2.2. 9 You will hear a talk by Johnny Morris, a popular expert on animals and their behaviour, who has made many television and radio programmes.

He talks about the following subjects:

– animals compared to people;

– the benefits of having animals in our lives;

– pets in Ancient Rome and Egypt;

– a difficult animal he has known.

• Make guesses about the content before you listen.

• Find out the meaning of the following words.

to inflict to condescend to volunteer to be superior to be inferior

incredible to stroke to shelter subservient to stagger

to descend psychic sacred to mourn to embalm

2.2.1. Listen to the talk and make notes under the headings above. When you have finished, compare your notes with another student’s.

2.2.2. Do you agree with Johnny Morris when he says that in many respects human beings are inferior to animals?

2.3. Speech practice.

• You are a popular expert on animals. Speak about the benefits of having animals in our lives.

III. Extinction

3.1. What is the difference between the following terms:

• an endangered species

• a threatened species

• an extinct species?

When people hear the word “endangered”, they usually think of a large and majestic species, like the Asian elephant, or a cute and cuddly one like the giant panda. While these animals are indeed endangered, the threat of extinction is not limited to the few species we recognize in pictures or zoos. The threat of extinction affects nearly every species on the planet.

Most people have a general idea of what an endangered, threatened, or extinct species is, but biologists have rather precise definitions for each term. An endangered species is a type of animal or plant that is in immediate danger of extinction. The species usually has a small population and needs protection to survive. The mountain gorilla, the Indian python, the lady slipper orchid, and thousands of other plant and animal species throughout the world are endangered.

Biologists use the word threatened to describe species that face serious problems but whose populations are not in immediate danger of becoming extinct. Some examples of threatened species are the African elephant, the northern spotted owl, the eastern indigo snake.

Extinct species no longer exist anywhere in the world. The dodo, the passenger pigeon, and the dinosaurs are examples of extinct species.

3.2. The following texts are about different things that the WWF (a large international organization working to stop the destruction of the earth’s natural resources) has done. Read these texts and put in the words from the boxes. You may have to make some small changes.

Operation Tiger

create left remain save

Seventy years ago there were 100,000 tigers in the wild. Today there are not more than 8,000 …. In 1972 the World Wildlife Fund launched «Operation Tiger» to … the tigers that …. Eighteen tiger reserves have been … in India and three in Nepal.