A guiding principle for master cellist Yo-Yo Ma is that “the intersection(交汇) of cultures is where new things appear.” Certainly his biography is an intersection of cultures. He was born to Chinese parents in Paris, France; both his parents were musicians. When he was seven, his family moved to the United States. Gifted for his age, Ma attended Juilliard, the world famous music institute. He then chose to earn a liberal arts degree at Harvard rather than focusing only on music.

    Even in his earliest performing years, Yo-Yo Ma had a strong belief that it was important to share music with all kinds of people. Stories are told about how he once performed in the hallway of a large building for people who were unable to get tickets to his concert. He remained interested in making music accessible to diverse audiences and furthered his interest in different cultures when he visited the Bushmen of the Kalahari. He developed a vehicle to further these ideals when he founded the Silk Road Project.

    As he has said, the Silk Road is a metaphor(隐喻) for a number of things: as the Internet of ancient times, the routes were used for trade, by religious people, adventurers, scientists, storytellers. Everything from algebra to Islam moved along the Silk Road. It's the local-global thing. In the cultural world, you want to make sure that voices don't get lost, that rich traditions continue to live, without becoming common.

    This lesson explores the philosophy behind Yo-Yo Ma's founding of the Silk Road Ensemble(乐团), his belief that the arts, and particularly music, can make the world better, and that through cooperation, one can both preserve tradition and shape cultural evolution. Students also explore their own attitudes toward the arts, writing reflective essays on how the arts have played a role in their own lives.

    In the spring of my career, I found myself questioning the choice of my life's work. The students did not appear to be motivated; the paperwork was overwhelming (巨大的) and the constant changes of educational direction were discouraging. But I just could not bring myself to do anything else. “Next year,” I would say, “next year I will switch jobs, make more money and have far less stress.” Next year just never came. I am now in my forties. And while I am no longer in the classroom or at the schoolhouse, I remain an educator. It finally dawns on me that there is no other profession that will let me change children's minds and have an impact on their future. For every student that finally “got it”, for every new teacher that said, “You inspired me to stay,” I get the raise that has never quite made it to my paycheck.

    I was on a plane recently and the flight attendant asked my name. When I told him, he said, “I knew that was you! You taught at my elementary school. You made me take my cap off in the building and told me I was handsome.” He then paused and said, “I think I kept my hat on until you saw me, just so I could get that compliment (赞美). Thank you for making me feel special.”

    We have now entered an age where nothing is private and secrets are hard to keep. Your “friends” are counted by simply clicking a button. Face-to-face interactions are seen by many as unnecessary and time-consuming. Of course, we can do anything online, including teaching and learning. But I guess I am just old school. I want to look into your eyes when the answer finally dawns on you.

Car Hire

    Hiring a self-drive car really adds to the enjoyment of your holiday.There are so many places of interest to visit, and if you enjoy seeing more than just the city center there's no better way to explore than by car.

Hire Charges:

    What's included

    a) Unlimited mileage（英里数）.

    b) Expenses on oil,maintenance and repairs,which will be repaid on production of invoices.

    c) Full insurance except personal accident (see below).

What's not included

    a) Personal accident insurance.

    b) Garaging, petrol, parking and traffic fines.

    Conditions of Hire:

    The shortest rental period at these special low prices is three days.For prices for periods of one or two days you only see our representative at the hotel.

    Car hire must be booked six weeks or more before arrival in London to guarantee a car.But if you have been unable to make a booking in advance please see our representative at the hotel who may still be able to help you.

    The car types on the sheet are examples of the types of cars in each price range,but particular car cannot be guaranteed.

    Upon delivery the driver (s) will be asked to sigh the car hire company's Condition of Hire.

    If you decide to hire a car,just fill in the Booking Form and return it to us.A booking fee of £ 12 as part of the car hire cost is required.

    Should you be forced to cancel your car hire booking after payment in full (two weeks before date of hire),a cancellation charge of £ 12 will be made.

Multitasking

    What is the first thing you notice when you walk into a shop? The products displayed (展示) at the entrance? Or the soft background music?

