Finding Comfort in War and Peace

Over the past 15 years, Yiyun Li, a Chinese-American author, has read War and Peace at least a dozen times. Her hardback copy of Leo Tolstoy's 1,200 - page saga bristles with colored notes, like some exotic lizard's spine. The novel is not just a masterclass in fiction, Ms. Li believes, but a cure for     1    . At the most difficult times in her life, she says, she has turned to it again and again, reassured by its "    2    " in the face of uncertainty.

War and Peace - originally     3     The Year 1805 - is widely considered the world's greatest novel. It is also among the most daunting(令人敬畏的), acknowledged Richard Pevear, one of its translators, "as     4     as Russia itself." Its huge canvas(画布)encompasses(包含)not just Napoleon's wars against the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires from 1805 to 1812, but a cast whose actions and emotions span the breath of human consciousness. As a literary critic has noted, Tolstoy is the supreme novelist of human conflicts. His epic(史诗)is a(n)     5     examination of how people respond to the pressure of both wars and ordinary life.

So large is Tolstoy's world, Ms. Li reckoned, that there could be no better companion for people     6     in isolation. She thought of virtual book club to sustain readers through the lockdown. Participants around the globe would plough through this book together and share their thoughts on social media. It would be an anchor in     7     times. To their amazement, when it began in mid-March 3,000 people on six continents signed up.

Other book clubs have     8     up to discuss great literature during the pandemic. But Tolstoy's novel reflects the atmosphere of life in quarantine better. Its     9     structure, shifting between battlefields and the salons of Russian high society, mirrors the disorienting split in readers' own attention - between their own personal, stilled states and the calamity(灾祸)    10     outside.

2 . Chimpanzee culture refers to groups' differing behavioral traditions, which are passed on by learning and imitation rather than genes. For example, some chimps in Uganda have learned to use some plants to soak up water, which they can then drink. Those elsewhere don’t do this.

In 2002, Carel van Schaik at the University of Zurich in Switzerland suggested that human interference could destroy this cultural diversity. Now, a decade-long study has found strong evidence that van Schaik was right. A team co-led by Hjalmar Kühl at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research in Leipzig, Germany tracked 31 cultural behaviors, such as using tree branches to catch termites, a species of ant, in 144 chimpanzee communities across Africa.

The researchers used camera traps to record behaviors, looked for the remains of tools and studied faeces (排泄物) to see if the chimps had eaten things like termites that can be obtained only by using tools.

The team then placed the different communities on a map and overlaid a measure of human disturbance, which combined factors like the density of human population and the amount of infrastructure (基础建设).

In areas with a greater human footprint, the chimps were found to have fewer cultural behaviors. Each behaviour was 88 per cent less likely to occur in these human-dominated landscapes.

“In those places, we find the chimpanzees have suffered a loss in behavioral or cultural diversity,” says study co-leader Ammie Kalan at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.

It is thought that the loss of culture comes from older chimps being killed and there being less interaction between groups, so that if one group dies out, their ideas die with them.

“It is a discouraging finding,” says Jill Pruetz ar Texas State University. “Losing some of the behaviors poses a real risk to the chimps because if they stop fishing for termites or cracking nuts, they can no longer access those foods.”

To some thinkers, it is machines and their development that drive economic and cultural change. This idea is referred to as technological determinism. Certainly there can be no doubt that machines contributed to the Protestant Reformation and the decline of the Catholic Church’s power in Europe or     1     television has changed the way family members interact. Those who believe in technological determinism would argue that these changes in the cultural landscape were the     2    result of new technology.

But others see technology as more neutral and claim that the way people use technology is what gives it significance. This       3    accepts technology as one of many factors that shape economic and cultural change; technology’s influence is    4       determined by how much power it is given by the people and cultures that use it.

This     5     about the power of technology is at the heart of the controversy surrounding the new communication technologies. Are we more or less powerless in the     6     of advances such as Internet, the World Wide Web, and instant global audio and visual communication? If we are at the mercy of technology, the culture that surrounds us will not be of our     7     , and the best we can hope to do is make our way reasonably well in a world outside our own control. But if these technologies are indeed neutral and their power     8     in how we choose to use them, we can utilize them responsibly and     9    to construct and maintain whatever kind of culture we want. As film director and technophile Steve Spielberg explained, “ Technology can be our best friend, and technology can also be the biggest party poorer of our lives. It interrupts our own story, interrupts our ability to have a thought or     10    , to imagine something wonderful.

7 . Culture Insider: Chopsticks

Chopsticks, or kuaizi in Chinese, are a pair of small equal-length tapered sticks, usually made of wood, used for eating Asian food. It is believed that the first chopsticks were developed over 5,000 years ago in China. The earliest evidence of a pair of chopsticks made out of bronze was excavated from the Ruins of Yin near Anyang, Henan province.

