Languages have been coming and going for thousands of years, but in recent times there has been less coming and a lot more going. When the world was still populated by hunter-gatherers, small, tightly knit (联系)groups developed their own patterns of speech independent of each other.Some language experts believe that 10,000 years ago, when the world had just five to ten million people, they spoke perhaps 12,000 languages between them.

Soon afterwards, many of those people started settling down to become farmers, and their languages too became more settled and fewer in number. In recent centuries, trade, industrialization, the development of the nation-state and the spread of universal compulsory education, especially globalisation and better communications in the past few decades, all have caused many languages to disappear, and dominant languages such as English, Spanish and Chinese are increasingly taking over.zxxk

At present, the world has about 6,800 languages. The distribution of these languages is hugely uneven. The general rule is that mild zones have relatively few languages, often spoken by many people, while hot, wet zones have lots, often spoken by small numbers. Europe has only around 200 languages; the Americas about 1,000; Africa 2 400; and Asia and the Pacific perhaps 3,200, of which Papua New Guinea alone accounts for well over 800. The median number (中位数)of speakers is a mere 6,000, which means that half the world’s languages are spoken by fewer people than that.

Already well over 400 of the total of, 6,800 languages are close to extinction(消亡), with only a few elderly speakers left. Pick, at random, Busuu in Cameroon (eight remaining speakers),Chiapaneco in Mexico(150), Lipan Apache in the United States(two or three)or Wadjigu in Australia (one, with a question-mark): none of these seems to have much chance of survival.

最近，联合国一个考察团来你市参观考察，请你根据下列所提供的信息，写一篇文章，宣传我国人民近几年来生活水平发生的巨大变化，生活质量的显著提高：1.家庭轿车拥有量成倍增长；2.住房条件有了很大改善，房屋变大了，变新了；3.旅游的人多了，走得更远了，然而，所有这些在二十年前是想象不到的。

注意：

1.文章的开头已为你写好，可适当发挥，使文章连贯，生动。

2.词数：100左右。

3.参考词语：小康：well-off 生活水平living standards

Great changes have taken place in our country in recent years.

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What do literary tourists look for when they visit the British Isles? Often it's the charmingly old-fashioned bookshops that provide the perfect excuse to read uninterruptedly and to disconnect from the world. Until recently, the trend for fine coffee and high-speed Wi-Fi was considered by some in the city's bookish crowd to be ruining London's centuries-old tradition of disconnected reading.

But a crop of bookshops is fighting against crazy online engagement and is creating environments where the real-life, Internet-free book reading is the most effective way to expand your social and professional networks. Leading the fighting is Libreria Books, which is in the company of Tenderbooks, Buchhandlung Wakther, Lutyens&Rubinstein etc., all independent bookshops without high-speed Wi-Fi and coffee.

Mr Silva of Libreria was inspired to open his shop after experiencing a common suffering for London's book-lovers—the repeated ringtones of smart phones ruining the peace of his bookshop experience. He wanted to get people reading without interruption. He said, “You can get Wi-Fi anywhere now, but it's not necessary in a bookshop.”

Their mantra(原则) has drawn a wise, brainy crowd. The bookshop should be an escape from an information overload. “ If someone gets a phone call, they leave the shop. It's the same with the Internet—people just know this isn't the space for being online,” said Tamsin Clark, owner of Tenderbooks. And in the face of the Internet overload, some stores are proving to be among London's hottest places.

Mr Silva said “an old-fashioned space” is clearly appealing to book-lovers. He said his shop has had twice as many customers as expected, with visitors from as far as Australia and China. Faced with a bookshelf recommended by the Queen or surrounded by first editions, who wants to download a morning full of e-mails? 

  As cultural symbols go， the American car is quite young． The Model T Ford was built at the Piquette Plant in Michigan a century ago， with the first rolling off the assembly line （装配线）on September 27， 1908． Only eleven cars were produced the next month． But eventually Henry Ford would build fifteen million of them．

    Modern America was born on the road，behind a wheel． The car shaped some of the most lasting aspects of American culture： the roadside diner， the billboard， the motel，even the hamburger． For most of the last century， the car represented what it meant to be American﹣going forward at high speed to find new worlds． The road novel， the road movie， these are the most typical American ideas， born of abundant petrol， cheap cars and a never﹣ending interstate highway system， the largest public works project in history．

    In 1928 Herbert Hoover imagined an America with "a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage．" Since then， this society has moved onward， never looking back， as the car transformed America from a farm﹣based society into an industrial power．

    The cars that drove the American Dream have helped to create a global ecological disaster． In America the demand for oil has grown by 22 percent since 1990．

    The problems of excessive（过度的） energy consumption， climate change and population growth have been described in a book by the American writer Thomas L． Friedman． He fears the worst， but hopes for the best．

    Friedman points out that the green economy（经济）is a chance to keep American strength． "The ability to design， build and export green technologies for producing clean water， clean air and healthy and abundant food is going to be the curreney of power in the new century．"

Some of the worldˈs most famous musicians recently gathered in Paris and New Orleans to celebrate the first annual International Jazz Day. UNESCO(United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) recently set April 30 as a day to raise awareness of jazz music, its significance, and its potential as a unifying(联合) voice across cultures.