    But have you ever notice the smell? Unless it is bad, the answer is likely to be no. But while a shop's scent may not be outstanding compared with sights and sounds, it is certainly there. And it is providing to be an increasing powerful tool in encouraging people to purchase.

    A brand store has become famous for its distinctive scent which floats through the fairly dark hall and out to the entrance, via scent machines. A smell may be attractive but it may not just be used for freshening air. One sports goods company once reported that when it first introduced scent into its stores, customers' intension to purchase increased by 80 percent.

    When it comes to the best shopping streets in Pairs, scent is just as important to a brand's success as the quality of its window displays and goods on sales. That is mainly because shopping is a very different experience to what it used to be.

    Some years ago, the focus for brand name shopping was on a few people with sales assistants' disproving attitude and don't touch what you can't afford displays. Now the rise of electronic commerce (e-commerce) has opened up famous brands to a wider audience. But while e-shops can use sights and sounds, only bricks-and-mortar stores (实体店) can offer a full experience from the minute customers step through the door to the moment they leave. Another brand store seeks to be much more than a shop, but rather a destination. And scent is just one way to achieve this. Now a famous store uses complex man-made smell to make sure that the soft scent of baby powder floats through the kid department, and coconut (椰子) scent in the swimsuit section. A department store has even opened a new lab, inviting customers on a journey into the store's windows to smell books, pots and drawers, in search of their perfect scent.

    A creative mom Danielle Lindemann is a mother to a soon-to-be 3-year-old daughter. When she received the Disney-brand book What Is A Princess? as a gift for her daughter, Lindemann thought the messages seemed a little shallow.

Lindemann's efforts included changing “A princess is kind” to “A princess is kind of a badass” and completing the sentence “A princess likes to dress up”. “I just want my daughter to see that she can be anything she wants,” the mom explained, “She can also speak her own mind and be a doctor or a senator if she wants.”

    After Lindemann made the changes, she thought her daughter might be a bit confused, but the daughter actually just rolled with it. Lindemann did not intend for many people to see her edits. She just found it amusing. Though she didn't imagine having such a wide audience, Lindemann says she thinks it's great if her edits make people smile or even think a bit differently about gender models.

    Further, Lindemann added, “there is absolutely nothing wrong with girls (or boys!) wanting to put on something sparkly and feel pretty. But when the ruling idea is that girls — and women — are judged mainly on their physical appearance in a way that boys and men are not, I think it's important to model some other values for these girls as well.”

    As a parent, she believes it's important to show girls that their worth does not lie only in their physical appearance and that their other qualities are valuable and important. For her, if there were a variety of children's books out there in which little girls were shown playing with trucks and trains and learning to be engineers and surgeons, and if there were books out there in which boys were shown getting a kick out of dressing up in fancy clothes, it would be a different world.

     “At present, it's not that world. But time will tell,” she stressed.

    Home from the Navy, I started school at Greenville College in my hometown of Illinois. I'd been out of high school for four years, but my high school headmaster, Mr. Gardner, invited me to a Valentine's Day dance party at school. The thought of seeing my former teachers was exciting. So I agreed.

    When Friday came, I cleaned up, dressed up and drove to the high school gym. I chatted with my teachers and approached Mr. Gardner to thank him before leaving. Just then, the band started playing and a young girl stood up to sing. One look at and I was crazy—I had never seen such a beautiful girl!

    I asked Mr. Gardner who she was, and he answered, “That's Marilyn Riley, Cut Riley's daughter.” I was shocked to say the least. They lived just around the corner from me. I walked across the gym floor to introduce myself, “Hi, I'm Jack Joseph.”

    “I know who you are,” was her not-too-friendly response.

    “Would you like to dance?” I asked. “No! I'm working,” she shot back.

    “Can I call you next week for a movie date?” I asked. “No,” was her response.

    For the next month I phoned, trying to set up a date. She always had the same answer: No. then one rainy afternoon in March as I was driving home after basketball practice, I saw Marilyn, walking with no umbrella, no raincoat, no hat. I pulled alongside her and asked if she needed a ride, half expecting her to say no. instead, she stepped over the roadside and sat down on the seat next to me. It was only a few blocks to her house, but after pulling into her driveway we talked for 45minutes. It was magic from then on.