3 . The World Needs Zoos

ZOOS play an important role in the world for conservation and education. They are particularly important for endangered species. Many animals are critically endangered and may go extinct in the wild, but in zoos, they are going strong. Many others are already extinct in the wild and only survive thanks to populations kept in captivity (圈养). Even those critical of zoos often recognize that it is better to have species preserved somewhere than lose them altogether.       1    

Take the ring-tailed lemur (环尾狐猴) of Madagascar for example. This animal is almost ubiquitous in zoos as they breed well in captivity and the public are fond of them. However, despite their high numbers in collections around the world, they are the most threatened mammalian group on the planet. A recent survey suggests that up to 95 percent of the wild populations have been lost since 2000.     2     One bad year or a new disease could wipe out those that are left.

Such trends are not isolated. The giraffe is another very common species in zoos. Unlike the lemurs, giraffes are widespread in the countries across much of sub-Saharan Africa. Yet giraffe populations have gone down by a third in the last thirty years. While less dramatic than the drop in lemur numbers, this is obviously a major loss and again, whole populations (which some scientists think are of unique subspecies) are on the verge of extinction.

    3     Ongoing and future issues from climate change can have unexpected effects on wildlife. It will become more difficult for conservationists to predict which species might be at risk. As it is, experts are struggling to continue monitoring the species that are already known to be vulnerable, so it is easy to see why common species might be overlooked. People might not take a great local loss seriously on the assumption that these animals are heavily populated elsewhere.

There will, I suspect, always be resistance to the argument for keeping animals in captivity and I will not defend the zoos that are bad and in desperate need of improvement or closure.     4     If even common species can lose a huge percentage of their populations in a few years, it may be too late to save them with even the best breeding programs or conservation efforts in the wild.

6 . Whenever Michael Carl, the fashion market director at Vanity Fair, goes out to dinner with friends, he plays something called the phone pile game:Everyone places his __________ in the middle of the table;whoever looks at their device before the check arrives __________ for the dinner.

Brandon Holley, the former editor of Lucky magazine, had trouble __________ her mobile phone when she got home from work. So about six months ago, she began putting her phone into a milk tin the moment she walked in. It remains there until after dinner.

And Marc Jacobs, the fashion designer, didn’t want to sleep next to a noisy phone. So he __________ computers and phones from his bedroom, a house rule he __________ with audiences during a screening of his film Disconnect.

As smartphones continue to __________ into our lives, and wearable devices like Google Glass threaten our personal space even further, users say these disconnecting __________ are improving their relationships and their brains.

“Disconnecting is something that we all __________ , “Lesley M.M, Blume, a New York writer, told The New York Times. “The expectation that we must always be available to everyone creates a real problem in trying to __________ private time. But that private-time is more important than ever.”

A popular method for __________ is to choose a box for your cellphone, like Ms. Holley. “If my phone is lighting up, it’s still a distraction, so it goes in the __________ “she said.

Others choose new __________ . “No screens after 11 pm, “said Ari Melber, a TV host. “I found the evenings were more __________ , and I was sleeping better, “he said.

Sleep is a big factor, which is why Peter Som, a fashion designer, doesn’t”want to sleep __________ something that is full of photos and emails”, said Mr. Som, who keeps his phone charging in the living room overnight.”It __________ is a head-clearer.”

The death of languages is not a new phenomenon. Languages usually have a short life span as well as a very high death rate. Only a few, including Egyptian, Chinese, Greek, Latin, have lasted more than 2,000 years.

What is new, however, is the speed at which they are dying out. Europe’s colonial ruling caused a sharp decrease in language kinds, reducing at least 15 percent of all languages spoken at the time. Over the last 300 years, Europe has lost a dozen, and Australia has only 20 left of the 250 spoken at the end of the 18th century.

The rise of nation-states has also been decisive in selecting national languages. By making great efforts to establish an official language in education, the media, national governments have tried to reduce minority languages.

This process of language standardization has been improved by industrialization and scientific progress, which have created new methods of communication that are fast, straightforward and practical. Language kinds came to be seen as a difficulty to trade and the spread of knowledge. Monolingualism (单种语言) became an perfect choice.

More recently, the internationalization of financial markets, the spread of information by electronic media and other aspects of globalization have led to the danger to “small” languages. A language not on the Internet is a language that “no longer exists” in the modern world. It is out of the game.

The serious effects of the death of languages are clear. First of all, it is possible that if we all ended up speaking the same language, our brains would lose some of their natural functions for language inventiveness. We would never be able to figure out the origins of human language or resolve the mystery of “the first language”. As each language dies, a chapter of human history closes.

Multilingualism (多语种) is the most right solution. The destruction of the first will lead to the loss of the second. Creating a language without any links to a people’s culture and way of life stifles the expression of their language gift. A language is not only used as the main instrument of human communication, it also expresses the world vision of those who speak it, their ways of using knowledge. To safeguard languages is an urgent matter.

What historical site impresses you most? I’ve always been fascinated by the pyramids in Egypt. A few years ago I braved a long queue and climbed through a narrow passage to reach the main chamber deep inside one of them. Like millions of other tourists, I marveled (赞叹) at stone-walled rooms full of the magic of this ancient civilization.

    1     Take Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings for example. It lay untouched for more than 3,000 years until the British archaeologist Howard Carter uncovered it in 1922. Now more than 1,000 people a day walk through it.

But as more and more people visit, the temperature and humidity inside the tomb change. As a result, the beautifully decorated plaster is coming away from the rock.

    2     Specialists have recorded every detail of Tutankhamun’s tomb and used the data to recreate it.

Adam Lowe from the organization behind the project says the copy is identical (完全相同的) to the original. He believes visitors will want to become part of the force that protects it rather than a force that is leading to its destruction. So they won’t mind seeing a replica (复制品).

But for historian Tom Holland, a copy is still a copy.     3     He says it was built by people who believed in the world of the spirits, the dead and the supernatural. You don’t have to believe in a god or gods to feel a place is consecrated (使圣化) and has a particular quality that can’t be reproduced.

What about you?     4