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”.

    People are being lured(引诱)onto Facebook with the promise of a fun and free service without realizing they're paying for it by giving up large amounts of personal information. Facebook then attempts to make money by selling their data to advertisers that want to send targeted messages.

    Most Facebook users don't realize this is happening. Even if they know what the company is up to, they still have no idea what they're paying for Facebook, because people don't really know what their personal details are worth.

    The biggest problem, however, is that the company keeps changing the rules. Early on, you could keep everything private. That was the great thing about Facebook—you could create your own little private network. Last year, the company changed its privacy rules so that many things—your city, your photo, your friends' names—were set, by default(默认), to be shared with everyone on the Internet.

    According to Facebook's vice-- president Elliot Schrage, the company is simply making changes to improve its service, and if people don't share information, they have a “less satisfying experience.”

    Some critics think this is more about Facebook looking to make more money. Its original business model, which involved selling ads and putting them at the side of the page, totally failed. Who wants to look at ads when they're online connecting with their friends?

    The privacy issue has already landed Facebook in hot water in Washington. In April, Senator(议员) Charles Schumer called on Facebook to change its privacy policy. He also urged the Commission to set guidelines for social-networking sites. “I think the senators rightly communicated that we had not been clear about what the new products were and how people could choose to use them or not to use them,” Schrage admits.

    I suspect that whatever Facebook has done so far to invade our privacy, it's only the beginning, which is why I'm considering deactivating(撤销)my account. Facebook is a handy site, but I'm upset by the idea that my information is in the hands of people I don't know. That is too high a price to pay.

    If you want to become a fluent English speaker you should take some advice. There are four skills in learning English. They are reading, listening, speaking, and writing. The most important thing you must remember is that if you want to improve your speaking and writing skills, you should first master the skills of reading and listening.

    Read as much as you can. But your reading must be active. It means that you must think about the meaning of the sentence, the meaning of the unfamiliar words, etc. There is no need for you to pay much attention to grammars or try to understand all the unfamiliar words you come across, but the fact that you see them for the first time and recognize them whenever you see them, for example, in other passages or books, is enough. It would be better to prepare yourself a notebook so you can write down the important words or sentences in it.

    As for listening, there are two choices: besides reading, you can listen every day for about 30 minutes. You can only pay attention to your reading and become skillful at your reading, then you can catch up on your listening. Since you have lots of inputs in your mind, you can easily guess what the speaker is going to say. This never means that you should not practice listening. For listening you can listen to cartoons or some movies that are specially made for children. Their languages are easy. Or if you are good at listening you can listen to VOA or BBC programs every day. Again the thing to remember is being active in listening and preferably taking some notes.

    If you follow these pieces of advice, your speaking and writing will improve quickly, and you can be a fluent English speaker one day.

    How much weight a baby gains during its first month could determine its IQ, new research found. The study found that children who gain more weight, and whose heads grow quickly during the first month of life, tend to have a higher IQ when they start school.

    Researchers at the University of Adelaide, in Australia studied 13, 800 children who were born at full-term. They found that those who put on 40% of their birth weight in the first four weeks had an IQ 1.5 points higher than those who only put on 15% of their birth weight. Those who experienced the biggest growth in head circumference(头围) also had the highest IQs by the age of six.

    "Head circumference is an indicator of brain volume, so a greater increase in head circumference in a newly-born baby suggests more rapid brain growth, "says the author of the study, Dr. Lisa Smithers. She added, "Overall, newly-born children who grew faster in the first four weeks had higher IQ scores later in life. Those children who gained the most weight scored especially high on the verbal IQ at age 6. This may be because neural (神经的) structures for the verbal IQ develop earlier in life, which means the rapid weight gain during the first month could be having a direct cognitive benefit for the children."

    Previous studies have shown the association between early postnatal (产后的) diet and the IQ, but this is the first study of its kind to focus on the IQ benefits of rapid weight gain in the first month of life. Dr. Lisa Smithers says the study further highlights the need for successful feeding of newly-born babies." We know that many mothers have difficulty establishing breastfeeding in the first week of their babies' life,” Dr. Lisa Smithers said.

    "The findings of our study suggest that if babies are having feeding problems, there needs to be early intervention(干预) in the management of that feeding."

    As time went on, Philip's deformity was accepted like one boy's red hair and another's unreasonable obesity. But meanwhile he had grown horribly sensitive. He never ran if he could help it, because he knew it made his limp more noticeable. He stood still as much as he could, with his badly shaped foot behind the other. Because he could not join in the games which other boys played, their life remained strange to him; sometimes they seemed to think that it was his fault if he could not play football, and he was unable to make them understand. He was left a good deal to himself. He had been inclined to talkativeness, but gradually he became silent.

