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    Some of the world's most famous musicians recently gathered in Paris and New Orleans to celebrate the first annual International Jazz Day. UNESCO( United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) recently set April 30 as a day to raise awareness of jazz music, its significance, and its potential as a unifying(联合) voice across cultures.

    Despite the celebrations, though, in the U.S. the jazz audience continues to shrink and grow older, and the music has failed to connect with younger generations.

    It's Jason Moran's job to help change that. As the Kennedy Center's artistic adviser for jazz, Moran hopes to widen the audience for jazz, make the music more accessible, and preserve its history and culture.

    “Jazz seems like it's not really a part of the American appetite,” Moran tells National Public Radio's reporter Neal Conan. “What I'm hoping to accomplish is that my generation and younger start to reconsider and understand that jazz is not black and white anymore. It's actually color, and it's actually digital.”

    Moran says one of the problems with jazz today is that the entertainment aspect of the music has been lost. “The music can't be presented today the way it was in 1908 or 1958. It has to continue to move, because the way the world works is not the same,” says Moran.

    Last year, Moran worked on a project that arranged Fats Waller's music for a dance party, “Just to kind of put it back in the mind that Waller is dance music as much as it is concert music,” says Moran. “For me, it's the recontextualization. In music, where does the emotion(情感) lie? Are we, as humans，gaining any insight（感悟） on how to talk about ourselves and how something as abstract as a Charlie Parker record gets us into a dialogue about our emotions and our thoughts? Sometimes we lose sight that the music has a wider context,” says Moran, “So I want to continue those dialogue. Those are the things I want to foster.”

Product Description

    Life Without Limits helps you clarify what you want in every area of your life. By using Bassett's powerful techniques you will change; therefore your life will change. You control you life. will change. You control your life. And only you can take steps to change it. Life Without Limits helps you take back your power.

    Life Without Limits helps you to achieve satisfaction and fulfillment personally, professionally, and financially. Once you have defined what success means for you, you will clarify your dreams and start pursuing them.

Product Details

●Published in: 2001-12

●Released on: 2001-12-24

●Original language: English

●Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.7 x 8 inches

●Binding: Paperback

●304 pages

About the Author

    Lucinda Bassett is the founder and CEO of one of the most successful self-help companies in the country, the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety, Inc. Author of the national bestseller From Panic to Power, Lucinda Bassett produces and hosts the award-winning infomercial, Attacking Anxiety. She has shared her techniques with such clients as McDonalds, Chrysler, and AT&T. She has appeared on numerous talk shows, including Operah and The View, and been featured in Family Circle, Reader's Digest, and many more.

Customer Reviews

    This book has helped me to gain hope and courage to cope with all my fears and worries. Lucinda writes with such a great understanding and sympathy. She herself had problems with panic and worry. Her positive thinking tips are easy to follow. I don't get lost in a lot of mental problems. It's as if she were holding your hand, sitting right beside you, cheering you on! I believe I can do anything I set my mind to after reading this book. However, there are some other readers holding the contrary views.

    A famous doctor once received a little child who was badly ill. Thanks to his skill and care, his young patient got well and was soon able to get up and run about again.

The child's mother was very much obliged to the doctor, and she called on him to thank him for what he had done for her child. "Doctor," she said, "you have saved my little son. I don't know how to thank you enough. I feel that money alone cannot repay you, so I have made this little purse with my own hands, as a sign of my gratitude. I hope you will accept it." The doctor stood up and said coldly, "Madam, a little present like that is very nice between friends, but a doctor needs to be paid properly for what he has done." The lady was so surprised and hurt so much that she could not reply for a moment. Then she said quietly, "Perhaps you will tell me how much your fee is?"

    "Fifty pounds", he answered.

    The lady opened the little purse and took out four fifty-pound bank notes. She handed one of them to the doctor, and put the other three back into the purse. She put the purse into her handbag and, saying good bye to the doctor, went out of the room.

    If you are invited to a wedding, baby shower or other celebrations, you will be expected to bring a gift. Unless you know the host very well, the gift should be modest in value, about $25 or so.

