A modern Russian Hero
World-famous Professor Leonid Roshal, whose 1) reputation continues to grow as the years pass, is truly a modem hero. His many prestigious titles and awards include Doctor of Medicine, Professor, Director of the Moscow Research Institute of Child Surgery and Traumatology and President of the 2) national Charity Fund set up to help child victims of disasters and catastrophes.

Leonid Roshal recalls that from the time he was a small boy, he knew that he would grow up to become a doctor. After finishing 3) secondary school, he entered a medical institute where he decided to join the pediatric faculty partly due to his love for children. Upon graduating, however, he realised that he wanted to continue his studies and went on to become a paediatric surgeon.

Professor Roshal believes it takes a special kind of person to be a doctor. He thinks that a doctor should act 4) professionally at all times, but they must also be, above all, kind and caring. In spite of his very heavy workload as the director of the Moscow Research Institute, Professor Roshal still devotes incredible amounts of time to his patients both as a medical doctor and a surgeon.

Of all the honours that Professor Roshal has received 5) throughout his career, he insists that the title of 'Children's Doctor of the World', bestowed on him in 1996, has pleased him the most. Running a close second, he says, is the 6) decoration he was awarded for serving society, the Honorary Civil Order Golden Cross.

A Protector of our PLANET
Over the last 50 years, Sir David Attenborough has explored and explained virtually every aspect of life on planet Earth. His autobiography, Life on Air, follows a 1) career in which he invented the 2) modern television wildlife programme and became one of the world's best known broadcasters and naturalists. Attenborough sper his childhood collecting fossils, stones and other natural specimens. His fascination with nature continued and 3) led him to study geology and zoology at Cambridge. "The natural world is the greatest source of excitement, visual beauty and intellectual interest," he says.

Sir David was also the first presenter 4) on prime time television to addresi humanity's impact on the planet. In the last few years, Attenborough has become increasingly outspoken in 5) support of environmental causes. "It's a moral question about whether we have the right to exterminate species and leave a world that is poorer than the one we inherited." He asks, "Are we happy to imagine that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant 6) expect in a picture book?"

However, Sir David has a positive outlook on the future, "I think there will be radical changes," he explains, "but I don't think the natural 7) world will be reduced to rats and cockroaches, nor do I think that the plant world will be reduced to some kind of desert."