Many people keep hamsters as pets. They are a kind of rodents(啮齿动物) and look like mice, but much more lovely than mice. They have thick, silly fur with different colors. Hamsters are delicate animals. They need to eat a balanced diet, or they can become very sick. It is important that hamsters must be fed(喂) only foods that are good to them.

Most pet shops sell a kind of mixture(混合物) for hamsters. It mixes foods that are just right for hamsters. Some hamsters are picky(挑剔的), and you have to feed them the mixture. Most hamsters only eat a few teaspoons a day. You should feed your hamster at the same time every day, or you can just keep its bowl full. Remember to clean the bowl at least once a week. Hamsters also drink a lot of water, so be sure to keep the water full and fresh.

Besides the mixture, sometimes you can feed your hamster nuts or grapes. Hamsters have check pouches, like little pockets in their mouths where they can store food. Foods that are not right for them can get stuck(粘住) in these pockets and make them sick.

Feed your hamster carefully, and always take good care of your pet!

① Can animals talk? It is true that they are not able to use words like ours, but most of them can talk in their own way.

② When the cat is happy and pleased, how does she show it? She purrs, and this is her way of saying. “I am quite happy now.” If she is unhappy, or in pain,or hungry, she mews. If she is angry, she sets up her back and moves her tail from side to side. If she is treated(对待) in a way she does not like, her tail goes straight up in the air, and she walks out of the room.

③ If your dog is pleased, he puts back his ears, waves his tail, and seems to smile. If he is angry, he growls(咆哮), shows his teeth, puts up his tail and the hair along his back and neck, walks around slowly, and makes himself look very fierce. This is the dog’s way of saying. “I am mad, I have a mind to bite you.”

④When a hen sees a dog coming near her chickens, have you noticed how she waves her wings, raises her tail, and rushes to the dog? This is her way of saying. “Be off, or I will peck you with my hard beak(喙)”. If she sees a hawk, she makes a strange noise, and her chickens at once run away and hide themselves. They understand their mother to say. “Quick, get out of sight, dears! There is danger near.” When she finds some nice food, she makes another kind of noise. The chickens know quite well what it means, and run at once to share the food their mother has found for them.

⑤ In such ways as these, animals make themselves understood almost as well as if they could talk like humans. They tell their feelings to one another by acts and by sounds just as we do by words.

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