A Dream for a Better World

When it comes to felis manul, it looks like cat fed by people. Felis manul weighs 2kg to 3kg. Although felis manul looks the same as cat, there are differences between it and other felines. By comparison, felis manul has shorter feet, fatter butt as well as thicker and longer hairs. Felis manul has strong and sturdy body and short and wide ears which are in blunt snout shape. Hairs of felis manul are quite fluffy, which makes the animal seem very fat. As for the face shape of felis manul, it is similar with that of apes and monkeys. Pupil of felis manul is light green. The animal has crude and round tail with length ranging from 20cm to 30cm. On the tail, there are six to eight black lines. Felis manul has thick and soft hairs on the body, similar with felt. Back part of felis manul’s body is light reddish brown, brown or silver grey. Like many other animals, felis manul’s hairs can also change as seasons alternate. As cold winter comes, the body hairs will become more grey.
Fellis manuls mainly live in desert, Gobi and grassland. Sometimes, they can also be traced in forest, hills and mountains. Felis manul often stays alone in gaps of stones or under rocks or seizes marmot’s nest. The animal often comes out at night but it frequently moves around in the morning and at dusk. Felis manul has acute sense of hearing as well as sight and it mainly lives on marmot, wild animals and mice. As enemies are coming, felis manul can escape promptly. In other countries, felis manul have been found in Mongolia, Middle Asia, Iran, Pakistan, Kashmir, Afghanistan and Transcaucasian etc. In China, the animal lives in north, northwest and southwest parts. As felis manuls can catch some animals which are harmful to people’s crop, they are considered as useful animals. Even so, people have never stopped the unreasonable hunting as well as killing. In 1950s, 10,000 pieces of furs of felis manuls were collected in west part of China. In late times of 1970s, some counties in Tibet collected 500 to 700 pieces of felis manuls’ furs each. In 1980s, people could only obtain dozens of furs of felis manuls. So we can that the number of felis manuls is decreasing year after year. At present, people have not made comprehensive survey for the animal so it is difficult to estimate the total quantity in the country. It is estimated that there are only 2000 to 2500 felis manuls in Tibet. Although lost habitat has also caused felis manul’s decreasing, people’s hunting is the major reason for the reduction of felis manuls. In the international community, felis manul has been listed as an animal which will be endangered. In China, it is under protection at national level two. Nowadays, people are accelerating the survey of felis manul to get more knowledge about it. At the same time, some natural reserves have also set up to stop more loss.

Spotted linsang belongs to Viverridae, formally called prionodon pardicolor. Spotted linsang is small with body length ranging from 37cm to 38cm and weight of 400g to 600g. The face part of spotted linsang is relatively long and narrow. Spotted linsang has soft, thick and short hairs in yellow brown color on the body. The color on the back is darker compared with other parts of the whole body. Two black stripes as well as many brown spots can be found on the back. The tail length of spotted linsang in cylindrical shape, is as long as that of the body. Toes of spotted linsang are well developed and they can extend freely.
Spotted linsang is a kind of animal which likes wet and hot living environment so its habitats mainly concentrate in rainforest, shrubs at the borderline of forest, shrubs in subtropical forest and tall grass of broad-leaved forest with altitude no more than 2000m. As for the specific distribution area of spotted linsang, they have been traced in Southeast Asia including southwest part of China. The animal often makes nests on the ground or tree holes by tree branches and leaves. Spotted linsangs are rarely found stay in groups. In stead, they often appear alone. Spotted linsangs mainly come out in the morning, at dusk or at night. As a kind of animal living with plants, spotted linsangs are good at climbing trees. It is found that spotted linsangs live on frogs, small birds, mice as well as insects and 30% to 50% food of the animal is mouse. Occasionally, they often go to some villages nearby to hunt poultry as food. In May and June every year, spotted linsangs start to produce babies.
Spotted linsang has eye-catching spots on the body as well as soft fur which is the high quality material for making coats. Therefore, the animal ever suffered from great misfortune in the past because people have hunted and killed them in a large number. Nowadays, the quantity of spotted linsang is quite small and people are forbidden to hunt and kill them rampantly. In fact, decreasing of spotted linsangs can be attributed to the following factors. First, as mentioned previously, a large number of spotted linsangs have been hunted and killed. Second, as vast original forest has been developed as farmland, most habitats of the animal have been seriously destroyed. Thus spotted linsangs are encountering great threat for survival. Third, air pollution has also made spotted linsangs live a hard life. In addition, spotted linsangs in a small quantity do not have great reproductive capacity. Currently, spotted linsang has been listed as the endangered animal. In China, it has also been considered as the protected animal and natural reserves for spotted lisangs protection in Tibet and Yunnan province have been set up. In addition, people also try their best to feed the animal in artificial environment. In such case, people responsible for feeding spotted linsangs have to pay much attention to food arrangement as well as changes of the animal.

