英语高级口语教程(9)

pedal the 20-minute ride up to the city centre.

"In the morning, birds on my own roof at home hang almost upside down trying to see me through the windows." She laughed. In severe conditions last winter, I had as many as four robins in my garden at the same time, though they're well known to be territorial birds.

"It's amazing how many different kinds of birds I see in the city itself . In Park Square,

as well as the usual starlings, pigeons and sparrows, there are blue tits, great tits, thrushes, doves, and sometimes even seagulls."

It all started when Winifred was working at a cafe. She used to throw out stale bread and buns, and developed such an interest in the wild birds which accepted her offerings that she started taking food along to those in City Square as well.

On one occasion, an old lady sitting in the square remarked that the birds could do

with a more nutritious diet. So Winifred began buying corn for them.

"In the end, I was carrying so much weight and tramping so far that my feet and arms really ached? she said. "I tried using wheeled shoppers, but with the weight of all that corn they were breaking within weeks! So I splashed out and bought this tricycle."

Winifred has come across other wild-life on her travels, too. "I stop to feed families

of hedgehogs which I found at the side of the railway near the park," she said.

Despite her love of birds, she'd never want to keep one because she can't bear seeing them caged.

Disaster struck recently when a car reversed into her parked trike, damaging its wheels. But two local business men, hearing of her activities, decided kindly to help by replacing the wheels for her.

So now the "Bird Woman of Leeds" is back in action again, doing the job she loves best-caring for the host of feathered friends who have come to rely on her.

7. Too Many Pets in France

In France a campaign has been launched to warn against the danger of a threatening over-population . . . of pets ! The country is the second most densely populated country in the world as far as domestic animals are concerned. At the moment it is inhabited by more than 8% million dogs and almost as many cats. Every second family in Paris owns one or more pets, which cause problems of hygiene that cannot be solved. In the year 2000 France will have more than 15 million dogs if no drastic measures are taken to stop this increase.

The French organization for the protection of animals has appealed to the owners to

have their dogs and cats of both sexes sterilized, because the animals themselves are in danger of becoming the first victims. Every summer, when the holiday-exodus begins, thousands of dogs and cats are abandoned, because their owners, unable to take them along, do not want to or cannot find homes where their pets will be looked after during their absence. Only one of three of these stray animals can be adopted, the other two must be killed.

A great number of pet-owners, however, object to sterilization on grounds of

"inadmissible cruelty".