Born on August 9,1963,New Jersey,Whitney Houston almost seemed bound to become a singer.Her mother Cissy Houston was the choir（唱诗班）minister at New Hope Baptist Church,and it was there that a young Whitney got her start.

    When she was 19,Whitney Houston was discovered in a nightclub by the famous Clive Davis of Arista Records. In 1983,Houston made her debut（首演）on national television.In 1985,she released her debut album Whitney Houston and almost immediately became a sensation.Over the next year,her hit singles Saving All My Love for You and How Will I Know helped the album reach the top of the charts,where it staved for fourteen weeks in a row. Houston won a Grammy in 1986 for Saving All My Love for You.

    By 1992,Whitney Houston was on top of the world,but her life was about to get very complicated very quickly. That year she married the R&B singer Bobby Brown.At first the marriage was passionate and loving,but things turned sour as the decade progressed and both Brown and Houston battled drug abuse.

    In spite of these growing personal troubles,Whitney Houston continued to progress in her career,crossing over successfully into acting in 1992 by starring in The Bodyguard.Her single from the movie,I will Always Love You, proved to be Houston's biggest hit ever,spending a record-breaking fourteen weeks on top of the US charts.

    In the late 1990s and early 2000s,Whitney Houston's increasingly rocky marriage,struggles with drug and health problems threatened her career.Over the next few years,Houston attempted to break her drug habit and divorced Bobby Brown in 2007.

    After almost a decade of struggling with her personal life,Houston seemed to be pulling herself together.She released a new album,I Look to You,in 2009.The recording received a warm welcome from music fans.

    In early 2012,Houston worked on a new musical film Sparkle with Jordin Spark.Unfortunately,Houston didn't live long enough to see it.

    Whitney Houston died on February 11,2012,in Los Angeles.With her passing,the music world has lost one of its most outstanding stars.

    Ibuprofen

    Ibuprofen is used to reduce fever and treat pain in adults and children who are at least 6 months old.

    Important information

    Ibuprofen can increase your risk of heart attack or stroke, especially if you use it in the long term or take high doses(剂量), or if you have heart disease. Do not use this medicine just before or after heart surgery. Ibuprofen may also cause stomach bleeding, which can give birth to death. These conditions can occur without warning while you are using it, especially in older adults.

    Do not take more than your recommended dose. An ibuprofen overdose can damage your stomach. Use only the smallest amount medication needed to get relief from your pain or fever.

    A child's dose of ibuprofen is based on the age and weight of the child. Carefully follow the dosing instructions. Ask a doctor if you have questions.

    Take ibuprofen with food or milk to reduce the likelihood of a stomach upset.

    Shake the liquid before you measure a dose.

    Measure liquid medicine with a special medicine cup.

    Store at room temperature away from heat. Do not allow the liquid medicine to freeze.

    Your mobile phone vibrates in your pocket. 'Need to see you,' reads the screen. Nothing new, considering that texting is currently the most common form of long-distance communication. But how were messages conveyed in the past?

    One of the first methods was the smoke signal. This practice was used by Chinese soldiers guarding the Great Wall to warn of the enemy's approach. The Greeks invented a whole alphabet of smoke signals for sending messages. But it was Native Americans who made the system mobile by carrying small bunches of dried grasses around with them. These could be lit quickly from any place at any time.

    Moving on to messages transmitted by sound, an early technique was the drum. Drums are still used today in the rainforests of Africa, Papua New Guinea and Central and South America for broadcasting news. The instrument is made from a piece of wood, which is empty inside, and this is hit with a stick. On receiving the message, each village passes it on to the next, which means that news can travel at up to 150 km an hour.

    In some parts of the world, humans are able to convey messages over long distances without using instruments. On La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands, people use Silbo, or the 'whistling language' to communicate across the valleys. The language involves the use of the tongue, lips and hands to make sounds, which can travel up to 5 km. To ensure its continuation, Silbo is currently a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools on the island.

    A look at long-distance communication would not be complete without mentioning the art of yodelling. This is a form of singing, in which the voice changes sound levels very quickly, making it easily heard over long distances. It is believed that the technique was developed in the Swiss Alps, but it is also found in other places such as Central Africa. At one time, yodelling was popular in theatres and music halls, but this is no longer so.

