Doing well in high school prepares students for life in college and beyond, so achieving student success is important. High school students learn valuable information from class lectures and homework, and by asking for help when it is needed. Being prepared for tests and engaging in school activities can help a student to achieve success in high school.

    Complete any homework you are assigned on time. Then, if you need help understanding a concept you will have plenty of time to get help.

    Create a study area in your home. This can be a quiet bench outside or a seating area in your room. If you like to listen to music while studying, listen to classical or relaxing music. Be sure to have plenty of lighting in the area to read your textbook or notes.

    Keep a schedule. If you have extra-curricular activities like sports or school meetings, make sure to schedule your homework and study time around them. Keeping a schedule will allow you to get better grades while they are having fun in high school.

    Eat breakfast. Having breakfast each morning before school will give you energy and brain function to pay better attention in class. Eat snacks during study sessions to keep alert and focused on your work.

    Create a study group to help fellow high school students and get help if you need it. Studying with others will help reinforce concepts and information, and if you need help there will always be someone there to help you before you get behind in your studies.

    Set up after-school hours with your teacher if you need extra tutoring. Visiting a teacher for one-on-one time before a test will help you nail down those last few concepts you need help with.

    Do you ever wonder why trees begin to bud (发芽) earlier in some cities? Scientists finally found the answer but it's not very pleasant. New science suggests a relationship between light pollution and the timing when trees produce buds, which signals the arrival of the spring season.

    Light pollution is defined by the Lighting Research Center as the unwanted consequence of outdoor lighting such as street lights. Excessive (过多的) man-made light at night results in disturbed natural cycles, and also prevents the observation of stars and planets at night. But its effect on the environment goes beyond that.

    By studying some trees, researchers found out that trees that are more exposed to artificial lighting at night bud up to 7.5 days earlier than those at the natural nighttime setting. And they found out that light had a more significant effect than temperature when the buds came out. The early budding may cause problems for insects, which feed on leaves, and the birds which then feed on them in turn. Professor Richard, who helped lead the research, explained that more than the budding of trees, the study implies the danger to the balance of the ecosystem. “At the moment, caterpillars (毛毛虫) are timed to hatch to make the most of the opportunities to feed on freshly budded leaves, and birds hatch in time to feed on the young caterpillar,” he said.

    Migratory (迁徙的) birds are also negatively affected by light pollution. The glare might confuse them and make them lose their flying sense. The phenomenon might explain why some birds accidentally knock into buildings.

    Such results stress the need to pursue studies that aim to measure the effect of light pollution. If the issue were left to continue, it is estimated that by 2100, spring would begin almost a full month earlier than it does today.

    While you might not realize it, the environment where you sleep can make a great difference in the actual quality of sleep that you get every night. With a few simple lifestyle changes, you can create a healthy sleep environment that helps improve your sleep quality.

    Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, even on weekends, holidays and days off. Studies show that people who do so are more rested than those who sleep irregularly (不规律地).

    Go to sleep only when you start to feel sleepy. If you don't fall asleep within about 15 minutes, get up and do something relaxing. Go back to bed when you are tired.

    Pay attention to what you eat and drink. Don't go to bed either hungry or stuffed. Your discomfort might keep you up. Avoid caffeine (咖啡因) 6 hours before you sleep. Having a cup of coffee within a few hours of bed time can keep you awake for hours when you are trying to sleep. Coffee isn't the only product containing caffeine. Avoid chocolate and tea, too. Also limit (限制) how much you drink before bed to prevent trips to the toilet at night.

    Many people turn on the TV before they go to bed. TV influences your natural sleep habits by making you stay up longer than you usually would, especially if you are watching something exciting. Instead of turning on the TV, read a book. Light reading before bed can help you fall into a deep sleep quickly.

    If you suffer from serious sleep problems, go to your doctor. Your doctor will help treat the problem or may advise you to see a sleep specialist.

    Two graduates from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom found themselves about to graduate, yet with loans to pay off. The pair decided to begin a strange, year-long project to battle their debt.

    The men, Ross Harper and Edward Moyse, set up the website BuyMyFace.com last October as a way to get rid of the £50, 000 they shared as student loans. The idea behind the project was to earn money by selling their faces as advertising space every day for a year. Each day, they advertise a different business by painting the brand's name or logo onto their faces and upload the pictures to the homepage of BuyMyFace.com, adding a link to the advertiser's website and including a short piece of text about it. After they paint their faces and publish them on the website, Harper and Moyse go out to highly populated areas such as music festivals and theme parks to maximize their faces' exposure. They hope more people will pay attention to the advertisements on their faces.

    At this time, Harper and Moyse have advertised their faces for over four months without skipping a day and they're more than halfway to their goal. Though they first started charging a minimum of about £1.60 per company, the prices have risen as their popularity increases. For advertising space during the rest of April, they range between £250 and £750. Terri L. Rittenburg, associate professor of marketing at the University of Wyoming, said that she had heard of people tattooing (纹身) logos on themselves before, but this idea is much better. According to her, at first the idea would be new and unusual and attract attention. People are interested in this particular style of advertisement and would like to try what they advertise. But she is unsure how long it would last.

    At least for now, companies that have bought Harper and Moyse's faces have written positive comments on the pair's website. "We had a three percent increase in website traffic on the very day and for two days more afterwards," said one of the companies.

    The Huaqing Palace Heritage Site

    Address: At the foot of Lishan Mountain in Lintong, 30 kilometers east of Xi'an.

    Opening hours: From March to November: 7:00-18:00;

    From December to February: 7:30-18:30.

    Bus routes: 914, 915, U5, and 306.

In a normal year, Dayna Reber, a business analyst for a technology consulting firm in Camp Hill, Penn., would finish reading around three books. Thanks to the way Covid-19 has completely changed her daily routine, however, Ms. Reber, 30—who now works from home and rarely socializes offline—has polished off 46 volumes so far in 2020. And that count doesn't include the bedtime stories she reads to her 4-year-old.

For Ms. Reber and others, lockdown has brought back a passion for reading, both as beneficial time-filler when stuck at home and as a trusty escape. "When the coronavirus hit, I just felt a need to get away from TV and screens."

If binge (放纵地) reading hasn't fully replaced binge-watching Netflix shows quite yet, the trend is certainly making strides. In August 2020, year-over-year sales of print books in the U.S. were up 13%, according to NPD BookScan, which tracks book sales across the U.S. Publishers also report a notable increase in purchases of e-books, as well as all books about politics or related to civil rights, racism and diversity.

Independent booksellers, as well as publishers and authors, deserve considerable credit for fueling the page-turning trend. In March, Octavia Books introduced free shipping or delivery within New Orleans on orders of $25 or more. The bookstore also hosts author events via Zoom. And in Illinois, Page 1 Books established a subscription service, where customers fill out an online profile, noting their literary tastes, and then receive a package each month, a mix of hardcovers and paperbacks.

Jamie Miller, 34, a book blogger and "book-stagrammer" who lives in Harleysville, Penn, has long been a committed reader, but she says the hobby has meant far more importance this year. She now schedules a block of time every morning to read, typically a love or vivid novel. "Everything became so chaotic around me that it was just like what can I control?" said Ms. Miller. "My brain just wants something guaranteed to be a happy ending."