Economic development is necessary if we want to improve society. There comes a time when the old must give way to the new, and it is not possible     1     everything from our past as we move towards the future. Finding and keeping the right     2     between progress and the protection of cultural sites can be a big challenge. 

Big challenges, however, can sometimes lead to great     3    . In the 1950s, the Egyptian government wanted to build a new dam across the Nile in order to control floods, produce electricity, and supply water to more farmers in the area. But the     4     led to protests. Water from the dam would     5     damage a number of temples and destroy cultural relics that were an important part of Egypt’s cultural heritage. After listening to the scientists who had studied the problem, and citizens who lived near the dam, the government     6     to the United Nations for help in 1959. 

A committee     7     to limit damage to the Egyptian buildings and prevent the loss of cultural relics. The group asked for     8     from different departments and raised funds within the international community. Experts investigated the     9    , conducted several tests, and then made a proposal for how the buildings could be saved. Finally, a     10     was signed, and the work began in 1960.

Turning off TV : a Quiet Hour

I would like to propose that for sixty to ninety minutes each evening, right after the early evening news , all television broadcasting in the United States be     1     by law.

Let us take a serious , reasonable look at what the results be if such a proposal were accepted. Families might use the time for a real family hour .Without the     2     of TV, they might sit around together after dinner and actually talk to one another .It is well known that many of our problems — everything ,in fact ,from the generation gap to the high divorce rate to some forms of mental illness — are caused at least in part by     3    to communicate. We do not tell each other what is disturbing us. The result is emotional difficulty of one kind or another. By using the quiet family hour to discuss our problems , we might get to know each other better, and to like each other better.

On evenings when such talk is unnecessary, families could rediscover more active pastimes.    4     from TV, forced to find their own activities, they might take a ride together to watch the sunset. Or they might take a walk together (remember feet?) and see the neighborhood with fresh, new eyes.

With free time and no TV , children and adults might rediscover reading . There is more    5     in a good book than in a month of typical TV programming . Educators report that the generation growing up with television can     6     write an English sentence, even at the college level. Writing is often learned from reading. A more literate new generation could be a    7    of the quiet hour.

At first glance, the idea of an hour without TV seems radical. What will parents do without the     8    baby-sitter? How will we spend the time ? But it is not radical at all. It has been only twenty-five years since television came to control American free time. Those of us thirty-five and older can remember childhoods without television, spent     9    with radio — which at least     10    the listener’s imagination — but also with reading, learning, talking, playing games, inventing new activities. It wasn’t that difficult. Honest. The truth is we enjoyed ourselves greatly.