Listening

Warm Up

Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. wildlife
    • ex. In this forest park, you will often see wildlife like deer and bears.
  2. routinely
    • ex. I routinely clean the aquarium to keep my pet fish healthy.
  3. a feeder
    • ex. There are feeders at the local park for birds and squirrels.
  4. frown upon
    • ex. People often frown upon talking loudly in public places.
  5. speculation
    • ex. There’s no proof that the students cheated. It’s just speculation.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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Mountain rangers and wildlife biologists always warn people to not feed bears and other animals at parks. But for birds, it may be a different story. Scientists from the University of Nevada looked at the effect of feeding mountain chickadees at Lake Tahoe in California. The birds are routinely fed by people who ski in the area. For six years, the scientists looked at birds that visited feeders and those that did not.

During the study, the scientists found that the population of the chickadees did not increase or decrease. This means that giving the birds food by hand or through feeders did not harm them, as long as they were given the right kind of food. The scientists believe that the birds are taking food from feeders and storing them for later, especially for the cold winter.

Wildlife officials in the state said that they generally frown upon feeding animals in the wild. However, the Nevada Department of Wildlife spokeswoman Ashley Sanchez admitted that concerns about the possibility that feeding wildlife can be harmful are often based on speculation, not scientific data.

This material was based on an article by The Associated Press.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Protecting Wildlife Parks

  • Why do you think wildlife officials often frown upon feeding animals in the wild? Discuss.
  • Why is it important to have rules in wildlife parks? Discuss.
  • Do you agree that wildlife park officials should always follow scientific data? Why or why not? Discuss.

Importance of Wildlife Parks

  • Do you think it’s a good idea to have wildlife parks? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • In your opinion, what are the qualities of a person who works in a wildlife park (ex. patient, kind)? Discuss.
  • Do you think turning certain forests or areas into parks can help protect them? Why or why not? Discuss.