Last year my summer holiday was spoiled by my bringing along a modern convenience that was too convenient for my own good: the iPad. Instead of looking at nature, I checked my e-mail. Instead of paddling a small boat, I followed my Twitter feed（推特简讯）. Instead of reading great novels, I stuck to reading four newspapers each morning. I was behaving as if I were still in the office. My body was on vacation, but my head wasn't.

    So this year I made up my mind to try something different: withdrawal from the Internet. I knew it wouldn't be easy, since I'm bad at self-control. But I was determined. I started by giving the iPad to my wife.

    The cellphone signal at our house was worse than in the past, making my at tempts at cheating an experience in frustration （沮丧）. I was trapped, forced to go through with my plan. Largely breaking away from e-mail, Twitter and my favorite newspaper websites, I had few ways to connect to the world except for the radio—and how much radio can one listen to, really? I had to do what Ihad planned to do all along: read books.

    This experience has had a happy ending. With determination and the strong support of my wife, I won in my vacation struggle against the Internet, realizing finally that it was I, not the iPad, that was the problem. I knew I had won when we passed a Star bucks and my wife asked if I wanted to stop to use the Wi-Fi.“I don't need it,” I said．

    However, as we return to post-vacation life, a harder test begins: Can I continue when I'mback at work?

    There are times when the need to know what's being said right now is great. I have no intention of giving up my convenience completely. But I hope to resist the temptation to check my e-mail every five minutes, which leads to checking my Twitter feed and a website or two.

    I think a vacation is supposed to help you rest your brain to become more productive. Here I hope this one worked.

BRAD GARRETT'S COMEDY CLUB

Category: Comedy

Best known for his role on the Emmy award-winning sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, Brad Garrett returns to his Vegas roots with his comedy club at the MGM Grand. It is a good place to check out when you need a break from work.

Prices from: $56.40 and up

Age restriction: Must be 21 years of age or older

Show Length: 115 minutes

MAC KING COMEDY MAGIC SHOW

Category: Comedy, Magic

Mac King Comedy Magic Show is different every afternoon, with lots of audience participation. He is willing to make fun of himself instead of his guests in order to make everyone feel welcome and entertained. The afternoon is kid-friendly from start to finish. Still, whether you're eight or 80, you won't be able to figure out King's secrets.

Prices from: $40.90 and up

Age restriction: No age restriction

Show Length: 90 minutes

THE MENTALIST, GERRY MCCAMBRIDGE

Category: Comedy, Magic

Using his skills as a “mentalist”, Gerry McCambridge shocks the crowds as he uses his abilities to predict just what audience members will do next. Anyone who has seen the show has walked away in disbelief, amazed by his unusual power.

Prices from: $34.99  and up

Age restriction: Under 13 will not be admitted into the theater

Show Length: 75 minutes

ROCK OF AGES

Category: Plays & Musicals

The cheerful Rock of Ages brings audiences back to the times of big hair and even bigger bands with 28 popular rock songs from the 80s including “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” “I Wanna Know What Love Is,” “Here I Go Again,” and more.

Rock of Ages has been nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical. It also received a Drama League nomination for Distinguished Production for a Musical.

Prices from: $74.00 and up

Age restriction: Must be 15 years of age or older

Show Length: 125 minutes

    I am Henry Jekyll. I was born in the 1 800s. I inherited(继承) a large fortune, a healthy body and an excellent mind. I was naturally hard-working and soon I was very successful in my job. So the outside world saw a serious, hard-working, successful doctor. Behind this quiet character, however, was a wild, fun-loving, irresponsible young man. Both of them were me. They lived together in the same body.

    “Was it possible," I wondered, “to find a drug that could give each side of my character its own separate face and body?"

    After much thought and careful study I believed I had found the answer. I had read many scientific books and spent many hours in my laboratory, searching for the right mixture of chemicals to make my drug. At last I got everything ready.

    Late one night, I mixed everything together and prepared my drug. I watched the smoke rising from the liquid as its color changed from red to purple and at last to green. Then, bravely, I drank every bitter drop.

    I felt a violent sickness in my stomach and a terrible pain in all my bones. The room seemed to turn round and round and I trembled with fear. Then the fear and pain disappeared and a strange, sweet feeling took its place. Wild thoughts danced through my mind- the wild passions of an evil and cruel stranger. But inside myself I felt younger, lighter, more carefree than ever before. "If this is pure evil," I thought, “I like it.”

    I stood there, enjoying these strange new thoughts and passions and suddenly realized that I was shorter. So I decided to go to my bedroom in my new body and take a look at myself in the mirror there. As I came into my room, I saw Edward Hyde for the first time.

