The Queen's English is now sounding less upper-class, a scientific study of the Queen's Christmas broadcasts had found. Researchers have studied each of her messages to the Commonwealth countries since 1952 to find out the change in her pronunciation from the noble Upper Received to the Standard Received.

    Jonathan Harrington, a professor at Germany's University of Munich, wanted to discover whether accent  changes recorded over the past half century would take place within one person. “As far as I know, there just is nobody else for whom there is this sort of broadcast records,” he said.

    He said the noble way of pronouncing vowels (元音) had gradually lost ground as the noble upper-class accent over the past years. “Her accent sounds slightly less noble than it did 50 years ago. But these are very, very small and slow changes that we don't notice from year to year.”

    “We may be able to relate it to changes in the social classes,” he told The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper. “In 1952 she would have been heard saying ‘thet men in the bleck het'. Now it would be ‘that man in the black hat'. Similarly, she would have spoken of ‘citay ' and  ‘dutay' , rather than ‘citee' and ‘dutee' and ‘hame' rather than ‘home'. In the 1950s she would have been ‘lorst', but by the 1970s ‘lost'.”

    The Queen's broadcast is a personal message to the Commonwealth countries. Each Christmas, the 10-minute broadcast is put on TV at 3 pm in Britain as many families are recovering from their traditional turkey lunch.

    The results were published in the Journal of Phonetics.

John keeps a record of new words and expressions in English. He usually writes them in a note-book. Then, later in the day, he asks his teacher about them. “Mrs. Thomas, these expressions are new to me. ‘She's blue today.'， ‘You're yellow', ‘A little white lie', ‘She has green fingers'.” After looking at the note-book, Mrs. Thomas says, “In everyday English, John，‘blue' sometimes means sad. ‘Yellow' means afraid. A person with ‘green fingers' grows plants successfully. And ‘a white lie' is not a bad lie.” “I don't understand. Please give me an example.” “ For example, I offer you some cake. The truth is that you don't like my cake. You don't say that. Instead, you say, ‘No, thanks, I'm not hungry.' That's a white lie.” John says, “I see , thanks for the explanation!”

    Ever wondered whether punishment actually makes people cooperate (合作)? A team of scientists created an experiment to figure it out and the results were pretty unexpected.

    To understand what they found, you have to know why these scientists were studying punishment. They were trying to figure out why people cooperate when it's often so easy to profit at others expense. Why don't friends steal from each other? Why do parents bother to feed their children? If the answer to these questions is obvious to you, congratulations, you are ahead of scientists. They're still trying to figure it out.

    In this experiment, researchers had 225 Chinese students play a game, where if the students cooperated, they'd all get a number of points. But if one defected (变节) and everyone else cooperated, the defector would get a lot of points, and the cooperators would lose out. This game represents a lot of real life situations where you struggle with a decision: work together and do OK, or run off with the rewards, ruining everybody else's day.

    This is actually a pretty ordinary economic experiment. But the researchers added two changes to see if they could mimic(糢拟)the real world better. Change one: some students played many rounds together, so they'd learn who they could trust. Change two: people could punish each other, sacrificing a point or two to destroy another player's score.

    In the end, the researchers found that playing multiple rounds made people cooperate more, which definitely mimics human society. But the whole punishment thing led to a surprise: punishing didn't actually make people cooperate more. In fact, it made them cooperate less.

    So the scientists still don't know why people cooperate, though it looks like it has more to do with groups sticking together than it does with punishment.

Coolest Hotels in the World

    Artau Aragon Towers

    The Ariau Amazon Towers hotel lets you sleep in a tree house. Eight towers make up this hotel that offers over 300 rooms. If you really want to get into the spirit, book the Tarzan Suite which is large enough for a big family. You'll be thirty feet up in the air and can travel between the towers through their wooden walkways.

    Prices: starting at $300 one night for each person for a regular room and going all the way up to $3000 for the Tarzan Suite.

    For more information, visit the website: http://Hwww.ariautowers.com

    The Ice Hotel

    Every winter in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, a special kind of hotel called the Ice Hotel is built. Each year, world-famous artists are invited to design and produce works of art from the ice, many of which can be found in the rooms. You'll have your choice between hot or cold rooms but you will be well advised to stay at least one night in a cold room for a true experience.

    Prices: starting at $318 one night for each person for either a cold room or a warm one. For more information, visit the website: http:Hwww.icehotel.com.

Propeller Island

    Propeller Island City Lodge is a very special hotel that was designed by a German artist. Each room provides you with the possibility of living in a work of art. Every single piece of furniture in the thirty rooms of the hotel has been hand-made and each room is completely different. You'll be able to choose a room based on your own personal tastes.

    Prices: starting at just $91 a night, and an additional (另外) person for only 20 extra dollars.

    For more information, visit the website: http://www.propeller-island.com.

    For information about other cool hotels. In the world, visit the website: http://www.bahamabeachclub.com.

    Inside Out is one of my favorite Disney / Pixar movies. The story is about a young girl named Riley who moves from Minnesota to San Francisco with her family and how she deals with her emotions (情感) through the move. These five emotions in Riley's brain are Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust (厌恶) and Sadness. These emotions play a very important role in her life. I can understand because I am an 11-year-old girl and I am very in touch with my emotions and pre-teen feelings.

    The film is extremely beautiful and you couldn't ask for better direction from Pete Doctor. The use of the right colors for the characters is great. For example, Joy is yellow, Sadness is blue, Disgust is green, Fear is purple and Anger of course is red. Sadness plays a main role in the story and it makes me wonder why we are told not to be sad. I think it's important to be sad when the time comes. The end of the movie pretty much got me and the whole audience (观众) (families, couples and even elderly people) in tears and I cried very hard.

    I recommend (推荐) this movie for anyone from 8 to 18 because it has enough joy in it for younger kids to like it even though it does have some sad moments. I believe that adults will like it too. And I give it 4 out of 5 stars because it connects to an older audience even though it is designed for a younger audience. I think younger children can see this, but a parent would have to explain some things to them after the movie.

    According to the International Ecotourism Society, eco-travel is "responsible travel to natural areas that protects the environment, maintains the well-beings and involves education". Eco-travel is on the rise, as more and more people become conscious about their carbon footprint.

    Expert from Boundless Journeys, Matt Holmes, who works-on travel experiences towards conserving areas said, "As scientists and non-scientists learn more about how we human beings are impacting the planet, I think more people want to do what they can while still exploring the world. Our guests are definitely interested in that aspect of our journeys. Travelers can farm their own food in Italy, managing their use of water and using solar or wind power. They can also visit n family-run camp that cares for retired logging elephants in Myanmar, know a park entry fee goes to a conservation organization in Costa Rica, employ and train members of the local community or partner with a protection group. There are lots of options for seeking out greener holiday."

    Most people believe that eco-travel is expensive and it is true. Matt explained "Anti-poaching patrols (巡逻) need to be paid, solar energy equipment costs a lot to install, building with environmentally friendly, materials is more expensive and so on. The extra cost is necessary, as you're paying to minimize your footprint and protect the places you visit, which is exactly what eco-travel is about. The financial success and sustainability (可持续性) of an eco- focused operation doesn't come from thin air." The industry is trying to make eco-travel affordable and make it accessible to the common people.