Some of the world's most famous musicians recently gathered in Paris and New Orleans to celebrate the first annual International Jazz Day. UNESCO( United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) recently set April 30 as a day to raise awareness of jazz music, its significance, and its potential as a unifying(联合) voice across cultures.

    Despite the celebrations, though, in the U.S. the jazz audience continues to shrink and grow older, and the music has failed to connect with younger generations.

    It's Jason Moran's job to help change that. As the Kennedy Center's artistic adviser for jazz, Moran hopes to widen the audience for jazz, make the music more accessible, and preserve its history and culture.

    ＂Jazz seems like it's not really a part of the American appetite,＂ Moran tells National Public Radio's reporter Neal Conan. ＂What I'm hoping to accomplish is that my generation and younger start to reconsider and understand that jazz is not black and write anymore. It's actually color, and it's actually digital.＂

    Moran says one of the problems with jazz today is that the entertainment aspect of the music has been lost. ＂The music can't be presented today the way it was in 1908 or 1958. It has to continue to move, because the way the world works is not the same,＂ says Moran.

    Last year, Moran worked on a project that arranged Fats Waller's music for a dance party, ＂just to kind of put it back in the mind that Waller is dance music as much as it is concert music,＂ says Moran. ＂For me, it's the recontextualization. In music, where does the emotion(情感) lie? Are we, as humans, gaining any insight(感悟) on how talk about ourselves and how something as abstract as a Charlie Parker record gets us into a dialogue about our emotions and our thoughts? Sometimes we lose sight that the music has a wider context,＂ says Moran, ＂so I want to continue those dialogues. Those are the things I want to foster.＂

    Scientists from the University of East Anglia have identified four new man-made gases that are contributing to the damage to the ozone(臭氧) layer. Two of the gases are accumulating at a rate that is causing concern among researchers.

    Worries over the growing ozone hole have seen the production of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases restricted since the mid 1980s. But the precise origin of these new, similar substances remains a mystery.

    Lying in the atmosphere, the ozone layer plays a critical role in blocking harmful UV rays, which cause cancers in humans and reproductive problems in animals.

    Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey were the first to discover a huge “hole” in the ozone over Antarctica in 1985. The evidence quickly pointed to CFC gases, which were invented in the 1920s, and were widely used in refrigeration. Extraordinarily, global action was rapidly agreed to deal with CFCs and the Montreal Protocol to limit these substances came into being in 1987. A total global ban on production came into force in 2010.

    Now, the newly discovered four new gases can destroy ozone and are getting into the atmosphere from as yet unidentified sources. Three of the gases are CFCs and one is a hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC), which can also damage ozone.

    The research has shown that four gases were not around in the atmosphere at all until the 1960s, which suggests they are man-made. The scientists discovered the gases by analyzing polar snow pack. Air from this snow is a natural archive of what was in the atmosphere up to 100 years ago. There searchers also looked at modern air samples, collected at remote Cape Grim in Tasmania.

    They estimate that about 74,000 tonnes of these gases have been released into the atmosphere. Two of the gases are accumulating at significant rates. However, they don't know where the new gases are being released from and this should be investigated. Possible sources include chemicals for insecticide (杀虫剂)production and solvents (溶液) for cleaning electronic components. The three CFCs are being destroyed very slowly in :the atmosphere—so even if emissions (散发)were to stop immediately, they will still be around for many decades to come.

    Of the four species identified, CFC-113a seems the most worrying as there is a very small but growing emission source somewhere, maybe from agricultural insecticides. We should find it and take it out of production.

    Alexa is a form of artificial intelligence, or AI for short. Many people start their mornings by asking Alexa for the weather forecast or the latest news. A device(设备) that houses Alexa can also play music from your favorite playlists, keep a shopping list, order takeout food, answer questions, send messages and even run “smart” home controls.

    Training AI systems to respond to problems with human-like intelligence and learn from their mistakes can take months, or even years. Consider Alexa and similar software, such as Apple's Siri. To do the tasks its human owners ask, these systems must make sense of and then respond to sentences such as, “Alexa, play my Ed Sheeran playlist” or “Siri, what is the capital of India?”

    Computers can't understand language as it is spoken by people. So AI researchers must find a way to help humans communicate with computers. The technology used to get computers to “understand” human speech or text is known as natural language processing. By natural language, computer scientists refer to the way people naturally talk or write. To teach an AI system a task like comprehending(理解) a sentence or responding to a person 's last move in a board game, scientists need to feed it lots of examples.

AlphaGo is an AI system designed by Google that has beaten a human champion, Lee Sedol, at the strategy(策略) board game Go. To train AlphaGo, Google had to show it 30 million Go moves that people had made while playing the game. Then AlphaGo used what it learned to analyze those plays as it played against different versions (版本) of itself. During this practice, the program came up with new moves—ones never seen in games between people.

    The phone ID flashed，“Emergency Vet”.“ Oh no” I whispered. I could not lose Merlin now.

    Ron and I had tried to have children for a long time with depressing results. I threw myself into my work. Any maternal feelings I had were spent on Merlin.

    I couldn't wait to get home from work each night. I wanted to pick up that warm bundle of loving fur and nestle him. I wanted to sing “Rock-a-bye Merlin”，as I did every night as he would put his paws around my neck.

