Integrated task: Private fossil collectors

The passage and the lecture are about whether selling and buying by private fossil collectors are beneficial for scientist or general public or not. The passage states some negative consequences if they are collected and sold by the private collectors. The lecture, however, opposes by showing the benefits of having private collectors.

First of all, the passage states that general public will not get benefit if they are sold it to private collectors and eventually people will lose their interest in fossils. On the other hand, the lecture says that if fossils are available for commercial trade then many fossils will be available for public use such as in libraries, in schools and so forth. Thus, the lecture opposes the passage by pointing out on ease of availability in public.

Second, the passage states that scientist will not have direct access to important evidences to do research. To dispute this point, the lecture claims that to prove it as fossil, it needs to pass through detailed examinations and needs to be identified scientifically. Thus, scientists will not miss any important evidence of the fossils. In this way, the lecture argues the passage.

Lastly, the passage states that as private collectors are not trained and not interested in collecting evidence, they might damage or miss to give attention to small important fossils. In contrast, the lecture posits that it is better to find more fossils rather than leaving fossils undiscovered, which is possible due to private collectors. Therefore, this point also contradicts the point made in the passage.