My father's reaction to the bank building at 43rd Street and Fifth Avenue in New York city was immediate and definite: "You won't catch me putting my money in there!" he declared, "Not in that glass box !"

    Of course, my father is a gentleman of the old school, a member of the generation to whom a good deal of modern architecture is upsetting, but I am convinced that his negative response was not so much to the architecture as to a violation of his concept of the nature of money .

    In his generation money was thought of as a real commodity (实物)that could be carried, or stolen. Consequently, to attract the custom of a sensible man, a bank had to have heavy walls, barred windows, and bronze（青铜） doors, to affirm the fact, however untrue, that money would be safe inside. If a building's design made it appear impenetrable（难以渗透的）, the institution（公共机构, 协会, 制度）was necessarily reliable, and the meaning of the heavy wall as an architecture symbol dwelt in the prevailing attitude toward money.

    But the attitude toward money has, of course, changed. Excepting pocket money, cash of any kind is now rarely used; money as a tangible（切实，实在）commodity has largely been replaced by credit. A deficit (赤字) economy, accompanied by huge expansion, has led us to think of money as product of the creative imagination. The banker no longer offers us a safe: he offers us a service in which the most valuable element is the creativity for the invention of large numbers. It is in no way surprising, in view of this change in attitude, that we are witnessing the disappearance of the heavy-walled bank.

    Just as the older bank emphasized its strength, this bank by its architecture boasts of imaginative powers. From this point of view it is hard to say where architecture ends and human assertion (人们的说法)begins.

    I sit on the stoop (门廊) in front of my friend's house at the top of a steep hill. And now my friend is late, and I'm stuck here waiting.

    I see a man approaching.

    "Por favor. Call 911," the man says. "Finger. Cut." With his left hand, he is pressing the handkerchief around his right little finger.

    "No. Have. Phone," I say, as if English is also my second language.

    "Have phone," he says, and dips his chin toward his front pants pocket. There, I find a phone, and call 911.

    The operator answers, and I say "I'm with this guy, and he cut his finger."

    "Did he cut it off?"

    "Did you cut it off?"

    "Sí." He sighs.

    "Yes. He cut it off."

    "Where is it?" the operator asks.

    "Where is it?"

    "Upstairs," he says, pointing with his elbow to the house next door.

    "Go get it," she instructs me.

    I follow the man toward the house. Inside, I see a table saw(锯), and the blood spreading across the ceiling, but I don't see the finger. I lift up each foot and look underneath to be sure I've not stepped on it. I'm getting that jumpy, tight-shouldered feeling like when you've lost sight of a spider that was on your ceiling a moment ago.

    "Do you see it?" I ask him.

    He points at his own finger beside the table saw. I grab a paper towel, pinching it carefully, the way you might pick up a harmless but frightening insect.

    "We have secured the finger," I tell the operator.

    "Hang tight. The ambulance is on its way."

    We sit on the stoop waiting for the ambulance.

    "You're going to be OK," I say, putting my free hand on his sawdust-covered back.

    "Gracias," he says.

    "De nada. Esta no problemo," I reply in broken Spanish.

    It feels good to be able to comfort someone, anyone. For months now, the second my hands would go idle(闲散的), a familiar depression would climb on my back. I have been trying to put on a good face for my kid, but I feel as if I've been failing. Could I save myself? I wouldn't know how. But I am determined to save this man.

    Finally the ambulance arrives, picks him up, and they're off.

    Throughout the evening, I can't stop worrying about the man. I decide to call the hospital.

    "Hi! I helped a guy who cut off his finger, and I don't even know his name, but I'm wondering whether he came to your hospital."

    The nurse says, "His name is Jose Ramos, and he's waiting for surgery. Would you like to leave a message?"

    "No. I don't want to bother him. I just wanted to be sure he was OK."

    The next morning, I call the hospital again. This time, I'm put through to Jose's room. "How was the surgery?"

    "No surgery," he says. "No enough blood."

    "Oh, I'm sorry," I say.

    Later that day, I remember that old proverb about how if you save someone's life, you are responsible for them for the rest of their life, which never made sense to me before. Shouldn't the person who got saved owe a debt, and not the other way around? But today, I get it. It's a great honor to help someone in need.

    I start keeping a lookout for other people in need of assistance. I help push a stalled car out of the road. I aid a disoriented cyclist when her bike gets clipped by a car. I adopt a dog. Then one day, a month or two after the finger incident, I realize I have completely forgotten to be depressed. I've been so busy playing the role of local hero that I have ignored to drag my feet and stare into space and imagine the world without me.

    Now, more than a decade has passed since Jose's accident. Occasionally I search for "Jose" plus "Ramos" plus "finger." I wish I could see him again, to see how he's getting on. But more important, to thank him, because when he lost his finger, he saved my life.

    If you go to the Flamingo Las Vegas, you will never forget it. It is one of the oldest Las Vegas hotels. There are lots of wonderful Las Vegas shows that will leave a good impression on you. Here are the Las Vegas shows being performed at the hotel.

   Donny and Marie

    Donny and Marieis a family-friendly variety show. It is performed by well-known Donny and Marie Osmond on all weekdays except on Sundays and Mondays. The show follows the winning formula of their 1970s TV program, incorporating dancing, humor and all of their hit songs. It starts at 7:30 pm and each ticket costs at least $91.25.

