In February the Coronavirus pandemic struck the world’s economy with the biggest shock since the second world war. Lock-downs and a slump in consumer spending led to a labour market 【小题1】 in which the equivalent of nearly 500m full-time jobs disappeared almost overnight. World trade 【小题2】 as factories shut down and countries closed their borders. An even deeper economic catastrophe was avoided thanks only to unprecedented 【小题3】 in financial markets by central banks, government aid to workers and failing firms, and the expansion of budget deficits to near-wartime levels.

The crash was synchronized. As a recovery takes place, however, huge gaps between the performance of countries are opening up — which could yet 【小题4】 the world’s economic order.

By the end of next year, according to forecasts by the OECD, America’s economy will be the same size as it was in 2019 but China’s will be 10% larger. Europe will still languish beneath its pre-pandemic level of output and could do so for several years — a fate it may share with Japan, which is suffering a demo-graphic squeeze. The 【小题5】 of growth rates across 50 economies was at its widest for at least 40 years.

These adjustment will be immense. The pandemic will leave economies less globalized, more digitized and less equal. As they cut risks in their supply chains and harness automation, manufacturers will bring production closer to home. As office workers continue to work in their kitchens and bedrooms for at least part of the week, lower-paid workers who previously worked as waiters, cleaners and sales assistants will need to find new jobs in the suburbs. Until they do, they could face long spells of unemployment. In America permanent job losses are 【小题6】 even as the headline unemployment rate falls.

Instead America’s weakness is toxic and 【小题7】 politics. This week President Donald Trump seemed to abandon talks over renewing its 【小题8】, meaning that the economy could fall over a fiscal cliff. Critical reforms, whether to redesign the safety-net for a tech-driven economy or to put deficits on a 【小题9】 course, are all but impossible while two warring tribes define compromise as weakness, Covid-19 is imposing a new economic reality. Every country will be called on to adapt, but America faces a daunting task. If it is to lead the post-pandemic world, it will have to reset its politics.

The pandemic has created big performance 【小题10】 between the world’s economies. They could get even larger.

Zoos were originally created as places of entertainment, and their suggested involvement with conservation didn’t seriously 【小题1】 until about 30 years ago, when the Zoological Society of London held the first formal international meeting on the subject. Eight years later, a series of world conferences took place, 【小题2】 ‘The Breeding of Endangered Species’, and from this point onwards conservation became the zoo community’s buzzword. This commitment has now been clearly defined in The World Zoo Conservation Strategy (WZCS)，which –although an important and welcome document- does seem to be based on a/ an 【小题3】optimism about the nature of the zoo industry.

The WZCS estimates that there are about 10000 zoos in the world, of which around 1000 【小题4】 a core of quality collections capable of participating in coordinated conservation programs. This is probably the document’s first failing, as I believe that 10000 is a serious reserve of the total number of places which claim to be zoological 【小题5】. Of course it is difficult to get accurate data but, to put the issue into perspective, I have found that in a year of working in Eastern Europe, I discover fresh zoos on almost a weekly basis.

The second flaw in the reasoning of the WZCS document is its naive 【小题6】 in its 1000 core zoos. One would assume that the quality of these institutions would have been 【小题7】 examined, but it appears that the criterion for inclusion on this select list might merely be that the zoo is a member of a zoo federation or association. This might be a good starting point, working on the basis that members must meet certain standards, but again the facts don’t 【小题8】the theory. The greatly respected American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums (AAZPA) has had extremely dubious, and even notorious (臭名昭著的) members. As they were always a collection of bad reputation, one is obliged to 【小题9】upon the standards that the Zoo Federation sets when granting membership. The situation is even worse in developing countries where little money is 【小题10】for redevelopment.

Locally Extinct Rhino Is Back in Chad

Pigs don’t fly yet, but rhinos do.

Six black rhinoceroses were flown from South Africa to Zakouma National Park in Chad last week, 【小题1】 the threatened animal with a land it has not walked on in nearly five decades.

Chad is one of several African countries that have recently 【小题2】 to start their own small black rhino populations in an attempt to protect the species from extinction. It is a participant in the African Rhino Conservation Plan, which hopes to significantly grow the number of rhinos in Africa over the next five years.

Up until the mid-20th century, black rhinos 【小题3】 the landscape of Chad, grazing (吃草) and attracting tourists. But they also attracted poachers, who hunted them for their horns, which are displayed as 【小题4】 symbols. The population of black rhinos is down 97.6 percent since I960. Some estimate that as few as 5,500 are left on the continent according to the African Wildlife Foundation.

Cathy Dean, chief executive officer of Save the Rhino, an advocacy group, said six black rhinos were not significant in the context of the 5,000 or so that exist 【小题5】. But it’s a good sign that Chad has a safe place to house rhinos now.

According to the African Wildlife Foundation, 98 percent of the current black rhino population exists in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Namibia. South Africa, which is 【小题6】 to 40 percent of the rhinos, has already moved some of them to other countries, like Botswana.

Zakouma National Park will be responsible for protecting the rhinos from poachers and providing them with a(n) 【小题7】 environment to live in.

Transporting the animals to create a new population is a plan that can prove effective, Ms. Dean said “Some subspecies are 【小题8】 really well, with an annual growth rate at 9 percent or even higher,” she said in an email.

But moving the rhinos to a place where they once were and no longer are isn’t enough. The population must be managed and protected, and law 【小题9】 must play a role, Ms. Dean said. There should also be biological management, guided by effective monitoring. The rhinos cannot be dropped into a(n) 【小题10】 and expected to mate.