oxygen(氧气) flow, which in turn is good for your skin and immune system(免疫系统). It’s also good for your brain. Another feel-good and health-improving activity is laughing. You can watch a funny movie. Laughing is a healthy way to reduce stress and pain, improve brain function, lower blood pressure and protect the heart.

Laughing and singing might go together, but for something completely normal that you do every day, you should eat to stay healthy. It’s unhealthy not to eat breakfast or try to work on an empty stomach. You can eat some fruit or other healthy snacks instead of missing a meal.

Exercise is important to staying healthy, but it often feels more like work than fun. One thing you can do to have more fun is attend a dance class. Dancing in a safe environment is good exercise as well as fun. Taking classes in kung fu can be a lot of fun too. It can be a great way to lose weight, but you should probably consult your doctor before starting if you are in bad health or very overweight.

【推荐2】Sam Krug is the second generation at Preferred Popcorn, a Nebraska (n.内布拉斯加州) factory that produces Americans favorite movie snack. Here fresh batches of popcorn are made every 15 minutes and immediately tested and tasted for quality.

The whole process begins with growing the right kind of corn, not surprisingly cold popcorn. The big difference between corn and popcorn is that popcorn has lots of starch (n.淀粉) inside of it. The shell is hard and so the starch, when you heat it up, mixes with the moisture in the kernel (n.玉米粒) and it boils inside of this. And it gets so hot and the shell is so hard on the outside that it gets hotter and hotter and more excited and more excited and eventually it just blows out.

Nebraska has perfect conditions for growing popcorn, including the right climate and plenty of water for irrigation. And you don’t have to look far to find local farmers to work with. They usually take it to the factory where the kernels are sorted by weight, color and size.

Factory staffs pop a sample of each batch to test it out. They always pop at 480 degrees and use exactly the same amount of oil when they are going to pop. During the course, factory standard coconut (n.椰子) oil is used.

The factory sells kernels for different kinds of popcorn, depending on how the buyer plans to prepare it. It seems that the Americans eat more popcorn than any other nation in the world. And the US Popcorn Board says that in 2018 they consumed more than 14 billion liters of the snack.