To Be Or Not To Be， That Is the Question—— My view on reading The Star Zoo

段旭 北京市丰台区长辛店北京十中高三 阅读书目：星际动物园 The Star Zoo (书虫· 牛津英汉双语读物)

As the only living things on a bare planet called “Just Like Home”， humans felt lonely and sad. In order to live， they must get married as often as possible and have children. Unwilling to get married， our 16-year-old protagonist named Humming Bird ran away from her planet and found a plastic space ship. There she met various kinds of animals， which frightened her even drove her crazy. She had never seen such things before. Only through ‘The Book Of Remembering’ did she get some rough idea of animals. After she took a small-copied cat home and showed it to the officials on her planet， the cat was shot to death and all the officials went crazy. Humming Brid didn’t give up her attempt to let people accept the animals. She decided to set about the job from children…

That’s the brief plot of Harry Gilbert’s science fiction—. Based on the reality of increasing environmental problems， the writer uses his full imagination and creativity to produce this vivid imaginative and thought-provoking story.

As far as we know， animal numbers are now diminishing all over the world every years， and the living conditions we depend on a getting worse. We dirty the air with gases and smoke， poison the water with chemicals and other substances and damage the soil with too many fertilizers and pesticides. We also pollute our surroundings in many other ways. Air， water and soil are all very important and necessary to the survival of all living things all over the world. If we human don’t pay more attention to that， there will come a day when we have to live the kind of life described in this novel. As we know， the world is made up not only of human beings but also a lot of other living things. If we don’t want to leave this perfect planet， we have to protect the environment; otherwise， without the company of other living things， people would only be half-alive， men only half-men.

Nowadays， I should say， people have realized the importance of environmental protection and ecological balance. Slogans that remind us to save water and electricity are stuck everywhere， but how many are treated as requirements or duties and not just a piece of paper. If we pay a little attention to our working and study places， we always find some taps half opened with running water， and large numbers of people get used to leave lights on during the day. Dustbins for both recycled and unredeemable rubbish are placed in high density but no one bothers to throw the rubbish into the right dustbins. Nor do they even know what kind of rubbish could be recycled and what kind could not.

Conservation centers for protecting animals are built in many countries. Our government also passed some acts to protect animals; however， there do exist some law-breakers who are driven by money. We plant trees very year， but no one bothers to water and care for them after planting them. For money， some farmers drive their sheep and cattle to grasslands and charge it into desert.

All in all， to every one， I want to say， “Living on this wonderful planet earth， we are lucky and happy. In order to enjoy this kind of wonderful life， we must care for mother earth and put this kind of care into practice.”

Facing the world， to be or not to be， it’s up to you. We must make a choice without any hesitation!