原文：http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/02/11/whitney-houston-dies.html
翻译：吟啸风寒
Whitney Houston, who ruled as pop music’s queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, has died at the age of 48.Houston’s publicist, Kristen Foster, said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown.
流行天后惠特尼·休斯顿于昨日辞世，享年48岁。在巅峰时期，她曾以魅力无比的声音和尊贵如女王般的形象让无数人倾倒。之后，她的形象和事业由于吸毒而被摧残。休斯顿的经纪人克里斯汀·福斯特证实了她已在本周六辞世，但是死因和地点不明。
News of Houston’s death came on the eve of music’s biggest night — the Grammy Awards. It’s a showcase where she once reigned, and her death was sure to case a heavy pall on Sunday’s ceremony. Houston’s longtime mentor Clive Davis was to hold his annual concert and dinner Saturday. It was unclear if it was going to go forward.
休斯顿辞世的当天正好是格莱美颁奖晚会举办的日子，这是音乐界最隆重的节日。她的死讯无疑给颁奖典礼笼罩上了浓重的阴影。具有讽刺意味的是，格莱美正是那个曾经让休斯顿大红大紫的舞台。休斯顿的心理顾问克莱夫·戴维斯在周六本打算举行他的年度音乐晚宴，目前不清楚此次宴会有没有因为休斯顿之死而被取消。
At her peak, Houston was the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world’s bestselling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful, and peerless vocals that were rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen. Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like The Bodyguard and Waiting to Exhale.
在巅峰时期，休斯顿是音乐产业炙手可热的黄金女伶。从上世纪八十年代中期到九十年代末，她是世界上唱片销量最佳的歌手之一。她那轻灵有力、无与伦比、兼具灵歌风格和流行元素的声音曾经迷倒了无数听众。音乐上的成功让她进入影视界，并先后出演了《保镖》《等待梦醒时分》等大片。
She had the perfect voice, and the perfect image: a gorgeous singer who had sex appeal but was never overtly sexual, who maintained perfect poise. She influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey, who when she first came out sounded so much like Houston that many thought it was Houston.
她的声音和形象可以说无可挑剔——她在优雅中带着性感，却又不过火得风骚，保持着一种恰到好处的平衡。她的风格影响了之后的新生代歌手，如克里斯蒂娜·阿吉莱拉，玛利亚·凯瑞。玛利亚·凯瑞在出道之时由于声音和休斯顿如出一辙，曾获得了“小休斯顿”的封号。
Addiction woes 毒瘾的煎熬
But by the end of her career, Houston became a stunning cautionary tale of the toll of drug use. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her once pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.
在她事业的末期，她以自己伤痛的实例为吸毒者们敲响了警钟。她的唱片销量迅速下降，能打上榜单的歌曲也不再出现。她曾经淡泊宁静的公众形象也由于一系列飞扬跋扈的言论作态与不合时宜的抛头露面而被打破。她承认自己吸食可卡因、大麻和摇头丸，这使得她纯净完美的歌喉变得呕哑嘲哳，不再能完成曾经巅峰时期的高音。
“The biggest devil is me. I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy,” Houston told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Bobby Brown by her side. It was a tragic fall for a superstar who was one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone.
“我是最大的恶魔。我不是自己最好的朋友，就是自己最坏的敌人，”休斯顿在一次ABC的采访中坦陈。当时她的前夫鲍比·布朗就坐在她的旁边。这次采访给她的声誉带来了很大的负面影响。在此之前，休斯顿是流行音乐史上唱片最畅销的天皇巨星之一，她的唱片尽在美国就销量高达五千五百万张。而这次访谈，却成了她事业悲剧性的转折。
She seemed to be born into greatness. She was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, the cousin of 1960s pop diva Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin. Houston first started singing in the church as a child. In her teens, she sang backup for Chaka Khan, Jermaine Jackson and others, in addition to modeling. It was around that time when music mogul Clive Davis first heard Houston perform.
休斯顿似乎是注定要大红大紫的。休斯顿的母亲西西·休斯顿是一位福音歌手，六十年代的流行女星迪翁·瓦维克是她的表亲，而奥利瑟·富兰克林是休斯顿的教父。她童年时就开始在教堂中唱歌。十几岁的时候她就为查卡·汉、杰梅因·杰克逊等著名歌手伴唱。她还曾经做过模特。就是在那段时间，她被音乐产业大亨克莱夫·戴维斯发现。
“The time that I first saw her singing in her mother’s act in a club … it was such a stunning impact,” Davis told Good Morning America.
“To hear this young girl breathe such fire into this song, I mean, it really sent the proverbial tingles up my spine,” he added.
“我第一次听她唱歌是在一个俱乐部里，那是她母亲的一次演出。印象简直太深刻了，”戴维斯在《美国早安》的采访中说道。
“我在她的歌声中听到了火一样的热情，我想说，这让我感到了那种传说中的脊骨一阵战栗。”
Before long, the rest of the country would feel it, too. Houston made her album debut in 1985 with Whitney Houston, which sold millions and spawned hit after hit. Saving All My Love for You brought her her first Grammy, for best female pop vocal. How Will I Know, You Give Good Love and The Greatest Love of All also became hit singles. Another multiplatinum album, Whitney, came out in 1987 and included hits like Where Do Broken Hearts Go and I Wanna Dance With Somebody.
之后没多久，她充满魅力的歌喉便开始让整个美国为之疯狂。休斯顿在1985年推出了自己的首张同名专辑。这张名为《Whitney Houston》的专辑销量上千万，其中多首曲目打入榜单。《为你珍存我所有的爱》这首歌让她获得了格莱美最佳流行女歌手的殊荣，这是她生涯中第一个格莱美奖。《我怎么知道》《有你爱多好》以及《爱的极致》等单曲都打上榜单。另一张在1987年推出的多白金唱片《惠特尼》中也有很多著名单曲，如《破碎的心无处可逃》《我想找个舞伴》等。
【歌曲】
When you believe (《埃及王子》主题曲，与Mariah Carey合唱）
