George Gershwin, born in 1998, was one of America's greatest composers. He published his first song when he was eighteen years old. During the next twenty years he wrote more than five hundred songs.

Many of Gershwin's songs were first written for musical plays performed in theatres in New York City. These plays were a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s and 1930s. Many of his songs have remained popular as ever. Over the years they have been sung and played in every possible way — from jazz to country.

    In the 1920s there was a debate in the United States about jazz music. Could jazz, some people asked, be considered serious music? In 1924 jazz musician and orchestra leader Paul Whiteman decided to organize a special concert to show that jazz was serious music. Gershwin agreed to compose something for the concert before he realized he had just a few weeks to do it. And in that short time, he composed a piece for piano and orchestra which he called Rhapsody in Blue. Gershwin himself played the piano at the concert. The audience were thrilled when they heard his music. It made him world-famous and showed that jazz music could be both serious and popular.

    In 1928, Gershwin went to Paris. He applied to study composition (作曲)with the well-known musician Nadia Boulanger, but she rejected him. She was afraid that classical study would ruin his jazz-influenced style. While there, Gershwin wrote An American in Paris. When it was first performed, critics (评论家)were divided over the music. Some called it happy and full of life, to others it was silly and boring. But it quickly became popular in Europe and the United States. It still remains one of his most famous works.

    George Gershwin died in 1937, just days after doctors learned he had brain cancer. He was only thirty-nine years old. Newspapers all over the world reported his death on their front pages. People mourned the loss of the man and all the music he might have still written.

                                                                             Bread Garrett's Comedy Club

    Category: Comedy

    Best known for his role on the Emmy award -winning sitcom（情景喜剧）Everybody Loves Raymond, Brad Garrett returns to his Vegas roots with his comedy club at the MGM Grand. It is a good place to check out when you need a break from work.

    Prices from: $56.40 and up

    Age restriction: Must be 21 years of age or older

    Show Length: 115 minutes

    Mac King Comedy Magic Show

    Category: Comedy, Magic

    The Mac King Comedy Magic Show is different every afternoon, with lots of audience participation. He is willing to make fun of himself instead of his guests in order to make everyone feel welcome and entertained. The afternoon is kid-friendly from start to finish. Still, whether you're eight or 80, you won't be able to figure out King's secrets.

    Prices from: $40.90 and up

    Age restriction: No age restriction

    Show Length: 90 minutes

    The Mentalist, Gerry McCambridge

    Category: Comedy, Magic

    Using his skills as a “mentalist”, Gerry McCambridge shocks the crowds as he uses his abilities to predict just what audience members will do next. Anyone who has seen the show has walked away in disbelief, amazed by his unusual power.

    Prices from: $34.99 and up

    Age restriction: Under 13 will not be admitted into the theater

    Show Length: 75 minutes

    Rock of Ages

    Category: Plays & Musicals

    The cheerful Rock of Ages brings audiences back to the times of big hair and even bigger bands with 28 popular rock songs from the 80s including Every Rose Has Its Thom, I Wanna Know What Love Is, Here I Go Again, and more.

    Rock of Ages has been nominated（提名）for five Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical. It also received a Drama League nomination for Distinguished Production for a Musical.

    Prices from: $74.00 and up

    Age restriction: Must be 15 years of age or older

    Show Length: 125 minutes

    "The history of the world is but the biography (传记) of great men," argued Thomas Carlyle, the advocate of what has come to be known as the "Great Man Theory of History." This theory suggests that the broader movements and outline of history all go back to the leadership of great individuals who had unique influence on their times. Whether or not Carlyle's theory proves true is debatable, but that certain individuals cast long shadows is not.

    As one who is entrusted with a leadership position, I find it profitable to read of others who have led. Wherever you find me, you'll likely find a good biography nearby. Why is this the case? First, I find good biographies fascinating. I'll occasionally read a novel, but I've never been overly drawn to fiction. I have found myself unable to sleep while in the struggle of the Battle of Britain in William Manchester's The Last Lion. For me, not to read biographies would rob me of pleasure in my life.

    Second, I find good biographies informative. A good biographer tells not only the story of a person, but also of their times. Reading a good biography is like wandering through an intellectual shopping mall. The first store is what drew you there, but you will be pleasantly surprised along the way at what other items grab your attention. You'll find no better account of the British Empire at its peak than the opening chapters of Manchester's Visions of Glory, volume one of his The Last Lion. Strictly speaking, a biography is but a slice of history.

    Third, I find good biographies relaxing. Winston Churchill once noted a man who works with his hands should have a hobby that engages his mind, and a man who works with his mind should have a hobby that engages his hands. Another way to apply Churchill's saying is to combine technical, pen-in-hand vocational reading with leisurely biographical reading. Indeed, few things are more relaxing to me than winding down the evening and entering into another world.