Chopsticks play an important role in Chinese food culture.    1    They are round on the eating end which symbolizes heaven, and the other end is square which symbolizes earth. This is because maintaining an adequate food supply is the greatest concern between heaven and earth.

Chopsticks are so frequently used in daily life that they have become more than a kind of tableware and have fostered a set of etiquette and customs of their own.     2    While the principles of chopstick etiquette are similar in many of these places, the finer points may differ from region to region, and there is no single standard for the use of chopsticks. Generally, chopsticks are not used to make noise or to draw attention, or to gesticulate.

    3    For example, you can buy a pair of exquisite chopsticks as a gift for your friends and relatives. In Chinese, Chopsticks' reads 'kuaizi', which means to have sons soon, so a newly-married couple will be very happy to accept chopsticks as their wedding gift. Skillful craftsmen paint beautiful scenery on chopsticks to make them like fine artwork. Many people love to collect these elegant utensils.

It has been said that using chopsticks improves one's memory, increases finger dexterity and can be useful in learning and improving skills such as Chinese character printing and brush painting. Many Asian superstitions revolve around chopsticks as well. For example, if you find an uneven pair of chopsticks at your table setting, it is believed that you will miss the next train, boat or plane you are trying to catch.     4    .

9 . Nothing seems more inevitable than aging and death-not even taxes. Every plant, animal and person you have ever seen will _______ die. But some recent research suggests that aging as we know it may not be inevitable. Indeed, as our _______ of it grows, aging can be seen not as an unchangeable reality from which there is no escape, but as the product of biological processes that we may be able to _______ someday.

We already know that some animals do not seem to age. Many cold-water ocean fish and some amphibians（两栖动物）never _______ a fixed size: they continue to grow bigger, to be able to reproduce and to live until something kills them. What these creatures seem to be telling us is that something in their _______ —and possibly in ours——controls the pace of aging, _______ that aging is not the fate of every living thing.

Throughout the history of life on earth, one of the most common difficulties that animals and their cells） have faced has been a lack of food. About 70 years ago, scientists discovered that when animals are forced to live on 30 to 40 percent fewer calories than they would _______ eat, something unusual happens; they become _______ to most age-related diseases --cancer, heart disease, diabetes —and live 30-50 percent longer. Restricting calories _______ aging. But what are the ________ genes that preserve vitality and starve off diseases?

About 15 years ago, armed with powerful new molecular-research technique, a few scientists began to ________ these genetic phenomena. They have discovered that a gene called Sir2—which is present in all animals, including humans —is ________ for the health benefits of calorie restriction perhaps by repairing our DNA. But if we had to restrict our calorie intake ________ 30 to 40 percent would it be of any practical use? Few of us would be capable of restricting our diets so severely that we were constantly ________. Whether or not it made life longer, it would surely make life ________ longer.

A glimpse at the “private, hidden face” of Albert Einstein, including the celebrated scientist's thoughts on everything from his fears     1     his best work was behind him to his beloved younger sister, Maja.

The collection, which includes a previously unknown photograph of Einstein as a five-year-old and the only     2     （survive）letter written by Einstein to his father, comes from the archive（档案）of Maja Winterler-Einstein and her husband Paul Winteler. A mix of letters, postcards and photographs, many of     3     have not previously been published, range in date from 1897 to 1951.

“What is remarkable about them comes from the fact that he had this incredibly close relationship with his sister. It's quite clear that     4     he's writing to her, there's no role-playing at all.” said Thomas Venning at Christie's. which will auction（拍卖）the letters soon. “He was very conscious of what     5     （expect）of him after he became famous, and you don't get any of that in letters to his sister. He says some things that I've never seen him say anywhere else. and I've catalogued many hundreds of his letters.”

In 1924, nine years after he completed the general theory of relativity in 1915. Einstein would write to Maja that “scientifically I haven't achieved much recently-the brain gradually goes oft （停止）     6     age, though that is not so unpleasant. It also means that you're not so answerable for your later years.” Ten years later, he would write to her: “I am happy in my work,     7     in this and in other matters I am starting to feel that the brilliance of younger years is past.”

Venning said he had not seen Einstein     8     （admit）this anywhere else. “It's not him     9     （play）a role: you can see that thought going through his head, which is true-if Einstein had died in 1916, his fiundamental legacy would have been complete. He carried on working for another 40 years without making any other great breakthrough, so it's just an extraordinary moment which we get because of     10     close their relationship was. He didn't have to reassure（使安心）her,” he said.