Fighting racial stereotypes（模式化）on US campuses often begins by putting students of different ethnic backgrounds together — under one dormitory roof.

    Sam Boakye was a freshman at Ohio State University and the only black student on his floor. He was determined to get good grades — in part to make sure his white roommate had no basis for negative racial views. "You're pushed to do better, to challenge the stereotype that black people are not that smart," he told the New York Times.

    Several recent studies have found that having a roommate of a different race can reduce prejudice(偏见), diversify(使多样化) friendships and even promote students' academic performance. In a study by Ohio State psychology professor Russell Fazio, black freshmen who came to college with high test scores earned better grades if they had a white roommate—even if the roommate's test scores were low. Another study on student interaction by Duke University suggests that freshmen with roommates of a different race were the most likely to diversif“y their friendships. Just having diversity in classrooms doesn't do anything to increase interracial friendships," said Claudia Buchman, an author of the Duke study. “But living together with a different-race roommate does lead to more interracial friendships."

    There are, however, some problems with such room assignments. Fazio's study found that three times as many randomly(随机地) assigned interracial roommates weren't living together at the end of the semester, compared with white roommates. Interracial roommates also spent less time together, had fewer joint activities and were less involved with each other's friends than white pairs.

    As for Boakye, this is not the case. "A lot of white students come without much exposure（暴露）to diversity, so when their first interaction with a black guy isn't bad, they will make more black friends. I think I made a good impression on my freshman roommate. I saw him this year, and he said, "Hey dude, you're not the only black friend I have. That felt good."

    Taxi-booking app Uber agreed to sell its business in China to Didi Chuxing. The two firms had been fierce competitors, but Didi Chuxing had controlled the Chinese market with an 87% share.

    Uber China launched in 2014, but it had failed to make any profit for a long time. Cheng Wei, founder and chief executive of Didi Chuxing, said the two companies had learned a great deal from each other over the past two years in China. He added that the deal would set the mobile transportation industry on a healthier path of growth at a higher level. As part of the deal, Mr. Cheng would join the board of Uber, while Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick would also join Didi's board.

    Uber's China business would own its separate branding while US-based Uber Technologies would hold about 17.5% in the combined company. Didi Chuxing is backed by Chinese Internet giants Tencent and Alibaba.

    Uber had been struggling to break into the Chinese market despite having Chinese search engine Baidu as an investor. Last February, the company admitted it was losing more than $1 billion a year in China. “Funding their Chinese dreams was becoming too expensive for Uber,” Duncan Clark, chairman of Beijing-based consultancy BDA, told the BBC. Travis Kalanick said, “As a businessman, I've learned that being successful is about listening to your head as well as following your heart.”

    The fierce competition had led both companies to spend much more on their journeys. The combination is likely to see fewer such subsidies（补贴）. “One thing to watch carefully is how quickly consumers feel the impact as subsidies are withdrawn.” Mr. Clark added.

    The deal with Didi Chuxing came just days after China had agreed to provide a legal framework for taxi-ordering apps. Both Uber and Didi welcomed the decision. The new rules took effect last November and could, among other things, forbid such platforms to operate below cost.

    My husband and I wanted desperately the instant transformation from typical consumers to eco-conscious people. We switched our light bulbs to CFL(compact fluorescent light) bulbs to conserve energy. We went about the house turning off lights and unplugging appliances that weren't in use. But the rate of global warming exceeded our snail's pace conversion to greenhood. So I pressed onward.

    I decided to put veganism(素食主义) at the top of our agenda. Vegans refuse any animal flesh or commercial goods made from any animal byproducts such as milk or fats. All the family applauded this option except for my husband. Some kind of animal needed to sacrifice its dear life for his meal or it was his dinner. I cooked up a storm, struggling to prepare nutritious meals dominated by not-so-obvious vegan dishes like bean burritos and high-fiber vegetable stir-fry. It took a few days before he realized that he hadn't been eating any meat.

    "I feel like eating beef." he announced. So that night, I took full advantage of a zucchini (一种南瓜), cut it into chunky(粗大的) pieces and cooked them. Then I covered them with spices. My beef-starved husband had some and a curious look crossed his face.

    "Where's the beef?"

    "Living peacefully somewhere on an open plain where it belongs."

    "I knew it" he murmured. "You've surely made great contributions to the boom in cattle." His taste buds were developed completely around the flavor of every kind of animal: cattle, pigs, deer, lamb, chickens and ducks. Converting him was like feeding grass to a lion.

