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The Zoo
简体
The Zoo
动物园

English Adjectives

Date: Jul 08 2011

Themes: Pets

Grammar: Adjectives

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Most people will never see a lemur or hippopotamus in the wild. But anyone can see exotic animals like these at a zoo.

Zoos have all sorts of animals you can go and see. But these animals are often in cages. Some people think it’s wrong to keep these animals in captivity. But others think it’s important for people to see animals, and some zoos have very nice environments for the animals that live there.

Amy recently went to a zoo. Listen to her discuss it with Marni.

大多数人永远不会在野外看到狐猴或者河马。但是,所有人都可以在动物园里看到此类来自异域的动物。
你可以去动物园观看各种各样的动物。但是,这些动物通常都会被关在笼子里。一些人认为,将这些动物关在笼子里是一种错误行为。但是其他人则认为,对于观看动物的人而言这是一项重要措施,而且某些动物园为在此生活的动物提供了非常良好的环境。
艾米最近去了动物园。请听她和玛尼谈论此事的谈话。

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Amy

Amy

Marni

Marni

Amy:  I just went to the zoo this weekend, Marni.

Marni:  Really?

Amy:  What, you don’t like the zoo?

Marni:  Ugh.

Amy:  Don’t you like exotic animals and getting to see things you ordinarily wouldn’t get to see, because they usually only exist in the wild?

Marni:  I appreciate exotic animals in natural habitats. The zoo, it just seems so cruel. I mean you’re just there on display. And I just don’t know, I want to see them in their natural habitat in the wild, not domesticated in captivity.

Amy:  OK, but I think at the zoo, for one thing, you can have a much more personal experience with the animals. And also there are some animals who wouldn’t survive if, you know, if their species wasn’t kept alive in zoos. I mean, animals that have been hunted or poached. The zoo is the only way to keep them going.

Marni:  Well, you know, I know that some zoos do do a good job. I just, I feel like I’ve been to the zoo too many times where they’re not kept up well, and the animals are just depressed and they’re exhibiting behaviors that are not natural to them. It just can be really depressing. So I know it’s a good opportunity for some people to go and see animals that they wouldn’t normally get to see, and I believe that it’s educational, so I like that aspect. But ultimately, it’s hard for me not to find them depressing.

Amy:  I understand.

 

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Discussion

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Amy recently went to the zoo. She enjoys seeing all the exotic animals and getting to be close to them. But Marni thinks the zoo is depressing. She feels bad for all the animals who are being held in captivity instead of enjoying the freedom of their natural habitat.

Amy disagrees with Marni. She thinks that zoos aren’t depressing, because in some cases they help keep endangered species going. Some animals that are hunted in the wild find protection in zoos. Marni admits that zoos can be educational, but they still make her feel sad.

Do you like visiting the zoo, or do you think it’s depressing to see animals in captivity? What is your favorite zoo animal?

 

Comments

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Sami Aswad

Sami Aswad

Iraq

Smile

09:14 PM Jul 08 2011 |

Tamiliusia

Tamiliusia

Ukraine

I like visiting Zoo,but last summer I visited one Zoo. It was a real prison for animals.They were dirty,hungry and sad.They lived in appaling conditions.The owner kept animals only for making money, he didn’t care about them. I was really shoked.

04:46 PM Jul 08 2011 |

SÉRGIO

SÉRGIO

Brazil

I think we can have animals in zoos! but it depends on the structure of these zoos!! And we know that wild animals are being eliminated more and more every single year and only in captivity we can save some of them from extinction!! SAVE THE ANIMALS!!Smile

11:25 AM Jul 08 2011 |

Burcuu

Burcuu

Turkey

we have a big farm in izmir and there are many animal sorts  I love animals and they don’t scared me . there are dogs cats birds snakes turkeys:D cows sheep goat insects chickens turtles …  one day I went to zoo with my father when I was child I remember that the elephants were very interesting for me :D I think animals should be left natural life , they should not be kept in a small box but also should be protected and sent to the zoo

11:03 AM Jul 08 2011 |

Dorothee

Dorothee

Germany

Lizaza,


I thank you for posting this here as I thank englishbaby for bringing up this subject! 


