Lesson 5 Explore the Amazing World
A Law as a Window to Culture
Hello and welcome to today’s ____, Amazing World.
I am your MC, Junyoung Park, and with me are Matilde from Switzerland, ____ from Singapore, and Sophia from Italy.
Today, we are going to talk about ____ laws from around the world.
Our guests are here to share unique laws from their ____ countries that may be interesting to others.
They will further explain why ____ laws were created, based on their countries’ cultural and historical backgrounds.
Matilde, can you ____ one from Switzerland?
Sure. Switzer land is very concerned ____ the welfare of not only humans, but also animals.
In fact, it is one of the world’s most animal-friendly countries, ____ the support of many animal lovers.
In ____, the Swiss government made it a requirement for social animals that typically live in groups, like goldfish, rabbits, or guinea pigs, to be kept in pairs.
In other words, it is illegal to own and raise just ____ goldfish, one rabbit, or one guinea pig.
This law recognizes that social animals ____ experience loneliness if left alone and considers this to be a case of animal abuse.
In my case, I raised ____ guinea pigs when I was young.
When one of them died, I had to get ____ one.
Otherwise, I would have been ____.
There are additional laws in place to guarantee animals’ quality of ____.
For example, Switzerland is known to be the only European country ____ all dogs to be microchipped and registered in the country’s database.
This is to ____ the illegal trade of dogs.
As these laws ____, you can tell how much Switzerland cares about animal welfare.
I ____ tell how passionate Switzerland is about animals.
____, what about Singapore? Are there any interesting laws?
In Singapore,
In Singapore, there is a ____ law about chewing gum.
Chewing ____ sales and imports are prohibited in the nation, and violators face fines of up to 2,000 Singapore dollars.
Although the law itself is ____ well-known internationally, I imagine that many of you are unaware of its historical context.
____ was a small nation with limited resources when it gained independence.
The nation’s prime minister at the time came up with strategies to ____ national prosperity, one of which was to transform the nation into an “oasis” for tourists in Asia.
In order to accomplish this, he emphasized ____ and orderliness, which resulted in the establishment of the gum ban in 1992.
At that time, chewing gum left on streets, roads, and stairs diminished the country’s beauty and ____ the cleaning costs.
The ____ ban on chewing gum has become one of the most well-known aspects of life in Singapore, along with its laws against improperly throwing away trash and spitting in public.
These laws being ____, people could enjoy clean public spaces.
Today, Singapore ____ the world in terms of cleanliness and welcomes millions of tourists every year.
Yes, I remember Singapore as a clean and ____ country to visit.
Sophia, can ____ tell us about an interesting law in Italy?
As you know, people from all over the world visit Rome, the ____ of Italy.
Unfortunately, some tourists’ actions caused severe damage to the city’s historical ____.
So, the city had to establish a number of ____ to protect its numerous historical sites.
One of them was to forbid adding a ____ to any bridge in Rome.
You may have heard that to symbolize their ____ forever, many couples carve their names on locks and attach them to a bridge.
However, as the weight of the ____ increases the pressure on bridges, they are no longer permitted.
Even the ____ ones have been removed since 2012.
This law was also introduced in Venice so that locks could no longer damage the famous Rialto ____.
In addition, people are not allowed to go into the city’s iconic ____ Fountain.
Although you ____ be tempted to dip your toes into the cool fountain water on a hot summer day, it is illegal to do so.
Sitting on Rome’s famed Spanish Steps has also ____ banned since 2019.
If you ____ follow this law, you are made to pay a fine ranging from €250 to €450.
All of these ____ are committed to protecting the city’s historical monuments.
Considering the large number of tourists from all over the world, it is understandable why Italy passed these regulations to protect ____ priceless monuments.
Thank you for sharing all these interesting laws with us, Matilde, ____, and Sophia.
Some of the ____ may initially appear to be difficult to understand.
However, now that ____ have learned the stories behind them, I am sure you understand why they were put in place.
Knowing the unique cultural and ____ contexts of these laws will help you appreciate them better.