Drive-in theaters, started to boom around the year 2003 after decades of stillness. As we all know that drive-in theaters were quite popular in 1950s. Drive-in theaters could arise from the dead during that period due to modern people’s busy life. People in the modern world are as busy as bees every day with narrow space and rarely could see the sky. In drive-in theaters, they could not only relax themselves but also enjoy freedom. People born during the period called the generation of baby boom, led by their parents, ever considered drive-in theaters as their place for entertainment as well as making friends. Many people gathered on the open and vast place, looking at the beautiful and mysterious night sky and hold various activities for making friends. The leader of Drive-in Theaters Operators Association said that years around 1950 were the golden age for drive-in theaters and there were about 4063 drive-in theaters in America. At that time, drive-in theater ranked the second popular place for people of different ages in many counties and towns with population less than 100,000. A man in advanced age recalled that it was a kind of economical and practical entertainment when the whole family could stayed in a Vintage car to watch movie during weekend time.
However, as TV and video tape came to people’s life and luxurious cinemas appeared one after another, less crowded people could be found in drive-in theaters. Until 1990s, as people born during baby boom became the backbone of the society, drive-in theaters started to boom. As for such phenomenon, a psychologist explained that when a person got improvement of his life, he would like to obtain what he ever possessed. In the middle part of 1990s, small trucks and SUV were quite popular and people could drive cars in drive-in theaters more freely. As “9.11” occurred, many Americans did not spend holiday by long travel due to horror. Instead, they often take family members to enjoy holiday near to houses. In such case, drive-in theater again showed its fascination. In the year 2003, some people thought that drive-in theaters had been waned. In fact, there were still 433 drive-in theaters in the country. However, compared with the number of 4063 in 1950s, 433 was really a greatly reduced number. What is worse, the number continued reducing as the time passed by. In 2007, 405 drive-in theaters were still operating, exactly zero increasing since the year 2005. Only one reopened in 2005 and five reopened in 2006. So there is not much of a movement toward reviving of closed ones. At the end of 2008, the number of drive-in theaters had dropped to 384. Drive-in theater is nearly expected to not have a promising future.
Drive-in theaters have the advantages which other kinds of cinemas do not have. People are able to sit in small trucks freely to watch movies in drive-in theaters. people could avoid crowded place in drive-in theaters. Mothers are allowed to change diapers for babies in drive-in theaters. In addition, tickets of drive-in theaters are quite cheap. However, such advantages provided by drive-in theaters have been ignored by people’s busy life.

Przewalski’s horse is a kind of horse without large size body. Body length of przewalski’s horse ranges from 2m to 2.3m and the shoulder height is about 1.3m to 1.4m. Przewalski’s horse has big head as well as short ears but it does not have forelock. Head and back of przewalski’s horse is coke brown and the abdomen is cream. As season varies, colors of hairs of the horse also change. In winter, hairs become long and thick with lighter color. While in summer, hairs become short with darker color. Przewalski’s horse has a long tail together with dark brown, fluffy and sparse hairs. In fact, przewalski’s horse looks like the horse fed by human beings and even the structures of their teeth are the same. If they mate with each other, they can produce future generations which are able to produce babies. Przewalski’s horse mainly lives in grassland, hill and desert. The animal has sensitive sense of hearing and vision and fierce temperament. Przewalski’s horses which do not have fixed habitats, are strong and they are good at running. In addition, przewalski’s horses can endure thirst and they could drink every three days. Przewalski’s horses mainly live on weeds and moss. In winter, the quantity of a przewalski’s horse group is larger than that in summer. Przewalski’s horses are distributed in the junction part of Dzungarian Basin of north part of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Gansu province and Inner Mongolia. The last time people witnessed przewalski’s horses was 1975. It is estimated that wild groups of przewalski’s horses have been extinct and there are some of them half-fed by people. Since the end of 1980s, people have imported some przewalski’s horses from Europe to Xinjiang and Gansu province.
Actually, more than a hundred years ago, przewalski’s horses widely spread in Eurasia continent as well as North America. However, przewalski’s horses have been extinct in succession in various regions due to people’s rampant hunting and killing. In the year 1876, as the last przewalski’s horse died in Ukraine wild field, people thought that the animal had been extinct in the world. Afterwards, an explorer from Russia found Mongolian przewalski’s horses in Dzungarian Basin of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In such case, people started to keep the survivors in various zoos for breeding. Przewalski’s horses, with more than 6000 years evolution, originate from drought desert as well as grasslands in Dzungarian Basin and Inner Mongolia of China and finally, come back to their hometown. The experience of przewalski’s horses is just like that of those people who ever lost hometown, underwent great suffering and at last returned to the native land. Sadness penetrated przewalski’s horses’ life. As present, przewalski’s horse is considered more precious than pandas in China because of its small quantity. Przewalski’s horse has been categorized under China’s level one protection and in the international community, people are forbidden to hunt the animal. In addition, special organization has been set up to make investigation and research of the rare animal for the purpose of increasing the quantity.