    At that time, the good side of my character was stronger than the evil side. Henry Jekyll had his faults, but he was mostly a good, kind man. I believe that is the reason why Edward Hyde was so much smaller than Henry Jekyll. But that was not the only difference between the two men. Henry Jekyll had a kind, open, honest face. But pure evil stared out of Edward Hyde's eyes. I felt no dislike, however. Indeed, I welcomed him. Edward Hyde was me, young and strong and full of life.

    The Z Hotel is in the heart of London's West End and has comfortable accommodation in a contemporary design.

    All rooms include handcrafted beds, 48-inch Samsung HD TVs with free Sky Sports and Movie channels, and free Wi-Fi. Each room also has under-bed storage for an overnight bag, and wall-mounted hanging space for clothing. The Z Hotel also offers wheelchair accessible rooms.

    Continental breakfast is served in The Z Café every morning, including smoked salmon, fresh bread, fresh fruit salad and bacon rolls. A selection of salads, sandwiches and hot dishes are on offer throughout the day.

    The hotel is a 5-minute walk from Prince of Wales Theatre and Chinatown London, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. Heathrow Airport can be reached directly from Piccadilly Circus Underground Station.

    This is our guests' favorite part of London, according to independent reviews. This area is also great for shopping, with popular brands nearby: Apple, H&M, Zara, Burberry and Chanel.

    The Z Hotel is rated for the best value in London! Guests are getting more for their money when compared to other hotels in this city. Come and stay with us!

    Most popular facilities:

    luggage storage Heating Free Wi-Fi Air conditioning

    24-hour front desk Daily maid service Parking Lift

Prices:

    Ender's Game

    Aliens(外星人) have attacked Earth twice and almost destroyed the human beings. We couldn't lose anymore. Therefore, the world government has started to train military geniuses(军事天才) in the arts of war. Ender Wiggin is taking part in this training. He wins all the games. He knows time is running out but can he save the planet? It is a good science fiction for boys.

    Hatchet

    It is the story of a boy named Brian. On a trip to the Canadian oilfields to spend the summer with his dad, the pilot of the Cessna he is traveling in suffers a heart attack and dies. Brian must land the plane in the forest. Brian learns to exist in the forest. He faces many dangers including hunger, animal attacks, and even a tornado.

    Ball Don't Lie

    Sticky, 17, is from the streets and has had a tough life so far. But, his hope for his life to be good and get better is basketball. His basketball skills may be his ticket to a better life. This book is inspiring, and raises questions about race and the difficulties in getting ahead in life when you've had a bad start.

    Crackback

    Miles Manning likes to please people, his father, his coach, and his friends. He is a starter on a winning football team that is favored to win the conference and have a chance to go to state. However, everybody is pressing Miles to be bigger, stronger and faster, including his new head coach, his demanding father, and his best friend.

    She

    A college professor and his young student follow instructions on a broken pottery shard (陶瓷碎片) that lead them to a fabled(传说中的) lost city in the jungles of Africa, where they encounter She Who Must Be Obeyed, the ruler of the land.

Brilliant Ways to Deliver Secret Messages

Many effective ways are used now to deliver secret messages. But in the past when the science and technology was not developing, especially during the war, how did people send secret and important messages?

Shoelaces

In the 1950s, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency created a book of tips to teach spies ways to communicate in public. One tip: Lace up your shoes. Tied one way, the laces might mean "I have information": tied another, "Follow me". The spies could communicate while everyone else probably thought, "That guy can't tie his shoes correctly!"

Tattooed (刺文身) Head

Around 513 B.C., Histiaeus was forced out as the ruler of an ancient city. So he wanted to send a message to his supporters: Rebel against the king who took away his power.

Histiaeus called in a slave, shaved his head and tattooed the message onto the man's skin on the top of head. After the slave's hair grew back, he travelled to Greece with orders to shave his head again. Message received!

Orange Juice

In 1597, John Gerard was imprisoned in the Tower of London in England. He asked the prison guard to let him send letters written in charcoal (木炭). But then he wrote another message on top using the juice from an orange-which was only visible when the juice was dry and the page heated. With his invisible ink, he escaped successfully.

Songs

In the 1800s, African American slaves couldn't talk openly about their plans to escape to freedom—so they secretly sang about it.

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot might sound like a religious song. But for slaves, the "sweet chariot" was the code for the Underground Railroad, the network of people who helped slaves head to northern states and Canada. The song Wade in the Water warned escaped slaves to get in the water so dogs wouldn't smell them. With these songs, hundreds of people escaped slavery.