| I have gone to the zoo four times and I have enjoyed being there. I like to see how the animals live. My favorite animal is the giraffe. I love them. I think they are fascinating. I like to see them but I have never had a pet because I think that they need much care. My son often tells me he wants to have a dog. I hope some day I can give one to him and that he will take care of his pet himself. In my family, everyone likes to see animals. We visit the zoo, Monterey Bay Aquarium, or watch TV programs about their lives.--Wendick |
| I never had a pet in my house, but I like to play with cats and dogs. My sister-in-law has two cats. One is a male and one is a female. When I visit her, I play with them. I feed him fresh meat and he likes it very much, but he hates to play with me. I take him in my arm and he jumps out. He never eats before his friend eats. It was very interesting for me. He loves my sister-in-law's husband very much. He looked at him and I saw all his love in his eyes. His eyes tell her husband, "I love you very much." and every time it jumped into his arms and sat on his knees.--Nelli |
| In Burma, people don't treat pets like in the U.S. Most pets are on the street and no one really owns one. In my country it is very beautiful and a lot of tall trees are around and there is good fresh air. In America there are too many cars so the air is not fresh. I enjoy visiting the zoo and watching all different kinds of species. In my country they allowed most pets in your house but no one really raised pets before. However, now they raise animals like dogs, cats, and goldfish. I used to have a dog but now I only raise goldfish and birds.--Alice |
| Today environmental problems is a big issue. Humans are making new factories to make their economy strong and their lives easier, but the other side is too many factories make our environment dirty and unsafe. Therefore diseases are increasing day by day. We need to protect our environment not only for ourselves but for the next generation. Every country has its own environmental problems. In my native country, poverty, lack of education, and an increase in population cause other types of environmental problems.--Muhammad |
| In my native country, many families have a dog, but sometimes I'm very afraid of the dog. If the dog never saw you, he thinks you are a stranger and sometimes he'll bite you. These things always happen in my country. It's a big problem. Some restaurants have dog meat to eat in my country. I know this is against the law in America. American people think eating dogs is very ridiculous. They treat pets very kindly. Some of them treat pets like they treat their son or daughter. I don't know why people eat dog meat in my country.--Li Ying |
| When I was a child, I had some kinds of animals, fishes, and birds. Sometimes I had many of them. I like all kinds of canaries, birds that can sing. I like to go to the zoo and look at all kinds of animals. I like elephants, lions, and tigers. Most animals are very friendly. I like to read books about animals' lives. I never killed any animals or birds. I don't like people who kill them.--David |
| I like animals very much. Unfortunately, I've never had a pet although all my life I've dreamed about having a dog. I think Americans treat pets the same way they are treated in my country, but in my country there are many homeless animals. In the USA people take better care of pets. I don't like zoos because I feel sorry for the animals, but I like seeing animals and I want to visit a national park in the USA, where animals roam free. I think environmental problems are similar in the USA and in my country. For example, automobile pollution, overfishing, pollution of water and air, and forest cutting.--Inna |
| When I was a little girl, I didn't grow up with a lot of animals. I had seen houses with dogs and birds, but I never had an animal as my pet. I came to the United States in 1976 and I found a cat on the street in September of that year. I brought the cat with me to my apartment. The cat stayed with me from that time on and I started to like the cat very much, but my apartment didn't allow cats, so I hid the cat for a couple of months. A few months later, my landlord found out about the cat. He told me that I couldn't have an animal in his building, so I had to give the cat away and I felt so sad.--Nam |
| When I was a kid, my uncle fed a lot of rabbits. That was a time when we didn't have some pet food and animal food. We had to go to the mountain and wild fields for food. One time a big dog bit me and I almost died. We also had many good memories. Time flew. That story is already over forty years old. Now I live in San Francisco. There are too many pet animals and pet stores everywhere, but sometimes I don't understand it. Many single people have many cats and dogs. They are lonely and protect themselves. It's ok, but they spend too much money for pets. Even if we go to the park, so many times we have been angry and scared because of someone's pet. My kids asked me, "Why don't you buy a cat or a dog?" I told them, "Mom and dad have enough with three kids. Do you know feeding one pet is more difficult than a kid? Three kids is enough for us. One day you can get rich and you can get a child. You can buy one for your kid. Even 10 to 100 pets is okay. It's up to you and your kids. One day, you should take care of your family and your lives will be like mom and dad's."--Yoon-Saing |
| When I was a little girl, my family had a small and nice dog in my country. His name was Jimmy. He always protected us and our house. I remembered one night one strange man wanted to get in our house to steal our sewing machine. Jimmy knew him and wanted him to get out of the house, but the man didn't go away. He still tried to open the door until Jimmy chased him and bit him. Then he went away. Two days later, he killed our nice pet. It was so sad for us. That's right, I have never forgotten him in my life.--Julie |
| People are more concerned about the environment now. It is a trend in the world. We make national parks to protect animals and trees. In this way, America is much better than my country. We can drink water directly here. It's amazing because in my country we even need to buy mountain water because the water is polluted. We are educated to put trash into different kinds of trash containers according to the kinds. I am surprised to see there is just one kind of garbage container here in the street. We need to pay extra for the bags if we buy goods without bringing our own bags. Here I am surprised that I can take a lot of bags to put some things in I bought. It changes a little bit of my impression about America. (It's not so good as I used to think.)--Emily |
| I like pets. They are cute and clever. I only enjoy looking at them, but I can't take one home with me. In America, there are a lot of cute pets of different sizes, different kinds of pets from other countries. Some are from cool countries and some from hot countries, but all American pets look very cute and lovely. When some person sees the cute pets, they want to bring them home, but not me. I have to take care of my five children. I don't have spare time to take care of a pet. In our country, pets are very cheap. They run all over the street. Sometimes a car hits them and runs over them. They have dog diseases and if they bite people, the people will die within 7 to 10 days. It is very dangerous. They don't have pet food, nor probably a place for them, so dogs are dangerous in our country.--May |
| I can see the people who live here taking dogs with them for a walk, and they are trained, but how about cats? I hardly see cats walking outside the house. I guess they are always inside. This is different from our country. Cats can walk outside freely even if they are kept in the house. Dogs are not free, but cats are free in Japan. I used to keep a dog which died last year from a disease. She was a scared dog, and had diabetes for the last year. That was caused by what I fed her. I apologized to her.--Keiko |
| I like to see cats and dogs, but I don't want to have my own cat or dog. I think cats and dogs like to live on the street, in the park or wood, but I like to live at home, so people and animals don't live together. My mother loved cats very much. She had cats at home all the time, and I was always at war with them. I usually did homework on the window sill, and the cat liked to lie on the window sill.--Yuriy |