    Olivia Newton-John

    Grammy award-winning singer Olivia Newton-John is “hopelessly devoted” to perform for many of her fans, opening “Summer Nights” to perform many of her best-loved songs during her four decades long career. Alongside an eight-piece band, Newton-John will share stories about her career and sing many songs. Concert-goers can buy meet and greet tickets at $249. Regular price tickets start from $78.5. The show starts at 7:30 pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

    Vinnie Favorito

    Vinnie Favorito is a famous actor who is known to make people laugh. His jokes are very popular. Unlike other comedians who use pre-developed material, Vinnie Farorito gets his comedy from his interaction with people in the audience. The tickets start from $68.95. Performance days are six days per week except Sundays. Show time is 8:00 pm.

    X Burlesque

    X Burlesqueis a wonderful show performed by six dancing ladies. The show is filled with popular music that suits everyone's taste from rock to country and a variety of dancing styles that allow each dancer to showcase her unique talents. The tickets start from $50.26. It is a daily show at 10:00 pm.

    In this Pennsylvania city, Pittsburgh is shrinking but getting wealthier. Since 2000, its population has declined by 95,000 while its income per capita (人均) has shot up 24 percent. The trend is taking hold in many other cities, like Buffalo in New York, Providence in Rhode Island and New Orleans.

    Some of these areas have created more high-paying jobs in energy, health care or education. Others have managed to reshape their manufacturing (制造业) for a new economy. Higher-paying jobs have a greater effect because they create demand for additional services. “The story in Pittsburgh is very positive, and other areas are looking at it as an example of the transformation that might be possible,” said Guhan Venkatu, who wrote an economic history of the area called “Rust and Renewal” for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

    Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh have helped bring tech jobs and innovation (革新) to the area by sponsoring tech centers that help graduates start companies without moving to Silicon Valley or San Francisco. This has helped keep Pittsburgh's educated young population growing even as the entire population in the city has dropped.

    Pittsburgh has more STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) jobs than other shrinking cities, about 80,000 or 7% of all jobs. STEM jobs add productivity and income growth to the area. Manufacturers of high-tech medical equipment in the Pittsburgh area also have doubled employment in the last 10 years.

    However, some experts question whether growing income per capita can really make up for a declining population. According to Patrick Adler, a researcher at the University of Toronto, population loss does matter if it means lower-skilled workers have fled because of a lack of opportunity. What's more, high-paying jobs in education and health care can disappear if the population declines too greatly. So it'd be wise to find ways to increase the population.

    Going to university is supposed to be a mind-broadening experience. That statement is probably made in comparison to training for work straight after school. But is it actually true? Jessika Golle of the University of Tubingen, in Germany reports in Psychological Science this week that those who have been to university indeed seem to leave with broader and more curious minds than those who have spent their immediate post-school years in vocational (职业的) training for work. However, it was not the case that university broadened minds. Rather, vocational training for work seemed to have narrowed them. The result is not quite what might be expected.

    Dr. Golle came to this conclusion after she and a team of colleagues studied the early careers of 2,095 German youngsters. The team used two standardized tests to assess their volunteers' personality traits (特点) including openness, conscientiousness (认真) and so on, and attitudes such as realistic, investigative and enterprising twice, once towards the end of each volunteer's time at high school, and then again six years later. Of the original group, 382 had to make a choice between the academic and vocational routes, and it was on these that the researchers focused. University beckoned for 212 of them. The remaining 170 chose vocational training and a job.

    When it came to the second round of tests, Dr. Golle found that the personalities of both groups had not changed significantly. As for changes in altitude, again, none were noticeable in the university group. However, those who had chosen the vocational route showed marked drops in interest in tasks that are investigative and enterprising in nature. And that might restrict their choice of careers.

    The changes in attitude that the researchers recorded were more worrying. Vocational training has always been what Germany prides itself on. If Dr Golle is correct, and changes in attitude brought about by the very training are narrowing people's choices that is indeed a matter worthy of serious consideration.

Pieter Bruegel's iconic 1565 painting The Harvesters hangs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work shows people harvesting wheat nearly as tall as they are. "Nowadays, however, if you walk through a wheat field, you basically see that wheat is about knee-height. The reduced height is essentially a consequence of being bred (培育) along with genes for increasing production to feed a growing population," biologist De Smet explained.

De Smet said wheat was just one example of how historical artwork could allow us to track the transformation of food crops over time. He teamed up with art historian Vergauwen, a friend since childhood, to document such art work around the world. They have been mainly looking at things where they can spot changes in shape, color and size.

Their interest in plants in artwork began with a visit to the Hermitage Museum, where they noticed an odd-looking watermelon in an early-17th-century painting. It appeared to be pale and white on the inside. Biologist De Smet assumed the painter had done a poor job. But art historian Vergauwen had a different idea. "No, this is one of the best painters ever from that era. So if he painted it like that, that's the way it must have looked like," he explained.

Other paintings revealed that both red and white watermelons were grown during the 17th century. "With all the genetic knowledge we now have, we can look at how something comes about in more detail," said De Smet. "For example, until the 18th century, European strawberries appeared tiny in paintings. They then grew in size as they were crossbred with North American varieties."

Ultimately, the team hopes to create an online research database of historical plant artwork. They seek the contributions of art enthusiasts around the world via the social media. "However," Vergauwen reminds, "if you're going to use, for example, Picasso to try and understand how a pear looked in the early 20th century, you might be misled."