墨尔本PTE素材库——Pet Sale

墨尔本PTE素材库——Pet Sale

中文批注

宠物应不应该用领养代替买卖？本篇podcast当中，提到澳大利亚维多利亚州政府近日想要出台法律，禁止专业的宠物店贩卖猫狗，鼓励人们去收容所领养成年以及老年的猫狗。这样的措施当然有利有弊。那么，作为家庭中非常重要的一部分的宠物，到底应该通过什么样的方式来获得呢？

这篇文章，具有良好的议论和思辨性，将一个命题的两个方面都考虑了进去，同时也将法案的前因后果描述了出来。这篇文章不仅仅可以当做阅读练习的补充材料，还可以作为作文的范本，同学们可以着重学习本文的结构和逻辑，完善的英语能力。

澳大利亚语言学校会定期整理一些PTE的素材库，让各位PTE的考生，能够平时在练习的时候能够接触到一些和official questions criteria相近的话题素材，不但能够锻炼PTE考生的听力和复述能力，也能在消化没一品素材的过程中提高自己的阅读能力以及词汇量。大家在看这段视频的时候，可以试着回答这些问题：

• 是哪一件事情促使了政府想要立案？
• 听说政府想要立案后，大家的反应都是什么？

如果不能回答这些问题的同学要注意咯~快来看看full transcript吧~

【key vocabulary】

Breed v. 繁殖

Mistreat v. 虐待

Cuddly adj. 逗人喜爱的

Purebred adj. 纯种的

Crack down n. 取缔

Dodgy breeder 狡猾的繁殖者

Reputable adj. 声誉好的

Full Transcript

Cats and dogs are easily the most popular pets in Australia. But there are worries some pet businesses are breeding too many of them or even mistreating them. To try to stop this from happening, the Victorian government is bringing in new laws that’ll affect breeders and pet shops. But some say the stricter rules go too far.

They’re cute and cuddly, and can end up being your best friend! But a pet pooch or pussycat can also cost you a pretty penny, especially if you’re after a purebred.

DOG OWNER 1: He was $2700 with papers.

DOG OWNER 2: $1600, $1200 and he was $1500 plus travel.

DOG OWNER 3: We paid $4200 so a lot of money and he’s worth every penny isn’t he, he is?

There are thousands of puppy and kitten breeders around Australia who sell animals like this directly to new owners or to pet shops. Although most breeders take good care of the animals until they’ve found a home, a few are doing the wrong thing. Recently, police and the RSPCA rescued 119 small dogs and six cats from this breeder in Victoria because they were being mistreated.

Places like this are often referred to as ‘kitten’ or ‘puppy farms’. They breed lots of animals to sell and sometimes keep them in bad conditions, and the RSPCA says it’s been investigating more than 40 over the past year in Victoria alone. So now, the Victorian government’s decided to crack down on dodgy breeders. It wants to limit the number of breeding dogs and cats a business can have, and limit the number of litters those animals can have in a lifetime, so they don’t exist just to breed. It also wants Victoria to become the first Aussie state to ban the sale of puppies and kittens from all its pet stores, unless they come from a rescue shelter.

REPORTER: The RSPCA says that’ll encourage people to adopt a rescue dog or cat as their new pet, like Daisy, instead of just going straight for a puppy or kitten.

LIZ WALKER, CEO RSPCA: It’s great for the community to understand there’s a different way of thinking about acquiring an animal. It doesn’t have to be a puppy, it doesn’t have to be a kitten; it might be an adult dog or and older dog or cat and that actually might be a really good choice.

But there are people against these new laws, some say the changes will also punish the good pet shop owners who treat their animals well and only get them from reputable breeders. Others worry the new laws won’t be enough to stop the dodgy breeders because they’ll just sell their puppies and kittens online instead. Big breeders that take good care of their animals like this business would be shut down under the new laws for having too many breeding dogs.

The owner says that’s really unfair. He reckons just because a breeder has fewer dogs doesn’t necessarily mean those dogs are going to be treated any better. But the Victorian Government says the changes have a lot of support in the community and they won’t affect that many breeders. It says it needs to do all it can to protect these little guys and make sure our best friends have the best possible life.

(source: http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s4522240.htm)