暑假还学习？学霸也该这样过暑假！

 AF 专栏AF Education 专属博客 Liam Carrigan本文原创译者： 张子霞

暑假还学习？学霸也该这样过暑假！

真的不敢相信我在写这个的时候，时间已经步入六月了。好像数日之前我才在准备圣诞节，夏天竟然就已经来临了。

这个时候世界各地的学校都已经在进行期末考试并准备开始放暑假了。自然，这将会导致大量回家的的孩子突然涌入香港和内地，他们好不容易结束了一个既漫长又令人筋疲力尽的学期，正急切地要跟自己的朋友和家人重逢。

然而，在竞争极度激烈的今天，在国际学术世界里真的有假期存在吗？

对于那些追求最高目标、高分数、有前途的工作机会的人，暑假只是意味着继续之前手头上的工作。

还有人把每次醒来都视为一个重新学习的机会，愿意得到成长，并且把自己全身心都投入到战斗中去。可能会有人说这种人患有过度工作强迫症，又有人说这些人只是单纯地抱着一个“没有做不到的事”的态度，做事积极进取、志在必得而已。

除了社交媒体的激烈讨论之外，我们均能在现实生活中找到很多例子来证明两方面的说法。然而从现实角度来说，一个人是无论如何，都不能一天二十四小时、每个星期七天都持续在做学校功课的，所以保持你的大脑活跃，让你的“学术肌肉”（译者注：大脑）在你离开学校的暑假期间能够得到一定的歇息是至关重要的。

那么，基于这一点，勤恳的学生应该如何在暑假维持他的学习呢？如何能够确保他们可以在两个学期之间得到适当的休息以及复元呢？

我们可以采取一些措施。

首先，计划是一切。

看看你的日历，确切地标出你在回学校之前还有多少天和多少星期你可以留在家里。一般来说，暑假一般持续六周至八周左右。

一旦你知道确切的日期，告诉你的朋友，并且留出最少2-3个星期（大概是你整个假期的三分之一）作一个与学习完全无关的休息。

这是一个度假的理想时间，去一些地方旅行或者只是转换一下风景也好。谨记，这是放假时间，所以无论你做什么，不要学习，不要看教科书和学习功课。后面你会有很多时间做这些事情。想要最大限度地利用这个假期，我建议你用假期中间的时间。这样你可以剩下2-3个星期在假期的两头，然后你会比较容易追赶上你的学习进度。把度假放到暑假的结尾是很诱人，但是这样做反而会不利于你重返学校的学习。任何有驾驶经验的人都会告诉你短时间内从60码加速到80码一定远比从0码加速到60码要舒服得多。所以，在回到繁重的学习之前让你的大脑引擎有效地预热是非常重要的。

不管怎样，你也会希望保持一个轻松的学习计划。别负担过多的学习任务。试着设置一个日常学习时间的上限。我建议每天不超过三或四个小时。这样就足以保持头脑参与学习，并确保你不会忘记任何在新学期可能会运用到的重要公式或者其他信息。

另外，试着把你的学习分散在一天的活动当中。在上午学习一到两个小时，然后是一个长长的、悠闲的午餐休息，最好是呆在阳光下的某个地方，那就理想了。据说花太多时间在书桌上的学生容易出现维生素D缺乏，因为它纯粹是因为缺乏自然光照射导致的。所以出去享受阳光吧。不论是出去走一走还是去做一些体育运动，当你不学习的时候就试着外出吧。

当你进入学习时间的时候，建立你个人的学习空间是很有帮助的。简单的事情如确保你的椅子有合适的高度和角度，以及你的桌子的大小足以容纳所有你的材料其实都能不可估量地帮到你。

试着把自己远离一切潜在的干扰，把电视机、录音机或音响从自己的房间挪出去。当然你可能会需要用你的笔记本电脑搜索资料，但不是用优酷！

毕竟，我们都知道被干扰是很容易的。一开始你其实是想看看牛顿三大定律的讲解视频的，结果三个小时之后你才找到答案。这并不是因为这些定律有多难，而是因为你“不小心”点开了优酷首页的那个《奔跑吧兄弟》的视频，以及看完这个以后出现的《猜你喜欢》视频！

或者只有我才是那样容易受到干扰吗？

要确定房间里有足够的自然光，并且通风良好。 我再说一次这不但是帮助你集中精神还会让你放松。手边再放一杯喝的，最理想的是你每次学习都喝同样的饮料。正如我在先前发表的博客里所说，持续饮用相同的饮料，相似的香气会激发你大脑中的记忆感受器，让你之前已经消化吸收的信息和公式更容易被大脑提取出来。

总之，保持一个工作和生活的平衡吧，毕竟，这个时间被称作“暑假”是有原因的！

英文版

Summer Studies: Making the most of your summer break

I can’t believe that as I write this, we are already heading into June. It seems like just a few days ago I was preparing for Christmas and already summer is well and truly upon us.