    When you're on the go, your best friend and resource can be your phone. In the age of smart phones, apps are like guiding stars: They can point you in the right direction for a hotel, list expenses, send postcards, and much more. When used together, these apps can be the basic travel tool, placing a wealth of information at your fingertips no matter where you are on the planet. U.S. News Travel has picked the essential travel apps, known for their utility and reliability. Best of all, they cost absolutely nothing.

    Trip It

    Your Personal Travel Agent

    Be your own travel agent and plan every detail of your trip-- from car rental to accommodating restaurants-- with Trip It. You can make travel schedule by hand, or simply forward the email confirmations of your flight, rental car, train tickets, and hotels to plans.

Weather Free

    Your Go-To Meteorologist(气象学者)

    Stop trying to explain the weather forecast on the evening news (particularly when it's in a foreign language.) The Weather Free app informs you (in English) of the climate in various locations. It features the local weather, and other key factors that will inform your decision about what to wear before stepping outside.

    Goby

    Your Event Guru

    When you're in a foreign city, you sometimes look around and ask: Where are all the people? Goby has the answer. This app pinpoints the neighborhood hot spots (including museums, hotels, eateries, and more) in your neighborhood. But its true value comes in finding nearby events. You'll discover concerts, plays, and more right around the corner.

Dear Students,

    I am delighted to be your guest.

    I would like to tell you about myself. I have been a news reporter for the past fifteen years. I chose this job so I could travel the world, but the job has taught me many unforgettable lessons. The work is sometimes difficult. I have seen famines, wars, earthquakes, poverty and death. But I have also seen courage, hope and happiness.

    In India, I visited a city where there were many homeless children. Some were as young as four years old. They lived in the streets and survived by begging or stealing. But then a wonderful lady called Rosa opened a home for them. Within one year, she was looking after two hundred children. She clothed them, fed them, and taught them. She gave them hope.

    Another time, I was in Turkey after a terrible earthquake, in one place. I found an old lady whose house was in ruins, her son was missing and rescuer workers said there was no chance that he was still alive. But the old lady did not give up hope. For four days, she moved heavy stones one at a time by herself. She did not stop until she found her son. He was alive.

    Here in China, I met a young boy with a serious condition. He had undergone twenty operations and spent nearly his whole life in hospital. I thought he would be sad, but when I met him, his smile was so warm and welcoming.

    In life, we need role models that we can admire and learn from. When my life is difficult, I try to remember the courage and goodness of these three people.

The ancient Herculaneum scrolls (卷轴)are thought to contain works of important thinkers in ancient Greece. But the scrolls can't be unrolled (打开). Even a light wind threatens to reduce them to dust. The reason is that they were turned into carbon by a natural disaster in A.D. 79.

But now researchers from the University of Kentucky have found a way to look inside the scrolls without having to touch them. They first create a light that is 10 billion times brighter than the sun by taking advantage of a machine. Then they will use the light to go through the Herculaneum scrolls to study and finally read the words recorded on the scrolls. Researchers think it might take them six months to read the scrolls.

This isn't the first time researchers have tried to read the Herculaneum scrolls. Several years ago, scientists from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) worked on uncovering the mystery using an X-ray beam 100 billion times brighter than anything used in a hospital, This didn't allow scientists to actually read the scrolls, but it allowed them to make one surprising discovery. The scrolls were written in metallic (金属的) ink, a writing technology that scientists didn't know existed at the time the scrolls were penned.

"For a long time, we thought our studies have let us know everything about the ancient ink used to write on scrolls. Now we find it's not the case. This shows that we should tell ourselves it may not be true when thinking we fully know something once some research is done," said Daniel Delattre, one of the study's authors.

The finding wasn't just a historical curiosity. To learn just how special these scrolls are, consider that the thinker Chrysippus in ancient Greece is said to have written over 700 works; but all are lost, with the exception of a few works found in the Herculaneum scrolls. In other words, it's possible that these scrolls represent the only existing complete works left by this great thinker. And who knows what other great works could exist in the scrolls?