Why is it so important to protect cultural relics? Well , one reason is that cultural relics can help us understand how people lived in the past. However , it isn't always easy to know what live was like. Most of the things we use today---sneakers , backpacks , chairs---won't be here a thousand years from now. That means people in the future will only be able to find some everyday objects. We have the same problem , of course. When we try to learn about the past , we can only see the things that survived time and the weather. The things we do find from the past can tell us something abut everyday life in ancient times.

       In some cases, more relics are saved than usual. In Egypt, for example , important people were buried in large tombs in which they put lots of everyday objects. Because the tombs were locked and hidden, the things inside were well kept over thousands of years. Thanks to this, we know that the ancient Egyptians lived in houses made of bricks, that ancient Egyptian women wore make-up, and that most people slept on wooden beds. The objects can give us an idea of how people lived and how they probably thought.

        Protecting our cultural relics is an important task and we should take it seriously. We are protecting our history and knowledge so that people in the future will know and enjoy it. We are also helping ourselves and our children to better understand who we are and where we come from. This is why we in China are trying so hard to protect our cultural relics.