A cellphone is one of the few things that we hold close to our faces all the time, and yet it could possibly explode - this is what made the recent Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 smart-phone accidents so shocking.

   According to technology news website The Verge, flawed（有瑕疵的）phone batteries might be to blame.

    Even if you are not a science student, you probably know that it is common sense that the anode (the negative（负的）end of the battery) and the cathode (the positive end) should never touch. If they do, the battery will short-circuit（短路）, causing a powerful electrical reaction that can destroy the battery and cause a fire.

    This is why all lithium-ion（锂离子）batteries - the kind that can be found in many of our devices like tablets and cameras - have a separator layer inside to stop the two ends from touching one another.

    But somehow, the separators in some of the Samsung phones broke, causing explosions.

    Overcharging is another problem that can make batteries heat up quickly. Fortunately, most batteries are designed to be able to automatically stop charging once they are fully charged. But again, this somehow failed to happen in some of the Samsung phones.

    The two “somehows” may sound random（随机的）and hard to explain. But they actually both come from the fact that phone producers have been pushing the limits of batteries to meet customers' demand for a longer battery life.

    According to Lynden Archer, a materials scientist at Cornell University, US, we have already achieved 90 percent of the battery life possible from a lithium-ion battery. Customers' demand that their devices get thinner has also given producers little choice but to try to put more power into thinner batteries.

     “The more energy you put into a box, the more dangerous it's going to be,” Billy Wu, a lecturer at Imperial College London, told The Guardian.

    A thinner battery also means producers have to use thinner material for separators, and thinner material has more chance of breaking.

    Susan was born as the ninth child in a Catholic family. She suffered from learning disabilities ever since her birth because of her mother's poor health.

    School was difficult for Susan and she was bullied because of her different behaviors. Her siblings, who were much older, had life experiences that were unknown to their little sister. From the time of her birth, Susan was a screamer. The only really safe place that she would use as a repeat was her bedroom. There she would hang posters of her musical idols on the wall and sing popular music into a hairbrush that she pretended was a microphone.

    One by one the siblings moved away from home and then Susan's father died. This left her alone with an aging mother and a cat. The siblings accused her mother of not expecting more out of Susan. She had seen many professionals and remembered hearing the word “borderline” but didn't know what it meant. She tried volunteer work. Her best state of mind, however, was found when she was singing and so she would regularly join others in karaoke or pubs where she could show her skills and receive appreciation from the crowd.

    When Susan announced at Christmas that she was planning to compete in the Britain's Got Talent contest, her siblings tried to discourage her. It was a wonder that she was even able to do the audition considering the troubles she faced just physically getting to the right place.

    “The Woman I Was Born to Be” is a beautiful story written in the simple but humorous voice of the author, Susan Boyle. She tells her story from birth to the present in an interesting and educational manner. The writing is supplemented by photos from her albums.

    I love this book! In fact, I read the whole thing in one day!

There is something in the stories that not only teaches the reader but also inspires us to reach for our dreams — no matter how impossible they may seem to be!

    According to Guglielmo Cavallo and Roger Chartier, reading aloud was a common practice in the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and as late as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Readers were “listeners attentive to a reading voice,” and “the text addressed to the ear as much as to the eye.” The significance of reading aloud continued well into the nineteenth century.

    Using Charles Dickens's nineteenth century as a point of departure, it would be useful to look at the familial and social uses of reading aloud and reflect on the functional change of the practice. Dickens habitually read his work to a domestic audience or friends. In his later years he also read to a broader public crowd Chapters of reading aloud also abound in Dickens's own literary works. More importantly, he took into consideration the Victorian practice when composing his prose, so much so that his writing is meant to be heard, not only read on the page.

    Performing a literary text orally in a Victorian family is well documented. Apart from promoting a pleasant family relationship, reading aloud was also a means of protecting young people from the danger of solitary (孤独的) reading. Reading aloud was a tool for parental guidance. By means of reading aloud, parents could also introduce literature to their children, and as such the practice combined leisure and more serious purposes such as religious cultivation in the youths. Within the family, it was commonplace for the father to read aloud Dickens read to his children: one of his surviving and often-reprinted photographs features him posing on a chair, reading to his two daughters.

    Reading aloud in the nineteenth century was as much a class phenomenon as a family affair, which points to a widespread belief that Victorian readership primarily meant a middle-class readership, Those who fell outside this group tended to be overlooked by Victorian publishers。Despite this, Dickens, with his publishers Chapman and Hall, managed to distribute literary reading materials to people from different social classes by reducing the price of novels. This was also made possible with the technological and mechanical advances in printing and the spread of railway networks at the time.

    Since the literacy level of this section of the population was still low before school attendance was made compulsory in 1870 by the Education Act, a considerable number of people from lower classes would listen to recitals of texts. Dickens's readers, who were from such social backgrounds, might have heard Dickens in this manner. Several biographers of Dickens also draw attention to the fact that it was typical for his texts to be read aloud in Victorian England, and thus illiteracy was not an obstacle for reading Dickens. Reading was no longer a chiefly closeted form of entertainment practiced by the middle class at home.

