photo Tara Benwell Listen to News with Tara Benwell - Instructions:
1. Preview the vocabulary and read the gapfill text.
2. Play the news report and try to fill in the blanks.
3. Answer the comprehension questions by writing full sentences.
4. Use the discussion question to write an essay or discuss the story with other students.
5. Click "show Answers" to see the full text.
6. Pretend to be a news anchor by reading each story out loud.

dateline: 28 July 2015

NB! For WEEKLY audio stories check out LISTEN & LEARN πŸ”ˆ

Australia To Kill 2 Million Cats

Pre-Listening Vocabulary

  • feral: wild; not domesticated
  • activist: a person who believes strongly about something and tries to bring attention to the issue
  • condemn: to express strong disapproval
  • genocide: an attempt to kill an entire species or race
  • breed: to reproduce
  • sterilization: a procedure that prevents an animal from reproducing; makes infertile
  • eradication: the complete removal or elimination of something

Australia Plans To Kill 2 Million Cats

The Australian government plans to kill 2 million feral cats by the year . The purpose is to protect some of Australia’s threatened species. The announcement did not sit well with animal rights activists, including Brigitte Bardot. The former French model condemned the Australian and called their plan “animal genocide”. Bardot argued that killing cats is cruel and violent. She also argued that the program would be , since cats will continue to breed. Bardot and many other activists feel that the Australian government should spend their money on sterilization eradication.

Comprehension Questions

  1. How did the Australian government upset animal rights activists?
  2. Who is Brigitte Bardot?
  3. What does Bardot think the government should do instead?

Discussion Questions: Do you agree with Brigitte Bardot and other animal activists, or do you think that the Australian government is right to take this approach? Explain your position.

show Answers

Written and recorded by Tara Benwell for EnglishClub
Tara Benwell is a Canadian freelance writer and editor who specializes in materials and articles for the ELT industry.
© EnglishClub.com
Search for more stories by topic. For example, search for keywords like: climate change, floods, trump, money, thailand, language...

Teacher's Notes

Subscribe to EnglishClub Podcasts RSS Feed

One comment

Leave a comment