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.

    I've seen a couple of the other Fast Furious films but this one is definitely best. Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel), Brian O' Conner (Paul Walker) and Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) are planning to steal $100 million from businessman Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida). At the same time, agent (联邦特工) Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) is chasing after them. The story's pretty fast-moving and the car chase at the end is amazing.

—Derek

    Well, if I'd known it was an action film, I wouldn't have gone to see it. I mean, I can't stand action films. And I'll tell you another thing – I can't stand Vin Diesel. I mean he can't act to save his life. The film would have been much better with someone like Mau Damon or George Clooney. The only good thing about it was the soundtrack (电影配乐) which was pretty good. And I won't be going to see any other Fast & Furious movies either!

—Zoe

    Well it started off all right, but the romance between Mia and Brian was a bit inadequate (不足的) and the whole thing lost its way. It was as if the director couldn't decide whether he was making a thriller, an action movie or a romantic comedy (喜剧), so he ended up making none of them.

—Mario

    It was amazing! I can't believe it was really over two hours long. It just flashed by. The direction was superb； Justin did a really good job. And the acting was great. I know Vin Diesel isn't going to win an Oscar or anything like that but he's good at what he does. And the plot! I laughed out loud quite a few times. The funny thing is, I wouldn^'t have bothered seeing it if my friend hadn't suggested going.

—Megan

Famous Modern Chinese Buildings

    Beijing International Airport

    The first place most visitors see when they arrive in China is Beijing International Airport. The airport was constructed in the 1950s. It has an indoor garden, a children's playground, and over 70 food businesses in Terminal 3 alone.

    Shanghai World Financial Center

    Completed in 2008, SWFC took over 10 years to complete due to financial shortages and construction delays. Since its completion, it has won countless architectural awards.

    Tourists are welcome at SWFC's viewing platform, which at 474 meters above ground is the world's highest closed viewing platform.

The Water Cube

    It was constructed for use during the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. Now visitors can express surprise at the architecture of the building. They can enjoy the indoor atmosphere as well.

    Among the offerings of the Water Cube are a restaurant and bar, a shopping area, and Water World, a family water park

The Bird's Nest, Beijing

    It was designed mainly for the 2008 Summer Olympics. It can hold up to 80,000 people and has been used for a winter theme park. Nowadays, its main income is as a tourist attraction. It draws more than 20,000 tourists every day.

National Center for the Performing Arts

    It was completed in 2007. The building is surrounded by a man-made lake, requiring guests to enter via an underground hallway. It is home to an Opera Hall, Music Hall, and Theater.

    As I was thinking about language learning the other day, the image of baking bread came into my mind. I compared some of the exercises and drills that we put ourselves through in order to learn a language to the various ingredients that go into baking a loaf of fresh bread.

    Real language learning takes place in human relationships. No one sits down and eats a cup of flour, even if he is hungry and in a hurry. You don't become bilingual（双语的）by learning lists of vocabulary. You don't become a speaker of a language by memorizing verb conjugations（动词的词形变化）and agreement rules. You become bilingual by entering a community that uses that other language as its primary means of communication.

    I am not suggesting that we can make bread without ingredients. Flour is necessary, as are yeast, salt, water and other ingredients. Vocabulary is part of any language and will have to be learned. Grammatical rules exist in every language and cannot be ignored. But merely combining the appropriate ingredients in the recommended proportions does not result in bread. At best, you only end up with a ball of dough（面团）.

    In order to get bread, you have to apply heat to the dough. And in language learning, that heat comes from the community. Anyone who has learned a second language has experienced that heat. It creeps up your neck when you ask the babysitter, “Have you already been eaten?” when you meant to say, “Have you already eaten?” When you try to say something quite innocent and the whole room bursts into laughter, you are experiencing the heat that turns raw dough into good bread.

    Remember the old saying, “If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen”? This is where language learning often breaks down because we find the heat uncomfortable and we stop the baking process. In other words, we can't stand the heat, so we get out of the kitchen.

    However, the language learner who stays in the kitchen—in the heat—until the combined ingredients are thoroughly transformed will enjoy the richness of a quality loaf of bread. He said that he did not “get out of the kitchen” at the critical moment when the oven seemed too hot. The dedicated language learner knows that becoming bilingual cannot be achieved without the heat!

    London's newest skyscraper(摩天大楼)is called the Shard and it cost about 430 million pounds to build. At a height of almost 310 meters, it is the tallest building in Europe. The Shard has completely changed the appearance of London. However, not everyone thinks that it is a change for the better.

    The Shard was designed by the famous Italian architect Renzo Piano. When he began designing the Shard for London, Piano wanted a very tall building that looked like a spire(尖顶). The sides of the building aren't regular. So the building has an unusual shape. And that is how the building got the name：the Shard. Piano says that the spire shape of the Shard is part of a great London tradition. The shape reminds him of the spires of the churches of London or the tall masts(桅杆)of the ships that were once on the river Thames.

    The Shard has 87 floors. At the moment the building is empty, but finally there will be a five-star hotel. There will also be top quality restaurants, apartments and offices.

    Before building work began, a lot of people didn't want the Shard though the plans were approved. Now they are still unhappy about the Shard. Some critics say that such a tall skyscraper might be good in a city like New York, but not in London. They say that the best thing about the Shard is its shape. But that is the only thing. There is no decoration, only flat surfaces. The Egyptians(埃及人)did that 4, 500 years ago.

    Other critics don't like what the Shard seems to represent. They say that the Shard shows how London is becoming more unequal. Only very rich people can afford to buy the expensive apartments and stay in the hotel. But the people living near the Shard are among the poorest in London. So the Shard seems a symbol of the division(分化)in society between the very rich and the poor.

    The Shard now dominates the London skyline. It is not certain, however, that ordinary London citizens will ever accept it as a valuable addition to the city.

    The theatre in Shakespeare's time was much different than it is today. Authors wrote plays for the masses, especially those who couldn't read or write.

    The theatre changed a lot during Shakespeare's lifetime. The authorities didn't like it and didn't allow acting in the city itself: They thought it had a bad influence on people and kept them from going to church. Queen Elizabeth, on the other hand, loved acting and helped the theatre become popular.

    The theatre in Shakespeare's time was full of life. People did not sit all the time and it was not quiet during the performance. The audience could walk around, eat and drink during the play.

    Theaters were open arenas or playhouses that had room for up to three thousand people. There was almost no scenery because the dialogue was the most important part of the play. Colourful and well-designed costumes were very important and told the people about the status of a character. Women never performed in plays, 80 young boys played female characters. The performances took place in the afternoon because it was too dark at night.

    There was no stage crew as there is today. Actors had to do everything themselves-from making costumes to setting the stage. Plays were organized by acting companies. They performed about 6 different plays each week because they needed money to survive. They had almost no time to rehearse (排练).

    The companies in Shakespeare's time had a rank system. The company belonged to shareholders and managers. They were responsible for everything and got most of the money when the company was successful. Sometimes they even owned their own buildings. Actors worked for the managers and after some time became a permanent member of the company. Apprentices (学徒) were young boys and were allowed to act in unimportant role. They also played female characters in plays.