Enjoying a musical performance no longer requires a costly ticket or a trip to a theater. These days, musicians are performing in private homes,at haircutting shops,at airports...even on ferry boats.

    Musicians like house concerts. At music clubs, they often have to perform over loud conversation or deal with people who have had too much alcohol.People at house concerts are more focused on listening to the music.

    Just a few hours before the Bombadils started singing at the O' Hair Salon,Lindsay was cutting hair and Tamera was doing facials.Then,they moved chairs and microphones to create a small performance space.The Bombadils made music in the front part of the hair salon,near the hair dryers and make-up table.

    "This is our first show at a hair salon,"Sarah Frank of the Bombadils told concertgoers at last week's performance.Frank said she and band members Luke Fraser and Kaitlyn Raitz had a great time "interacting" with the audience.

    Concerts in people's homes, or small businesses such as O' Hair's,are becoming more popular,musicians say. "There is a more relaxed atmosphere,"said Domenic Cicala,a musician who opened up his O' Hair Salon to concerts. "People really get to know the artists."

    At house concerts,people get time before and after concerts to meet the performers.Often,the hosts or guests will provide food and drink.

    "People really like listening to music in the living room of a friend,"said Matt Hart,with Aubrey Zoli making up Local Strangers,a folk-rock group based in Seattle.At many such concerts,the musicians do not need microphones. Yet,every word of their songs can be heard.

    Two of the hardest things to accomplish in this world are to acquire wealth by honest effort and, having gained it, to learn how to use it properly. Recently I walked into the locker room of a rather well-known golf club after finishing a round. It was in the late afternoon and most of the members had left for their homes. But a half-dozen or so men past middle age were still seated at tables talking aimlessly and drinking more than was good for them. These same men can be found there day after day, and, strangely enough, each one of these men had been a man of affairs and wealth, successful in business and respected in the community. If material prosperity were the chief necessity for happiness, then each one should have been happy. Yet, it seemed to me, something very important was missing, else-there would not have been the constant effort to escape the realities of life through scotch and soda. They knew, each one of them, that their productivity had ceased (停止). When a fruit tree ceases to bear its fruit, it is dying. And it is even so with man.

    What is the answer to a long and happy existence in this world of ours? I think I found it long ago in a passage from the book of Genesis which caught my eye while I was looking through my Bible. The words were few, but they became memorably impressed on my mind. “In the sweat of the face shall you eat the bread.”

    To me, that has been a challenge from my earliest recollections (memories). In fact, the battle of life, of existence, is a challenge to everyone. The immortal words of St. Paul, too, have been and always will be a great inspiration to me. At the end of the road I want to be able to feel that I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.

    Andreea, 18, from Romania, sent a photograph of the view from her window and included a brief (简短的）apology: “Sorry, this picture is plain and boring. No one would like it.”

    At home in New Jersey, US, Coreen Burke, 16, clicked on the same image in her inbox. She saw a village with its old houses, and a distant chimney puffing smoke.

    “Isn't this amazingly different from my country?” she thought to herself.

    Burke saw potential in that photo. She posted it to her blog, Outside My Window，which features a daily snapshot (快照）of someone's window view from different people around the world.

    The concept (理念）is simple: We can all relate to the act of staring through a pane of lass (一块玻璃)，onto the scene on the other side,

    “Maybe if we understood the way people from all over the world live,” she added, “we would get along better than we have been lately.”

    On the sit，Can see Frederic's window in the south of France, looking out on sailboats anchored in a tranquil  harbor(宁静的港湾).0r Virginia's view in Canada, a winter scene with trees laced in white.

    Like most high school students, Burke has yet to travel the world. But she hopes to someday collect many stamps in her passport,starting in Greece and India. In the meantime, however, she's devoting herself to her website.she posted the first window view from Switzerland, a sunset captured (拍摄）by an 18-year-old.Then others came flowing in by email, up to seven a day, from as far as Kazakhstan and Indonesia.

