George Gershwin, born in 1998, was one of America's greatest composers. He published his first song when he was eighteen years old. During the next twenty years he wrote more than five hundred songs.

Many of Gershwin's songs were first written for musical plays performed in theatres in New York City. These plays were a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s and 1930s. Many of his songs have remained popular as ever. Over the years they have been sung and played in every possible way — from jazz to country.

    In the 1920s there was a debate in the United States about jazz music. Could jazz, some people asked, be considered serious music? In 1924 jazz musician and orchestra leader Paul Whiteman decided to organize a special concert to show that jazz was serious music. Gershwin agreed to compose something for the concert before he realized he had just a few weeks to do it. And in that short time, he composed a piece for piano and orchestra which he called Rhapsody in Blue. Gershwin himself played the piano at the concert. The audience were thrilled when they heard his music. It made him world-famous and showed that jazz music could be both serious and popular.

    In 1928, Gershwin went to Paris. He applied to study composition (作曲)with the well-known musician Nadia Boulanger, but she rejected him. She was afraid that classical study would ruin his jazz-influenced style. While there, Gershwin wrote An American in Paris. When it was first performed, critics (评论家)were divided over the music. Some called it happy and full of life, to others it was silly and boring. But it quickly became popular in Europe and the United States. It still remains one of his most famous works.

    George Gershwin died in 1937, just days after doctors learned he had brain cancer. He was only thirty-nine years old. Newspapers all over the world reported his death on their front pages. People mourned the loss of the man and all the music he might have still written.

    From roller coasters to adventure tours performances to experiments, there are plenty of exciting attractions in the UK. Here is our pick of the best attractions that children can visit.

    The Natural History Museum

Why go: This really is the grandfather of all London museums—the beauty of the building and the amazing exhibits. Look out for the whale skeleton(骨架) occupying the entry hall, but don't miss the largest piece of gold (or a model of it) in the minerals gallery. You can easily spend a day here—tasty steaks, sandwiches and pizzas. Try to avoid weekends, because the crowds are larger

    Best for: Children aged 5 and over. If time is limited, families should go quickly and directly towards the dinosaur gallery, because it's really wonderful.

    Details: Entry is free, although there is a charge for some temporary exhibitions

    Legoland

    Why go: Some 80 million Lego bricks have gone into the creation of this colourful park. There are thrilling rides and countless ways to spend money in shops. Yes, the queues can be long (unless you pay extra for the queue-jumping equipment, which is useful though it does not cover all rides)

    Best for: Legoland is aimed at children under10s, with pre-schoolers particularly well catered for in Duplo Valley

    Details: ￡32 per person; under 3s go free. 25 per cent discount for booking online more than seven days in advance.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London —The Making of Harry Potter

    Why go: You've read the books, you've watched the films, but no Harry Potter fan will want to miss the chance to go behind the scenes at the film studios where all eight of the movies were made. Sharing the secrets behind the most successful film series of all time and yet still managing to keep the sense of magic alive, this studio tour gives visitors access to two locations filled with original sets and costumes

    Best for: Children aged 7 and over, and anyone with an interest in filmmaking

    Details: ￡39 adults; ￡31 children; under 4s go free

    American high school students are terrible writers, and one education reform group thinks it has an answer: robots. Or, more accurately, robot-readers—computers programmed to scan students' essays and spit out a grade.

    Mark Shermis, professor of the College of Education at the University of Akron, is helping to hold a contest, set up by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (WFHF), which promises $ 100,000 in prize money to programmers who write the best automated grading software. "If you're a high school teacher and you give a writing task, you're walking home with 150 essays," Shermis said. "You're going to need some help."

    Automated essay grading was first proposed in the 1960s, but computers back then were not up to the task. In the late 1990s, as technology improved, several textbooks and testing companies jumped into the field. Today, computers are used to grade essays on South Dakota's student writing assessments and a handful of other exams, including the TOEFL test of English fluency, taken by foreign students.

    The Hewlett contest aims to show that computers can grade as well as English teachers—only much more quickly and without all that depressing red ink. "Automated essay scoring is objective," Shermis said. "And it can be done immediately. If students finish an essay at 10 pm, they will get a result at 10: 01 pm."