    For a wedding, the bride will have "registered (登记)" at one or two local department stores，indicating the items she prefers. You can buy the couple a gift that isn't listed , but most people buy something listed on the registry (记录簿). If you buy an item listed on the registry, be sure to tell the store that you are doing this, so that the couple doesn't receive duplicate (重复的) gifts. For a baby shower, bring a gift appropriate for a new born baby.

    If you wish to give a gift when you leave to return to your country, the best gift   is something unique to your country. It does not need to be especially valuable or rare. Possibilities include a book about your country, an inexpensive piece of handicraft( 手工艺品)or art, or something else that reflects your culture. If the children collect coins and stamps, they would be very pleased with a set of your country's coins or a selection of stamps from your country.

    If you owe a debt of deep gratitude to an American host family, a common way of repaying it is to take the family to a form of entertainment, such as a baseball, basketball, or a good restaurant.

    Gift giving is not as important in America as it is in other countries, so there is nothing wrong with not giving a gift. If you need help, talk to a salesperson at a department store. Tell them about the person who will be receiving the gift and the reason for the gift, and they will help you find something appropriate.

Recently I read Nineteen Eighty-Four,a novel by George Orwell set in a state where even the language they use is controlled.Adjectives are forbidden and instead they use phrases such as "ungood","plus good" and "double plus good" to express emotions.As I first read this I thought how impossible it would be in our society to have such vocabulary.However,the more I thought about it,the more I realised in its own way it's already happening.I type messages to my friends and alongside each is the emoji.I often use it to emphasise something,or to not seem too serious,or because this specific GIF conveys my emotions much better than I ever could using just words.And I wonder,with our excessive use of emojis,are we losing the beauty and diversity of our vocabulary?

English has the largest vocabulary in the world,with over one million words,but who's to say what it'll be like in the future?Perhaps we will have a shorter language,full of saying "cry face" if something sad happens or using abbreviations(缩写) like LOL(laugh out loud) or BRB(be right back) instead of saying the full phrase.So does this mean our vocabulary will shrink?Is it the start of an exciting new era?Will they look back on us in the future and say this is where it all began—the new language?Or is this a classic case of the older generations saying,"Things weren't like that when I was younger.We didn't use emoticons to show our emotions"?

Yet when you look back over time,the power of image has always been there.Even in the prehistoric era they used imagery to communicate,and what's even more incredible is that we are able to analyse those drawings and understand the meaning of them thousands of years later.Pictures have the ability to transcend time and language.Images,be it cave paintings or emojis,allow us to convey a message that's not restrictive but rather universal.

An optional college course named "Appreciation of the Jiangxi Opera" has been taught in a packed house recently at Nanchang University in east China's Jiangxi Province due to the professor's innovative way of teaching—putting on actual opera performances in her classrooms.

Waving water sleeves, and spinning folding fans while wearing traditional makeup and costumes, Chen Li, the instructor of this course, displayed the enchanting charm of Jiangxi Opera, a several-hundred-year-old local opera, in front of the students. Many of the students recorded the performances and posted the video clips of the class on social media platforms, receiving millions of views and likes from netizens.

Instead of adopting the traditional form of stage play, Chen devotes more attention to her students' interactive experience. "I invite my students to come to the stage and experience the whole process of the performance by themselves," Chen said.

The course which she teaches has been open for many years, mainly introducing the history, tunes and performance characteristics of Jiangxi Opera. It's not well known that this course, which is full of people now, was originally rarely attended. "Before, I used to focus on the form of speech and lectures while the teaching effect was unsatisfying: the classroom was quiet and the students seemed uninterested, many even playing on their phones in class," said Chen. To stir the enthusiasm of the students, Chen decided to put on a costume and turn the class into a stage to perform. With traditional garments (服装) and brandishing water sleeves, students are immersed in the world of Jiangxi Opera.

Faced with the unexpected fame, Chen was satisfied but also realized that a greater responsibility now rested on her shoulders. "I hope that even though the popularity of the Jiangxi Opera fades, this art can still be passed down through generations." Chen said.