    Contributors are marked on a map on her bedroom wall: A blue dot indicates (表示）their country and a pink dot shows their city, if they provide it. The most responses have come from Europe - Estonia, Poland, Italy, Germany and Sweden, to name a few. She is crossing her Angers that she 11 receive a photo from Africa or Antarctica, which are unrepresented so far.

    And while Burke's become a cyber crusader (斗士）for appreciating the beauty outside our own windows, it will probably come as a surprise to learn that she doesn't actually have a window in her own bedroom. But with the views out of other people's she can enjoy whenever she wants to, she surely doesn't mind.

    When I was growing up, Mother's Day was as important as Christmas.

    The energy around the house was always positive, mostly thanks to my father who made sure that his kids appreciated their mother. We would clean the house, and Mum got breakfast in bed in the morning and didn't have to lift a finger all day. And in the evening, we went to a restaurant for a traditional Mother's Day dinner.

    What I learned from my father over the years, was that no matter what, he always put my mother before himself. He absolutely loved her and never let her forget that.

    I maintain(保持) my father's Mother's Day tradition with my wife. Growing up, I learned that showing affection to the woman you love or who gave birth to you is an important part of life. You see, it goes both ways, and the love you have for your mother comes back to you again and again.

    Believing that and feeling it when you can may keep you from being lonely, even if your mum isn't close by or has passed away. There are a number of us who no longer have a mother in our lives, and truth be told, there are often times when I wish my mum were still here to comfort me. So instead, I remember the times she did just that. It makes me smile, and somehow, those memories of a more simple and loving life give me the comfort I'm looking for.

    If you are mum-less, you too should find a deserving woman in your life and celebrate Mother's Day with her. If you don't know anyone, there are plenty of lonely mums in rest homes who would enjoy your company for a couple of hours. The visit will make both of your days, and perhaps your lives, a little bit better.

    After 21 years of marriage, my wife woman out to take another woman out to dinner and a movie. The other woman was my mother, who has been a widow(寡妇)for 19 years. However, the demands of my work and my three children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally.

    That Friday after work, when I arrived at her house, my mother was waiting in the door with her coat on. She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary.

    We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and comfortable. My mother took my arm as if she were! The First Lady. During the dinner, we had an agreeable conversation about nothing extraordinary but just caught up on recent events. We talked so much that we missed the movie.

    As we arrived at her house later, she said: "I'll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you." I agreed. A few days later, my mother died of a serious heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn't have a chance to do anything for her.

    Sometime later, I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant receipt (收据）from the same place mother and I had dined. An attached note said: I paid this bill in advance. I wasn't sure that I could be there; still, I paid for two plates—one for you and the other for your wife. You will never know what that night meant for me. I love you. Son."

    At mat moment, I understood the importance of saying: UI love you" and of giving our loved ones the time they deserve. Nothing in life is more important than family. Give family members the attention they deserve, because these things cannot be put off till some "other' time.

    When "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was first shown to the public last month, a group of excited animal activists gathered on Hollywood Boulevard. But they weren't there to throw red paint on fur-coat-wearing film stars. Instead, one activist, dressed in a full-body monkey suit, had arrived with a sign praising the filmmakers: "Thanks for not using real apes (猿)!"

    The creative team behind "Apes" used motion-capture (动作捕捉) technology to create digitalized animals, spending tens of millions of dollars on technology that I records an actor's performance and later processes it with computer graphics to create a final image (图像). In this case, one of a realistic-looking ape.

    Yet "Apes" is more exception than the rule. In fact, Hollywood has been hot on live animals lately. One nonprofit organization, which monitors the treatment or animals in filmed entertainment, is keeping tabs on more than 2,000 productions this year. Already, a number of films, including "Water for Elephants," "The Hangover Part Ⅱ" and "Zookeeper," have drawn the anger of activists who say the creatures acting in them haven't been treated properly.

    In some cases, it's not so much the treatment of the animals on set in the studio that has activists worried; it's the off-set training and living conditions that are raising concerns. And there are questions about the films made outside the States, which sometimes are not monitored as closely as productions filmed in the Sates.