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.

    Are you interested in some of the most popular brands such as Beats headphones, True Religion jeans, and UGG shoes? They are also expensive. But some experts say they are not much better than cheaper brands.

    For example, Jim Wilcox works for Consumer Reports. He tested all kinds of headphones. He says that $80 Koss Pro headphones provide basically the same quality and comfort as Beats. So why do people pay twice or even 10 times as much for the hottest brands?

    Experts say it's because fashionable, expensive brands send a message. Brands say “I belong” or “I can afford it.”

    Some people think that expensive brand names are worth the price. They say that some designer clothes are really top quality and that they last longer than cheaper brands. Some teenagers choose to wear popular brands because these brands make them feel good about themselves.

    Alexandra Allam, 17, likes to buy brand-name products. “I'd rather spend the extra money to get something I know I'll be satisfied with,” she says. Her friend Emmy Swan agrees, saying “As long as you can afford it, it seems reasonable to buy what you want.” But not all teenagers agree. “Spending hundreds of dollars for designer sunglasses is stupid and unreasonable,” says Daniel Steinbrecher, 16. “It's fake (假的) happiness.”

    People who are against wearing expensive brand names say that many designer brands aren't any better. “It's wasteful to buy things just because they are popular,” says Edmund Williams, 15. “You'll feel better if you buy things because you like them. If you have extra money to spend, it would be better to give it to people in need.”

    In the world, football is the most popular sport. This is because many countries have wonderful teams for the World Cup. The World Cup is held every four years.

    To remember 2002 FIFA World Cup ,children from different countries and more than 60 children from Japanese schools came together and spent three weekends drawing a big picture called “Dream(梦幻) World Cups ”in Japan .The children drew animals, flowers and people playing football under a blue bright sky. They wished each football team good luck by drawing the flags(旗帜)of all the countries that will take part in the World Cup in Japan and South Korea. The picture was put up in a park near a playground in Yokohama .Some football teams will have games there.

    Are you a football fan(迷)？The World Cup makes more and more people interested in football. Teenagers(青少年)like playing and watching football .Many of them love some football stars so much that they get the pictures of their favorite players on the walls of their rooms. That is the way to show their love for the World Cup as children in Japan.

    Kompong Phhluk Private Tour

    Depart the city for an unspoiled floating community called Kompong Phhluk which is well-known for its stilted-house (吊脚楼) villages and flooded forest.

    Stop on the way for the Rolous Market tour. This is a great chance for you to take the photos of locals selling vegetables, different fish species and other local produce.

    After this market tour we'll all have a boat trip to the floating community of Kompong Phhluk, visit an island pagoda, school and houses standing on 8 or 10m high stilts, fish farms and learn about the village life.

    Stop and have lunch in a family's house before getting into a row boat and venturing into the flooded forest, the habitat to some famous water-bird species.

    Eventually we jump back into the big boat and set off for the largest fresh water lake in SE Asia, Tonle Sap.

    Tour Details

    Departs 8.30am

    Returns around 2pm

    A picnic lunch with sandwiches and drinks is provided. We cannot provide local food from the area due to poor sanitation (卫生设备), lack of hygiene standards and refrigeration.

    No passes required

    Rates

    These rates are based on an English speaking guide.

    Rates include all transport, water and a picnic lunch.

·    Children 11 years and under are 50%.

    Children 4 years and below are free.

    If your group is larger than 5 people please email us for the best rate.

    Number of People Price Per Person

    1 Person  $65

    2 People  $45

    3 People  $40

    4 People  $35

    5 People  $32

    What to Wear

    Please be mindful of your clothing and try to avoid anything too revealing

    We strongly recommend a sunglasses, hat and sunscreen.

    General Information

    This is a poor rural village, please be mindful of the environment.

    Please do not hand things out to villagers, for this leads to creating a begging cycle and can create jealousy.

    We recommend heading to the toilet before you go on this trip as facilities (设施) are very basic.

    Thomas Hardy, probably the most searching and knowledgeable novelist of our time, was born on June 2, 1840, in Dorsetshire, England. He died on January 11, 1928. In his youth, Hardy read much and dreamt of becoming a poet, but he studied and practiced architecture as an assistant to a London architect, winning a prize for design. The fine descriptions of structure in his novels were probably somewhat due to his architectural training.

    For five years he worked hard to practise writing poetry, but when he was twenty-seven, Hardy turned to fiction. His first story was accepted two years later, but upon the advice of George Meredith he decided not to publish it. His first novel, Desperate Remedies, appeared in 1871. During the next twenty-five years he published fourteen novels and two collections of short stories.

    Under the Greenwood Tree (1872) he never surpassed (超越) in happy and delicate perfection of art. This and his next novel, A pair of Blue Eyes (1873), begin to show deep irony (讽刺) which is so obvious throughout Hardy's writings.

    Far from the madding Crowd (1874) was his first popular success. In it is shown Hardy's amazing power of describing nature as symbolic background for his characters, an organic part of the action of his story. This was the earliest of what he called his novels of character and environment, which included The Return of the Native, Tess of D'Urbervilles, his masterpiece, and Jude the Obscure. Not until he was fifty-eight years old was his first collection of poems published, and he was sixty-four when the first part of The Dymats, surprised the literary world.

Three Japanese tourists taking a holiday in Australia got stuck when their GPS told them they could drive from the mainland to an island, failing to mention the 15 kilometres of water and mud in between.

As they drove their hired car from Moreton Bay to nearby North Stradbroke Island, they started to notice the firm surface they were driving on giving way to the well­known bay mud. However, being confident that their GPS would direct them to a road soon, they decided to drive on, managing to travel around 500 metres before their car was up to its tires in mud. To make matters worse, the tide (潮汐) started to come in and soon forced them to seek help and abandon the vehicle. Just four hours later the car was trapped in two metres of water—to the great amusement of onlookers on the shore and passengers on passing boats and ferries.

Yuzu Noda, 21, said she was listening to the GPS and "it told us we could drive down there. It kept saying it would navigate (导航) US to a road. But we got stuck… there's lots of mud". She and her travel companions Tomonari Saeki, 22, and Keita Osada, 21, instead had to give up their plans for a day trip to the island and headed back to the Gold Coast of a lift from the RACQ tow truck (吊车) driver who was called to the trapped car. No such luck for the hired car, though—after assessing the situation, no attempt was made to recover it. The students from Tokyo, who are due to return home tomorrow, said the experience would not put them off returning to Australia for another visit. Mr Tomonari said, "It has rained every day on our six day holiday. Hopefully next time we come back it will be sunny. "

The car was covered by insurance, but the tourists will have to pay up to about $1,500 in extra charges.