▶ Your Answer :
The reading and the lecture are both
about prairie dogs, which are controversial issues these days. The author of
the reading feels that prairie dogs should be eliminated for several reasons.
The lecturer from the listening challenges the claims made by the author. He is
of the opinion that the theories proposed in the reading possess several
serious issues. To begin with, the author from the reading argues that
prairie dogs dig burrows that harm the land by lowering its stability and by
causing erosion. The article mentions that this makes it difficult for farmers
to grow their crops. This specific argument is challenged by the lecturer. He
contends that what prairie dogs do actually prevents the soil problems because
prairie dogs' burrows make the soil become loose. Additionally, he claims that
rain that contains helpful chemicals can easily penetrate through the loose
land, lowering the possibility of erosion. Next, the writer suggests that
prairie dogs carry plagues that cause fatal diseases in humans. In the article,
it is said that prairie dogs tend to bite people when they are intimidated,
which makes the people greatly ill. The lecturer, however, rebuts this by
mentioning that it is mostly rats that transmit diseases to humans, so exterminating
prairie dogs will not prevent people from catching diseases. He elaborates on
this by bringing up the point that prairie dogs usually avoid humans, which means
that they do not physically contact with people. Finally, the author posits that
prairie dogs negatively affect the amount of food for livestock since they
consume about 90 percent of plants in some regions. Moreover, it is stated in
the article that farmers are obliged to buy nutritional feed for their
livestock due to prairie dogs, burdening the farmers financially. In contrast, the lecturer's
position is that prairie dogs increase the nutritional value of vegetations by clipping
the tops off plants. He notes that farmers actually prefer to graze their
livestock in areas inhabited by prairie dogs. |