    A working-class home was in many ways not convenient for reading: there were too many distractions, the lighting was bad, and the home was also often half a workhouse. As a result, the Victorians from the non-middle classes tended to find relaxation outside the home such as in parks and squares, which were ideal places for the public to go while away their limited leisure time. Reading aloud, in particular public reading, to some extent blurred the distinctions between classes. The Victorian middle class defined its identity through differences with other classes. Dickens's popularity among readers from the non-middle classes contributed to the creation of a new class of readers who read through listening.

    Different readers of Dickens were not reading solitarily and “jealously,” to use Walter Benjamin's term. Instead, they often enjoyed a more communal experience, an experience that is generally lacking in today's world. Modem audiobooks can be considered a contemporary version of the practice. However, while the twentieth- and twentieth-first-century trend for individuals to listen to audiobooks keeps some eharacteristics of traditional reading aloud-such as “listeners attentive to a reading voice” and the ear being the focus—it is a far more solitary activity.

    People are less willing to rely on their knowledge and say they know something when they have access (接近) to the Internet, suggesting that our connection to the web is affecting how we think.

    Professor Evan Risko, of the Department of Psychology at the University of Waterloo, led a recent study where the team asked about 100 participants (参与者) a series of general-knowledge questions, such as naming the capital of France. For half of the study, participants had access to the Internet. They had to look up the answer when they responded that they did not know the answer. In the other half of the study, participants did not have access to the Internet.

    The team found that the people who had access to the web were about 5 percent more likely to say that they did not know the answer to the question. Furthermore, in some cases, the people with access to the Internet reported feeling as though they knew less compared to the people without access.

    “With the popularity of the Internet, we are almost frequently connected to large amounts of information. And when that data is within reach, people seem less likely to rely on their own knowledge,” said Professor Risko.

    Studying the results, the researchers thought that access to the Internet might make it less acceptable to say you know something but are incorrect. It is also possible that participants were more likely to say they didn't know an answer when they had access to the web because online searching offers an opportunity to confirm their answer, and the process of finding out the answer is rewarding.

    “Our results suggest that access to the Internet affects the decisions we make about what we know and don't know,” said Risko. “We hope this research helps us understand how easy access to large amounts of information can influence our thinking and behaviour.”

    Singapore's public transport system is one of the best in the world, so you should have no problem finding your way around like a local. There are three main forms of public transport that you would find in any other major city－trains, buses and taxis.

    TRAINS

    Trains run from 6:00 am to midnight. Single trip tickets start at 80 cents. If you buy an EZ-Link card for $15, you can ride the trains and buses as you like. If you need more information, just call Transit Link on 1800 767 4333.

    BUSES

    There are several bus services in Singapore and fares start at 80 cents. Be sure to always ask the driver the cost of your ticket as he cannot give change. If you need help, just call Transit Link on 1800 767 4333.

    TAXIS

    There are three main taxi companies－City Cab (6552 2222), Comfort (6552 1111) and Tibs (6552 8888). Booking can also be easy by calling the numbers listed above.

    RENTAL CARS

    Driving in Singapore is a pleasure and if you like to travel at your own pace, renting a car is a good choice. Renting takes away the hassle of getting to places around Singapore. Just sit back and enjoy the city. It also means you'll get to see a lot more that a train or a bus won't let you see.

    For car rental, call Avis on +65 6737 1668.

    Here are some exciting holidays to make your travel fun and a learning adventure.

    Salsa Dancing Holiday, Cuba

    In Cuba, many all-inclusive resorts(全包式度假胜地) offer free salsa lessons as part of their services, but there are many travel routes available through travel companies that will arrange for dance lessons over the course of your two-week stay, as well as an opportunity to taste authentic Cuban cooking, lifestyle and music. By the end of your holiday, you will be a dancing expert!

    Big Life Stretch, Spain

    Travel opens up opportunities that you do not have at home. Leaving your familiar surroundings might open your mind and bring changes. Big Life Stretch is one-way holiday near Malaga, Spain, in the mountains. You will spend a week surrounding yourself by nature. Guests participate in the scheduled life coaching, and also learn the techniques to hug changes.

    Photography Holiday, Spain

    Taking pictures is a major part of every holiday, but how many of us are good at it? Why not take this opportunity to learn how to really record your travel memories during the trip? In scenic Torrox, Spain. Photography Holiday offers 8-day-long all-inclusive vocations (room and board), photography workshops and personalized photography tours. The holiday includes traditional Spanish homes, the mountains and the sightings of sunrise over Lake Vineula.

    Wild Cookery, Scotland

    If you are looking for a cooking holiday for a change, consider Wild Rose Outdoor Cookery courses. Head out to Scottish Highlands for the weekend, where you will hunt for greens and other cooking materials and learn about ways of cooking outdoors, like fireside cookery, hot stones and pit (坑)cooking.