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Traditional superstitions and beliefs 【C1】______disappear altogether；they assume new forms and 【C2】______to contemporary conditions.【C3】______in the 21st century，people may dismiss their forefather’s customs and practices 【C4】______superstition，many are still current.A Friday which falls on the 13th of a month is widely feared as 【C5】______，and so are spilling salt and walking 【C6】______a ladder.Belief 【C7】______the power of mascots is far from 【C8】______；the lucky rabbit’s foot，like the horseshoe，is a popular charm.Certain foods，too，【C9】______their ancient lore.Many people，for example，accept the old adage ’an apple a day keeps the doctor away’.One aspect of traditional 【C10】______which is still very much 【C11】______today is folk medicine.When the causes of illness were totally 【C12】______，and disease seemed to 【C13】______without any reason，it was often 【C14】______to evil spirits taking over the body.To 【C15】______the patient，the demons of disease must be driven put，and many ’cures’were spells and charms intended to exorcise these.Until 【C16】______modem limes，even ’official’medicine was very unpleasant，with no anaesthetics or pain-killers，and a 【C17】______success rate.Few people，in any case，could afford it，and most relied on folk healers and magic.There was an enormous range of herbal 【C18】______，some of which have since been found to have actual healing properties.【C19】______were worn to ward off disease，and a wide variety of seemingly strange objects，such as church furnishings，were 【C20】______with powers of healing.

The humid tropics of South East Asia are one of the Earth’s major reservoirs of animal and plant species.But this rich biodiversity is under threat because of continuing habitat-loss.Vast areas are being cleared through deforestation either for agriculture or urban development and if habitats continue to disappear at their present rate，then between thirteen and forty two percent of wildlife will become extinct.These predictions have been calculated by scientists through Singapore，Australia and Japan，who looked at species loss in Singapore over the last one hundred and eighty years.Here habitats of terrestrial and freshwater species have shrunk by ninety-five percent，and forest reserves，which cover only a quarter of a percent of Singapore’s land area，now harbour more than fifty percent of flora and fauna.By comparing this data to the rest of the region the scientists calculated these huge losses.The authors say that major conservation efforts need to be put in place otherwise many species will be lost forever.