This March is a busy month in Shanghai．There's a lot to do．Here are the highlights.

Live Music — Late Night Jazz

    Enjoy real American jazz from Herbie Davis, the famous trumpet player．He's coming with his new 7-piece band, Herbie's Heroes ． Herbie is known to play well into the early hours, so don't expect to get much sleep．This is Herbie's third visit to Shanghai．The first two were sold out, so get your tickets quickly.

PLACE: The Jazz Club DATES: 15—23 March

PRICE: ￥80,120        TIME: 10:00p.m．till late!

TEL: 6466—8736

Scottish dancing

    Take your partners and get ready to dance till you drop． Scottish dancing is fun and easy to learn．Instructors will demonstrate the dances．The live band, Gordon Stroppie and the Weefrees, are also excellent.

PLACE: Jack Stein's            DATES: every Monday

PRICE: Y60 including one drink TIME: 7:00 —0:00 p.m.

TEL: 6402-1877

Exhibitions — Shanghai Museum

    There are 120,000 pieces on show here．You can see the whole of Chinese history under one roof．It's always interesting to visit, but doubly(加倍地) so at the moment with the Egyptian Tombs exhibition．There are lots of mummies and more gold than you've ever seen before．Let us know if you see a mummy move!

PLACE: Shanghai Museum    PRICE: ￥30 (￥15 for students)

TEL: 6888-6888             DATES: daily

TIME: Monday — Friday 9:00a.m．— 5:00p.m., Weekends 9:00a.m. — 9:00p.m.

Dining — Sushi chef in town

    Sushi(寿司) is getting really big in Shanghai．In Japan, it's become an art form．The most famous Sushi "artist" is Yuki Kamura．She's also one of the few female chefs in Japan．She'll be at Sushi Scene all of this month.

PLACE: Sushi Scene in the Shanghai Hotel      DATES: all month

PRICE: ￥200         TIME: lunch time

TEL: 6690-3211

For a full listing of events, see our website.

    The park bench was deserted as I sat down to read beneath the branches of an old willow tree, with good reason to frown, for the world was intent on dragging me down. At this time, a boy approached me. He stood right before me, and said with great excitement, “Look what I found!”

    In his hand was a flower, and what a pitiful sight, with its petals (花瓣) all worn. Wanting him to take his flower and go off to play, I faked a small smile and then turned to the other side.

    But instead of leaving, he sat next to my side and placed the flower to his nose and declared, “It really smells pretty and it's beautiful, too. That's why I picked it. Here, it's for you.”

    The flower before me was dying or dead. But I knew I must take it, or he might never leave. So I reached for the flower, and replied, “Just what I need.”

    But instead of placing the flower in my hand, he held it in mid-air. It was then that I noticed that the boy was blind.

    I heard my voice quiver (轻微颤抖), and at the same time my tears shone like the sun. As I thanked him for picking the very best one, he smiled and said, “You're welcome.” And then he ran off to play, unaware of the impact he'd had on me.

    I sat there and wondered how he managed to see a self-pitying woman beneath an old willow tree. Perhaps from his heart, he'd been blessed with true sight.

    Through the eyes of the blind boy, I could see the problem was not with the world; the problem was me. And for all of those times I had been blind. From now on I vowed to see beauty and appreciate every second that's mine. Then I held the flower up to my nose and breathed its fragrance and smiled as that young boy.

    In the latter part of the 20th century, child labor remains a serious problem in many parts of the world. Studies carried out in 1979, the International Year of the Children, showed that more than 50 million children below the age of 15 were working in various jobs often under dangerous conditions. Many of these children live in underdeveloped countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Their living conditions are crude and their chances for education small. The poor income they bring in, however, is necessary for the survival of their families. Frequently, these families lack the basic necessities of life—adequate food, decent（得体的、合适的）clothing and shelter, and even water for bathing.

    In some countries industrialization has created working conditions for children that are comparable to the worst features of the 19th-century factories and mines. In India, for example, some 20,000 children work 16-hour days in match factories.

    Child-labor problems are not, of course, limited to developing nations. They occur wherever poverty exists in Europe and the United States. The most important efforts to eliminate（根除）child-labor abuses throughout the world come from the International Labor Organization (ILO), founded in 1919 and now a special agency of the United Nations. The organization has introduced several child-labor conventions（规定）among its members, including a minimum（最低）age of 16 years for admission to all work, a higher minimum age of specific types of employment, compulsory（强制的）medical examinations, and It depends on voluntary obedience（服从）of member nations.

    Everybody hates rats (big mice). But in the earthquake capitals of the world — Japan, Los Angeles, Turkey — rats will soon be man's best friends.

    What happens after an earthquake? We send in rescue dogs. Why? Because they can smell people. Dogs save lives. They help rescuers to find living people. But dogs are big and they can't get into small spaces. So now a new research project is using a smaller animal to save lives: the rat.

    How does it work? First, the rat is trained to smell people. When this happens, the rat's brain gives a signal (信号)．This is sent to a small radio on its back, and then the rescuers follow the radio signals. When the rat's brain activity jumps, the rescuers know that someone is alive. The rat has smelled that person.

    Although there are already robots which can do this job, rats are better. Christian Linster at Cornell University, New York, says, "Robots' noses don't work well when there are other smells around. Rats are good at that." Rats can also see in the dark. They are cheaper and quicker to train than dogs, and unlike robots, they don't need electricity!

    The "rat project" is not finished, but Julie Ryan of International Rescue Organization in Scotland says, "It would be wonderful. A rat could get into spaces we couldn't get to, and a rat would get out if it wasn't safe." Perhaps for the first time in history, people will be happy to see a rat in a building (but only after an earthquake, of course).

Emilia Dobek traces her interest in space and the universe back to third grade when she and her father watched a blood moon—a total lunar eclipse (月蚀)—on the roof of their house.

    Now a seventh-grader at East Prairie Elementary School, Dobek recently won the national Discovery Education Lockheed-Martin Beyond Challenge by designing a space station for travelling to Mars.

    She says that night watching the lunar eclipse started a strong desire in her that has yet to run out of fuel. So when her teacher Andrea Smeeton received information about the national challenge, Smeeton said she immediately had one student in mind.

    "I knew she would love the challenge and that she would go way beyond in her search," Smeeton said. "She immediately started researching bone density (密度) of astronauts and how to have food on Mars."

    "My design will ensure the safety of the astronauts but also make sure their comfort is out of this world," Dobek says.

    Dobek's design calls for building the MSS or Mars Storage Station to put the supplies in. It also includes the SGF or Self-Crowing Farm, and she details how it would work with the elements on Mars.

    Then there is physical and leisure activity for the astronauts under Dobek's design. A simulation (模拟装置) allows astronauts to choose their exercise machine and virtual (虚拟的) reality environment. Rooms have circular ceilings so astronauts will be able to watch downloaded shows and even see places on Earth, such as their homes.

    "I want to tell other kids to follow their passions." Dobek said. "Whatever they want to do they should push for it and always try their best."