    Take, for instance, the Intelligent Essay Assessor, a web-based tool marketed by Pearson Education, Inc. Within seconds, it can analyze an essay for spelling, grammar, organization, and help students to make revisions. The program scans for key words and analyzes semantic (语义的) patterns, and Pearson claims that it can understand the meaning of text much the same as a human reader.

    Food sometimes gets poisoned with harmful things. A person who eats such food can get an illness called food poisoning. Food poisoning is usually not serious, but some types are deadly. The symptoms of food poisoning usually begin within hours of eating the poisoned food. Fever is one of the most common symptoms.

    Certain microorganisms(微生物)cause most types of food poisoning. Bacteria and other microorganisms can poison eggs, meat, vegetables, and many other foods. After entering the body, these tiny living things release(释放)poisons that make people sick.

    Some chemicals can also cause food poisoning. They are often added to food while it is being grown, processed, or prepared. For example, many farmers spray chemicals on crops to kill weeds and insects. Some people may have a bad reaction to those chemicals when they eat the crops.

    Some plants and animals contain natural poisons that are harmful to people. These include certain kinds of seafood, grains, nuts, seeds, beans, and mushrooms.

    When people handle food properly, the risk of food poisoning is very small. Microorganisms multiply rapidly in dirty places and in warm temperatures. This means that people should never touch food with dirty hands or put food on unwashed surfaces. Food should be kept in a refrigerator to stop microorganisms from growing. Meat needs to be cooked thoroughly to kill any dangerous microorganisms. People should also wash food covered with chemicals before eating it. Finally, people should not eat wild mushrooms or other foods that grow in the wild. Some of these foods may contain natural materials that are poisonous to humans. In addition, some types of fish can be poisonous.

    Most people recover from food poisoning after a few days of resting and drinking extra water. If people eat natural poisons, they must go to the hospital right away to have their stomachs emptied.

The famous Peking opera artist Yuan Huiqin hosted two culture talks {#blank#}1{#/blank#}were called "Charm (魅力) of Peking Opera" in Stockholm and St. Petersburg last year.

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The host, Yuan Huiqin, is a national class A artist of China National Peking Opera Company and a winner of the Plum Blossom Prize. During the talks, she {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(patient) shared the charm of Peking opera in more than one way.

With the help of the local sinologists,{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(she) talks were translated into Swedish and Russian. These words explored the concepts and artistic characteristics of {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(tradition) Chinese operas, which got audience {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(experience) the distinct charm of Peking opera.

{#blank#}9{#/blank#}addition, young artists from the China National Peking Opera Company performed classic opera selections. During the interaction of the talks, some opera lovers performed with young artists and on{#blank#}10{#/blank#}spot the audience tried costumes (戏装) of Peking opera with great curiosity.

Teachers across America are struggling to decide whether to view artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT as friends or enemies in the classroom. Our study on whether AI affects student creativity shows that the answer isn't always simple. 

In the study, we asked college students to brainstorm — without technology — all the ways a paper clip can be used. A month later, we asked them to do the same, but using ChatGPT. We found that AI can be a useful brainstorming tool, quickly generating ideas that can spark creative exploration. But there are also potential negative effects on students' creative thinking skills and self-confidence. While students reported that it was helpful to "have another brain", they also felt that using AI was "the easy way out" and didn't allow them to think on their own. 

The results call for a thoughtful approach to using AI in classrooms and striking a balance that inspires students' creativity while utilizing AI's capabilities. The good news is that the students in our study generated more diverse and detailed ideas when using AI. They found that AI was useful for kick-starting brainstorming sessions. 

When it comes to brainstorming with AI, some students voiced concerns about over-reliance on the technology, fearing it might hurt their own thoughts and, consequently, confidence in their creative abilities. Some students reported a "fixation of the mind", meaning that once they saw the AI's ideas, they had a hard time coming up with their own. Some students also questioned the originality of ideas generated by AI. Our research noted that while using ChatGPT improved students' creative output individually, the AI's ideas tended to be repetitive overall. 

The study results indicate that allowing students to practice creativity independently first will strengthen their belief in themselves and their abilities. Once they complete this, AI can be useful in furthering their learning, much like teaching long division to students before introducing a calculator. That's to say, teaching students to be creative thinkers rather than rely on AI for answers is the key to answering the question mentioned above.