Consider
　　Are pets good for mankind?
　　Arguments
   1. The great virtue of pets is that they can keep us company.
   2. An animal in the family helps to keep us human.
   3. A pet is kept as a companion that makes us feel happy. It’s suggested that pets should be sent to astronauts in a spacecraft to help reduce the loneliness of space fights.
   4. Besides providing mere companionship, pets invite us to love and be loved.
   5. Often a cat or a dog can comfort us at times when human words don’t help.
   6. Pets give us a sense of being important and needed because they depend on us for a home, food and drink. 
   7. Pets are of particular importance to children in this Plastic Age when most of us live in large cities.
   8. A pet in a family keeps people in touch with the more natural, animal world.
   9. Watching the everyday activities of a pet helps a child to understand nature and cope with problems.
  10. Learning to care for a pet helps a child to grow up into a loving adult who feels responsible towards those dependent on him.
  11. Animals can communicate with each other in their particular way. They communicate with human beings, too, for they are quick to sense anger and sorrow.
  12. People keep pets for emotional rather than economic reasons.
  13. A pet dog brings its master (owner) a sense of confidence, for he can see in dog that faithfulness does exist and he does have something to trust.
  14. Sterilization of pets is utterly cruel. If there is a large number of pets, then the more, the merrier.
　　Counter-arguments
   1. Keeping pets is just a waste of time and resources
   2. Pets are humanized by those who keep pets. Owing to their need for a home, for food and drink, pets are tamed and idealized by their owners.
   3. Pets and children often fight over care and love in the family
   4. People nowadays are so crazy about pets that they even neglect caring for their own children.
   5. A campaign should be launched against the overpopulation of pets.
   6. The growing number of pets has caused serious hygiene problems that cannot be solved.
   7. The growing number of pets has caused serious hygiene problems that cannot be solved
   8. Pet dogs and cats of both sexes should be sterilized because the animals themselves are in danger of becoming the first victims for the simple reason that their owners don’t have enough time for too many of them.
   9. As a matter of fact those who keep pets don’t always treat their pets with kindness. They sometimes abandon their pets when they go away on holiday and are unable to take the pets along with them
  10. It’s a shame that many animals eat much better food than we human beings do.
  11. It’s really against nature to cage birds, chain dogs and keep cats within the house 
  12. Pets are animals. They should be seen in their natural habitat rather than in teh homes of human beings.

　　Questions
   1. Do you like to keep pers? Why (why not)?
   2. What do you think will happen if everyone in China keeps a pet?
   3. What kind of people in the world are most likely to keep pets at home? Give at least three kinds.
   4. Do you think people should be discouraged from keeping pets in an overpopulated world? What should be done?
　　IV. Write
    Work out an outline of your own viewpoints. The outline should consist of major statements and supporting evidence and examples. Do not write down every word of your speech.
　　V. Speak 
   1. Speak according to your outline, or give spontaneous speeches when you disagree with your classmates or when you want to support your own group with similar opinions.
   2. Language devices: You are expected to extend your ability to agree of disagree with other people’s opinions and to ask them to explain their points view.
    That’s exactly my opinion.
    Absolutely true.
    I’d go along with you in that.
    Well, you’ve got point there.
    Well, possibly.
    I disagree entirely
    I wouldn’t accept that .
    You can’t really mean that.
    Perhaps, but don’t you think that...
    Well, I’m not so sure about that.
　　VI. Sum up
   1. The whole class decide on the best prepared speech and the best spontaneous speech.
   2. The whole class pick out the most convincing statements from the arguments and counter-arguments.
   3. The teacher gives comments on students’ ideas and language.