Article from “The teacher ´s magazine”. Year 2008. Number 90. Ediba Editorial.
- Before reading, what do you think the text is going to be about?
“From an animal to mankind”.
I am writing to you, human being; although you look like one of my brothers, I cannot call you human animal, because an animal would not do what you have done for such a long time. Mother Nature has given you a perfect world: vegetation, animals, land, water, sky, air and all its elements in place, the entire planet in harmony. What have you done in return? You have wasted and destroyed it; you have destroyed me, my brothers and my world. Every day, I suffer when you chase me and hunt me for pleasure or sport, not for necessity. You steal my only shelter , my skin from me. You have settled in my home, my habitat, and destroyed it to build yours; you have killed all the animals you think dangerous for your cattle and yourselves. You have felled my trees, which were my refuge and my food. You have introduced foreign species of plants and animals which have changed my habitat. There are not rainforests where there used to be! You have poisoned the air and the water with weed killers, pesticides and other toxic substances. As a consequence, brothers of mine are born malformed or die before they can see the sunlight. You have polluted me and spoiled my soil. What you do not realise is that the world is so devastated that we are already witnesses of terrible catastrophes due to severe climate changes. Your own kind is at risk of extinction and we, animals, continue dying, unnoticed… Despite your best efforts to “help” us, you have confined us to zoos and circuses, where people mock at us. On behalf of all animals I say it is high time for you to do something for us and for yourselves. We want to live freely, enjoying our habitats. We want you to live in harmony with Nature. No more invasions. No more death. I only wish you wisdom to be able to see the terrible things you have done to the Earth. I do hope that day will not be too late!!
Activities on the article:-Try to infer the meaning of the underlined words. Then look them up in the dictionary.
-Write a letter in response to the article as a human being.
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1 comentario:
Fantastic activity...really loved it! However, I won't send a single response but two, which, btw, hold some differences.
You'll have to figure out whether I support one of them, both or maybe none. xD
muaks.
Letter 1
I couldn’t agree more on what you state. We, human beings are the worst cancer this planet has ever suffered. If not, the only one. We usually excuse ourselves saying we are fallible creatures. We are not perfect and cannot be, but, so what? Does that mean we have the right to do things wrong and destroy everything around us for selfish purposes? I don’t really think so. The point is, we are not making any efforts to become the best version of ourselves despite the fact perfection is way beyond our scope. What are we waiting for? I couldn’t say. Animal, I respect you, I pity you. I feel ashamed for all the damage we cause you as if it were just “collateral damage”. Maybe we’re no more than a bizarre experiment. A conscious species planted in an unconscious harmonic world. It all comes down to whether we develop the capacity to stop being that “conscious” when nature runs through us and marks the right way, and listen to it within us saying “take ‘A’ instead of ‘B’ .” Probably our souls are already deaf. I say don’t trust us, don’t expect us to make an up side down change in our minds and ways of living. We are too anthropocentric to do that. For us to live we need you to die. This is a silent war in which we have all the advantages. See the light at the end of the tunnel, think of this, we’ve already started to commit suicide. I say wait animal, wait and see. Following this path, looking down on everything but US, we won’t last much longer. Wait and see.
Letter 2
Little creature, we are just acting according to our nature. I agree with you on the fact that Mother Nature has given us a world: vegetation, animals, land, water, sky, air and all its elements in place, the entire planet in harmony. But I wouldn’t call it perfect. For us to live in it, it had to be shaped, modified. After all, unlike you, when we got to existence we didn’t have a proper habitat expecting for us. We had to build it up all alone. We were given the materials (vegetation, animals, land, water, sky, air and all the elements), and a proper tool to make use of them, our brain. Are you expecting us not to take such a heavenly opportunity and let things remain untouched? What you call “the world” is no more than a neat set for us to show our capacities as natural artists able to create the real world. You claim to suffer every day, when we chase you and hunt you for pleasure or sport, not for necessity. Think again. “Necessity.” When you think of necessity you think of food and shelter. That’s because you are not such a complex creature as we are. Your needs are only related to a right physiological functioning. But we, we have other needs to fulfil because we can feel. We have emotions. We need to satisfy that. Then, isn’t acting for pleasure acting out of necessity, after all? That we have settled in your home, your habitat, and destroyed it to build ours, is true. But, isn’t it also true that we have included you in the new plan? I mean, my cat is sleeping by my feet right now. I only wish you wisdom to be able to see what a great piece of art we are making of Earth; and to realize, that’s what we are here for, our destiny and reason for existing (what's yours?). I do hope that day will not be too late!!
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