Across the world now schools and colleges are winding down in preparation for the end of term and the beginning of the summer recess. Naturally, this will also lead to a great influx of returning students to Hong Kong and China, eager to catch up with their friends and family after a long and grueling semester at school.

However, in today’s ultra-competitive world of international academia is there ever really such a thing as a holiday?

For those in pursuit of the highest goals, the best grades and the most promising career opportunities, it is much more a case of continuing as we mean to go on.

For some, every waking moment is another opportunity to learn, to grow and to set one’s self aside from the competition. Some might say this is a form of obsessive over-work, others would say that these individuals are simply “aggressive, go-getters” with a “can-do attitude”.

Social media buzzwords aside, there are compelling cases to make for both sides of the argument. Whilst one cannot, realistically be engaged in constant school work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it is important to keep the brain actively engaged and your academic muscles sufficiently flexed during an extended period of leave from school such as the summer recess.

So, with this in mind, what can conscientious students do to maintain their studies during the summer, whilst still ensuring that they achieve adequate levels of rest and recuperation between the end of the summer semester and the beginning of the autumn semester?

There are a number of steps we can take.

Firstly, planning is everything.

Take a look at your calendar and map out exactly how many days and weeks you have at home before you need to return to school. In most cases, the holiday will probably be somewhere between 6 to 8 weeks.

Once you know the schedule exactly, talk it over with your family and friends and mark off at least 2-3 weeks (approximately one third of your total vacation time) for a complete break from studies.

This is the ideal time to take a holiday, do some travelling or just generally give yourself a change of scenery. Remember though, this is vacation time, so whatever you do, no studying, no textbooks and no schoolwork. There will be plenty of time for that later on.

To get the most out of this holiday period, I recommend taking this break somewhere in the middle of your recess time. That way you can leave 2 or 3 weeks on either side of your holiday to both wind down, and then get back up to speed with your studies.

It can be tempting to place the holiday towards the end of your summer break, however, doing this could adversely affect you when you return to school. Anyone who has driven a car before will tell you that it is far more comfortable to accelerate from 60 to 80 kilometers per hour than it is to go from 0 to 60 in a short space of time. So, it’s important to get your brain’s engine sufficiently warmed up again before diving back into the thick of it with your studies.

However, you will also want to keep your study plan light. Don’t overload yourself with too much work. Try to set a daily maximum. I would recommend no more than 3 or 4 hours per day. This is enough to keep the mind engaged and ensure you don’t forget any of the essential formulae or other information you acquired during the previous term.

Also, try to spread your study out over the course of a day. Doing one or two hours in the morning, followed by a long, leisurely lunch break, preferably somewhere outside in the sunshine, is ideal. Students who spend too much time behind a desk in summertime have been known to occasionally suffer vitamin D deficiency, which comes purely from a lack of exposure to natural light. So get out there and enjoy the sun. Whether it’s going for a walk or playing some sports, try to get out and about when you aren’t studying.

When it comes time to study, it helps to create your own personal study space. Simple things like ensuring your chair is the right height and pitch, and that your desk is big enough to accommodate all your required materials helps immeasurably.

Try to free yourself from potential distractions by removing any TV, radio or stereo equipment from the room. Of course you may need your laptop for research purposes, but no You Tube!

After all, we all know how easy it is to be distracted. You start off researching modern economics models and before you know it you’ve wasted 3 hours watching angry movie reviews from various sad people unable to let go of their childhoods!

Or is that just me?

Make sure there is plenty of natural light in the room and it is well ventilated too. Again this is all about keeping yourself focused but also relaxed. Keep a drink with you too, ideally the same drink each time you study. As I’ve mentioned before in previous posts, consistently using the same drink, with a familiar aroma will help to activate the memory receptors in your brain and enable you to better recall information and formulae you have previously assimilated.