Cats
Do you like dogs and cats as I do? We can divide all people in the world into two groups — those who keep dogs and those who prefer cats. And the former don’t approve of the latter. Historians believe that cats have come to live with people later than dogs. These slim, graceful animals decorate our houses but our relations with them are peculiar. Cats don’t obey- they are always independent. As Mr. R. Kipling put is, cats walk by themselves and don’t let anyone interfere with their habits.
And still we can’t do without these great comforts. After a heated conversation finds your cat sleeping somewhere in one of its hiding places and strokes him for awhile. Your stress soon will be relieved, and if you bend down to listen to the cat’s purring you may hear him saying “Calm down, calm down, calm down…”
[ перевод на русский ]
Коты
Любите ли вы собак и котов, как люблю их я? Мы можем разделить всех людей на две группы — тех, кто держит собак и тех, кто предпочитает кошек. И первые неодобрительно относятся ко вторым. Историки полагают, что коты стали жить с людьми позднее собак. Эти изящные грациозные животные служат украшением наших домов, но отношения с ними у нас особые. Коты не повинуются- они всегда независимы. Как выразился Р. Киплинг, кошки гуляют сами по себе, и не позволяют никому менять свои привычки.
И все же мы не можем обходиться без этих замечательных утешителей. После неприятного разговора найдите своего кота, спящего где-нибудь в одном из своих укромных местечек, и погладьте его какое-то время. Ваш стресс скоро будет снят, а если вы нагнетесь, чтобы послушать, как мурлычет ваш кот, то можете услышать, как он говорит: “Успокойся, успокойся, успокойся…”
Facts about cats
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Whether your kitty meows or roars, it is a descendant of the Felis silvestris species, which is divided into the African wildcat, European wildcat and Steppe wildcat.
* * *
Domestic cats purr at about 26 cycles per second, the same frequency as an idling diesel engine. A domestic cat hears frequencies up to about 65 kHz, humans up to 20 kHz. Its sense of smell is about 14 times stronger than that of humans.
* * *
In the rear of a cat’s eye is a light-reflecting layer called the tapetum lucidum, which causes cats’ eyes to glow at night. This reflecting layer absorbs light 6 times more effectively than human eyes do, allowing a cat to see better than humans at night.
* * *
There are more than 3000 types of domestic cats, but only 8% are pedigree. And, unlike other cats, they are found all over the world… in abundance. In theUS, there are more cats than dogs, and people annually spend more on cat food than on baby food.
* * *
Domestic cats — or any other cats — do not have nine lives. They also do not always land on their feet. It is said that a cat that falls out of a 20-story building has a better chance of surviving than when falling out of a 7-story building because it takes a cat at least 7 stories to co-ordinate itself to land on its feet.
* * *
Cats step with both left legs, then both right legs when they walk or run. The only other animals to do this are the giraffe, camel and the manned wolf.
The dog and the kittens
The dog lives in the yard. A box stands in the yard. The dog has two little puppies in this box. The cat lives in the same yard. A basket stands near the box. The cat has three little kittens in this basket.
One day the cat goes out of the yard and does not come back.
“Where is our mother?” ask the little kittens. And they cry and cry. The dog comes up to their basket. “Don’t cry,” says the dog. “I want to help you.” And the dog takes one of the little kittens and puts it into the box.
The little kitten looks at the puppies. The puppies look at the little kitten. The dog goes to the basket again, and again takes one of the little kittens and puts it into the box.
Now two puppies and two kittens are in the box.
The dog goes to the basket again and takes the last little kitten. It puts the kitten into the box, too. “Now you are my children,” says the dog, “I am your mother, and these puppies are your brothers. Play with them.”
And the kittens do not cry. Now they have a mother and two brothers.
Dick Whittington and his cat.
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