You might think that “global warming” means nothing more than a rise in the world's temperature. But rising sea levels caused by it have resulted in the first evacuation (撤离) of an island nation, the citizens of Tuvalu will have to leave their homeland.

    During the 20th century, sea level rose 8~12 inches. As a result, Tuvalu has experienced lowland flooding of salt water that has polluted the country's drinking water.

    Paani Laupepa, a Tuvaluan government official, reported to the Earth Policy Institute that the nation suffered an unusually high number of fierce storms in the past ten years. Many scientists connect higher surface water temperatures resulting from global warming to greater and more damaging storms.

    Laupepa expressed dissatisfaction with the United States for refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement calling for industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions (排放), which are a main cause of global warming. “By refusing to sign the agreement, the US has effectively taken away the freedom of future generations of Tuvaluans to live where their forefathers have lived for thousands of years.” Laupepa told the BBC.

    Tuvalu has asked Australia and New Zealand to allow the gradual move of its people to both countries.

    Tuvalu is not the only country that is vulnerable (易受影响的) to rising sea levels. Maumoon Gayoon, president of the Maldives, told the United Nations that global warming has made his country of 311,000 an “endangered nation”.

    Here are Important Travel Notices from United Airlines, March 20, 2016 7:12 AM. Information is updated as it is received.

    ⒈Travel and the Zika virus

    If you have a ticket for travel to a country affected by the Zika virus(as listed on the CDC website) and have concerns, please contact the United Customer Contact Center with any questions or changes to your reservation. Customers advised to avoid the affected regions based on CDC guidance may change their destination or travel date without a fee or may choose to receive a refund(退款) if their tickets were booked before February 29,2016. The new travel date must be within the validity of the ticket. Additional charges may apply if there is a difference in fare for the new travel route.

    ⒉Longer lines at security checkpoints

    Procedural changes at TSA checkpoints throughout the United States may result in longer lines at security checkpoints. Please plan accordingly and allow for extra time at the airport. The TSA advises arriving at the airport two hours before your flight for US travel and three hours before for international travel. To save time at security, we encourage you to visit www.tsa.gov.com and apply for TSA pre-check.

    ⒊Notice for flight departing the European Union, Norway and Switzerland

EU Regulation 261/2004 requires airlines to provide the following notice: If you are not allowed to board or if your flight is canceled or delayed for at least two hours, ask at the check-in counter or boarding gate for the form, stating your rights, particularly about compensation assistance.

    The guzheng is a traditional Chinese musical instrument. It belongs to the zither（齐特琴）family of string instruments. It is the parent of many musical instruments of some other countries.

    The guzheng should not be confused with the guqin, another ancient Chinese zither but without bridges. Now the guzheng is zither with movable bridges and usually 21 strings, although it can have from 15-25 strings. The guzheng's strings were formerly made of silk, though most players used metal strings by the 20^th century. Since the mid-20^th century most performers use steel strings. The guzheng has a large resonant cavity（共振腔）.

    The guzheng has existed since the Warring States Period and became especially popular during the Qin dynasty. The number of strings on the guzheng has always fluctuated. There were as few as 6 to as many as 23 strings during the Tang dynasty. The earliest record of the guzheng belonged to the historian Sima Qian. Until 1961, the common guzheng had 16 strings, although by the mid-20^th century 18-string guzheng were also in use. In 1961, Xu Zhenggao, together with Wang Xunzhi, introduced the first 21-string guzheng after two years of research and development. In 1960, they also invented the “S-shaped” left string rest, which was quickly adopted by all guzheng makers and is still used today. This curve allows for greater ease in tuning the strings and, combined with strings of different thickness, allows for greater resonance in both the deeper and the higher pitch（音调）ranges. The 21-string guzheng is the most commonly used one, but some traditional musicians still use the 16-string one.

    The Queen has had to say goodbye to one of her longtime companions, her beloved pet corgi Holly, who has sadly passed away aged 13. The corgi will probably be familiar to royal fans who would recognize her from the 2012 London Olympics opening video.

    The dog was suffering from old age and was put down at Balmoral after suffering from an illness, leaving Her Majesty three surviving pet dogs, Willow and two corgi-dachshund crosses, Vulcan and Candy.

    According to a spokesperson for Buckingham palace, the Queen was deeply upset by Holly's passing and she doesn't like seeing her dogs suffer. Holly had attained a very good age. She gets more unsettled if they suffer and she knows that putting a dog down is often the kindest solution. She was devoted to Holly and wherever the Queen was, the dog was never far behind.

    Holly was included in one of the portraits for the Queen's 90th birthday, along with her other three pet dogs. Although the Queen usually has several pet corgis, it was recently revealed that she is keen not to breed（繁殖）any more of the dogs. Monty Roberts, a horse trainer who has previously given advice to Queen, told the Daily Mail, “She wouldn't leave any young dogs behind if she died. She wanted to put an end to it. Her Majesty had previously named one of her dogs after her friend, but the dog died in 2012. Dogs love for less time than human beings and we know we're going to lose them—but they are part of the Queen's family. She'll be quite upset.”

    Teaching idioms (习语) is a lot of fun. Here are some good books that can teach children idioms.

    THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER

    It has idioms that are widely used. Each idiom has a picture to go with it. It is for children in the 1st grade & up. It is written by Tamara James.

    THERE'S A FROG IN MY THROAT

    This book has 440 idioms about animals. Each idiom is given a short explanation to tell what it means. It is for children in the 2nd grade—6th grade. It is written by Loreen Leedy.

    BUTTERFLIES IN MY STOMACH

    It shows a boy's first day of school through idioms. It is for students in the 1st grade—4th grade. It is written by Serge Bloch.

    MAD AS A WET HEN

    It is a book for teaching classic idioms. It is for students in the 3rd grade—5th grade. It is written by Marvin Terban.

    MY TEACHER LIKES TO SAY

    It is about idioms used by teachers. It is for students in the 1st grade—4th grade. It is written by Denise Nelson.

    Facebook is an American online social media and social networking service. The Facebook website was launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg, along with fellow Harvard College students and roommates.

    The founders had limited the website's membership to Harvard students at first; however, later they expanded it to various other universities, and eventually to high school students as well. Since 2006, anyone who claims to be at least 13 years old has been allowed to become a registered (注册了的) user of Facebook, though differences exist in the youngest age requirement, depending on local laws. Facebook has more than 2 billion monthly active users as of June 2017. As of April 2016, Facebook was the most popular social networking site in the world, based on the number of active user accounts.

    Facebook may be accessed by a large range of desktops, smartphones over the Internet and mobile networks. After registering to use the site, users can create a user profile (简介) showing their names and so on. Users can add other users as "friends", exchange messages, post photos and so on.

    Facebook makes most of its income from advertisements which appear on screen, marketing access for its customers to its users.