    Merlin was my comfort especially at times when I wondered if God was listening. But last night something had changed. Not only did I sing “Rock-a-Bye M1erlin”,but I asked, you 're gone？”

    Although Merlin was 19 years old, a senior in the· age of a cat, he didn't look or act that way. I didn't want to accept the fact that he was nearing the end of his lifetime. My job at the law firm was so demanding and stressful that I couldn't imagine getting through the day without Merlin waiting to greet me at home.

    I dialed the vet's number. I asked for my husband but he already left. Then I took a breath and asked the question that no one wants to ask，“Is my Merlin still alive？”The nurse said“ yes.”

    Ron came home and said that Merlin had almost no red blood cells left. White blood cells were replacing them. Merlin would need expensive transfusions most likely on a monthly basis. We both knew Merlin was running out of time. I asked Ron to drive me to the vet so I could say goodbye to my little boy cat but he was beat tired and it was late. Ron said if Merlin was still alive he next morning then he would take me to the vet.

    The next morning I called the vet. Merlin had survived the night. After driving to the vet, I went into the examining room. The nurse brought Merlin and placed him on an examining table on his side. His eyes were tightly shut. I thought he died already. I carefully edged my hand to reach his body. His body felt warm, but when I spoke his name there was no response. No response to his name or that I was there and that I loved him. I was extremely sad. In that examining room I felt helpless. I wondered how many people in an examining room felt as helpless as I did. Feeling driven to prayer I yelled, “God this isn't good enough. I need to see my Merlin the way I remember him, I need a miracle and I need it now！”

    At that moment, God granted a miracle. Merlin's favorite compliment entered my mind. I said, “Merlin, you are beautiful and you are gorgeous, do you hear me？”

One eye opened.

    I said “Gotcha”. I kept repeating those words.

    Merlin opened the other eye and, one limb at a time, got up. He was waiting for that phrase. He wanted to hear that he was beautiful and gorgeous again.

    Then I experienced another miracle.

    There was no sound in that examining room until Merlin started walking to me. From out of nowhere, or maybe from heaven, I clearly heard a song we sung in church often: “It Is Well With My Soul.” I remember叫thinking，“Yes, it is well with my soul. I got to see my little boy cat one more time.”

    Merlin walked to me. He put his face in mine, which he had never done before. He rubbed a circle around my face twice. Merlin said goodbye with his face and marked me for life.

    Ron appeared shocked that Merlin was up and had walked to me. I said to Merlin，“Tell God you are a good boy and how much we love you”and then handed him back to the nurse.

    Tears of gratitude poured forth in memory of a miracle. You see for nineteen years God spoke to me through a special cat named granted a miracle. That miracle gave me time to say goodbye.

    Teen Tour Camps at SummerCamps.com

    Rock-N-Water Christian Camps

    Lotus, California, United States      Duration: 4 weeks

    Founded in 1989, Rock-N-Water is a group of highly trained Christians who want to impact young people with the joy of God's Living Word. We focus our program on biblical principles, and we use the help of nature, friendship, and challenge to develop character and have ridiculous amounts of fun.

    Odyssey Expeditions: Caribbean

    Road Town, Tortola        Duration: 3 weeks

    Odyssey Expeditions offers tropical sailing and scuba diving adventures for teenagers, with marine biology, water sports, and scuba certifications at exciting Caribbean locations. Established in 1995, Odyssey is the best opportunity to safely explore the Caribbean aboard a beautiful sailing catamaran. No experience necessary. Reserve your spot before availability. Small groups of 9-12 allow you to have the most fun!

    The G2 Academy Golf Camp

    Bluffton, South Carolina       Duration: variable

    The summer program at G2 is designed specifically for girls empowering them for their future success. Students can join weekly sessions or stay the entire summer! While participating in the G2 Academy Summer Program, students receive G2 Proprietary Training in golf, mental toughness, physical fitness, nutrition, and empowerment.

    Berklee's Aspire: Music Performance Intensive

    Boston, Massachusetts, United States         Duration: 5 weeks

    Berklee's Aspire will give you a taste of Berklee, the preeminent institute of contemporary music and the performing arts. Whether you are in middle school, high school, or beyond, there is a Berklee summer program in music, theater, and/or dance for you. You'll enjoy access to Berklee's state-of-the-art facilities as you learn from faculty who are the very best at what they do, joined by students from all over the world.

    Spring is coming, and it is time for those about to graduate to look for jobs. Competition is tough, so job seekers must carefully consider their personal choices. Whatever we are wearing, our family and friends may accept us, but the workplace may not.

    A high school newspaper editor said it is unfair for companies to discourage visible tattoos (纹身), nose rings, or certain dress styles. It is true you can't judge a book by its cover, yet people do "cover" themselves in order to convey certain messages. What we wear, including tattoos and nose rings, is an expression of who we are. Just as people convey messages about themselves with their appearances, so do companies. Dress standards exist in the business world for a number of reasons, but the main concern is often about what customers accept.

    Others may say how to dress is a matter of personal freedom, but for businesses it is more about whether to make or lose money. Most employers do care about the personal appearances of their employees, because those people represent the companies to their customers.

    As a hiring manager I am paid to choose the people who would make the best impression on our customers. There are plenty of well-qualified candidates, so it is not wrong to reject someone who might disappoint my customers. Even though I am open-minded, I can't expect all our customers are.

    There is nobody to blame but yourself if your set of choices does not match that of your preferred employer. No company should have to change to satisfy a candidate simply because he or she is unwilling to respect its standards, as long as its standards are legal.