Friendship is based on mutual （相互的） respect, common interests and laughter. Studying doesn’t usually happen on the list of shared activities. So why are more and more students meeting with their friends after class to do homework and prepare for exams?

Having a study buddy is good for us in many ways. Here are several reasons.

You get the material faster than alone.

Having a study buddy can help you learn faster. Let’s face it: two brains are always better than one. What’s more, you can learn some new study methods from your study buddy.

New information is easier to understand.

When you have someone to discuss the new information with, learning becomes more possible. Also, you can teach each other and understand something if one of you isn’t very sure.

Study buddies can test each other.

You can teach each other, and you can also learn from testing each other. Testing before the exam can help both of you to find out areas that need more attention.

Learning becomes organized and fun.

Finally, it can be enjoyable to share your study journey with another person. Long evenings in the library will become less lonely if you’re with a friend. Also, it is nice to relax yourselves once in a while. It will turn learning into a fun and organized thing.

A survey on “Generation（一代人）Z bullet-screen（弹幕）review culture” has been carried out among 1, 976 college students across our country. Generation Z often refers to the generation that was born between 1996 and 2010.

The survey results showed that 61. 34% of the college students often choose to read the bullet-screen reviews when watching videos. They prefer the real-time（实时的）communication with other people. However, 38. 66% prefer not to, and the main reason is that these reviews may cover the pictures on the screen and influence TV viewing experience.

Huang Xiaobei, a college student in South China first came into contact with bullet-screen reviews when she was watching a movie. “I couldn’t close the reviews on the web page, so I had to watch them,” Huang remembered.

However, after this experience, Huang Xiaobei has changed from “hating the reviews, being bored of them” to “believing this form of communication to be very interesting”. Huang Xiaobei says that bullet-screen reviews are like “popcorns”（爆米花）. Like popcorns, they are not healthy, but sweet, delicious and suitable for relieving bored feelings.

At the same time, according to the survey, 67. 27% of the young people think that bullet-screen reviews are a good way to show their thoughts, 63. 05% of them believe that the reviews make the video content rich and colourful and 53. 19% of them say that bullet-screen reviews help them find like-minded people around the world.

“Now bullet-screen reviews have been used for video programs on all major websites, and they have become a way of real-time communication accepted by the public,” says Professor Ma Zhonghong from Southeast University, adding that the reviews have changed from a simple tool to a kind of special culture.

A new study has shown how the colour of a bowl can influence the taste of the food it holds.

According to this new study, food was put into two groups in red, blue, or white bowls. While the colour made no difference in taste for non-picky eaters, the picky eaters reported changes in their taste senses based on the colour of the bowl being used. Snacks in red and blue bowls were thought to have more salt than those in white bowls, while snacks in red bowls were less pleasant than those in the other bowls.

“This knowledge can be useful for those who want to try more kinds of foods, ” says Lorenzo Stafford, a psychologist from the University of Portsmouth in the UK. “For example, if you want to encourage a picky eater to try some bitter （ 苦 的 ） vegetables, you can try to put them on a pink plate or in a yellow bowl, because this can give him or her a sweet feeling. ”

At first it may seem strange that a bowl colour can influence the taste of food, but the research before has shown how light and music can influence eating habits.

All of our senses are connected, including taste.

“This new study can help in treating food neophobia—the unwillingness to try new food, ” the team of the study says, and further studies will be required to find out more relationships between colours and foods.

“Through further studies, maybe we can decide ways to help actively influence a person’s diet, and as a result, their health in mind and body, ” says Stafford.

Have you ever found it difficult to get up early on cold mornings? We often feel tired and sleepy when we wake up. It really needs strong courage to get up in winter. Here are some tips for you to make“getting up on cold mornings” easy.

Get as much natural light as you can

Enough bright light will help you get up early, says Jennifer Martin, doctor from American University of Sleep Medicine. That’s because light influences melatonin (褪黑激素), which plays an important role in sleep. As a result, when you wake up, taking a walk or enjoying coffee outside will be good. Some people prefer to use curtains or wear eye masks to create a dark sleeping environment, but that   will be a bad idea if you want to get up early the next day.

Form the fixed early rising habit

There are two ways to help you get up early. First, you can force yourself to get up at a fixed time. It must be difficult in the beginning but after a few weeks, you will not feel hard. Martin recommends people can try another way. You can get up ten minutes earlier than usual on the first day. After a few days, you can get up another ten minutes earlier. Finally, you will get used to the new habit.

Go to bed early in the evening

A fixed bedtime is also important to make sure you’re getting enough sleep. Most people should have at least seven hours of sleep. So you’ll probably need to go to bed early if you want to change your habit. Research shows that we should make sure we are not in the bright light for at least an hour before we sleep. Bright light will influence our abilities to fall asleep. Listening to soft music or doing some reading may be helpful before you sleep.

Plan something to look forward to

To encourage you to get out of bed, Martin suggests treating yourself to something special you can enjoy. Go to buy your favourite coffee or pick up some delicious breakfast. Start a day with something nice, and you will find getting up early on cold mornings is not difficult.

Some Chinese words are very hot on the Internet these days. They have caught people’s attention overnight recently. The first one is tangping, which m    66     lying down totally. The word s    67     an inactive attitude (态度) towards social competitions, heavy life stress or daily problems. It is said that some young people f    68     the problems like high housing prices and someone once wrote, “I don’t c    69     too much about how high the housing prices are. I have lain down.” In short, being sick and tired of the endless competitions, some young people have become inactive or hopeless w    70     they face challenges in life.

Another hot word which is p    71     among the youth is neijuan, which means rat race (激烈竞争) or challenging social competitions. Many young people have to take part in the social competitions and they have no c    72     but to climb the social ladder even though they may lose everything or get few achievements. For example, many parents make their children learn more knowledge w    73     thinking about their thoughts. In their opinions, hard work is the key to success and much extra homework is necessary.

However, these two attitudes are not worth taking. When facing problems in our life, we shouldn’t get away from them. I    74    , we should not only take an active attitude towards the challenges in life, but also remember to keep a balance between work and r    75    . Stop to enjoy the beauty of the world, learn to relax in the busy life and maybe you will find a better self!