Leatherback turtle is the largest one among all kinds of turtles and it is also called “huge turtle”. The whole body of leatherback turtle is covered by smooth skin which is like leather. Leatherback turtle’s mouth is like hook and its head is big. So the turtle can not pull back the head into carapace. Body length of the largest leatherback turtle is about 3m and the shell is more than 2m. The weight of leatherback turtle is up to 800kg to 900kg.
Leatherback turtle is the animal which lives in the ocean. It mainly perches in the middle and upper layer of tropical sea but sometimes, people can find it in coastal waters and harbors. As leatherback turtle has four large limbs, it can swim fast in the water for a long time. In the year 1970, a leatherback turtle was caught in Yangtze River and the mark attached on its body displayed that it was ever caught by people in Atlantic Ocean which is far away from Yangtze River. Therefore, we can see that the leatherback turtle is absolutely an excellent swimmer. The strange thing is that leatherback turtle is a reptile which can change its body temperature. Leatherback turtle is able to keep the same body temperature of the environment of 25℃ in the waters of 7℃. The basic metabolic rate of leatherback turtle is lower than that of mammals but the body is an insulator which could keep enough heat. Therefore, the turtle can keep the same body temperature in environment of different temperatures. Leatherback turtles live on small fishes, crustaceans, molluscs and seaweed etc. They can also eat jellyfish with poisonous cell. Leatherback turtles do not have teeth but they have large and sharp horny puncture which grinds food attached on esophagus.
Leatherback turtle is the oldest and largest turtle in the world and there is not great change on its appearance. People can find it from Arctic sea to the Atlantic Ocean around New Zealand. In addition, leatherback turtles also scatter in various coastal regions of China. In past 25 years, the quantity of leatherback turtles has decreased rapidly. People often get their eggs as food and destroy the beaches where they lay eggs. Grown-up feather turtles are frequently trapped by fishing net then killed by human beings. In such circumstance, many killed leatherback turtles even do not have the time to produce next generation. Leatherback turtles have poor eyesight so they often consider waste plastic bags thrown by people as jellyfish and eat them. As a result, they die of intestinal blockage. In past 20 years, the quantity of leatherback turtles has decreased by 95% due to EI Nino, people’s illegal hunting, sea pollution and tourism development. If people have not taken any measures, leatherback turtles would be extinct within 10 years. It is estimated that in 1980, there were about 115,000 leatherback turtles but there are less than 43,000 ones in the world. People also find much less leatherback turtles lay eggs on beaches. Although people have listed leatherback turtle as endangered animal and forbidden illegal hunting, what we have done is far from enough.

As the society moves advanced day by day, people also have changed their ideas towards various phenomenons. Diversification is the sign of the social progress. However, as for some phenomena, people still can not consider them as natural things; for example, cross-dressing is a topic dispute in our society. The Chinese public is abuzz about the recent cross-dressing contestant, Liuzhu, on the Super Boy reality show.
What is cross-dressing? The word originates from Japan and it refers that some men who are similar with women in outlook, voice, behavior and clothes etc. It also means newhalf which describes a man who has made the mental or physical transition to being a woman. Cross-dressing runs significantly counter to social norms and ,therefore, can be considered as a type of transgender behavior. However, it does not necessarily indicate transgender identity, a person who cross-dresses does not always identify as being of the opposite gender. Referring to a person as a cross-dresser suggests that their cross-dressing behavior is habitual. There many different kinds of cross-dressing and many different reasons why an individual might engage in cross-dressing behavior. Some people cross-dress as a matter of comfort or style. They prefer clothing associated with opposite sex.
Liuzhu, a student in Sichuan Music school, caught people’s attention because of his cosmetics, high-heel sandal and blue stockings. Even the judge asked he was a boy or a girl. When journalists interviewed Liu Zhu, he said that he was a boy physically but a girl mentally. His father also told journalists that when he was young, he did not like short hair and as he went to middle school, he started to remain his long hair. People like Liu Zhu do not like their physical body and wear women’s clothes. They have the awareness to change the gender. Journalists found that although Liu Zhu said that he did not want to accept sex change operations, he just worried about the risk of the operation. Actually, he wanted to become a girl. Some people say that Liu Zhu should go to the psychiatrist and a professor says that at present, cross-dressing is considered as psychological illness in China but in western countries, cross-dressing is normal in people’s mind. In February, cross-dressing has been deleted from psychological illness list in France. Generally speaking, cross-dressing is not a kind of psychological illness and those people also rarely turn to psychiatrists for help. At present, sex change operation is the only way to cure cross-dressing. However, experts also point out that cross-dressing is quite different from homosexual love and they just want to meet the mental need.
As for reasons of cross-dressing occurrence, people can not get accurate answers. But people think it is related with experience when they are young. Some parents provide girls’ clothes for their boys when they are young and their kids may become cross-dressers gradually. Some expert abroad also thinks that cross-dressing is congenital. Anyhow, cross-dressing is still considered abnormal in people’s mind. Therefore, people should pay much attention to kids’ growth. In addition, people should not discriminate cross-dressers because they are also human beings and they have basic human rights.