Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963—February 11, 2012)was an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Often referred to as the “Queen of Pop”or simply “the Voice”. Houston was the most awarded female actress of all time. According to Guinness World Record 22American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career award as of 2010. Houston was also one of the world's best-selling music artists, artists, having sold over 170 million albums and singles worldwide.

    Born in what was then a middle-income neighborhood in New Jersey, Houston began singing in a  junior gospel choir at age 11.After she began performing alongside in night clubs in New York City, she was discovered by Arista Records head Clive Davis, who had an impact on her as a singer and performer.

    Houston was the only artist to chart seven consecutive(连续) No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits. She was the second artist behind Elton John and the only female artist to nave two number-one Billboard 200 Album awards on the Billboard magazine year-end charts. How Will I Know enthralled her fans and audience and even several African-American female artists to follow in her footsteps. Houston's first acting role was as the star of the feature film The Bodyguard (1992). The film's original soundtrack won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Its lead single, I Will Always Love You became the best-selling single by a female artist in music history. Three years after the release of her fourth studio album. My Love Is Your Love (1998), she renewed her recording contract with Arista Records. She released her fifth studio album.  Just Whitney, in 2002, and the Christmas-themed One Wish: The Holiday Album in 2003. In 2009. Houston released her seventh and final studio album. I Look to You.

    Houston died of causes yet to be determined on February 11,2012. Later this year her film Sparkle will be released into theaters.

    What would you say if we told you that you could learn to speak a new language in only 7 days? Pretty unbelievable right? But how could it be? To find out,we spoke to David-one of our brave Babbel learners—to see how the Babbel app successfully got him speaking Norwegian(挪威语)in just one week.

How much time did you learn each day?

    I didn't need to give my entire life over to learning Norwegian. Each Babbel lesson takes only 15 minutes, and I set myself the achievable aim of finishing three Babbel lessons daily.This took only 45minutes each day.

How did the Babbel app help you learn so quickly?

    The Babbel app has a course plan for beginners that taught me how to make sentences in Norwegian within the first few days. Then I was able to personalize my learning by selecting single-topic lessons on eating, drinking, music, culture, traveling and so on. This allowed me to quickly enlarge my vocabulary!

    This way of learning kept me highly active,and made sure I wasn't bored to tears with grammar practice that we all remember from school!

    “After 7 days I was able to introduce myself in Norwegian,talk about my hobbies and interests, and most importantly,communicating with a native Norwegian speaker in a real conversation and I could even play a joke or two!”

    Would you introduce this app to others?

    Certainly! Babbel has 14 languages to choose from so if you're thinking about brushing up on your German for a business trip, or learning a bit of Portuguese (葡萄牙语) for next year's summer vacation, you'll be happy to hear that you only need an app, 7 days of learning to get you conversational.

    When you go to St. Petersburg, the number of attractions can seem overwhelming. If you're short on time, or just want to make sure to hit the highlights, these are the top must-see sights in St. Petersburg.

    The Hermitage Museum

    The Hermitage Museum is one of the most important sights to see for any visitor to St. Petersburg. There you can see lots of different paintings of old masters inside the Hermitage. Prepare to come face-to-face with classic Western artists.

    The Russian Museum

    The Russian Museum holds one of the largest collections of Russian art in the world. View Russian art creations through the ages, from Byzantine (拜占庭)-style icons to the Socialist Realism of Stalin's times.

    Kizhi Island

    Kizhi Island is an open-air museum of wooden buildings from the Karelia Region of Russia. These impressive structures are made without any nails (钉子) — the wood fits together with joints and grooves (沟槽).

    Peterhof

    Peterhof is as beautiful as it is fun. You'll be charged for admission (门票), but go to Peterhof when the fountains (喷泉) are working — during the day in the summer. They are shut off in winter as well as in the evenings.

    The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood

    Love it or hate it, the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood is an attractive must-see sight. The beautiful look may make your eyes brighten, and the paintings inside the church will make you say “Wow!”

    The Bronze Horseman Statue

    The Bronze Horseman is a part of Russian Culture and a symbol of St. Petersburg. Made famous by Alexander Pushkin (普希金), this statue of Peter the Great sitting on his horse can truly show Peter the Great's influence on the Russian idea of greatness.

Everyone has got two personalities—the one that is shown to the world and the other that is secret and real. You don't show your secret personality when you're awake because you can control yourself, but when you're asleep, your sleeping position shows the real you. In a normal night, of course, you often change your sleeping positions. The important position that best shows your secret personality is the one that you fall asleep with.

