Languages are dying out all the time. Here are four languages that were once widely spoken but are now considered as “dead” languages.

Old Norse

Old Norse was spoken and written by the Vikings from about the 7th century. It was used in countries like Iceland and parts of Russia. The Vikings were famous for their attacks on neighbouring countries, and so Old Norse had an influence on the languages of the places they attacked, including English. For example, English words such as “egg, gift, anger, want, trust and score” come from Old Norse.

Middle English

Middle English was spoken in England between the 12th and 15th centuries and was very different from the English we use these days. In the past, England was highly influenced by Old Norse. So was its language. There are no manuscripts (手稿) in Middle English as it was much more fashionable to write in French. Middle English gave way to modern English. One example of the wide use of modern English was Shakespeare’s works.

Hunnir

Hunnir is the most mysterious of the languages on our list. The Huns were a community that spread across eastern Europe in the 4th and 5th centuries. Despite the Huns’ success in expanding their empire, their language was never written down. The few words that are known are mainly names-in modern Turkey and Mongolia. Apart from these, only three words are known; kamos, medos (types of drinks) and strava (a big meal).

Ancient Greek

More than 4,000 years ago, the Greeks spoke an advanced language known today as Ancient Greek, and developed the first alphabet. Indeed, the English word “alphabet” is taken from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha and beta. Although the language is no longer spoken anywhere, it continues to be studied by scholars around the world and is regarded as one of the most important languages of all time.

Iceland is Europe’s westernmost country. Over 1,000 years ago, ancient explorers migrated from northern Europe to Iceland and established the country. Most visitors’ popular destination is its capital city, Reykjavik, known for its stylish architecture. The city’s downtown area is lined with shops, art galleries, cafes, and bookstores.

Iceland is one of the most volcanically active nations in the world with a number of hot springs, all of which are heated naturally by volcanic activity. In fact, Iceland changes energy from these springs into electricity, which powers and heats people’s homes. As a result, Iceland burns very little fossil (化石) fuel, such as oil and gas. Hot springs are also popular among tourists. They receive more than 1.3 million visitors a year, who can relax their muscles and release their tension in the hot water.

Apart from springs, there is a range of outdoor activities for visitors to enjoy elsewhere in the country. “Iceland is an adventure,” says Squire, whose company organizes adventure trips. “We have Europe’s biggest glaciers (冰山), active volcanoes, cave explorations, and skiing.” One of Iceland’s most popular attractions is caving. Exploring Iceland’s unusual caves requires only basic caving knowledge and equipment. Ice caves are more challenging, however, and require special clothes and hiking tools.

If exploring caves and glaciers doesn’t interest you, head south. No trip to Iceland would be complete without a visit to the Golden Circle, which connects Gullfoss, Geysir, and Thingvellir Valley. Adventurers go to the Thingvellir Valley, where the land is actually separating and the stony ground beneath your feet frequently shifts. Hold on while you hike!

It was two in the morning, and a koala was caught on a fence. A phone rang in the home of Ken, who was a volunteer devoted to rescuing wild koalas in Queensland. When he arrived on the scene, Ken put on heavy gloves. If koalas feel threatened, they bite. He then threw a blanket over the animal for more protection from being bitten. He then firmly grasped the koala through the blanket, and dropped it in a cage.

Normally, if the koala is healthy, it is released where it is found. Koalas tend to eat from the same eucalyptus trees (桉树) over and over. But, the problem was that there were no eucalyptus trees left for this koala. Ken had to take it to a small park nearby. Food is one of the reasons why koalas are at risk.

For 15 years, Ken has also been working on ways to make suburban areas more koala-friendly. He believes that koalas and humans can live together if certain changes are made. He recommends reducing speed limits in streets, creating more green areas for koalas to live in. What’s even more important is the need to preserve eucalyptus trees.

Even if these changes are made, koalas still have another problem. “Disease is a huge issue,” explains Ken. He says that almost half of Queensland’s female koalas are affected by a strange disease. “Without treatment, the koalas are unable to have babies. Koalas are becoming extinct,” says Ken.

Later that day, Ken visited a forest near Queensland to catch Tea, a wild female koala. Ken had been following Tea for over a year. Using special equipment, Ken walked and listened for a signal from the koala’s radio collar. He eventually found Tea sitting on a tree branch. Ken climbed up a ladder and caught Tea. After some medical check-ups, Ken found she had a baby. “As long as there are healthy babies,” he said, “there’s still hope.”

Behind the enthusiastic song of an all-male choir (合唱队) lies a force that is better known for shaping the lives of hopeful frogs and crickets, research suggests. Recordings of a top boys’ choir, once directed by Johann Sebastian Bach in Germany, reveal that the more mature boys in the group boosted their voices when girls were appreciating their performances. The effect, seen only among the older singers, aged 16 to 19, is thought to be similar behaviour more often observed in frogs and crickets, which enhance their individual calls to stand out from the crowd during mate-attracting choruses.

“The boys’ singing sounds more brilliant and has a more attractive quality when girls are in the audience, but it is subtle,” said Keller, a professor who led the work at the centre for music in the brain at a university in Denmark. Keller and his colleagues teamed up with a well-known choir in Germany after a student and former member of the choir mentioned that the boys boosted their voices in a barely noticeable manner when female audience members were present.

Sound analysis of the boys singing a song composed by Bach found that, in the presence of girls aged 15 to 16, the boys improved their vocal brilliance and carried power by putting more energy. But it was unclear whether people, as opposed to sensitive sound devices, could detect the shift in voices, and if they could, whether the resulting sound was more or less appealing because of the enhanced singer’s performance.

To find out, the researchers ran two online studies in which 2,247 male and female volunteers listened to recordings of the boys singing with and without girls in the audience. While both male and female participants showed a difference between the two performances, only female volunteers preferred the boosted singing. “It’s really hard to tell,” Keller said. Details are published in a journal.

For the recordings, the boys performed once before an all-male audience and a second time when a group of teenage girls joined the front row on the pretence of being on a school trip. In interviews after the concert, the boys felt they sang better in front of the girls but none admitted trying to attract their attention.

According to the scientists, the findings suggest choir singing is a special form of social communication where cooperation and competitiveness, the latter potentially motivated by the opposite sex, can exist alongside one another. “You have a group of people working together,” said Keller, “but at the same time individually having this parallel channel of communication, sending out the competitive signal saying: pick me!”