This document provides information about pets in the UK. It lists the top 10 most popular pets as cats, dogs, rabbits, fish, hamsters, budgerigars, guinea pigs, canaries, tropical fish, and other birds. Dogs are the most common pet in UK homes at 23.4%, followed by cats at 21.4%. The document also discusses reasons why cats and dogs make good pets from the perspectives of Catlover and Doglover magazines.

1. Good friends
9.1 Can you ask for a favour?
Unit9
1 Write true (T) or false (F). 3 Match the questions with the answers.
a Can is more formal than could. _____
F a away / shopping / you / can / put / the / ?
b We use could you to ask a big favour. _____ ______________________________________
Can you put the shopping away?
c We use could you with people we don’t b my / homework / with / me / you /
know very well. _____ could / help / ?
d We use can you with people we know well. ______________________________________
_____ c you / feed / dog / can / the / ?
______________________________________
2 Circle the correct option. d lend / dictionary / you / your / could / me
/?
______________________________________
e you / the / go / can / and / water / out /
garden / ?
______________________________________
4 Match these requests and responses.
a Hey, Mike, can you help me with this
project? _____
1
Could you open the window?
b Mum, could you give me twenty euros for
the school trip? _____
c Dad, can you come and look at this web-
site? _____
d Can you lend me ten euros? _____
e Could you repeat that? _____
1 I’m sorry, I can’t. I’m really busy.
2 Sorry, I’m busy. Why don’t you ask your
Mum?
3 Sure! I said that you have to be here at six.
4 OK. Here you are.
5 Well, it depends. Is your room tidy?
You are talking to ...
5 Write requests with can you or could
you.
a your teacher. ‘Can / could you open the
window?’ a Ask your friend to show you his/her
b a friend. ‘Can / could you lend me a pencil?’ answers.
c a shop assistant. ‘Can / could you change this ______________________________________
fifty-euro note?’ b Ask your teacher to explain the homework
d your aunt. ‘Can / could you pass me the again.
milk?’ ______________________________________
e another friend. ‘Can / could you help me tidy c Ask your parents to take you to the
my bedroom?’ cinema.
f your cousin. ‘Can / could you lend me twenty ______________________________________
euros?’ d Ask a shop assistant to tell you the time.
______________________________________
42 © Richmond Publishing, 2004 PHOTOCOPIABLE

2. Good friends
9.2 Vocabulary Unit9
1 Correct the following sentences with a 4 Read the clues and complete the
comparative adjective. crossword puzzle.
➔
Down
colder faster noisier quieter
1 The largest mammal in the world
stronger wetter worse worse
2 Their long necks let them eat the highest
leaves
6 These bears live in China
7 A small, furry animal
8 This bird builds its nest in high buildings
Across ➔
3 A horse ‘in pyjamas’
a Ducks are better hunters than foxes. ______
worse
4 The king of the jungle
b Tropical rainforests are drier than other
5 Don’t play games with this animal because it
forests. ______
wetter
always cheat
c Deserts are hotter at night than during the
7 They like bananas
day. ______
9 These animals live in the Arctic
d Parrots are quieter than giraffes. ______
e Lions are weaker than mice. ______ 1
f Scorpions are noisier than monkeys. ______ 2
g Cheetahs are slower than zebras. ______
h Storks see better at night than foxes. ______ 3 4
2 Find five adjectives and five 5
comparatives.
N O I S I E R E M A 6 7
7
P R E T T I E R Q A
8
E W R F A S T R R U
N E S A L T T L G N
T A M Q L T U T M I 9
R K A U G L Y L I U
O P L I N I L S E S
T E L E I E R W S R
L W E T T E R I E L 5 Put these adjectives into the correct
D I R T I E R T R I
columns.
big dirty fast fat funny hot
3 Unscramble the names of the animals. noisy pretty sad short small
a niol __________
lion strong thin ugly weak
b aprol abre __________
c rashk __________ a b c
d agajru __________ + -er + -ier double consonant + -er
e zildar __________ smaller uglier bigger
f thanpele __________
g lirloag __________
h breza __________
© Richmond Publishing, 2004 PHOTOCOPIABLE 43