    The biggest boy in his dormitory, Singer, took a dislike to him, and Philip, small for his age, had to put up with a good deal of hard treatment. About half-way through the term there was a game called Nibs. It was a game for two, played on a table or a form with steel pens. Soon nothing was seen but boys playing this game, and the more skilful acquired vast stores of nibs. But in a little while Mr. Watson made up his mind that it was a form of gambling, and forbade the game. Then he ordered all the nibs in the boys' possession be handed in. Philip had been very skilful, and it was with a heavy heart that he gave up his winning; but his fingers itched to play still, and a few days later, on his way to the football field, he went into a shop and bought a pennyworth of J pens. He carried them loose in his pocket and enjoyed feeling them. Presently Singer found out that he had them. Singer had given up his nibs too, but he had kept back a very large one, called a Jumbo, which was almost unconquerable, and he could not resist the opportunity of getting Philip's Js out of him. Though Philip knew that he was at a disadvantage with his small nibs, he had an adventurous disposition and was willing to take the risk; besides, he was aware that Singer would not allow him to refuse. He had not played for a week and sat down to the game now with a thrill of excitement. He lost two of his small nibs quickly, and Singer was jubilant, but the third time by some chance the Jumbo slipped round and Philip was able to push his J across it. He crowed with triumph. At that moment Mr. Watson came in.

    "What are you doing?" he asked.

    He looked from Singer to Philip, but neither answered.

    "Don't you know that I've forbidden you to play that game?"

    Philip's heart beat fast. He knew what was coming and was dreadfully frightened, but in his fright there was a certain exultation. He had never been swished. Of course it would hurt, but it was something to boast about afterwards.

    "Come into my study."

    The headmaster turned, and they followed him side by side. Singer whispered to Philip:

    "We're in for it."

    Mr. Watson pointed to Singer.

    "Bend over," he said.

    Philip, very white, saw the boy quiver at each stroke, and after the third he heard him cry out. Three more followed.

    "That'll do. Get up."

    Singer stood up. The tears were streaming down his face. Philip stepped forward. Mr. Watson looked at him for a moment.

    "I'm not going to beat you. You're a new boy. And I can't hit a cripple. Go away, both of you, and don't be naughty again."

    When they got back into the school-room a group of boys, were waiting for them. They set upon Singer at once with eager questions. But he did not answer. He was angry because he had been hurt.

    "Don't ask me to play Nibs with you again,' he said to Philip. 'It's jolly nice for you. You don't risk anything."

    "I didn't ask you."

    "Didn't you!"

    He quickly put out his foot and tripped Philip up. Philip was always rather unsteady on his feet, and he fell heavily to the ground.

    "Cripple," said Singer.

    For the rest of the term he tormented Philip cruelly, and, though Philip tried to keep out of his way, the school was so small that it was impossible; he tried being friendly and jolly with him; he abased himself, so far as to buy him a knife; but though Singer took the knife he was not placated. Once or twice, driven beyond endurance, he hit and kicked the bigger boy, but Singer was so much stronger that Philip was helpless, and he was always forced after more or less torture to beg his pardon. It was that which rankled with Philip: he could not bear the humiliation of apologies, which were wrung from him by pain greater than he could bear. And what made it worse was that there seemed no end to his wretchedness; Singer was only eleven and would not go to the upper school till he was thirteen. Philip realized that he must live two years with a tormentor from whom there was no escape. He was only happy while he was studying and when he got into bed. And often there recurred to him then that queer feeling that his life with all its misery was nothing but a dream, and that he would awake in the morning in his own little bed in London.

    Let's look at the movies we can't wait to watch in 2019:

    Dumbo (March 29)

    Dumbo is a 1941 American film produced by Walt Disney Productions. The main character is an elephant who is nicknamed "Dumbo". Dumbo is always laughed at for his big ears, and he is rejected by the other elephants. With no parent to care for him, he is alone. But in fact, he is capable of flying by using his ears as wings. A live-action adaptation of the film directed by Tim Burton is scheduled to be released on March 29, 2019.

    Shazam! (April 5)

    Shazam! is an upcoming American superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name. Directed by David F. Sandberg, the film is set to star Asher Angel as Billy Batson, a teenage boy who can transform via the magic word "Shazam" into an adult superhero, played by Zachary Levi. It will be the first film version of the character since the 1941 series Adventures of Captain Marvel (the character's original name).

    Aladdin (May 24)

    Aladdin is a fictional character and the role of the film Aladdin (1992) based on Aladdin, a folk tale of Middle Eastern origin. He is voiced by Scott Weinger, while his singing voice is provided by Brad Kane. Aladdin never received a formal education, and has only learned by living on the streets of Agrabah. He has to steal food in the local market in order to survive. Mena Massoud is set to play a live-action version of the character in a live action adaptation of the 1992 film.

    Godzilla, King of the Monsters (May 31)

    Godzilla, King of the Monsters is a 1956 Japanese-American science fiction film, co-directed by Terry O. Morse and Ishiro Honda. It is a heavily re-edited American adaptation. For this new version of Godzilla, some of the original Japanese dialogue was translated into English, and some of the political, social and anti-nuclear themes were removed completely.