Roots & Shoots
Jane Goodall is famous/not only for her work with chimpanzees/but also for her effort to conserve nature. Here,/Ken interviews her/about her life and work.
Jane Goodall is famous/not only for her work with chimpanzees/but also for her effort to conserve nature. Here,/Ken interviews her/about her life and work.
- Ken :
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Dr. Goodall,/thank you for taking time/for this interview.
I know/that you spent many years/studying chimpanzees in Africa.
When did you first decide to go to Africa?
- Jane :
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It was after I read the Doctor Dolittle and the Tarzan books.
When I was 11,/I knew that somehow I would go to Africa/to live with animals,/study them,/and write books about them.
- Ken :
-
I’m sure/there are lots of young people/who want to work with animals someday.
How can they prepare themselves?
- Jane :
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There are a lot of things you can do/in order to understand animals.
It is very important/that you watch them/and observe their behavior.
It is also important/that you write notes and ask questions.
If you are really determined,/you’ll have to work really hard.
Take advantage of every opportunity,/and don’t give up.
- Ken :
-
You did a lot of fieldwork,/observing chimpanzees in the wild.
Are they in any way like humans?
- Jane :
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Chimps and humans have a lot in common,/sharing 98.6 percent of DNA.
Their brains are very much like ours/and much of their behavior is like ours.
The members of a chimp family are very close,/often helping one another.
They can feel sad, happy, afraid, and angry.
- Ken :
-
What about their character/—I mean,/are they friendly?
Are they cruel?
- Jane :
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They are usually friendly,/but they can be cruel,/just like humans.
- Ken :
-
Really?
- Jane :
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The males sometimes attack chimps from another community/to protect their territories.
But they can be very kind and loving too.
Once,/when he was about three years old,/a chimp called Mel lost his mother/and was left alone.
We all thought he’d die.
But, to our surprise,/a 12-year-old male chimp called Spindle/took care of him.
- Ken :
-
In what way?
- Jane :
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Mel would ride on his back/and share his nest at night.
He shared his food/if Mel asked for it.
Chimps can indeed be loving and caring.
- Ken :
-
You travel all over the world,/giving talks about the conservation of nature.
Do you have any comment?
- Jane :
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Yes,/we humans must understand/that wild animals have the right to live.
They need wild places.
Besides,/there are some kinds of living things/that we must not destroy.
Many drugs for human diseases/come from plants and insects.
When we destroy a wild area,/maybe we are destroying the cure for cancer/without knowing it.
- Ken :
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I see.
- Jane :
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Everything in nature is connected.
Plants and animals make up a whole pattern of life.
If we destroy that pattern,/all kinds of things can go wrong.
- Ken :
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Could you say more about that?
- Jane :
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Sure.
One time in England,/rabbits were destroying farmers’ grain.
The farmers killed the rabbits.
Then foxes didn’t have enough to eat/and they started killing the farmers’ chickens.
The farmers then killed the foxes,/and rats quickly increased in number/and destroyed just as much grain/as the rabbits had eaten.
We humans are in danger of destroying our environment/and ourselves along with it.
- Ken :
-
Are you worried about our future?
- Jane :
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Yes, I am.
But my hope lies in young people.
That’s why I started Roots & Shoots.
It began with a group of high school students in Tanzania/in 1991.
It is called Roots & Shoots/because roots can work their way through rocks/to reach water.
And shoots can break through a wall/to reach the sunlight.
The rocks and wall are the problems/humans have caused to our earth.
- Ken :
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Is it a kind of club for young people?
- Jane :
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Yes.
We now have groups all over the world/and each group chooses three projects:/one to help people,/one to help animals,/one to help the environment.
The world is a better place/when a sad person smiles at you,/when a dog wags its tail for you,/or when you give water to a thirsty plant.
That’s what Roots & Shoots is all about.
- Ken :
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Some final words?
- Jane :
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People should think about the consequences/of the little choices they make each day.
What to buy?
What to eat?
What to wear?
You are just one person,/but what you do affects the whole world.
The changes you make may be small,/but if a thousand,/then a million,/finally a billion people/all make those changes,/this is going to make a big difference.
- Ken :
- Dr. Goodall,/thank you very much for sharing your ideas with us.