Unlock 3 Unit 02 – Page 2

With its tourists behaving badly, China embarks on some soul-searching | Today

http://www.todayonline.com/chinaindia/china/its-tourists-behaving-badly-china-embarks-some-soul-searching

Two young Chinese tourists carve their names on the Great Wall. Hundreds of picnickers leave their garbage moldering on the banks of the Yellow River.

Such episodes during the recent National Day holiday have produced a flurry of photographic postings and a spasm of soul-searching in China, highlighting anxieties over the habits and image of tourists at home and abroad in a nation that is increasingly cash-rich but, some say, short on manners and experience with the outside world.

Questions:

When you travel, how do you behave? Do you expect things to be similar to your country? Do you say things like, “We do this better/differently where I come from.”
What is ideal behaviour from a tourist?
Although tourism can improve the economy, there can be negative effects as well. What are some negative effects that tourism/tourists bring?

The World’s Largest Pyramid Is Hidden Under A Hill | IFLScience

http://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/the-worlds-largest-pyramid-is-hidden-under-a-hill/

What looked like a giant mound of earth and grass was actually a colossal pyramid. In fact, according to reports, it is the largest monument ever built. Legend has it that the locals covered the monument with soil themselves when they heard about the Spanish invaders sweeping through the Americas.

Questions:

Are there any important archaeological sites in your hometown/city/country?
Have there been sites that were recently discovered?
Why are they important?
Given a choice between spending money on preserving artefacts and increasing the educational standards in a country, which do you think is more important?

Stereotypes

Source: https://www.facebook.com/samash.mishr/videos/10155116519128496/

Many people view those who are different, especially those from a different country or religion, with suspicious eyes. What do you feel about this?
How different do you think you are from others?

Rare Giraffes Killed for their Tails | National Geographic

Short Video Source: https://www.facebook.com/natgeo/videos/10153895512948951/

Longer Video Source: https://youtu.be/FCFVkqoektU?list=PLivjPDlt6ApQ8vBgHkeEjeRJjzqUGv9dV

Fewer than 2,000 now roam central Africa, according to Julian Fennessy, co-director of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, a Namibia-based organization. Garamba’s Kordofans represent the last population in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “If the number slips in half, then we’re in a real dire situation,” Fennessy says. “Every single giraffe is valuable.”

Congolese usually kill the giraffes for one body part: their tails, considered a status symbol in some communities. Meanwhile men from neighboring South Sudan target the giraffes for their meat to feed impoverished villagers. But the massive bodies (giraffes can grow to 18 feet and weigh up to 3,000 pounds) of the three giraffes were intact—only the ends of their tails were missing.

According to Leon Lamprecht, joint operations director for African Parks, men “use the tail as a dowry to the bride’s father if they want to ask for the hand of a bride.” The long black hairs are often turned into fly whisks.

The Chinese through Abbasid eyes | Middle East Eye

http://www.middleeasteye.net/in-depth/features/1000-years-ago-chinese-through-abbasid-eyes-1745528673

The recently translated Accounts of China and India by Abu Zayd al-Sirafi and other chroniclers gives a fascinating insight into the interconnectedness and mobility of the Abbasid era. For today’s readers, removed in time and place, some of the writers’ observations may seem bizarre and implausible. But in most of their akhbār – credible reports of what they saw and heard – one can easily recognise modern Indians and Chinese.

Olympians in Hijab and Bikini – NYTimes.com

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/08/12/opinion/olympians-in-hijab-and-bikini.html?

Elghobashy is wearing leggings in the photo. I think she represents people like me. International-minded, young, modern Muslims who want to go out and study and work and play. We need different images of Islam.