    This is why I love reading good biographies, and why I pity the person who neglects them. Don't be counted among their number.

    It is obvious that all of our childhood memories are not accidental. When you are a child, every scent, every sound, every move, every toy, the first day of school, the first kiss, the first step… Everything together makes what is the personality of a man. All these are pieces of one whole entity.

    I was about 6 years old. My mom's best friend left to another town and asked my mom to stay at her place with me for two days in order to look after her two sons. One was a little older than I was, and the second boy appeared to be super grown-up, for he was already fourteen. I always enjoyed staying at their place.

    I remember the second day we were supposed to have the come-back party for my mom's friend at her place. I woke up. Mom went to work and reminded me to be nice and clean by the time she came back. I stayed with Tony, the older of the boys and suddenly somebody called him and though he was not permitted to leave me alone-he left. He said it would not be long. But it took him forever. I realized that I was alone. I could not come out of the house, so I opened the window. I was so desperate. So lonely. So betrayed. At that moment I pulled the curtain so strongly that I fell on the floor. And there I was standing-one little criminal-desperate to escape and knowing that I would be punished for destroying the curtain that was not even ours.

But then something changed. I stopped weeping. I looked around and realized that I was in a safe place, and that mom would come back and kiss me no matter what I had done.

    This was a moment of pure happiness, not the happiness of getting a new toy or a dog, or going to the party of your best friend. It was the moment of clarity for me-the first time in my life when I realized that I was happy to have my mom and that I was safe. My eyes saw the world in different shades that moment. And by the way-I was not punished for the curtain. I fell asleep on my mom's knees.

    Londoners are great readers. They buy vast numbers of newspapers and magazines and of books-especially paperbacks, which are still comparatively cheap in spite of ever­increasing rises in the costs of printing. They still continue to buy "proper" books, too, printed on good paper and bound (装订) between hard covers.

    There are many streets in London containing shops which specialize in book­selling. Perhaps the best known of these is Charring Cross Road in the very heart of London. Here bookshops of all sorts and sizes are to be found, from the celebrated one which boasts of being "the biggest bookshop in the world" to the tiny, dusty little places which seem to have been left over from Dickens' time. Some of these shops stock, or will obtain, any kind of books, but many of them specialize in second­hand books, in art books, in foreign books, in books on philosophy, politics or any other of the countless subjects about which books may be written. One shop in this area specializes only in books about ballet!

    Although it may be the most convenient place for Londoners to buy books, Charring Cross Road is not the cheapest. For the really cheap second­hand books, the collector must venture off the beaten track, to Farringdon Road, for example, in the East Central district of London. Here there is nothing so impressive as bookshops. The booksellers come along each morning and pour out their sacks of books onto small handcarts. And the collectors, some professionals and some amateurs, have been waiting for them. In places like this they can still, occasionally, pick up for a few pence an old one that may be worth many pounds.

    While famous foreign architects are invited to lead the designs of landmark buildings in China such as the new CCTV tower and the National Center for the Performing Arts, many excellent Chinese architects are making great efforts to take the center stage.

    Their efforts have been proven fruitful. Wang Shu, a 49-year-old Chinese architect, won the 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize—which is often referred to as the Nobel Prize in architecture—on February 28. He is the first Chinese citizen to win this award.

    Wang serves as head of the Architecture Department at the China Academy of Art (CAA). His office is located at the Xiangshan campus (校园) of the university in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Many buildings on the campus are his original creations.

    The style of the campus is quite different from that of most Chinese universities. Many visitors were amazed by the complex architectural space and abundant building types. The curves (曲线) of the buildings perfectly match the rise and fall of hills, forming a unique view.

    Wang collected more than 7 million abandoned bricks of different ages. He asked the workers to use traditional techniques to make the bricks into walls, roofs and corridors. This creation attracted a lot of attention thanks to its mixture of modern and traditional Chinese elements (元素).

    Wang's works show a deep understanding of modern architecture and a good knowledge of traditions. Through such a balance, he had created a new type of Chinese architecture, said Tadao Ando, the winner of the 1995 Pritzker Prize.

    Wang believes traditions should not be sealed in glass boxes at museums. "That is only evidence that traditions once existed," he said.

    "Many Chinese people have a misunderstanding of traditions. They think tradition means old things from the past. In fact, tradition also refers to the things that have been developing and that are still being created," he said.

    "Today, many Chinese people are learning Western styles and theories rather than focusing on Chinese traditions. Many people tend to talk about traditions without knowing what they really are," said Wang.

    The study of traditions should be combined with practice. Otherwise, the recreation of traditions would be artificial and empty, he said.