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Most people find animals like dogs, cats and birds adorable and some keep them
in their homes as pets. However, there are also people who abuse animals. They
enjoy torturing helpless creatures to gain a sense of control over them. Their
pleasure is increased since these animals very often cannot do anything to
defend themselves. Reports of animal abuse are increasing. One just has to
look in the newspaper to see the increase in the number of cases of animal
abuse. What is worse is that for every abuse case reported, there are probably
many more that are not. Not long ago, a local newspaper reported several cases
of animal abuse. In one particularly cruel case, a group of young children
caught a kitten and did horrible things to it. Not only did they tie rubber
bands around the kitten but they also stapled its ears closed just for fun.
Helpless to defend itself, the kitten had to endure this cruel torture. Apart
from this case, there have also been several other cases in which people
deliberately killed animals by throwing them out of high windows or poisoning
them simply because they could not tolerate the noises the animals made. While
most of us are disgusted to see or hear about such inhumane behavior towards
animals, animal abuse is still on the rise. These animal abusers fail to
consider the needs and feelings of the animals.
In order to reduce and ultimately prevent such cases of animal abuse, the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or SPCA was set up. The
organization not only aims to prevent cruelty to animals but also cares for
unwanted animals that have been badly abused. So far, the SPCA has proven to be
a haven for abused animals. The organization also has a number of trained people
to nurse injured animals back to health.
Unfortunately, there are people who treat the SPCA as a place where they can
'discard' their unwanted pets after they get tired of them. This has led to the
SPCA being short of space and money. The organization now only takes in animals
that have been abused even though people still continue to abandon their
unwanted pets. Such animals usually make their way to residential areas to
forage for food. Much to the annoyance of residents, they make a lot of noise
and loiter outside houses or at void decks below their flats.
The SPCA has embarked on some programs to prevent animal abuse. They give
talks in schools explaining why animals should not be abused. It is only through
educating the public that animal abuse can be prevented. |
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Answer the following questions using complete
sentences |
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1. |
Give two reasons why some people gain pleasure in abusing
animals. |
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2. |
In what way are there actually more animal abuse cases than reported ? |
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3. |
Based on paragraph 2, give the reason why the children ill-treated the kitten. |
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4. |
What do you think made the kitten 'helpless to defend itself' (paragraph
2) ? |
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5. |
Quote two words in paragraph 2 that have the same meaning as
'bear with'. |
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6. |
State two aims of the SPCA. |
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7. |
What does a 'haven' (paragraph 3) refer to ? |
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8. |
In what way do people take advantage of the SPCA ? |
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9. |
Why do people find stray animals annoying ? |
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10. |
What does the SPCA feel is the best way to prevent animal abuse ? |
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| Answers |
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1. |
These people enjoy having control over the animals and their pleasure is
increased when the animals cannot defend themselves. |
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2. |
People are not reporting all cases of animal abuse. |
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3. |
They ill-treated the kitten for fun. |
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4. |
It was a group of children who had caught the kitten, so it must have
been outnumbered and cornered and unable to defend itself. |
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5. |
The words are 'endure' and 'tolerate'. |
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6. |
Its aims are to prevent cruelty to animals and to care for unwanted
animals which have been abused. |
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7. |
It refers to a safe home. |
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8. |
They treat it as a place where they can discard their unwanted pets
after getting tired of them. |
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9. |
These animals make a lot of noise and they loiter at void decks or
outside houses. |
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10. |
The SPCA feels that educating the public is the best way to prevent
animal abuse. |
