If a cat or a dog shares your home, I’ll take a wild guess that you don’t refer to the four-footed family member who licks your face, naps in your lap, sleeps on your bed as “it”. You probably call them by a name; and refer to them as “he” or “she” and various nicknames inspired by their personality and habits.
A group of more than 80 people with an interest in animal welfare, including Dr Jane Goodall, have signed a letter calling on the editors of the Associated Press Stylebook to change their guidance so that animals in news stories would be identified as “she/her/hers and he/him/his when their sex is known, regardless of species, and the gender-neutral they, or he/she, or his/hers when their sex is unknown. ”
News organizations often follow the guidance of the AP Stylebook. The signatories of this letter hope that when we write about animals in zoos, shelters, fields, farms, forests, seas and labs, they are recognized as living beings who feel: hunger, fear, happiness and pain. It would mean writing sentences like, “The rat was injected with the virus ... ” or, “The deer was struck by the car ... ” and “he, she or they died”-not it.
The proposed change might seem difficult to imagine right now. But consider how the care we take with personal pronouns for humans has changed over the past several years. Ben Dreyer, copy chief at Random House and author of the bestseller Dreyer’s English. An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, says these changes remind us that thoughtful adjustments to our language don’t have to wait for a stylebook.
Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit and other bestselling books, told us that if we don’t refer to animals in personal terms, “we open ourselves to abusing, neglecting, and exploiting creatures whose capacity (能力) for suffering is no less than our own. Referring to animals in personal terms may help us recognize how much of life we share. ”
12. Which statement is Dr Jane Goodall in favour of?
A.After lunch, my dog used to go to sleep in its doghouse. |
B.Tom sent his dog to the pet store to cut its hair yesterday. |
C.Lily’s dog was injured and she was concerned about him. |
D.Ken bought a parrot, hoping it would greet him every morning. |
13. What can we learn about Ben Dreyer from paragraph 4?
A.He refused adjustments to our language. |
B.He promoted his bestseller here and there. |
C.He thought following a stylebook necessary. |
D.He agreed on personal pronouns for animals. |
14. What’s Laura’s attitude to referring to animals in personal terms?
A.Favorable. |
B.Intolerant. |
C.Doubtful. |
D.Unclear. |
15. What can be a suitable title for the text?
A.What animal lovers value |
B.Animals deserve gender pronouns |
C.Animals deserve various nicknames |
D.How to refer to animals in pronouns |