    If you go to sleep on your back, you're a very open person. You normally trust people and you are easily influenced by fashion or new ideas. You don't like to upset people. So you never express your real feelings. You're quite shy and you aren't very confident.

    If you sleep on your stomach, you are a person who likes to keep secrets. You worry a lot and you're always easily becoming sad. You never want to change your ideas, but you are satisfied with your life the way it is. You usually live for today not tomorrow.

    If you sleep curled up(卷曲), you are probably a very nervous person. You have a low opinion of yourself and you often protecting yourself from being hurt, so you are very defensive. You're shy and you don't usually like meeting people. You prefer to be on your own. You're easily hurt.

    If you sleep on your side, you have usually got a well-balanced(平衡的) personality. You know your strengths and weaknesses. You're usually careful. You believe in yourself. You sometimes feel anxious, but you don't often get unhappy. You always say what you think, even if it makes people rather angry.

    Throughout history scientists have risked their health and their lives in their search for the truth.

    Sir Isaac Newton, the seventeenth century scientist, was very smart, but that didn't stop him from doing some pretty stupid things. In his laboratory in Cambridge he often did the strangest experiments. Once, while testing how light passes through lenses (晶状体), he put a long needle into his eye, pushed it to the back, and then moved it around just to see what would happen. Luckily, nothing long-lasting did. On another occasion he stared at the sun for as long as he could bear, to discover what effect this would have on his sight. Again he escaped suffering permanent damage, though he had to spend some days in a darkened room before his eyes recovered.

    In the 1750s the Swedish chemist Karl Scheele was the first person to find a way to produce phosphorus (磷). He in fact discovered eight more chemical elements including chlorine (氯), though he didn't get any praise for them. He was a very clever scientist, but his one failing was a curious habit of tasting a little of every substance he worked with. This risky practice finally caught up with him, and in 1786 he was found dead in his laboratory surrounded by a large number of dangerous chemicals, any of which might have been responsible for his death.

    Eugene Shoemaker was a respected geologist. He spent a large part of his life studying craters (火山口) on the moon, and how they were formed, and later did research into the comets of the planet Jupiter. In 1997 he and his wife were in the Australian desert where they went every year to search for places where comets might have hit the earth. While driving in the Tanami desert, normally one of the emptiest places in the world, another vehicle crashed into them and Shoemaker was killed on the spot. Some of his ashes (骨灰) were sent to the moon aboard the Lunar Prospector spacecraft and left there — he is the only person who has had this honor.

Accines (疫苗) may soon make their first film appearance. Led by expert Maria A. Croyle, researchers have developed a thin sheet that preserves vaccines for long periods without refrigeration. This means the carefully cooled small bottles now used to ship vaccines could potentially be replaced by lightweight films that can be mailed in an envelope and stored on a shelf.

Croyle's laboratory began developing the technology in 2007. Inspired by amber's ability to preserve the DNA of insects, the researchers set out to create their own version of the substance by mixing "a lot of sugar and a little bit of salt, much like hard candy," Croyle explains. The vaccine-containing film is administered by mouth—sweet news for many who dislike needles.

The film is tailored to suit each specific vaccine candidate and provide a protective coating. "We've learned over time that the key to really stabilizing whatever the film holds is to have it intermixed with all the components," Croyle says, adding that the process is quick and uses affordable, standard equipment. "We really wanted to come up with something that would be transferable to developing countries."

Immunization(免疫) programs depend heavily on keeping vaccines cold(2℃-8℃) as they are transported, sometimes over thousands of kilometers to far-away locations. Delivery can be difficult and costly, and transport disruptions can cause the vaccines to be ineffective.

But this new product can store live viruses, bacteria and antibodies for several months at 20℃. In a paper published in Science Advances, the scientists show that the live viruses in one vaccine were preserved in the film even after 36 months. They also find that a flu vaccine suspended in their film compares favourably with a traditional flu shot(流感预防针). "The study demonstrates early proof of concept for an exciting platform for vaccine product development," says Lisa Rohan, a pharmacologist, who was not involved in the study. She also notes that each vaccine type would need a custom formulation(配方) for future stages of development.

Finding partners to mass-produce for clinical trials is the researchers' most pressing problem, Croyle says. They are also exploring packaging methods to keep their films stable up to 40℃.

Size is a major advantage—a letter-sized sheet of the film can carry more than 500 doses(剂) of vaccine, about 1⁄900 the weight of the same amount of traditional doses. By making it easier and cheaper to ship and preserve vaccines efficiently, Croyle says, the technology could vastly improve immunization rates the world over, particularly in middle- to low- income countries.