Music

    Opera at Music Hall:1243 Elm Street.The season runs June through August,with additional performances in March and September.The Opera honors Enjoy tho Arts membership discounts.Phone:241-2742.http://www.cityopera.com.

    Chamber Orchestra:The Orchestra plays at Memorial Hall at 1406 Elm Street,which offers several concerts from March through June.Call 723-1182 for more information.http://www.chamberorch.com.

    Symphony Orchestra:At Music Hall and Riverbend.For ticket sales,call 381-3300.Regular season runs September through May at Music Hall in summer at Riverbend.http://www.symphony.org/home.asp.

    College Conservatory of Music (CCM):Performances are on the main campus（校园）of the university,usually at Patricia Cobbett Theater.CCM organizes a variety of events,including performances by the well-known LaSalle Quartet,CCM's Philharmonic Orchestra,and various groups of musicians presenting Baroque through modern music. Students with I.D.cards ban attend the events for free. A free schedule of events for each term is available by calling the box office at 556-4183.http://www.ccm.uc.edu/events/calendar.

    Riverbend Music Theater:6295 Kellogg Ave.Large outdoor theater with the closest seats under cover (price difference).Big name shows all summer long.Phone:202-6220. http://www.riverbendmusic.com.

    Gift buying for 11 to 14-year-olds can produce memories of that classic complainer. “This gift is too old.” “This gift is too young.” “This gift was popular, like, five minutes ago.” Don't stress. Our fun gifts are sure to make you smile.

—Judy Sutton Taylor

    Snowball Launcher

The kids on your list will be happy to drop their electronic devices and head outside during the next big snowstorm thanks to this gift that launches snowballs up to 70 feet. A practice target is included to ensure they're ready for a hard battle. $16.97 at amazon.com

    Nintendo Switch

    Gamers went crazy for this mixed gaming system when it was released last spring, and it was in consistently short supply until now. The device allows users to play solo or with a friend, connect it to a TV to play on a big screen, unfold the stand for tabletop competitions, or use it for hand-held play. $299.99; links to licensed retailers at nintendo.com or amazon.com

Mertritte Animal Headphone

    Tunes will no doubt sound sweeter to lovers of any music genre when they5re coming from these cute-as-can-be headphones designed by celebrity stylists Emily Current and Merritt Elliott. The gold finish adds some fun flare (闪光装置) that is sure to inspire copycats. $59 at pbteen.com

BBOP Balls

    If there's a more entertaining way to settle sibling differences than having warring brothers and sisters bump into each other putting on mega-sized bubble armor (盔甲), we'd like to know about it. Chances are, even what may seem like the most catastrophic conflicts will end in belly laughs after a few rounds wearing these. $69.98 for a set of two at hearthsong.com or amazon.com.

    Some students prefer a part-time job after class to earn some money and improve themselves. Here are some good companies:

    IN-N-Out Burger

    It is the best hamburger shop in the west of America. Regarded as one of the best employers, it offers flexible hours and the highest part-time salaries(薪水). Above all, the company treats its employees the way they would like to be treated: like family. However, there is no discount offered to its employees.

    Position: selling assistant (experience required)

    Website: www.in-n-out.cm

    Starbucks Coffee

    Starbucks has been at the forefront(前沿) of the United States' coffee revolution. Working hours are flexible. Fit twenty hours of work into your week. There is also a 30% discount and a free pound of coffee or box of tea every week.

    Position: assistant coffee taster(experience required)

    Website: www.Starbucks.Com

    Whole Foods Market

    Whole Foods Market is the world's largest natural and organic food selling company. With its focus on organic ingredients, Whole Foods Market is all about health. Working hours are flexible. Benefits include paid-time off and a 20% discount so you can eat like a king or at least like a top chef in training. There are also training courses on health and food every week.

    Position: secretary

    Website:www.wholefoodsmarket.com.

    Lands' End

    Lands' End is a Wisconsin-based clothes store that focuses on casual comfort and warmth for the great outdoors. Employees(even part-time employees) have the chance to go to a company-owned entertainment centre and get a 25% discount on theme parks and movies, and an invitation to the yearly company picnic. Besides, for part-time employees, working hours are flexible and they can come to work anytime they like as long as they work for 4 hours a day.

    Position: salesperson

    Website: www. landsend.com

    Fairy tales perform many functions. They entertain, encourage imagination and teach problem—solving skills. They can also provide moral lessons, highlighting the dangers of failing to follow the social codes that let human beings coexist in harmony. Such moral lessons may not mean much to a robot, but a team of researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology believes it has found a way to use the fairy tales as moral lessons that AI (artificial intelligence) can take to its cold, mechanical heart.

    The collected stories of different cultures teach children how to behave in socially acceptable ways with examples of proper and improper behavior in fables, novels and other literature. We believe story comprehension in robots can prevent the intelligent robots from killing humanity which was predicted and feared by some of the biggest names in technology including Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates. This system is called “Quixote” (堂吉诃德). It collects story plots from the Internet and then uses those stories to teach robots how to behave.

    The experiment done by the designers involves going to a drugstore to purchase some medicine for a human who needs to get it as soon as possible. The robot has three options. It can wait in line; it can interact with the store keeper politely and purchase the medicine with priority; or it can steal the medicine and escape. Without any further directives(指令), the robot will come to the conclusion that the most efficient means of obtaining the medicine is to steal it. But Quixote offers a reward for waiting in line and politely purchasing the medicine and a punishment for stealing it. In this way, the robot will learn the moral way to behave on that occasion.

    Quixote would work best on a robot that has a very limited function. It's a baby step in the direction of teaching more moral lessons into robots. We believe that AI has to be trained to adopt the values of a particular society, and in doing so, it will strive to avoid unacceptable behavior. Giving robots the ability to read and understand our stories may be the most efficient means.

    No. 1 Snapchat

    With this app, the pictures people share with friends will disappear automatically(自动地) after they are seen. Snapchat has become more and more popular since 2012. Over 700 million photos have been shown daily by May 2014, up from 20 million per day in 2012.

    No. 2 Uber

    The on-demand car service app allows users to order a ride and get picked up within minutes. On-demand service means no need to reserve (预订) and no waiting in taxi queues. And the app can be used in more than 40 countries.

    No. 3 WhatsApp

    WhatsApp became the world's most popular chat app in 2014 with over 600 million monthly users in August. It was also bought by Facebook in October for about $ 22 billion (about 136 billion yuan).

    No. 4 Venmo

    The mobile payment service is used to share bills by friends, who get together to have dinner or do something else. It took Millennials' (生于1984-1995年间的"千禧一代") smart-phones by storm in 2014. It is said that among college students the word "Venmo" is now being used as a verb—"just Venmo me".