Despite the celebrations, though, in the US the jazz audience continues to shrink and grow older, and the music has failed to connect with younger generations.

Itˈs Jason Moranˈs job to help change that. As the Kennedy Centreˈs artistic adviser for jazz, Moran hopes to widen the audience for jazz, make the music more accessible, and preserve its history and culture.

“Jazz seems like itˈs not really a part of the American appetite，” Moran tells National Public Radioˈs reporter Neal Conan. “What Iˈm hoping to accomplish is that my generation and younger start to reconsider and understand that jazz is not black and white anymore. Itˈs actually colour, and itˈs actually digital.”

Moran says one of the problems with jazz today is that the entertainment aspect of the music has been lost. “The music canˈt be presented today the way it was in 1908 or 1958. It has to continue to move, because the way the world works is not the same，” says Moran.

Last year, Moran worked on a project that arranged Fats Wallerˈs music for a dance party, “just to kind of put it back in the mind that Waller is dance music as much as it is concert music，” says Moran. “For me, itˈs the recontextualization. In music, where does the emotion(情感) lie? Are we, as humans, gaining any insight(感悟) on how to talk about ourselves and how s omething as abstract as a Charlie Parker record gets us into a dialogue about our emotions and our thoughts? Sometimes we lose sight that the music has a wider context，” says Moran, “so I want to continue those dialogues. Those are the things I want to foster.”

Many of us love July because it’s the month when nature’s berries and stone fruits are in abundance. These colourful and sweet jewels from British Columbia’s fields are little powerhouses of nutritional protection.

Of the common berries, strawberries are highest in vitamin C, although, because of their seeds, raspberries contain a little more protein (蛋白质), iron and zinc (not that fruits have much protein). Blueberries are particularly high in antioxidants (抗氧化物质). The yellow and orange stone fruits such as peaches are high in the carotenoids we turn into vitamin A and which are antioxidants. As for cherries (樱桃), they are so delicious who cares? However, they are rich in vitamin C.

When combined with berries or slices of other fruits, frozen bananas make an excellent base for thick, cooling fruit shakes and low fat “ice cream”. For this purpose, select ripe bananas for freezing as they are much sweeter. Remove the skin and place them in plastic bags or containers and freeze. If you like, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice on the bananas will prevent them turning brown. Frozen bananas will last several weeks, depending on their ripeness and the temperature of the freezer.

If you have a juicer, you can simply feed in frozen bananas and some berries or sliced fruit. Out comes a “soft-serve” creamy dessert, to be eaten right away. This makes a fun activity for a children’s party; they love feeding the fruit and frozen bananas into the top of the machine and watching the ice cream come out below.

Come to meet our stars! The world-famous Ringling Bros Circusis building up the excitement one hour before the show begins. At the All Access Pre-Show children of all ages are invited to join our performers on the show floor. It's your chance to be right in the middle of the circus action. You can learn circus skills and get signatures from extraordinary circus stars, try on a traditional Ringmaster jacket and be part of our dance party!

Gypsy Gomes comes from Argentina where she was taught her circus skills as a child. She will leave your head spinning as she controls up t0 80 hoola hoops (呼啦圈) while balancing on a huge mirror ball. Having many hoops thrown in her direction all at once is just one of her many talents.

Emily Ryan gives thrilling performances in her German Wheel. Her beauty and courage go hand in hand with her broad talents and tricks.

With the most elegant touch, Emma Avery bravely steps out into thin air on a silver thread of wire, showing her skills not only of balance but of beautifully performed talents.

Sixth generation Swiss circus artist, Rosita Gasser performs a unique and very modern display on the Roman Rings with skill, balance and style. Her strength and control during performance has come from being a single, double and flying trapeze (空中飞人) from the young age of eight and a lifetime in the circus.

To take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime experience, just visit ringlingbros.expapp.com from your iPhone or Android smartphone, provide your name, email and phone number to see the exciting experiences that are waiting for you!

US private rocket company SpaceX has announced that two private citizens have paid to be sent around the Moon. The mission (任务) is planned for late 2018. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said, "This presents an opportunity for humans to return to deep space for the first time in 45 years."

