【英语时差8，16】萤火虫数量减少，专家忧心忡忡

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These days, all he sees are the fluorescent² lights of hotels, restaurants and highway overpasses³.

"The firefly populations have dropped 70 percent in the past three years," said Preecha, 58, a former teacher who started providing dozens of rowboats to compete with polluting motorboats.

The fate of the fireflies drew more than 100 entomologists and biologists to Thailand's northern city of Chiang Mai for an international symposium⁴ on the "Diversity and Conservation of Fireflies."No single factor is blamed, but researchers in the United States and Europe mostly cite urban sprawl⁵ and industrial pollution that destroy insect habitat. The spread of artificial lights also could be a culprit, disrupting the intricate mating behavior that depends on a male winning over a female with its flashing backside.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain stunned⁶ the U.S. political establishment and bolstered⁷ his image as a maverick⁸ by choosing the little-known female governor of Alaska as his running mate in the race against Democrat⁹ Barack Obama.

McCain's choice of Sarah Palin also means that no matter who wins in November, U.S. history will be made: Either the first black man will become president or the first woman will be vice¹⁰ president.

Palin offers risks and rewards for McCain. The choice of a 44-year-old, first-term governor to be his vice president could undermine one of McCain's main campaign themes: that Obama, a 47-year-old first-term senator, is too inexperienced to become president.

But Palin, whose nomination¹¹ was announced on Aug. 29, could help McCain rally social conservatives, a core Republican constituency that has had an uneasy relationship with McCain. Palin has a strong anti-abortion record and opposes gay marriage.

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