3. Good friends
9.3 Can you compare animals?
Unit9
1 Complete the sentences with these 4 Make sentences about these teams
words. using better and worse.
big fast noisy short small strong tall points
a Parrots can be _________ pets.
noisy Albion 16
b Good swimmers are _________. United 14
c Basketball players are usually _________.
Rovers 13
d An elephant is _________, but a mouse is
_________.
a Albion / United
e On Fridays we finish school early; the day is
_________________________________________
Albion played better than United.
_________.
b Rovers / Albion
f White sharks have very _________ teeth.
_________________________________________
2 Complete these adjectives to make c Rovers / United
_________________________________________
comparatives. d Albion / Rovers
a clean_ _
er e dirt_ _ _ _________________________________________
b tall_ _ f nois_ _ _ e United / Rovers
c heav_ _ _ g prett_ _ _ _________________________________________
d long_ _ h big _ _ _ f United / Albion
_________________________________________
3 Unscramble these sentences.
5 Match these descriptions with the
Woof! Woof! correct animal.
a This animal lives in water and is bigger
than a house. ___5
b This small animal lives in hot places and can
be dangerous to people. ___
c This small, fast animal lives in the
Dogs are so noisy! desert. ___
d This large animal lives near the sea in very
a are / pets / dogs / cats / than / quieter / . cold places. ___
________________________________________
Cats are quieter pets than dogs. e This quiet pet sleeps a lot. ___
b a / is / monkey / smaller / than / gorilla /
1 A lizard
a/.
2 A hamster
________________________________________
3 A polar bear
c than / whale / a / shark / a / bigger / is / .
4 A scorpion
________________________________________
5 A whale
d slower / a / a / is / snake / than /
cheetah / .
________________________________________
6 Write sentences to compare these
animals.
e a / bigger / mouse / rat / than / a / is / .
________________________________________ a fish / dog ______________________________
A fish is quieter than a dog.
f an / heavier / than / is / a / elephant / b hamster / whale _______________________
polar bear / . ____________________________ c elephant / cheetah _____________________
________________________________________ d scorpion / dog _________________________
44 © Richmond Publishing, 2004 PHOTOCOPIABLE

4. Good friends
9.4 Reading and writing Unit9
1 Match these pictures to the different parts of the story.
2
5 8
1
3 4 6 7
Aesop was a storyteller in Greece in the seventh century BC. His stories — called fables — are all very
simple, but each one has a moral. Even today, two thousand years after he died, Aesop’s fables can
teach us important lessons.
a _______ Once upon a time, there was a tortoise and a hare. As everyone knows, the tortoise is
a very slow animal, one of the slowest. The hare, on the other hand, is one of the fastest.
b _______ But the hare was not only very fast. He was also very proud. He said to the tortoise,
‘You’re so slow. You take much longer to do everything. I’m much quicker than you!’
c _______ ‘And my legs and ears are longer,’ continued the hare. ‘In fact, I’m much more handsome
and cleverer than you.’
d _______ In his very gentle, calm way, the tortoise said, ‘Well, it’s true your legs and ears are longer,
but if we race, I can win.’
e _______ ‘You! Win?!’ The hare laughed. He was very rude. He thought he was the best animal
in the whole animal kingdom.
f _______ The hare ran so quickly he was soon far ahead of the tortoise, who was walking slowly
behind. So the hare stopped for a rest under a tree ... where he fell asleep!
g _______ Well, while the hare was sleeping — and he slept much longer than he thought — the slow
and steady tortoise just kept walking, slowly but surely.
h _______ When the hare woke up and realized what had happened, he ran as fast as he could.
But it was too late. The tortoise was already there at the finishing line, resting and calmly
waiting for him.
2 Tick () the moral you think is best for the fable.
a Not all the stories you hear are true.
b A small friend may be a very important friend.
c Don’t trust someone who says he/she is perfect.
d Sometimes it’s better to be slow and consistent.
3 Which animal would you like to be? Why?
beautiful fast friendly intelligent interesting kind powerful strong tall wise
I would like to be a __________________ because a ____________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
© Richmond Publishing, 2004 PHOTOCOPIABLE 45

5. Good friends
9.5 Culture
Unit9
Pets in the UK
1 Match the photographs to the animals.
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10
The Top Ten pets in Britain are:
a budgerigar ____
3 f guinea pig ____
b canary ____ g hamster ____
c cat ____ h any other bird ____
d dog ____ i rabbit ____
e goldfish ____ j tropical fish ____
2 Number the animals in Activity 1 4 Are you surprised by any of the
from 1 (most popular) to 10 statistics in Activity 3?
(least popular) in your opinion. Do you think your country is similar?
1 __________ 6 __________
5 Read this article from Catlover
dog
2 __________ 7 __________
3 __________ 8 __________ magazine. Do you agree?
4 __________ 9 __________ Six reasons why cats are good pets.
5 __________ 10 __________ 1 Cats are friendly (when they want to be).
2 Cats like to play (again, when they want to).
3 Check your answers. Unscramble 3 They are very clean.
the animals and write them in the chart. 4 They are very quiet.
Types of pets in the UK 5 You don’t need to take them for walks.
6 You can leave them on their own for long
homes with periods of time.
pet this pet
a
b
gdo
cta
dog 23.4%
21.4%
6 Write three reasons why dogs are
good pets.
c barbit 9.3%
d fligdosh 3.9% Doglover magazine says dogs are good pets
e digburgera 3.6% because …
f themars 3.2% a _______________________________________
g roteh dibr 2.6% b _______________________________________
h oralpict hifs 2.4% c _______________________________________
i unieag gip 1.6%
j ynacar 0.8%
46 © Richmond Publishing, 2004 PHOTOCOPIABLE