Passage 5
Living Space
How much living space does a person need? What happens when his space needs are not met? Scientists are doing experiments on rats to try to determine the effects of overcrowded conditions on man. Recent studies have shown that the behavior of rats is greatly affected by space. If rats have enough living space, they eat well, sleep well and produce their young well. But if their living conditions become too crowded, their behavior and even their health change obviously. They can not sleep and eat well, and signs of fear and worry become clear. The more crowded they are, the more they tend to bite each other and even kill each other. Thus, for rats, population and violence are directly related. Is this a natural law for human society as well? Is enough space not only satisfactory, but necessary for human survival? These are interesting questions.(147 words)
Passage 6
The United Nations
In 1945, representatives of 50 nations met to plan this organization. It was called the United Nations. After the war, many more nations joined.
There are two major parts of the United Nations. One is called the General Assembly. In the General Assembly, every member nation is represented and has an equal vote.
The second part is called the Security Council. It has representatives of just 15 nations. Five nations are permanent members: the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China. The 10 other members are elected every two years by the General Assembly.
The major job of the Security Council is to keep peace in the world. If necessary, it can send troops from member nations to try to stop little wars before they turn into big ones.
It is hard to get the nations of the Security Council to agree on when this is necessary. But they did vote to try to stop wars. (156 words)
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