    I'm all for preserving our planet, but what good would it do to save the earth for tomorrow's generation if today's died of starvation? The next day, we went out for burgers. I was very careful to place the paper bag into our recycling bin.

    When it comes to thrilling places to travel to, the nation of Thailand has got to be at or near the top of the list. The beaches of Thailand are simply amazing. Here is a look at the four best beaches in all of Thailand.

    Maya Bay

    This small beach attracts some huge crowds, but it is still worth a visit thanks to what is widely regarded as some of the best scenery in the entire country. The Maya Bay Beach is located on a small island and is only accessible via boat or passenger ferry.

    Lamai Beach

    For the traveler looking for an unforgettable beach experience during their visit to Thailand, a trip out to Lamai Beach in Samui is a must. The sandy areas are long and wide with plenty of room for everyone. The water is inviting and easy to access.

    Patong Beach

    Patong Beach is not only one of the most beautiful and popular beach in Thailand, but it is the largest beach on the popular island of Phuket. The soft white sand is a great place to relax. Some of the many great activities that travelers can participate it. during a visit to Patong Beach include jet skiing, kayaking, surfing, diving, snorkeling(浮潜) , swimming, and more.

    Haad Rin

    Haad Rin is one of the most popular party spots in the country, for both locals（当地人） and travelers. All month long, during most parts of the year, there are some exceptional entertainment, eating, and socializing opportunities.

    If American waterways had ever been voted on the yearbook, the Buffalo River could easily have been named Ugliest. It could be hard to find hope there. It took decades for public perception of the river to shift. But activist citizens, who collaborated with industry, government, and environment groups never gave up on their polluted river—the Buffalo River gradually went from being considered a lost cause to a place worth fighting for. And by now the cleaned—up water is one of Buffalo's biggest attractions.

    By the 1960s, the river was seen as one of the worst sources of pollution pouring into the Great Lakes. The Buffalo River had caught fire many times. The surface had an oily layer, and any fish caught there were not eatable.

    The waterway's fate started shifting in the mid-1960s. Stanley Spisiak was a local Polish—American jeweler by day, but by evening he was the kind of guy who'd chase down dumpers(垃圾车)he spotted on the Buffalo River. By 1966 he found himself winning the National Wildlife Federation's “Water Conservationist of the Year” award. And before long he got a nickname:“Mr. Buffalo River.” But there was only so much he could do—the river was still declared biologically dead in 1969.

    Jill Spisiak Jedlicka is his great-grandniece. She picks up where he left off by directing the river's protector organization, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper. Professor Schneekloth and seven friends founded the organization as an all-volunteer nonprofit in 1989, after organizing the first river cleanup that year. Today the group employs 27 full-time workers and has helped oversee the Buffalo River's $100 million restoration.

    So far, the Buffalo River's water quality has restored, but it is still an ongoing issue, as sewage(污水)can overflow into the river after storms. Habitat restoration continues as well; fish and plantings are still being sampled to measure how well it's gone.

    Language learning apps are very popular now and offer opportunities to learn vocabulary and practice grammar. But there has been a discussion about just how effective such apps can be.

    Among the most popular apps are Duolingo and Busuu. A previous research found positive results on the use of them. But it mainly concentrates on studies with learners who had signed up for language courses and these apps worked as an after-class support, so the results were not always reliable. A recent study of 4,095 Busuu users has been carried out to find out if users can actually learn a language with an app.

    Busuu provides learning materials for 12 different languages. It offers special models where some contents are available for free while some contents are not, We find that its users are an even mix of men and women. More than half consider themselves to be at the beginner level as there is a decrease in users as their language levels go up. Most people use the app because of personal interest, or because they want to study or live abroad. Females tend to use it less often but for longer periods of time than male users.

    Getting any feedback on Busuu depends on whether your answer is correct or not. While it is helpful, this is not the sort of feedback language teachers prefer, as it does not explain why the answer is right or wrong. In spite of this, feedback in the app is very highly rated.

    More than 92% of the people state that the app has met their expectations and 86% consider the app as very good or good. In fact, more than 80% of the users surveyed strongly agree that using the app has helped them improve their knowledge of the language they are learning.

    Besides, language learning apps also create an environment where mistakes are only known to the users, and this can address the performance anxiety that many learners suffer from when asked to speak a foreign language. So language teachers should encourage their students to use them to do the grammar work, leaving precious class time for more language communication.