A new report said 59.5% of the family had cats as their pets among the 30,000 people surveyed for a research. As of last year, there were some 58 million pet cats in China’s city houses, compared with 54 million pet dogs. China has seen an increase in pet ownership over the years, with people increasingly choosing cats. All over the world, though dogs are still more common pets including the United States and the United Kingdom, cats have become the most popular pets in the European Union lately.

Experts think the fast growth of cat pets is because of the lifestyle in Chinese cities. Many city people have busy lives and smaller bouses, making cats their ideal partners—it’s easy to raise cats, unlike dogs that require more attention and outdoor activities.

The research shows that most of the pet owners are people born after 1990 and 1995. Young people are looking for freedom in their lives, and the habits of cats are more suited to their needs. Miss Cai, a 27-year-old who works in Beijing, said she recently kept a cat named Nanako. She thought cats were the perfect pets for working people. “I wanted a dog at first, but since I’m quite busy, I wouldn’t have given them enough time,” she said. “Cats are more independent compared with dogs. Nanako has stayed with me through my loneliness, and someone who works in a big city like me often faces loneliness.”

Many animal lovers would like to do more to help animals, but they aren’t sure where to start or they feel like they don’t have the time. Here are many simple things you can do to help animals.

【小题1】

Think twice before you decide to take actions to help animals. Think about eating more vegetables instead of meat. And you’d better not buy animal products (产品) from factories that have illegal (非法) practices.

【小题2】

Speaking the words out about the problems of animals can be as easy as putting up a notice on your car. Also, talk to your friends and family members about the pet over-population (过剩) problem.

【小题3】

If factories do something bad to animals, write them a letter to let them know that you won’t buy their products until they make some changes. Make them know that their actions will have a bad influence on themselves.

【小题4】

If you’re thinking about adding a dog or a cat to your family, think about getting one from a homeless animal house rather than buying a pet. By taking back an animal from there, you will be helping in the fight against pet over-population.

【小题5】

You should do the following things first by yourself: Treat all living animals with respect (尊重). Care about your pets and look after them well. Don’t use animals to perform. All of these things set an example for others to follow.

As we know, there are differences between Western culture and Chinese culture. 【小题1】 Let’s look at some words about animals and plants.

Most expressions in Chinese about the dog, for example, “a homeless dog” ,“a mad dog”, “a running dog” and “a dog catching a mouse”, have bad meanings. 【小题2】 In English, people use the dog to describe good actions. For example, “you are a lucky dog” means you are a lucky person. And “every dog has its day” means each person has good luck sometimes. To describe a person’s serious illness, they say “sick as a dog”. The word “dogtired” means very tired.

【小题3】 But in Western culture, “cat” is often used to describe a woman who is unkind. There are many other examples of how “cat” is used differently as well.

【小题4】 People think the rose stands for love, peace, courage and friendship. And the rose is the national flower of England, America and many other countries.

【小题5】We can learn about many differences in cultures by comparing how some words are used.