Once in an interview a marine biologist who is against keeping wild animals in captivity said that educating children by letting them see captive animals was like explaining to them human anatomy by showing them a Disney – figure. ( source: Lolita – Slave to Entertainment ) Animals living in captivity just can’t behave like wild ones or even are maladjustded and thus show abnormal behavior. However this doesn’t only mean that we can’t learn by watching them, but it’s also dangerous. There have been multiple examples in which people who worked with these animals got attacked – perhaps even killed – by them. The most famous example may be the orca Tilikum who was involved in the death of at least two people.


Of course reading the text about the animal shown in this cage usually contains interesting information, but usually they don’t contain anything you couldn’t read in an average book about animals. Apart from that some kids when they are adults or at least adolescents may not care about this educational effect and perhaps even be angry with their parents for taking them to a place like that as long as they were too young to realize what captivity meant for these wild animals.


Some people may say that the animals performing shows or living in zoos receive good health care, but is a healthy life really everything? If a creature – be it human or animal – had the chance to choose between a long healthy, but horrible live and a short, not too healthy, but exciting life, wouldn’t it rather choose the latter? WhenI was a young girl and went to a circus I was so impressed that the animals there had such a shining fur and seemed to be so healthy that after the show I went home to my elder brother and told him something like “The animals there had such a shining fur. They must have a very happy life there!” I was just a kid and thus my brother wasn’t angry with me at all. He just said “No! The fact that their fur shines only means that they arev healthy!” I told him that at least these animals must be happy about their health, but he said that he doubted that this was the case. In addition not all zoos or circus keep their animals healthy…Here I’m not talking about animals getting held in dirty cages or something, but about the fact that some animals just aren’t save from visitors. Hearing this may be surprising to some of you, so I’ll just explain to you what I mean by that: There is a zoo in a city very close to the village I live in and there they used to have a walruss. One day they had to put this animal to sleep, because it was very ill and when they made an autopsy they saw that this poor animal’s stomach was filled with pennies, stuffed animals and other things. Some of these subjects may have been dropped accidentally, – For example I imagine that the stuffed animal belonged to a child that was inattentive for a little moment and thus dropped its toy. – but I consider it to be very unlikely that a single penny could drop out of its owners pocket accidentally. I’m sure that some people just threw things into this animal’s cage to get its attention, perhaps just to get a better view of it for a photo.


Some say that if visitors see for example a cute little polar bear cub suffering in a zoo because of the heat caused by global warming this may arise people’s attention more than just reading about climate change or perhaps seeing some photos of Arctic animals that drowned because more and more of the ice there is melting. However a documentation about climate change that perhaps also includes cute little seals or young polar bears should have the same affect, shouldn’t it? In addition a real documentation about this subject may also give people really useful information about how you – as an individual – could do something about climate change. This information usually isn’t given in zoos!


The only good argument people who are in favor of this have is that since more and more pieces of nature get destroyed and that thus some animals would go extinct if we stopped breeding them in zoos. But is this really the solution? Can we be content if a certain species can only be seen in the zoos and would go extinct immediately if we introduced it into the wild?


Personally I say “No!” I say “No!” to people who think that we should keep animals alive only in zoos. I say “No!” to people who consider animal shows and zoos to be interesting. I say “No!” to zoos and circus in general. If we want to learn – to really learn – about animals we should preserve the areas they live in. Then there firstly is no need in breeding them in zoos and secondly there is no need in going to zoos either, because directors will be able to keep releasing new documentations about them.

08:10 AM Jul 08 2011 |

Lizaza

Lizaza

Belarus

Zoos and circuses are really cruel places for animals. I prefer to watch at animals in safary parks where they are in the wild or just on TV. Zoos are educational, I doubt that.

06:41 AM Jul 08 2011 |

dearpesar

dearpesar

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

as i see zoo is a nice place for them to live healthy, yes i agree with that, i like to see hypeer monkeysLaughing


 

06:30 AM Jul 08 2011 |

sofree

sofree

China

Yes and yes. That’s why I prefer wild zoo, they keep visitors in cage, but animals in wild, kinda compromise.


Maybe tiger and lion.

05:43 AM Jul 08 2011 |

lvei

China

I  like  monkey.

04:22 AM Jul 08 2011 |

mikechu

Viet Nam

i haven’t been to the zoo for a long time,but i do agree with Amy. You can only see the wild animals on the TV, on the internet or must go to some wild places to see them living naturally,but it’s kind of dangerous thing to do because some wild animals are too aggressive. The zoo is the only way you can see them directly and also keep some animals away from extinction.

03:33 AM Jul 08 2011 |

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