[originaltext]W: David, I understand, as a photographer, you have spent years d

W: David, I understand, as a photographer, you have spent years documenting the Art.
M: Yes. Go back nearly 30,000 years, and you will find our ancestors carving, painting and molding their visions of the world and beyond into the rocky surfaces of Africa.
W: Well! It’s a long history.
M: You bet. And also we estimate that the number of sites in Africa is...well, over a million, you know, it’s probably closer to five million. And if you think that each site could have thousands and thousands of images, you get some idea of the enormous extent of this art, you know.
W: It is quite extraordinary!
M: Sure it is! And equally extraordinary, experts say, is how closely their thoughts and struggles mirror those humanity today. They were trying to express their cognitive system, they were trying to look at their concept of reality, they were looking at issues that were depiction of abstract kind of thoughts, and all this together really represents the way they looked at their whole environment.
W: Like us?
M: Yes. What these ancient artists didn’t know is that their work might one day shed new light on Africa’s past as one far more rich and complex than previously thought.
W: Does you mean that it is the way in which African history might be rewritten from now on?
M: Absolutely.
W: Inspiring! It is a history that rightly belongs to Africa, but one the continent has not always owned.
M: Well, it’s partially because of the textbooks at least of old, which gave the idea that humanity originated in Eastern Africa, and then somehow civilization arose in the Fertile Crescent or in Europe and came to Africa in the last five hundred years.
W: At present this record of ancient history is slowly falling pray to vandalism, theft, tourism and ignorance. To protect it they founded an organization, didn’t they?
M: Tara—the Trust for African Rock Art—it was founded in 1996. In all right rock art in Africa is, theoretically anyway, protected by law, but in that there is so much ignorance about its existence and its importance that doesn’t carry, you know, very much weight very often.
W: And what does Tara do exactly?
M: Tara is currently digitizing some 20,000 photographic images of African rock art that it plans to make available to scholars worldwide. In addition the group has enlisted the help of giants such as Nelson Mandela, and Kofi Annan.
W: Great!
M: The rock art of Africa makes up one of the oldest and most extensive records on Earth of human thought.
W: Yes. It is time for all Africa’s leaders and peoples to take a new and more active role.
M: And we too must save this cultural heritage, before it is too late.
1. What’s David’s job?
2. What’s the estimated number of sites in Africa?
3. Which one of the following statements is NOT true about ancient African rock artist?
4. The woman mentioned several reasons why at present the record of ancient history is slowly falling. Which of the following is NOT one of them?
5. What’s Tara’s plan for the future?