托福口语宠物话题

　　"In the morning, birds on my own roof at home hang almost upside down trying to see me through the windows." She laughed. "In severe conditions last winter, I had as many as four robins in my garden at the same time, though they’re well known to be territorial birds.

　　"It’s amazing how many different kinds of birds I see in the city itself. In park Square, as well as the usual starlings, pigeons and sparrows, there are blue tits, great tits, thrushes, doves, and sometimes even seagulls."

　　It all started when Winifred was working at a café. She used to throw out stale bread and buns, and developed such an interest in the wild birds which accepted her offerings that she started taking food along to those in City Square as well.

　　On one occasion, an old lady sitting in the square remarked that the birds could do with a more nutritious diet. So Winifred began buying corn for them.

　　"In the end, I was carrying so much weight and tramping so far that my feel and arms really ached," she said. "I tried using wheeled shoppers, but with the weight of all that corn they were breaking within weeks! So I splashed out and bought this tricycle."

　　Consider

　　Are pets good for mankind?

　　Arguments

　　1. The great virtue of pets is that they can keep us company.

　　2. An animal in the family helps to keep us human.

　　3. A pet is kept as a companion that makes us feel happy. It’s suggested that pets should be sent to astronauts in a spacecraft to help reduce the loneliness of space fights.

　　4. Besides providing mere companionship, pets invite us to love and be loved.

　　5. Often a cat or a dog can comfort us at times when human words don’t help.

　　6. Pets give us a sense of being important and needed because they depend on us for a home, food and drink.

　　7. Pets are of particular importance to children in this Plastic Age when most of us live in large cities.

　　8. A pet in a family keeps people in touch with the more natural, animal world.

　　9. Watching the everyday activities of a pet helps a child to understand nature and cope with problems.

　　10. Learning to care for a pet helps a child to grow up into a loving adult who feels responsible towards those dependent on him.

　　11. Animals can communicate with each other in their particular way. They communicate with human beings, too, for they are quick to sense anger and sorrow.

　　12. People keep pets for emotional rather than economic reasons.

　　13. A pet dog brings its master (owner) a sense of confidence, for he can see in dog that faithfulness does exist and he does have something to trust.

　　14. Sterilization of pets is utterly cruel. If there is a large number of pets, then the more, the merrier.

　　Counter-arguments

　　1. Keeping pets is just a waste of time and resources

　　2. Pets are humanized by those who keep pets. Owing to their need for a home, for food and drink, pets are tamed and idealized by their owners.

　　3. Pets and children often fight over care and love in the family

　　4. People nowadays are so crazy about pets that they even neglect caring for their own children.

　　5. A campaign should be launched against the overpopulation of pets.

　　6. The growing number of pets has caused serious hygiene problems that cannot be solved.

　　7. The growing number of pets has caused serious hygiene problems that cannot be solved

　　8. Pet dogs and cats of both sexes should be sterilized because the animals themselves are in danger of becoming the first victims for the simple reason that their owners don’t have enough time for too many of them.

　　9. As a matter of fact those who keep pets don’t always treat their pets with kindness. They sometimes abandon their pets when they go away on holiday and are unable to take the pets along with them

　　10. It’s a shame that many animals eat much better food than we human beings do.

　　11. It’s really against nature to cage birds, chain dogs and keep cats within the house

　　12. Pets are animals. They should be seen in their natural habitat rather than in teh homes of human beings.