The two unnamed people will fly aboard a spaceship which is set for its first unmanned test flight later this year. The co-operation of America's NASA space agency had made the plan possible. Mr. Musk said, "The two passengers will travel faster and further into the solar system than any before them." Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind, driven by the universal human spirit of exploration.

"We expect to conduct health and fitness tests, as well as begin initial training later this year. The first mission would be unmanned, and the next one―with crew―was expected in the second quarter of 2018," the rich businessman and inventor said, "The first passengers are entering this with their eyes open, knowing that there is some risk here. They're certainly not childish, and we'll do everything we can to reduce that risk, but it's not zero."

The space tourists would make a circle around the Moon, scanning the lunar surface and then going well beyond. However, the mission will not involve a lunar landing. "If NASA decided to take part in a lunar fly-by mission, then the agency would have privilege," Mr. Musk said. The US has not sent astronauts to the Moon since the early 1970s.

Recently there was a major discovery in the scientific research—the mapping of all DNA in a human gene(基因) is complete．Couple of years ago, this seems an impossible task for scientist to accomplish．All this progress in science leads us to believe that the day, when the human being will be cloned, is not far away．Human cloning has always been a topic of argument, in terms of morality or religion．

Taking a look at why cloning might be beneficial, among many cases, it is arguable that parents who are known to be at risk of passing a genetic limitation to a child could make use of cloning．If the clone was free of genetic limitations．then the other clone would be as well．The latter could foe inserted in the woman and allowed to ripen to term．Moreover, cloning would enable women, who canˈt get pregnant, to have children of their own．

Cloning humans would also mean that organs could be cloned, so it would be a source of perfect transfer organs．This, surely would be greatly beneficial to millions of unfortunate people around the world that are expected to lose their lives due to failure of single (or more) organ(s). It is also arguable that a ban on cloning may be unlawful and would rob people of the right to reproduce and limit the freedom of scientists．

Arguments against cloning are also on a perfectly practical side．Primarily, I believe that cloning would step in the normal "cycle" of life．There would be a large number of same genes, which reduce the chances of improvement, and, in turn, development—the fundamental reason how living things naturally adapt to the ever-changing environment．Life processes failing to do so might result in untimely disappearance．Furthermore, cloning would make the uniqueness that each one of us possesses disappear．Thus, leading to creation of genetically engineered groups of people for specific purposes and, chances are, that those individuals would be regarded as "objects" rather than people in the society．

Scientists havenˈt 100 percent guaranteed that the first cloned humans will be normal．Thus this could result in introduction of additional limitations in the human "gene-pool"．

Regarding such arguable topics in "black or white" approach seems very innocent to me personally. We should rather try to look at all "shades" of it．I believe that cloning is only legal if its purpose is for cloning organs; not humans．Then we could regard this as for "saving life" instead of "creating life"．I believe cloning humans is morally and socially unacceptable．

Fire Prevention Information

    The University of Adelaide employs a full﹣time staff of fire prevention professionals． They inspect all campus buildings and test and maintain all sprinkler（喷水灭火装置） systems，fire alarms，and fire extinguishers（灭火器）． They also provide educational programs on fire safety in the residence halls． Whenever you move to a new area， you should locate the fire alarm pull stations and the two exits nearest your room．

Fire Alarms

    The floors of all campus buildings are equipped with manual（手动的）fire alarm systems which include fire alarm pull stations and pipes． Most are also equipped with automatic fire alarm systems consisting of heat detectors， smoke detectors and sprinklers． For your safety，never tamper with（胡乱摆弄） these systems． False fire alarms are illegal and may lead to imprisonment．

Fire Drills

    A fire drill will be conducted in your residence hall every semester． During a fire drill，please do the following：

    •Take your room key and ID，close and lock the door to your room．

    •Exit immediately from the nearest emergency exit；do not use a lift．

    •Meet outside of your residence hall and wait for further instructions．

Fire Extinguishers

    Fire extinguishers are located on each floor and in each apartment． Use a fire extinguisher only if you have been trained to do so． Irresponsible use of a fire extinguisher can create a dangerous situation for other residents and could result in damage to personal property． Misuse of a fire extinguisher will result in fines．

Smoke Detectors

    A smoke detector is on the ceiling in your room． Some buildings also have heat detectors on the ceilings． Do the following to ensure the safe operation of your smoke detector：

    •If your smoke detector is working properly， the red light should be on． If the red light is not blinking（闪动）， contact residence hall staff immediately．

    •Do not cover or block your smoke detector in any way．

    •If a smoke detector sets off an alarm and there is no fire or smoke， inform your hall staff．