Jeffrey Hall, a teacher of Communications from the University of Kansas (KU), has used his research to define the exact amount of time necessary to make friends with someone. He's also found how long it will take to deepen a relationship. His new study found that it takes around 50 hours of time together to go from being someone's acquaintance to casual friend. It takes about 90 hours to go from being casual friends to friends, and more than 200 hours before considering someone a close friend or best friend.
But it isn't spending just any kind of time together that deepens a friendship—hours spent working together, for example, don't count as much as hours spent getting to know someone by hanging out, joking around, playing video games, and doing more playful activities. The study explains that these kinds of activities help us to form a deeper connection with someone. "We have to put that time in," Hall said. "You can't make friends without any effort."
The results of the study come from analysis of 355 responses to an online survey from adults who said they had moved in the last six months and were looking for new friends in their new environment. Survey participants were asked about new relationships as well as hours spent together and activities they did. They were then asked to rate their resulting relationships according to one of four stages: acquaintance, casual friend, friend and close friend.
The main conclusion that Hall came to is that making close friends takes serious effort. So if you want to have some best friends, you have to know that spending time with someone is the most important thing.
Getting stuck in a traffic jam is one of the most boring problems for people living in big cities. The fact that you're moving so slowly leads to stress, anger and the wish that your car could just fly over the traffic like an airplane.
Soon, however, that wish could come true. On May 8, US carrenting company Uber showed off what it described as "the transportation mode of the future: ondemand air transport", reported ABC News.
According to Nikhil Goel, head of products for Uber Air, the company's air taxi service may launch test flights in the US cities of Dallas and Los Angeles, as well as Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, as early as 2020. If everything goes according to plan, passengers will be able to fly to work by 2023.
When the Olympics comes to Los Angeles in 2028, Uber "expects to have hundreds, if not thousands, of its aircraft in the skies," Goel told Newsweek.
So what would Uber's flying vehicles be like?
They are small, electric aircrafts that take off and land vertically (垂直地), and they give off zero emissions (排放物) and are quiet enough to operate in cities.
Just like an airplane, the vehicles will have fixed wings to help them glide. But while a helicopter has just one big fixed rotor (旋翼), Uber's vehicles will have multiple rotors, which will help increase efficiency (效率) while reducing emissions and noise.
Because of these fixed wings and multiple rotors, Uber's flying taxis "should be quieter and safer than a helicopter," reported ABC News.
However, the service still has a long way to go before it's ready to accept passengers. For example, to avoid any potential accidents, Uber is working with NASA to study air traffic control problems associated with lowflying aircraft. But just as an expert commented, "This programme is revolutionary and futureoriented (面向未来的)."
Cities are (excite) and wonderful places to live. I have always enjoyed (live) in them, as there is so much (do) and see. There are museums, cinemas, theatres, art galleries, parks, clubs and many other places where people can meet and exchange (idea). But there are times I need the peace and quiet of the countryside. Cities are (interest), and they can be beautiful, they are never beautiful in the way that the countryside is. By this I mean that they do not have the (beautiful) of nature, trees and hills, lakes and streams. I love cities, but sometimes I need to get out into the countryside. I think that there (be) many people who feel same way.
